When one thinks of Left4Dead, what is the first word that pops in your head? Hell it may not be the first word, but a some point “zombie” is sure to surface. Also, you might say, violent… This frames what will be our discussion: real-life vs fictional violence and zombies.

Each of these topics can be thoroughly exhausted, but what got me writing on this topic was the recent classification of Left4Dead 2 by the Australian ratings board (their version of the ESRB) as “refused classification”. This essentially means Valve’s zombie hit will not be able to be sold unless changes are made to the final product.

Why was it refused? It’s all in the terminology. In Left4Dead you play against the “infected”.

“The game contains realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon “the Infected” who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently.”

So the infected are living humans and not living corpses. As Fidgit editor, Tom Chick points out, “Since the Infected aren’t dead, since they’re simply sick, there’s a much different moral quandary when it comes to killing them. It’s a whole different kind of violence!”

And there lies the difference: Shooting sick granny, over bloodthirsty, violence induced granny causes you to act morally different. And for the developing psyche of an adolescent, who knows what damage may be done coupled with their loud rock music and loose morals. *points to DDN younguns* This is clearly someones issue, but I’m not sure why. I can understand if in the course of zombie/infected hunting you have a story track where you get to shoot the non-infected human, thereby making you a de facto death panel, but games are games right?

I think the bigger argument encapsulated in this is: “think of the children”. As a now, dusty semblance of an adult; I can argue parents should watch what their kids buy and monitor them so that if they find something objectionable, take it away. However as a kid, when my parents didn’t want me to watch Bevis and Butthead I just went over to a friends house. The same can be said for videogames. What really strikes a cord with me is I consider this unnecessary regulation and censorship. While I’m glad it isn’t in my home country, much like the German assault to videogames, I consider it my personal duty to rant.

It bothers me, but is it really that important? Similar to how American standards of decency have changed over time, do you think I should just cool my heels? In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t directly affect me.

Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino used his keynote speech at CEDEC game conference to offer some insight on what he believes is contributing to the “death of the planet”.

“I think that video games are evil,” says Tomino. “[Gaming] is not a type of activity that provides any support to our daily lives, and all these consoles are just consuming electricity! Let’s say we have about three billion people on this planet wasting their time, bringing no productivity at all. Add 10 billion more people, and what would happen to our planet? Video games are assisting the death of our planet!”

On the surface it appears to be simple baiting, but provocative statements aside, he urges game designers, “to create a game that does not negatively affect our daily lives and is something that is considered more productive.” He goes further stating the over-reliance on technology to produce games has separated us from the core idea: what we are trying to accomplish.

As a non-gamer, one may point to stories of game addiction, virtual violence played out in the real world, or a bevy of other neuroses felt by gamers as the “evil” games cause ; but as a gamer it is clear games are not evil, and the varying shades of grey are only understood by a gaming subculture.  The problem is no one listens to the people who understand the details, rather those that make the most noise.

[Gamasutra]

Last week I had the bittersweet opportunity to assist to one of the now many otaku gatherings in the city I’m currently studying in. – “It was an adventure!” – of course I could say that but I won’t, simply because this event was light years away from being more interesting than going to the store at midnight to get some milk for my cereal. That would be betraying my own principles and lowering my standard on entertainment even more, which is happens too often in the anime and videogame community nowadays . . .

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When I first got my original Xbox and began to play the original Halo, it was mesmerizing. I remember playing with friends for hours, replaying old missions for secrets. We even created a drinking game called Balo= Beer + Halo. It was epic. The game kept me from sleeping, eating, and allowed me to ignore the outside world. As the series became more popular, my anticipation for HALO 2 grew to unattainable heights. I was let down. The 3rd Halo helped to keep me in the fold, but still to this day I hold the original in high regard. Weaved into the storyline was the genesis of a saga; the music emotive, and the action unprecedented.

Fanfiction, Red vs Blue, novellas, a possible(then cancelled) feature film and now an anime series. This trailer features several highly notable productions house’s take on Halo. The grit of war, the loss of love, and the perseverance of the human spirit. Depending on the studio I am excited to see more of what’s to come, but I’ll let you judge for yourself. Without further ado I present: Halo

It’s no surprise console makers want further penetration into a consumer base. Microsoft plans to bring a music service to the 360; Sony is trying to expand PSN Home into… something. The key idea is incorporating the console into the center of your life. The Wii brought together the family and expanded casual games. Project Natal and the Sony Wand hope to not only accomplish this on their platforms, but are aiming to do so much more. It remains to be seen how well it is pulled off, but you can expect future generations of these device is improve exponentially.

As someone who owns all 3 consoles, must be connected to the internet and has a DirectTV Tivo, the consoles are not far off from being the primary sources of entertainment. My Wii is what I use for parties; the Xbox is great for multiplayer gaming, community, Netflix, and demos; my PS3 is the BluRay powerhouse and solo-gaming (RPG mostly) system.

The online experience is an untapped market for these machines. Google has revolutionize information cataloguing. Amazon has brought together a review community and personalization into a highly niche targeted environment. Imagine being on XBL and based upon your ratings, social-network likes and dislikes, you have targeted ads that compel you to purchase/demo a product/game, all with more information readily available and easily navigable.

The question I ask myself: do I want to be so reliant on these gaming companies?

As America only focuses on the passing of Michael Jackson, earlier reports had indicated that internet protocols typically used for online gaming appeared to be open in Iran. In a country where there has been a severe crack down in free speech and allegations of human rights abuses; the last vestige of hope were the gamers. Protesters where using every means possible to communicate with the outside world. The great firewall was raised and the ever innovative distressed public used social networking site, Twitter as a means of getting the word out. It became so critical to the intelligence feed the US State Dept asked Twitter to hold off scheduled maintenance as to not disrupt Iranian voices.

State run television networks call the protestors “terrorists”, the revolutionary guard steam rolls activists under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s orders; and yet the internet had a hiccup. Buckling under the mass of requests for more information regarding the heart attack of beloved pop icon MJ, data traffic across the world was greatly reduced. I get it, it’s important. When I got a text TMZ broke the news MJ was dead, I was shocked. However, what soon followed was contempt. The meaningless droll of news agencies displaying montages of all his works took me back to when Princess Diana had her fatal car crash. I’d like to think this is not the only thing America cares about.

Those who know me closely, understand my working life and geopolitics directly intersect. When I learned gamers were continuing the struggle, using Xbox Live to organize and send messages to loved ones it helped me realize there are ways in which we are all connected. The media black out still continues and the great firewall has already been refortified; I wonder what the next news cycle will bring.

If you haven’t seen it already, I really recommend watching a few minutes of Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones and his travels in Iran. It provides a much needed perspective of the Iranian people.

-Sound off-

A flurry of web chatter surrounded Activision Blizzard CEO, Bobby Kotick, over comments he made towards Sony in an interview with the UK publication, Times Online. Bobby states, “they (Sony) have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow,” adding, “if we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.” Sounds like a thinly veiled threat to me.

So the facts: Activision is a multi-platform developer and publisher of content. Sony has been resisting a PS3 price cut and has openly admitted they fumbled their worldwide launch, but has “no plans” for a reduction in the price of the PS3.

The problem: PS3 is expensive for consumers and exhorbantly expensive for developers. As someone who owns all 3 systems I generally say the Xbox360 is good for gaming online. The Wii, party machine when I have friends over and the PS3 when I want to play with myself…no wait. I mean if I have an RPG or FPS that has no online play (or I care to play online) I’m going with the PS3. It’s also great for Blu-ray movies.

Why did I want to use this week’s soapbox? Because it’s a utterly ridiculous and empty threat. Activision give me a break. I mean really? They are closely tied to Sony. With franchises like Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk or Call of Duty, stopping support of Sony is cutting off your nose to spite your face. I don’t think it is a wise decision for Sony to cut the price of their hardware. Whine all you want.

What would be a smarter (and more strategic) decision is if Sony reduced the cost of their development platform licenses. This approach has a pronged effect: producers can lower development costs thus increasing the PS3 game library, while also being able to learn the full technological capabilities of the system. Simply this translates to more games that look good because developers understand the system better.

I project the PS3 will stay the price it is for sometime. Live with it. Don’t agree with me? Tell me in the comments.

-Sound off-

*Editor’s note* Due to a technical snafu points at Sol this piece wasn’t published on Saturday in the AM as designed. In the future we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, our bad…

Now that the crowd has departed from greater Los Angeles and the dust has settled from the glitz and glamor of 2009’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, we now have a chance digest all of the latest and greatest videogame news. From Microsoft’s Project Natal and Milo video, Sony’s newest addition to the MGS franchise, Nintendo breathing life into Mario Bros and Metroid. What were you most excited about or disappointed in this year’s E3? I’ve added my take below to start off the discussion.

[E3 News]
[More E3 News]

Last month we had a good discussion revolving around the politics of Six Days in Fallujah. I had mentioned I believe there is a reasonably amount of hypocrisy when it comes to war placed in the context of games. If there were a game where you battle Somali pirates on the high seas would there be public outcry? Today Kuma Games released Somali Showdown as a free download with apparently no public backlash.

“During a simulated hijacking, crew members will attempt to fend off the pirates and regain control of the ship’s operations room. Players joining the game as pirates will try to take over the operations room and sail the ship into Somali waters. –Gamasutra

[KumaGame via Gamasutra]

All of us are affected by war. Whether it be directly in the service, through a family member, indirectly by actions taken by our governments’, or what we interpret from news agencies; it is reasonably safe to say, most of us will feel the effects of war.

At the beginning of April, a firestorm spread around the videogame/documentary “Six Days in Fallujah”(SDiF). Developed by Atomic Games and slated to be released by Konami, SDiF was to portray the real world conflict as accurately as possible, while still remaining fun to play. Atomic Games interviewed soldiers from Fallujah, reviewed satellite imagery to remain faithful to the actual location and anticipated using material to further develop a training simulation for the military.

However, “at the end of the day, it’s just a game,” tells Anthony Crouts, vice-president of marketing for Konami. “We’re not trying to make social commentary. We’re not pro-war. We’re not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience.”

“Compelling entertainment experience” struck a chord with military veterans and the general public. A lot of time and attention was paid to making this design accurate. Atomic Games even interviewed Iraqi civilians and insurgents to get their perspective on the conflict.

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