Disaster Strikes SimCity
The Sims are homeless. Tornadoes have struck. UFOs are hovering overhead. The Mayor is growing alarmed, but what can he do when the servers are down?
ARVE error: need id and provider
Call Me Stormy
Finding righteous currents in turbulent times
Archive for the tag “video games”
7 Deadly Sins of Online Gaming
The 7 Deadly Sins have taken new forms now that multi-player online gaming is all the rage. H/T Cracked
ARVE error: need id and provider
North Korea Amps Up the Crazy
Amidst rising tensions, North Korea put out a new propaganda video depicting US Soldiers and President Obama engulfed in flames. Besides the schlocky visual effects, the piece uses background music from several popular American video games.
ARVE error: need id and provider
Dumb Congressional Hearings
As Congress gets worked up into a stupor over gun control, one thing’s certain: We can expect some unbelievably dumb congressional hearings to follow. Already Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb) have proposed yet another study on violent video games. In anticipation of the scare-mongering and grandstanding to come, Reason.TV presents a greatest hits parade — a half dozen of the dumbest all-time Congressional hearings, focusing on sex, violence and Satan.
ARVE error: need id and provider
The Debacle of 38 Studios
The 2012 bankruptcy of Rhode Island-based video-game developer 38 Studios isn’t just a sad tale of a start-up tech company falling victim to the vagaries of a rough economy. It is a completely predictable story of crony capitalism, featuring star-struck legislators and the hubris of a larger-than-life athlete completely unprepared to compete in business.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, an iconic figure in New England after anchoring a historic playoff comeback which ended a legendary 86-year title drought, founded 38 Studios near the end of his baseball career in the hopes of becoming a big shot in the intensely competitive multi-player gaming world.
ARVE error: need id and provider
Psst! Get Your Digi Sex Here
A company called Sinful Robot is developing the first modern sex simulation game. It’s likely to be unveiled in 2014 with the release of the Oculus Rift VR headset. With virtual sex becoming a reality, will real sex become a thing of the past? Stay tuned. H/T SourceFed
ARVE error: need id and provider
Your Brain on Video Games
How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Step into the lab with cognitive researcher Daphne Bavelier from the University of Rochester to hear surprising news about how video games, even action-packed shooter games, can help us learn, focus and, fascinatingly, multitask. H/T TEDtalks
ARVE error: need id and provider
The Glove and Boots Debate
Mario and Farfa moderate the debate of the decade — the 2012 Halo debate, pitting the red Master Chief against the blue Master Chief.
ARVE error: need id and provider
Brain Hacking
In 1959, Richard Condon wrote one of the most chilling political thrillers of all time — The Manchurian Candidate — about a Korean War prisoner brainwashed by the Communists and transformed into a “sleeper agent.” Unbeknownst to him, he was literally a walking time bomb, hardwired so he could be triggered to carry out an assassination years later by the flashing of a simple sign — the Queen of Diamonds in a game of Solitaire.
Sounds like fiction? Well, fast-forward to 2012. Now, scientists have demonstrated they can “hack” into the human brain, and extract vital secrets, even from unwilling subjects, using technology no more advanced than a video game headset. The mind boggles pondering the possibilities. H/T SourceFed
ARVE error: need id and provider
Wired in South Korea
The Republic of Korea, otherwise known as South Korea, takes the Internet more seriously than perhaps any other nation. Ninety percent of South Koreans have broadband service. Cities boast free web kiosks on the streets. Teens flock to ubiquitous PC gaming clubs called “bangs.” One of the top-rated TV shows, League of Legends, pits the best gamers against each other. The show has a diehard fan base. It’s watched as religiously as Westerners follow football or baseball.
Yet this crazy fascination with the latest technological fads has a dark side to it. South Koreans were shocked recently by the death of a three-month-old baby, left unfed and neglected by game-addicted parents. Teens have required hospital treatment after going on binges, playing the real-time computer strategy game, StarCraft, as many as four or five straight days without taking a break.
Even more dangerous to South Korea’s survival as a nation, its enemies in North Korea have assembled 3,000 techno-soldiers to wage cyberwarfare against the South. Military and government installations have blocked the attacks, but a South Korean bank wasn’t as successful, losing its ability to service 30 million customers for an entire week. The North also attempted to plant a virus to take down the computer systems used by Incheon International Airport.
Reporter Mark Willacy from ABC Australia visits South Korea, assessing its Web superiority as well as the weak points. H/T Journeyman Pictures
ARVE error: need id and provider
And, as long as we’re touring South Korea, we couldn’t resist taking a little detour to the North to follow The Adventures of Kim Jong Un, courtesy of CollegeHumor.
ARVE error: need id and provider
