PETA's latest public target is Super Mario 3D Land, specifically Mario's use of the
tanooki suit, which PETA claim signify the wearing of a
tanuki skin. To raise awareness, PETA had a little flash game made:
Mario Kills Tanooki (warning: cartoon blood and gore), in which
you play a skinless Tanuki trying to get your skin back from Mario (YT, 1:19 - slightly stuttery gameplay video). But as
this Kotaku article points out, PETA's outrage is "an epic culture misunderstanding," overlooking the
long, cultural history of the shape-shifting trickster. Nintendo's quick response: "
Mario often takes the appearance of certain animals and objects in his games," that are "lighthearted and whimsical transformations."
PETA clarifies: the graphic little game was just a joke.
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 17, 2011 -
67 comments
Game programmer and designer Mike Dailly has been
making games since he was 14, back in 1984. It was then that he met
David Jones,
Russell Kay and
Steve Hammond at the Kingsway Amateur Computer Club, a group that gathered at Kingsway Technical College in Dundee, Scotland. These four chaps would go on to form
DMA Design, home to
Lemmings and
Grand Theft Auto,
amongst other games. Dailly has been sharing stories and materials from the archives of DMA, including
The Complete History of DMA Design,
The Complete History of Lemmings (
previously),
GTA prototypes,
graphics and
early game design docs (when it was called "Race 'n' Chase"), and more....
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Mar 24, 2011 -
16 comments
Piracy of PC games is nothing new, and has been
discussed previously. Due to the high levels of PC game piracy, some development companies have
decreased (or eliminated) PC game development, shifting support to console development. But piracy isn't limited to PCs, as
modchips and other hacks have allowed users to play pirated and
homebrewed games. In the continuing struggle for control,
Microsoft banned as many as 1 million modded systems from Xbox Live, resulting in a surge of
people reselling Xbox 360s that have been banned from online play (and
modders finding a fix for the ban). Some developers have adopted another tactic - increased development of
downloadable content (DLC), which has been seen as
both good and bad by gamers. John Riccitiello, the head of Electronic Arts, seems to have embraced DLC as a marketing option, in noting that "
[people] can steal the disc, but they can't steal the DLC."
posted by filthy light thief
on Dec 9, 2009 -
77 comments
