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Violence for all: 'Postal' goes open source
Behind the ongoing public debate on violent video games, a few key titles always stand out -- but before the public was freaking out about Grand Theft Auto, it was reeling in shock from Postal. This ridiculous satirical smorgasbord of violence earned the accolade of "digital poison" from Senator Joe Lieberman at launch, but still gathered a cult following. Earlier this year, the game saw a high definition remaster -- but the original game isn't dead yet. Developer Running With Scissors just announced that its making the 1997 original open source -- publishing the code on Bitbucket under the GPL2 license.
'Postal Redux' brings remastered mindless violence to Steam, PS4
When Running With Scissors released Postal in 1997, Senator Joe Lieberman offered a succinct review of the game during a press conference in Washington, D.C: "This is sick stuff. And sadly, it sells." Lieberman and other lawmakers were on a mission to ban or censor many violent, mature games in the United States, and Postal was at the top of the list. It's an action game based entirely on random, mindless killing: Viewing the cartoonish Postal Dude from an elevated perspective, players run through unsuspecting towns, villages and cities, gunning down as many people as possible. Each level ends when the Postal Dude has murdered the required amount of people. It's uncompromising and gruesome, and the gameplay is interspersed with diary entries that read like the religious ramblings of a megalomaniac. It's the kind of game that, even today, would walk a fine line between garnering public praise and open disgust -- and Running With Scissors is ready to see which way the tides turn. Again. Postal Redux, an HD version of the original title, is heading to Steam (for PC, Mac and Linux) this spring and to PlayStation 4 later this year.
Postal devs lay Person of the Year award at Tallarico's feet
Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico has been singled out as the 2007's Person of the Year. No, not by Time magazine, or really any outlet from which we'd expect such acclaim to originate, but rather by outspoken game studio Running with Scissors, creators of the controversial Postal game franchise. As the first such award bestowed by the studio, the accolade was announced during Running with Scissors' annual holiday shindig. We appreciate the effort, and are glad to see when personalities within the game industry are recognized, but in all honestly we can't recall a time when anything said by Running with Scissors was met with anything but indifference. If we were Tallarico, and believe us when we say that nothing could be further from the truth, we'd be inclined to accept the award, nod, and back out of the room. Slowly.
Postal designer speaks out on Manhunt 2 bans
After recent ratings and banning fiascoes surrounding Manhunt 2, GameSpot sat down with Vince Desi, CEO of Running with Scissors, developer of another controversial series, Postal. Desi speaks out about the ESRB and its power over the gaming industry as well as his (lack of) jealousy that Rockstar "managed to land an AO rating" before Running with Scissors did.Desi doesn't think the Manhunt ratings increase will accomplish much more than appease politicians and hurt Rockstar, kids will still get their hands on the game. "The video game industry is too easy for [politicians] to complain about, and with a presidential election next year ... it could be the only issue the Democrats and Republicans agree upon.". In other words, it's a game of politics and business, not concern for anyone's well-being.
First Postal III screens emerge, bore
If you're Running With Scissors, and you're dropping the first images of the next iteration of your controversial yet uniformly bad Postal series, would you go with barren city streets? Or would you put out screens of Gary Coleman humping a zebra being ridden by Osama bin Laden, or whatever it is exactly that happens in Postal games? Well, we hope you chose the first option, because that's what you're getting.Maybe we're just not looking close enough. Do you see anything shaped like a racial stereotype, even if you squint? No, neither do we. Well, hey, maybe the Postal brand is being moved away from clumsy attempts at "edginess" or mediocrity? Nope, negative on both counts. Wait, that's it! Maybe the most surprising thing that Running With Scissors can do at this point is not depict a gun barrel being put in a cat's anus! Maybe to be truly offensive is to defy our expectations. Or, you know, maybe they're just early shots. It's one of the two.
Postal 3 announced for Xbox 360, PC
Mindless everyman violence news now, with the coming of Postal 3 being officially announced by high-lariously satirical and edgy game developer, Running With Scissors. Utilizing the Valve-developed Source engine, the game and soon to be Uwe Boll anti-masterpiece will reportedly (and repeatedly) hit the Xbox 360 and PC sometime in 2008. The developer told Firing Squad that the sequel would be made and published in conjunction with Russian software company, Akella, and that it would feature an open world design similar to that of the previous Postal.Running With Scissors also noted that fan feedback (helpful summary: bleurgh) from Postal 2 would be noted as they work on the sequel. Those looking forward to having their next run-in with a polygonal Gary Coleman will be pleased to learn that a Postal collection with new extras is on the way, as is a CD filled with music "inspired by" the series. We imagine Shirley Manson features heavily on it.See also: Joystiq interviews Doug Lombardi about Xbox 360 Source
