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GSN (that’s the new hip cool name of the Game Show Network) is going to show a documentary about videogames. has a press release that ‘VIDEO GAME INVASION: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL OBSESSION’ will premiere Sunday March 21 at 9P.M. ET/PT. Since I KNow Yahoo doens’t keep new stories around forever, here is the entire press release:

Game Show Network Premieres Two Hour Documentary ‘VIDEO GAME INVASION: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL OBSESSION’
Friday January 9, 5:00 pm ET
Documentary Hosted By Pro Skateboarder and Video Game Star Tony Hawk And Premieres Sunday March 21 at 9P.M. ET/PT

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ — GSN, the network for games (formerly Game Show Network) will premiere its second documentary, VIDEO GAME INVASION: THE HISTORY OF A GLOBAL OBSESSION. This documentary will cover the creation and evolution of video games, and will be narrated by skateboard and video game icon Tony Hawk. VIDEO GAME INVASION will debut Sunday, March 21 from 9 to 11 PM ET/PT. The announcement was made today by Rich Cronin, President and CEO, GSN, as part of the network’s Television Critics Association presentation.

In making the announcement, Cronin said: “Video games have had such an enormous impact on popular culture and on the leisure time of young people that we felt it was important to document the birth and growth of this amazing entertainment phenomenon. The video game industry now generates 20 billion dollars in annual revenues, and the profile of the average gamer is changing. Some 41% of computer gamers are women and more than half of all players are over 18, demonstrating the continued expansion in popularity.”

“We knew that to do justice to the amazing thrill ride that is the video-game industry, we had to capture all the drama, the intrigue, the scope, even the humor that’s been part of the industry from the beginning,” says David Comtois, executive producer. Adds David Carr, executive producer, “And as producers of numerous personality-driven documentaries, we knew that the best way to accomplish that was through the human element. All these folks were off-the-wall, wildly colorful pioneers in a business with no boundaries. We couldn’t have asked for better subjects!”

Hosted by Tony Hawk, world champion skateboarder and co-creator of such hit video games as “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater” and “Tony Hawk’s Underground,” VIDEO GAME INVASION explores the creation of video games in an entertaining and comprehensive fashion. Taking viewers through the maze of games that comprised the evolution of video gaming, VIDEO GAME INVASION focuses on the impact of the human element, and the behind the scenes competition between these impassioned geniuses who create video games. Bold and irreverent, VIDEO GAME INVASION delves into the fascinating world of tech-heads as they pushed the technological envelope to create such breakthrough early games as Pong and Space Invaders, and subsequently emerged with the huge international corporations that now dominate the multi-billion dollar video game industry. Paying homage to those unique individuals for pushing the game envelope and making the industry what it is today, VIDEO GAME INVASION takes us on an adventure through the phenomenon of video games and explains why they have become a global obsession. VIDEO GAME INVASION will be sponsored by Planters.

VIDEO GAME INVASION is executive produced by David Carr and David Comtois of Beantown Productions, and includes interviews of Nolan Bushnell, former CEO of Atari, Al Alcorn, former Vice President of Atari and designer of “Pong,” Seamus Blackley, CAA agent who leads their video game division and former CTO and lead designer for Microsoft Xbox, John Romero, CEO of Monkeystone Games and co-creator of “Doom” and “Quake,” and many other industry pioneers.

Beantown Productions, founded by David Carr and David Comtois, is a leading independent production company and an acclaimed TV advertising and marketing powerhouse. The company’s recent TV production credits include Lifetime Television’s Operation Style; AMC’s Behind the Planet of the Apes; The Alien Saga and 20th Century Fox: The First Fifty Years; A&E’s Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies and Hugh Hefner: American Playboy; and the Fox Family Channel’s LeoMania. On the film side, the company recently handled editing and post production work for Family Tree, a semi-autobiographical short from Oscar-winning Shrek director Vicky Jenson. Beantown Productions is based in Los Angeles with offices in New York City.

GSN, the Network for Games, is the only U.S. television network dedicated to game-related programming and interactive game playing. The network features game shows, reality series, documentaries, video game programs and casino games. As the industry leader in interactivity, GSN features 84 hours per week of interactive programming, which allows viewers a chance to win prizes by playing along with GSN’s televised games via gsn.com. Reaching 54 million Nielsen homes, GSN is distributed in the U.S. through all major cable systems and satellite providers. The network is jointly owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Liberty Media Corporation. For further media information, visit GSN’s press website at corp.gsn.com.

Should be worth a look. I know I’ll pop a tape in and copy it and add it to my collection.

Happy New Year.
I was over at Metafilter and they had a post about how Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play didn’t get the media coverage they expected.

As these things somehow usually tend to go, a comment was made that mentioned game titles like, “”Back Alley Rapist” or “Innocent Citizen Pummel-Fest” or “Arson Party 2004” or “Digi-Chicks n’ Tits” ” and then a follow-up post that said, “These games that allow players to beat cops, rape prostitutes, stomp innocent people and anything else of the ilk are absolutely irresposible and disgusting.”

My first response was to post a comment, but since metafilter isn’t letting new people join I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing and wrote about it here.

Arson???? Raping Prostitutes??? Is there ANY game EVER that features actions such as this??? If so, please tell me. Now I don’t want to take this guy to task. He is not alone in holding these ideas about videogames. I have heard the thing about raping more than once. I am assuming that this guy is referring to Grand Theft Auto III. However, if there is any raping in the game, I have yet to find it yet. Again, if there is, let me know.

There is also the big bad guy of beating cops. Yes you can beat cops. But as far as I have played the game, that is not the point. Are there ANY missions in Grand Theft Auto III that directly involve violence against the police? If there is I haven’t gotten to them/it yet.

The thing that frustrates me is that over at metafilter, while people are attempting to correct him, as of yet, no one has pointed out the factual errors in his assertions. Let me be clear, as someone who has been playing videogames since PONG, who subscribes to 3 different videogame magazines, watches G4TV, X-Play on TechTV and who considers myself a videogame expert, To the best of my knowledge, there are NO games that feature arson, or rape. Yes you can have consensual sex with prostitutes in Grand Theft Auto III, yes you can kill anyone, including police and prostitutes even if you have just had sex with them, but those features are NOT the point of the games. In fact I had heard so much about this getting a prostitute and then killing her to get your money back feature, I tried to do it, and I couldn’t figure out how to do it! (Of course there is always the possibility that I am just a little dense)

That these rumors persist points to a serious issue with how many people perceive videogames. Here we have one game, two if yo could Vice City, that involves the ability to kill people including officers and prostitutes and yet we have people decrying ALL videogames. If you are going to be against Grand Theft Auto III, then fine, be against that game, but do not assume that all games are the same, and please, if you are going to say negative things, then at least be factually correct. More important, if you witness someone saying things about videogames that are exaggerations or are simply factually wrong, call them on it. Tell them that they are wrong, ask them for a clarification, ask them to name the games that they are talking about.

Now I am aware that to a certain extent I am preaching to the choir. Most regular readers of this blog (assuming I have regular readers, that is) know this. Regular readers, hypothetical or not, also know that I have a facination with Google, and one of my main goals in posting this is that by mentioning GTA and violence and rape that the mighty Google algorithm will pick up this post and maybe just maybe at least one person who really does think that there are videogames that include rape will see that otherwise.

Finally, it really amazes me that people are so concerned and afraid and reactionary about videogames. In an attempt to see if maybe there really was some sort of rape in GTA that I just hadn’t seen yet.I did a google search for: video game rape prostitute. Go to google and search for those terms. That web sites use those terms to get hits, and that people might use those terms in looking for web sites like that is “10,000 times worse than the worst thing” that happens in ANY videogame.

Here once again with what is quite possibly my last post of the year. sniff. sniff. And what a year its been.

To continue my trend of reviewing a book as I go, let me offer a few quick thoughts on The Video Game Theory Reader. It is an interesting and worthy read. It is leaps and bounds better than the last book Mark J.P Wolf edited, Medium of the Video Game which I did not like at all.

The Reader is a larger book and much more of a true anthology than the other book. Overall, there is still too much reliance on film theory and psychoanalysis in some of the articles for my tastes. It also uses the Term “video game” rather than “videogame” which I understand is a personal nit pick, but it still irritates me. I’m about half way through it. I plan on sitting down most of the day tomorrow and reading a big chunk of it.

I went home for Christmas and when I came back, what should be waiting for me but more goodies! I got a copy of the DIGRA Level Up Conference Proceedings. For those of us in North America, it can be quite pricey as they want a wire transfer and the conversion rates combined with the fee for a wire transfer drives the price up. I went in with 3 other people and it ended up being $42 a person, but it is worth it. The book is over 400 pages long and in addition it comes with a CD with 49 more papers in .pdf form. If each of them is ten pages long, that’s nearly 900 pages of videogame theory goodness! Go buy it now!

Now that the semester is over, for better or worse, i’m still feeling that i have things i should be doing. I’m desperately trying to fill the time by playing games, but there is still a lingering guilt that i should be working. With that in mind, i’ve been thinking about Duke Nukem.

WIth the news that Duke Nukem Forever is still not done, I suppose its timely, but i have been thinking about how the duke is represented in videogames. It all started with a conversation that i had with a friend who is working on a paper about men playing games like tomb raider that feature women. of course that brings up laura mulvey, identification and the like. I’ve always argued that in most first-person shooters there is no identification because for all intents and purposes there is no real character. The main exception being duke.

That got me to thinking about characters within FPS games. Outside of Duke name the main characters of FPS games. There’s (and right now as i write this i can’t think of his name… says something about how memorable he is… ok i remember) Gordan Freeman from half-life, Caleb from blood, and ummmm…. doomguy from doom, space marine from quake, convict from unreal, that cop guy from sin, that miner guy in red faction, what’s his name, the real mercenary from soldier of fortune. and lots of others even less memorable

Now anyone that reads this site often should know that i’m not about to whine about how we need great characters in games. Blech. I play games to shoot things. No the question is what makes duke better? Well, i think that if you look at the history of duke the difference becomes obvious. Duke originated not in the realm of FPS games, but in the side scroller — a medium where you could see the character, and by my estimation a medium that actually HAS characters.

The most recognizable character in a FPS did not even originate in a FPS. This makes a lot of sence to me. like i said, i don’t think that we need strong fully fleshed out main characters in FPS games. WE are the character after all. the nagging problem has always been duke but that duke existed before the FPS was invented explains a lot. Duke nukem really isn’t a FPS character. he is a character that has had a FPS built around him. Since duke nukem 3d came out there have been duke nukem games, but they have all been genres other than FPS games. I think that is where duke might belong. after all, thats where he started.

so here is another test. this time to see if w.bloggar works

more testing

testing

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test test test sibilance sibilance

I posted this rant on joystick101.org as well as, in a slightly different form, at kuro5hin.org. But here is it again. My thoughts on a recent bill to outlaw the sale of “violent” videogames to minors.

On May 2, Congressman Joe Baca (D-California) introduced H.R. 4645, The Protect Children from Video Game Sex and Violence Act of 2002. The bill would penalize those who sell or rent “violent” video games to a minor. Some of their reasons for proposing this are: the video games aren’t free speech ruling, the Germany shooting (even though that man was 19 and thus not a minor as well as the fact that there is already a similar law in Germany) and a report that “found” that “violent” videogames cause violence (despite the fact that there other reports that found no link).

The language Baca used in the press release is pure moral panic. “I’m a parent and grandparent, and I’ve had enough of the violence we’re experiencing among our youth,” Baca said. “We saw it at Columbine High School, and we saw it last week in Germany.” “Do you really want your kids assuming the role of a mass murderer or car jacker while you are away at work?” And referencing the St. Louis decision he says, “The courts have finally decided what every parent already knows – that video games containing ultra violent depictions of murder, rape, and assault have no place in the hands of our children.”

The ignorance evident in the St. Louis decision as been discussed elsewhere. However, the ignorance of this proposed law bears discussion. Whether or not children should be allowed access to these games is not the issue I wish to discuss. The issues are whether or not the government should be the one to decide this debate and what is considered “violent” and why.

To the best of my knowledge (and I would be thrilled if anyone can prove me wrong) there is no federal law enforcing movie ratings. The movie ratings board is a self-imposed regulatory body. It is the movie theaters and video renters/sellers who decide who can see a “violent” film and who cannot, not the federal government. If this is true, the videogame industry already has ratings. The industry simply needs to enforce them. Why should the film industry be allowed to self-regulate and the videogame industry should not?

By outlawing the sales of “violent” videogames to minors, the government will nullify these ratings. What is “violent” and who gets to decide? Is Madden 2002 violent? How do we know if they consider that violent or not? According to the proposed law it might be considered violent under the “aggravated assault or battery” limitation. This law opens up the floodgates and makes it very hard for a game development company to make sure that they do not make a game that is considered “too violent.” With the industry regulated ratings board there is prior knowledge. The makers and retailers find out that the game is “violent” before it goes to the store, and therefore know what they are getting themselves into. With a law, the makers, and perhaps more importantly, the retailers will not know if a game is “too violent” until they get busted by some undercover police officer with nothing better to do.

This issue of violence gets to a deeper issue. In all likelihood, Madden 2002 would not be considered “too violent.” Why? Because it is “just football.” In American society (and probably in much of western society as well, although I am no expert on international culture), sports are naturalized. We consider them harmless. Even more than that, we encourage children to participate in them saying that they will be morale builders and the like. However, let us stop a moment and think about what actually happens during a contact, “masculine” sport like football (both kinds), basketball or hockey. How do players hype themselves up for the game, how to they refer to their opponents? “Let’s kill ’em! Let’s rip their heads off! Let’s destroy them!”

So here we have an activity that involves actual real violence, hitting one another and face to face trash talking and yet we do not seem concerned that this will lead to other acts of violence? But we have these mediated, virtual enactments and we are concerned? Real violence does not cause more violence, but virtual violence does? The worst injury I have ever heard of at a LAN party is carpal tunnel! How often do fights break out at LAN parties? How often do they break out at sporting events? Remind me again which one of these causes violence?

This is not to suggest that I think we should outlaw sports. Not at all. It is to show a point. Sports are considered part of our society. They have been since ancient times. So the thought that these may cause violence does not even occur to most people. However, these damn kids and their videogames. Now that is another story. Videogames are a new medium and they are a new entrant into our culture. Hence the moral panic surrounding them. Remember what rap was supposed to do to our kids? Remember what heavy metal was supposed to do? Remember rock and roll? There have been moral panics about technology dating all the way back to the popularization of the printing press. What is going on here is nothing different and as such we should try to see through the moralistic, “what about the children!?!” hype and see that the real issues here are not “should children be prevented from buying violent videogames?” but “Do we need a law to prevent children from buy violent videogames?” “Who decides what ‘violent’ is?” and “Why is that considered violent when there are so many other things in society that aren’t?”

So there are some interesting issues going on with gaming. A judge in St. Louis decided that videogames don’t contain ideas and so aren’t provided free speech protection. According to one article Judge Limbaugh (yes he is related to Rush Limbaugh although I don’t think we should be punished for who we are related to) didn’t even play the games he just watched films of them. In his ruling he said that videogames showed, “no conveyance of ideas, expression or anything else that could possibly amount to free speech. … Video games have more in common with board games and sports than they do with motion pictures.”

Now anyone who knows my research should know that I totally agree with his observation that they don’t have much in common with films. However, the notion that videogames don’t contain ideas is silly. Similarly that board games don’t contain ideas and expressions is probably news to the makers of the Life As a Black Man Game. There are some interesting takes on this available at joystick101.org [edit added in Feb of 2009 — unfortunately it looks like that link is lost to the sands of time http://www.joystick101.org/?op=displaystory;sid=2002/4/26/11129/1665 ) and penny arcade’s Lawyer of Doom.

The second issue is the guy who killed 18 people in a school shooting. Notice I said guy, not kid. People are blaming counterstrike and saying that he was a kid. He wasn’t he was 19. He was a member of 2 gun clubs and his parents didn’t even know that he was kicked out of school. But its those damn videogames fault. WHo’s fault is it that people are calling him a kid? It looks like German media is palying the moral panic card and is placing the blame for the violence squarely on the shoulders of those awful videogames, allegedly calling counterstrike, “Software for a massacre.” So once again its those damn videogames to blame. They make people so violent. That’s why LAN parties always break out into violence and sporting events don’t, right? Oh wait… I don’t remember any fights at LAN parties. But I seem to remember Lots of fights at sporting evens. Can it be that the media is scaring us about the wrong thing????