Mind, Body and Soul

As I have stated in the past, I am a huge Call of Duty player but was somewhat let down by the multiplayer on World at War – in a previous article I spoke of the numerous glitches and bugs that caused to me to womble on back to my gaming with my CoD4 clan. Well over the past few weeks, I have once against picked up my trusty Garand rifle and headed back out to the battlefields of the Pacific and eastern Europe.
 
And things have certainly changed.
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Throughout my years of gaming something has bugged me, I couldn't say what or how or pin it down to a particular game, it was just gnawing at me; and recently I finally discovered what it was with the bargain bucket purchase of Ninja Gaiden II (...contains strong bloody violence were the only words I needed to read, not exactly a poster child for gaming I admit...) and I was happily slashing, dismembering and eviscerating my way through the game when, in a moment if clarity, I discovered exactly what my bug was:

End of level guardians. Read More  »

The current generation of consoles are great, aren't they? We've reached a real high-point, in which people can do more and more with their platform of choice. Web-browsing, streaming media, even coupling console and handheld together to extend the gaming experience; they all offer more ways to enjoyably pass our time.

Of course, by far the most popular 'modern' application of console gaming has to be multiplayer, by which I mean broadband gaming; it's amazing, when you think about it. Players unite across the globe, complete strangers, all playing together, all enjoying the online experience as conjured up by developers. Much has been written about multiplayer games and what they mean for social interaction; but what of the darker side? For sure, games like World of Warcraft have famously acted as matchmakers – real world marriages resulting from virtual encounters. But how many online experiences have gone the other way, resulting in negative attitudes and emotions?

First of all, let me define my scope. World of Warcraft is a PC game, and one that bears little relation to the multiplayer games available on Xbox 360 or PS3. In this article I'm going to have to limit the discussion to console games, since PC gaming is truly a whole other can o' worms. So, the multiplayer console experience. Where better to go than a real giant in console terms, Halo?

Halo 3 has what is often regarded as the best in online multiplayer. Title screen to match can take seconds to negotiate. Matches are rarely beset by technical issues, meaning players can focus on the game, not the platform. But how multi-player is such multiplayer? Am I alone in feeling that, rather than bringing people together, such multiplayer pursuits are in fact intrinsically lonely affairs?

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A short time ago I had the good fortune to find myself in the EA offices in Centrepoint, Leicester Sq. I add that this was out of office hours and a social trip rather than a business one, and pretty much the only thing I did there was play a bit of Fifa 09 (a game which I’m at least vaguely competent), and Street Fighter, a game that I am deeply, deeply horrible at.

I can just about cope with beat ‘em ups that reward the heavy duty button-masher, such as being Eddie Gordo in Tekken 2, but anything that requires having a genuine knack for the game leaves my pixelatted self laying in a pool of blood with the words ‘flawless victory’ serenading my opponent far more often than I’d like.

That digression aside on this day I came up against a very competent Street Fighter player, who roundly whipped my sorry ass on several occasions. Obviously I am not the yardstick by which I measured his competence, but he was beating everyone else as well.

Two things occurred to me at one point, as his Zangief clamped my Ryu’s head between his meaty thighs and prepared to drill his head through the floor, and they were; Read More  »

With the media over the past couple of years jumping on the anti video game bandwagon when it comes to attaching a meaning to crimes of varying seriousness, we have to ask ourselves, how are children under the age of eighteen getting their hands on these games? For an example of how many of these kids are playing games that they aren't old enough to own, I suggest a short visit to the Gears of War multiplayer lobbies. Its astounding. Now Gears of War is an eighteen rated video game. Slicing someone from head to toe with a chainsaw bayonet is likely to give a game that kind of rating. If that isn't enough, the nice red 18 slapped all over the box is a dead giveaway. Its eighteen therefore nobody under the age of eighteen should be playing it. Its a simple concept but one that is not being heeded by parents it seems.
 
The first line of defence is the games retailers which have a legal responsibility to check and if necessary refuse to sell games to individuals if they aren't convinced they are of the correct age. I have seen this occur in person in my own local games shop and I commended them for their action. You wouldn't sell a copy of Maniac Chainsaw Orgy III to a child would you? The same criteria must always apply to video games. Games are rated for a reason and its to keep children from being exposed to the adult elements that make up video games as more and more 'realistic' titles are produced. Grand Theft Auto 4 has you whacking drug dealers, murdering gangsters, shoot outs in a strip joint and gunning down cops to retrieve bags of drugs. Not exactly the sort of game I would want any younger members of my family playing but one I fully enjoy. Read More  »

A 13 year old Italian boy, Lorenzo Amato, was admitted into a local hospital after showing stroke-like symptoms, Ananova has reported. The doctors at Italy's Lecce hospital said Amato couldn't speak. They thought he could have had a severe brain disorder after the youngster didn't understand anything that was going on around him.
 
Later the medics learnt that he'd been playing on his Sony Playstation for an unbelievable amount of time; a "marathon session" in fact.
 
The news travelled fast and a local politician, Antonio Buccoliero, was concerned for the boy. After speaking to the doctors Buccoliero said "They eventually managed to take care of him once they understood that this was a strange kind of mental detachment connected to his Playstation."Nevertheless, the teenager, Amato, told his father to throw out the console and games, and stated "If I even think about it I want to throw up."
 
It's a sad time when children are being affected mentally by video games. They are supposed to be seen as a source of entertainment, pleasure, and nowadays even education (video games not children). What would happen to the industry if this changed and we started to see video games as an addictive influence like smoking or alcohol?
 
Back in 2006, a clinic for addicted gamers was opened in the Netherlands. An eight week program was started by the ‘Smith and Jones' addiction consultancy, with the knowledge of around 20% of gamers, including some children, could develop a dependency on their gaming habits. They say that this compulsion resembles symptoms of gambling addicts and risk damaging relationships, health, education and their careers. One patient said "I have no social life; I have no friends - only cyber-friends"
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Animal rights organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has turned its vengeance away from the fashion industry and vast Japanese whaling fleets and honed its ire on the videogame industry. In particular, it's unhappy with that paragon of domestic virtue, Cooking Mama.
 
In a bid to raise awareness over the conditions in which many farm animals are kept and treated during slaughter, the group has launched its own Flash version of the game, Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, where Mama's wholesome twinkle-in-the-eye is replaced by a malevolent, icy gleam. Players are first invited to prepare a sad-looking turkey by plucking it, stuffing it and cooking it. To emphasise the plight of the poor birds, each mini-game is followed by facts and videos describing the appalling condition in which livestock is sometimes kept (you can play the game here - http://www.peta.org/cooking-mama/index.asp?c=pcmgb08). It then invites you to contact Majesco, the DS title's North American publisher, to let them know that you'd like to see Mama be a bit more ethical in her sourcing of ingredients and perhaps throw a few vegetarian recipes into her culinary repertoire. "If you take just a minute to think about what happens to the animals who are killed for Mama's meals, a fun cooking game no longer seems quite so innocent," says a statement from PETA.
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