Well, IStC readers, it does seem that we’ve been fairly dormant lately, but I bet there are a few of us that will attempt to stick out this drought. You will notice, however, that I continue to cross post my thoughts here on my other site.
For those not in the know, the ESA, or Entertainment Software Association is a U.S. based lobbying and representative group with membership largely compromised of videogame companies. They have done quite a bit of research related to market demographics of gamers in the U.S. More recently they have turned to “educational” programs aimed at school children to teach them the dangers of copyright violation and piracy. Their educational programs contain no mention of “fair use,” however.
The ESA is also the parent organization of the ESRB or Entertainment Software Ratings Board. The ESRB is the organization which all console manufacturers require licensees to acquire ratings through prior to distribution. Most computer game software goes through this process as well, primarily because most distributors (WalMart) will not distributed un-rated entertainment software.
Recently, numerous large organizations have begun pulling their ESA memberships. This means that they will not be paying their rather large membership dues which keep the ESA in operations.
Read more…
"The Industry", Oops...unintended consequences, videogames
Well, I’m supposed to be revising my dissertation, but now that the New York Times has blindly picked this up, I can’t really help myself. I first stumbled upon this article a while back on Joystiq.
Joystiq - Science Says: Men’s Brains get More ‘Reward’ from Gaming
The study, which looked at 11 men and 11 women, asked participants to play a simple territorial point-and-click game while hooked up to an fMRI machine. The men in the study showed much great activity in the brain’s “mesocorticolimbic center,” which is associated with reward and addiction. … Yeah, yeah … tell it to the Frag Dolls.
Yeah, and tell it to the ladies I coach hockey for. “You just can’t enjoy it on the same level as us boys.” Not a good idea. I love the fact that the NY Times doesn’t even manage to pick up on a fatal flaw in this study, which even Joystiq commenters notice: sample size. I INTERVIEWED more people in my dissertation research and my research is qualitative. They managed to examine only 22 people, 11 boys, and 11 girls, all, “young adults.” Not to mention that fMRI research is one of the most unproven areas of brain research.
Read more…
Oops...unintended consequences, demographics, gender, videogames
demographics, Games, gender, Science, Stupid, videogames
This is ridiculous.
Remember when I referenced the controversial sex scene in Mass Effect? It was this older post, and I was actually second guessing the decision to post about it. Is this REALLY a major concern? Am I overstating things and blowing this all out of proportion?
I guess not.
Gogo Fox News! Take note that this segment is likely inspired by the recent hubub over some comments by a certain Kevin McCullough. Mr. McCullough basically misrepresented the role of sex in Mass Effect and… well, I’ll just point you to his mea culpa as hosted by Kotaku. Even better is this Penny-Arcade strip.
THIS is the type of knee-jerk bullshit we’re going to have to deal with if we want video games to be taken seriously. I’ve played Mass Effect, and its amazing. Easily the most epic sci-fi RPG I’ve ever laid eyes on. To its credit, its probably one of the most mature games I’ve every played.
Not mature like Leisure Suit Larry or The Guy Game “hehe titties” style of mature. Or GTA violence for violence sake mature. But mature as in intelligent, gripping, and engaging. Oh, and its pretty fun too.
Oops...unintended consequences, casual games, videogames
controversy, Mass Effect, mature situations
iTnews is reporting that some enterprising Israeli journalists chose to use Babelfish to translate an email into dutch. Apparently the Dutch foreign ministry didn’t take too kindly to the innuendo from the creative translation.
Online translator sparks diplomatic row
“The beginning of the email read: ‘Helloh bud, enclosed five of the questions in honor of the foreign minister: The mother your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favor or to the bed your mind on the conflict are Israeli Palestinian.’”
-ray
Oops...unintended consequences, That's not what I meant, web2.0
