Earth, 2147. The legacy of the Metal Wars, where man fought machines—and machines won. Bio-Dreads — monstrous creations that hunt down human survivors... and digitize them!

In 1987, before he created Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski was a writer for Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, a live-action sci-fi show for kids. 24 episodes were produced. Straczynski wrote or co-wrote 14 of them, including multi-episode plot arcs. A line of interactive toys brought the battle into kids’ living rooms, and Captain Power was also one of the very first shows on television to feature computer animation in every episode. But in an attempt to appeal to both children and the adults who watched with them, the campy show included some concepts and scenes critics deemed too violent for children and lasted only a single season in syndication. The full run of the show has now been uploaded to Youtube. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Apr 1, 2012 - 28 comments

Bullestorm is a rather silly FPS from People Can Fly, focusing irreverance, violence, points for ridiculous achievments and fun fun. It's marketing campaign has included the meta-game "Duty Calls", which savagly skewers it's equally violent but far more self-serious competition such as Call of Duty: Black Ops. Naturally, Fox news has freaked out and started a campaign against it, including a claim that it will cause rape. Rock, Paper Shotgun responds. FOX responds to the response. RPS responds to the response to the response, with a summary of the debacle so far.
posted by Artw on Feb 21, 2011 - 119 comments

Why the Supreme Court should rule that violent video games are free speech
posted by Artw on Nov 1, 2010 - 193 comments

Violence, the RPG. In 1999, Greg Costikyan, designer of Toon, Paranoia, and the Star Wars RPG, released this satirical and profane take on violence in games anonymously. It's now available as a free download. [more inside]
posted by empath on Nov 28, 2008 - 10 comments

The Typing of the Dead was a much loved game for the Dreamcast and PC. The out of print PC game was once available at the venerable Home of the Underdogs, but their site is borked after their domain expired, due to their insanely restrictive .htaccess referer blocking.

Alas! Have no fear: Some kind soul upped it to the Pirate Bay, where I'm currently seeding it.
posted by blasdelf on Mar 29, 2006 - 50 comments

Stick Arena - mindless multiplayer Flash violence, because I can't frigging wait for it to be Friday already.
posted by whir on Dec 20, 2005 - 14 comments

"In the game, the player plays the role of a character called The Postal Dude. He lives in a town where there are all kinds of people, white, black, skinny, fat, straight and gay. You can play the game in a passive role without killing anyone," Desi said.

"We are not political," he added.
posted by donkeyschlong on Jan 23, 2003 - 17 comments

"After weeks of reviewing hard hits that have resulted in a bevy of fines, the NFL has decided to review the video game industry." When all else fails, blame video games. [from ESPN.com]
posted by eyeballkid on Dec 5, 2002 - 43 comments

Indianapolis minors can't play violent videogames anymore.
posted by skallas on Oct 13, 2000 - 10 comments

Indiana restricts violent arcade games No more Mortal Kombat for kids. I'm sure we are all aware of the many dangerous games out there. Didn't anyone make a point about the good things these games offer Indiana kids.
posted by john on Jul 20, 2000 - 4 comments

things just keep getting sicker and sicker. anyone have a url for this game?
posted by cadence on Jun 1, 2000 - 4 comments

Sweet mother of... I don't think it's the video games doing it folks, I think it's toy guns that need a tripod to hold steady...it's like a mobile hose...
posted by starduck on May 26, 2000 - 7 comments