Archive for the ‘Videogames’ Category

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Terrorist Propaganda… in Videogames?


2008
10.19

In the battle for hearts and minds, videogames are definitely one way to spread your message. I remember some folks were concerned about the U.S. government offering up America’s Army as a recruiting tool, but I found an interesting article on ArsTechnica about “terrorist propaganda videogames, such as this one called “Night of Bush Capturing” or “Quest For Bush” (both of which sound like great titles for the next Apatow movie!)…



Of course, if you want to compare what the gameplay between the best of what Al-Qaeda can offer and what a Western videogame company can do, just check out this video of an upcoming game for the Playstation 3….


I still haven’t made it through “Army of Two” so I’m not sure I can handle “SOCOM: Confrontation”… But I do have “Resistance 2” pre-ordered!

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Love in the Star Wars Universe


2008
09.24

From Ctrl-Alt-Del:

“Hi. I see you are a woman, and breathing.”
“Yes, I see you are a man, and also breathing.”
“We are in love now.”
“Yes.”

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Is it possible to steal your own car?


2008
07.10


I stole this car the moment I saw it in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Even in videogames, the cops are checking me out… just like they do in the BARC! :-)

Kneeling down next to my “Coquette“…

The answer? Thanks to the magic of videogames, yes it is possible to steal your own car!

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Grand Theft Auto IV Changed My Life…


2008
06.26

…because it introduced me to some good music and wonderful artists I’d never heard before. Or to be more precise, I’d heard them, but didn’t know who they were… like David Axelrod and the song “Holy Thursday“, which I originally found on “The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV


GTA 4 fans discovering David Axelrod

I’ve committed over 140 car-jackings, and yet this song never fails to take the edge off. Apparently, it has a similar effect on other gamers.

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Screenwriters? What about voice actors?


2008
05.26




It looks like the actors behind the voices of Niko and Roman have said that they are not making much off of GTA 4 despite the great work they did. And Michelle… well, having seen the actress who plays Mallorie, why would I still want to date Michelle? :-)


GTA IV:  Niko and Michael Hollick

Niko and the actor who portrayed him, Michael Hollick.

From the New York Times article:

For Mr. Hollick, Niko has still been the role of a lifetime. A native of the eastern shores of Maryland, Mr. Hollick developed a talent for dialects as a theater student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, he said. In the game Niko is a war-scarred Serbian who has worked as a human trafficker before landing in New York (known in the game as Liberty City). Mr. Hollick’s masterly performance as the voice and body of Niko appears to stem both from Mr. Hollick’s rich conception of the character as well as from a stellar script.

“Developing Niko, the dry sense of humor, as the story begins, he’s this really hard guy with this really difficult background, but what gives it depth is that there is this naïveté as well,” Mr. Hollick said. “He comes to the big city and he’s not on firm ground. He’s not sure where he stands. So there is a lot to work with. And as he becomes more confident, the sense of humor comes out. The screenwriters and directors were really hip to that and really did a great job of making the character three-dimensional.”

Of course, because this is a video game, in addition to thousands of lines of dialogue, there were the more, shall we say, atmospheric effects.

“So we would have the 50 pages of screaming, 10 pages of being shot, 10 pages of being thrown off a roof, 20 pages of being burnt alive, just screaming,” he said. “The ones being burnt alive were the best. And I’d just be like: ‘Bring me more hot tea and honey and lemon. Earl Grey.’ “