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Recommended Reading: Spike Jonze predicts the future of UI, confronting tragedy through video games and more
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books dealing with the subject of technology that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Why Her Will Dominate UI Design Even More Than Minority Report (2,194 words) by Kyle Vanhemert, Wired Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement("script");j.id=i;j.src="https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1";var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,"pocket-btn-js"); For the better part of the last decade, Minority Report has been the go-to reference for futuristic UI design. But, lets be serious, nobody is clamoring for more gadgets to control by waving their hands like a lunatic. More likely, the future will see technology seamlessly integrated into our lives, the way it is in Spike Jonze's latest film, Her. In this "slight future" everything around the protagonist Theo Twombly is subtly smart, responding to his movements, words and even moods. And there in lies the true potential of artificial intelligence. As Vanhemert asserts in his article, "it [AI] doesn't have one fixed personality. Instead, its ability to figure out what a person needs at a given moment emerges as the killer app."
Jack Thompson takes his fight to Utah radio
Fueled by the recent veto of his Utah game bill and the constant thirst for more, Jack Thompson made an appearance on Utah radio show "Utah Eagle Forum" recently to discuss the merits of the bill and, well, to be Jack Thompson. Claiming the Columbine school shooting occurred due to "training on Doom" and saying the recent school shooting in Germany occurred due to the shooter's predilection for Counterstrike and Far Cry 2, Thompson immediately built a case for the audience to be concerned "why this is so terribly serious, to their own safety."As GamePolitics points out, at no point in the show does anyone make note of Thompson's lack of an actual license to practice law or of his disbarring. He is, in fact, introduced as "an attorney from Florida." An odd omission considering the theme of the show is "Truth in Advertising."
Star Jones video game violence segment
GamePolitics gave us the heads-up on Thursday, now they got the video as well. Above you'll find the segment from the Star Jones Show on CourtTV about video game violence. Jones uses a Columbine student, Leland Yee and an attorney for the video game industry to tell the tale. It's still weird to hear that the Columbine shooters were fans of "violent video games," weren't they just fans of violence? Fans of violence with full-blown arsenals at their disposal -- but that's the point of another story.Check out the segment and please try to avoid stating the obvious in the comments -- yes, Jones definitely needs to put on a few more pounds again. Please let's keep in on topic.
The Political Game: Industry should distance itself from Columbine game
Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:Super Columbine Massacre creeps me out.Maybe that's what designer Danny Ledonne had in mind. If so, mission accomplished. Ledonne clearly wanted to use the game medium to explore the motivations of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Whether you like his methodology or not, there's a famous piece of yellowed paper resting under glass in the National Archives that says he's free to express himself however he pleases. But whatever Ledonne's purpose in creating SCMRPG, the negative mainstream publicity surrounding the controversial game is not good for the video game industry. Game publishers ought to be proactively making it clear that Super Columbine Massacre isn't a product of their tribe.Why?Because the idea that a game company might be so craven as to profit from the Columbine massacre is hurting the industry. Because non-gaming types simply don't understand the difference between LeDonne's self-made art project and a multimillion dollar commercial game product like, say, Rockstar's Bully.That was never more clear than during last week's hearing of the Public Utilities and Technology Committee of the Utah House of Representatives. There, confusion reigned as one legislator asked what Bully, "the Columbine game," was rated. A second legislator, the sponsor of a video game bill before the committee responded, "The Columbine game's rated Teen."Scary, huh?
Columbine game blocked from receiving Slamdance special jury prize
When Slamdance festival director Peter Baxter removed Super Columbine Massacre RPG as a finalist in the festival's Guerrila Gamemaker Competition, he probably thought it would be the last time he would have to block the game from consideration for an award. As it so happened, though, Baxter found himself in a similar position last Friday night, when he reportedly stopped the game from receiving a special jury prize from the judges for the film documentary category. As detailed on Slamdance attendee Patrick Dugan's blog and confirmed by SCMRPG creator Danny Ledonne in an interview with Joystiq, the whole thing began on Tuesday, when Slamdance documentary juror Brian Flemming paused to watch an unofficial demo of the game put on by Ledonne on a laptop just outside the official game competition tent. Flemming, director of "The God Who Wasn't There," had heard about the controversy surrounding the game, and was intrigued enough by the demo to mention the game to his two fellow documentary jurors.
Slamdance trots out new Super Columbine excuse
When Slamdance first announced they were pulling Super Columbine Massacre RPG from consideration in their independent game competition, Slamdance president Peter Baxter cited both advertiser impact and moral considerations as the reasons. Now, a new official statement on the Slamdance site has come up with a new excuse for the removal -- potential legal fees. Take it away slamdance.com/games: "Specifically with the subject matter of Super Columbine Massacre Role Playing Game Slamdance does not have the resources to defend any drawn out civil action that our legal council has stated can easily arise from publicly showing it." The statement doesn't cite any specific legal threats made against the game or the competition, but we can easily foresee some frivolous Jack-Thompson-esque lawsuit that would indeed cost Slamdance a pretty penny to defend.But wait. The site also mentions that "the organization annually takes on legal matters in support of the independent artists." Indeed, in 2001, Slamdance stood up to legal threats from Artisan Entertainment and hosted a surprise showing of controversial documentary "Brooklyn Babylon." We find it hard that Slamdance had the resources to stand up to a distinct, stated legal threat from a major independent movie studio like Artisan but doesn't have the resources to handle vague, potential legal threat over Super Columbine Massacre RPG.Besides subject matter concerns, a Business Week article cites Baxter as saying that "organizers were reluctant to expose Slamdance to possible legal issues over music in the game." As far as we can tell, the SNES-style, bleep-and-bloop MIDI versions of popular songs from Nirvana, Marilyn Manson and other early-'90s favorites in the game are all well within the bounds of fair use. If Slamdance has to worry about legal culpability for giving exposure to these songs, sites like MIDI Database should be quaking in their boots.It seems to us that Baxter is just trying to come up with a convenient excuse for a hypocritical decision to duck away from defending a controversial game in the same way he would defend a controversial movie. But, as we all know, games are just kid's stuff, so really, who can blame him?[Via Kotaku]
Slamdance treats games as kid-centric
Take a look at the finalists for the 2007 Slamdance Guerilla Gamemakers Competition and notice how only one game even remotely tackles a controversial subject, Super Columbine Massacre RPG. That game has subsequently been dropped from the running. And like that, we are reminded how video games are perceived.In a biting editorial, Newsweek's resident gamer N'Gai Croal condemns Slamdance President Peter Baxter's decision, noting the disparate treatment between games and cinema. Film festivals (of which Slamdance is a part) are notorious for showing pieces that tackle controversial topics that could make SCMRPG look like Mario Party. Our understanding is that the game's creator was simply trying to explore an issue, much like Gus Van Sant's film Elephant.Though we agree with Croal's editorial, we do sympathize with Baxter's position, who was losing financial backers because of the game's inclusion. We are reminded that the game industry is still in an infant stage, and any controversial subject will have detractors. All we can do is stand up for what we believe in, and know someday the general consensus on gaming will expand into a larger age bracket.
Worst worst games ever list ever
PC World has slapped up a list of the ten worst video game ever created. The list includes some obvious choices, including the over-produced (ET), the over-hyped (Daikatana) and the basketball-star-over-exposing (Shaq Fu). It also includes some rather surprising choices.While most of the games on the list are there for obvious gameplay flaws, the justifications for many of the listings seem kind of trivial. Super Columbine RPG is excoriated not for bad game design, but mainly because the game's web site is "some sort of crime against good design itself" (and the fact that the authors consider the game's content "appalling"). Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within makes an appearance despite receiving an 84% average on GameRankings (the justification? It changed a lot from Sands of Time and it was popular). And the obscure Nintendo DS and web-download game Elf Bowling is castigated for clogging up e-mail servers and getting old after a few plays (Were they expecting some sort of epic RPG?)The seven runners-up include more games that seem to be included solely because of violent content (Death Race 2000, Postal) political content (The Howard Dean for Iowa Game) or, um, educational content (The Typing of the Dead). Sure, these games aren't going to make any top ten lists, but are they really worse than totally unplayable clunkers like Charlie's Angels, or Ping Pals?
Super Columbine Massacre RPG creator interview
Canadian television network Canoe interviewed Danny Ledonne, the creator of the Super Columbine Massacre RPG. The game has become the scapegoat for the Montreal "Video Game Killer" school shooting rampage.The interview is worth watching for the way Ledonne behaves himself. Like watching Marilyn Manson in Bowling for Columbine, Ledonne handles himself professionally with word choice precision; meanwhile, the Toronto Sun columnist being used as the counter, who "tried to play" Ledonne's game, comes off like the stereotypical out-of-touch old man -- because he is. We'll avoid the First Amendment soapbox and just throw a quote in here from Ledonne, the new poster boy for the ESRB:"Find out what your kids are playing, talk to them, get in touch with them. I mean, most of these cases have kids that have fallen through the cracks, they hate life, they say it, and these I feel are the root causes, not whatever video game or book or movie they happen to pick up that weekend."See also: Columbine game scapegoated for Montreal shootingsThe Political Game: The blame gameWatch - Canoe Interview
Columbine game scapegoated for Montreal shootings
The Toronto Sun (above) is one of a number of news outlets playing up the fact the Kimveer Gill, the shooter in a recent senseless attack at a school in Montreal, listed Super Columbine Massacre RPG as his favorite video game in a blog posting. At first glance, it seems like a natural connection -- a Columbine-style killer who was inspired by a game that lets you recreate the tragic events of the Columbine shootings. Yet while news outlets are quick to mention the game's scary name, or simply the fact that the killer "loved ... violent video games," no mainstream news source that I have seen actually looks at the game itself and why a disturbed, potential killer might be drawn to it.More than the crass, exploitative murder simulator that you may expect from the name, Super Columbine Massacre RPG explores the motivations of the Columbine killers and the aftermath of their attacks using quotes and source material from those involved. The game does let you control Columbine killers Dylan Klebold and Matthew Harris, but doesn't come close to glorifying them or their actions. Rather, it shows the killers as confusing, troubled and deeply tragic figures.Is this game the call to murder that the paper's are implying? Or is it a game that creator Danny Ledonne says "dares us into a realm of grey morality with nuanced perspectives of suffering, vengeance, horror, and reflection;" a game that Ian Bogost of Water Cooler Games called "brave, sophisticated and worthy of praise from those of us interested in video games with an agenda;" a game that a blogger at The Pale Writer called "one of the only psychological explorations of the Columbine killers ever completed." The shootings in Montreal are obviously regrettable, but using the occasion to drag an important, intellectual, and well-made game doesn't do anyone any good.
Foiled Columbine copycats are gamers ... so?
Police foiled the school shooting plot of five Riverton, Kansas youths yesterday after being tipped off to their plans via MySpace. Yesterday's date was significant in that it marked the anniversary of the Columbine high school shooting in Colorado in 1999 and was also Adolf Hitler's birthday. So we're talking about five psychologically disturbed teenage boys who decided to solve their problems with guns.Cue the video games made them do it explanation! CNN reports that "investigators had learned the suspects were computer buffs who liked violent video games." Now understand, about 110% of male teenagers in America play "violent" video games, so what's the real connection? I would be far more concerned with the "documents about firearms and references to Armageddon in two suspects' school lockers" than I would be about them shooting Strogg on the planet Stroggos.[Thanks, SickNic, Scott, and r0Be]
