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    Game Hard But Game Safe

    posted @ 1/10/2008 07:50:00 PM by Douceswild

    It’s a new year and ESH is still dedicated to bringing you as much gaming news as we can get our eager little hands on, regardless of it being good or bad. It saddens me to have my first article be on a not so joyous topic.

    I think a lot of us agree that online gaming is fun. It has certainly raised the gaming industry to a new level in the past few years. On the other hand, online gaming can get out of hand if not kept proper perspective. If not careful, the online community can become a bit too personal to the point of being potentially dangerous.

     Police investigation revealed that a 15-year old Spokane, Washington girl met 20-year old Joshua R. Stetar of Saratoga Springs, New York, while playing Halo on Xbox Live.

    Police say Stetar and the girl had been talking since 2006, and that several times he had sent packages and flowers to her home, only to have them returned by her parents. The victim had also received several hundred text messages on her cell phone in 2007, forcing the victim's mother to change her daughter's number. However, Stetar was able to get the new number from someone and started sending the victim messages again.

     One night the suspect sent a text message to the victim saying he was driving by her house at that moment in a gray Oldsmobile. The girl's parents were outside the home and in fact saw the car driving past.  A few minutes later. the victim received another text message from the suspect saying, "Tell the cops that I'm gonna rape you and your sister."

     The girl's father placed a harassment call to police, who later learned the suspect was staying at the Econo Lodge. Officers found the Oldsmobile Cutlass with New York license plates in the parking lot.

     During a police interview the suspect admitted he was able to get much of the girl's personal information such as her address and cellular telephone number by "Googling" her name. Stetar also said he flew to Spokane in October of 2007 and rented a U-Haul van to drive by the victim's house. The victim's mom says she was unaware of this visit. Stetar said he lived in New York and drove 40-hours straight to get to Spokane.

    Stetar was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a Friday of one felony count of stalking. He was released the following Saturday.

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    Magic Jewels

    posted @ 4/06/2007 01:24:00 AM by MagicMystic
    I've found yet another hidden gem on YouTube.

    This video honestly scares me. It makes chills run up and down my spine. It's a horrific bastardization of my childhood that makes me feel like I was lucky to survive growing up. It's like when I watched IT for the first time and realized how damn scary those homicidal clowns are and how many close calls I'd blithely experienced as a child at birthday parties and faires.




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    Quick Question: What's the Scariest Game?

    posted @ 10/29/2006 08:20:00 PM by evermore
    With Halloween coming up, it's natural to want to dig into your game collection and try to come up with something that will scare the BeeGees out of you.

    The Associated Press has come up with a list of this year's releases designed to frighten you, so they're worth considering.

    As for me, the scariest game I ever saw was Silent Hill. Mind you, it's the scariest game I ever saw. It was far too scary for me to actually play. What about you?

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    ESRB Under Fire

    posted @ 10/09/2006 06:52:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    Have you ever had to apply for any kind of federal funding? How about a college loan? Ever had to fill out any kind of paperwork for the gub'ment at all? Remember how large of a PITA that was? Apply that process to video game rating and that's what the future of video games may hold for us all.

    In a "they must be out there Bob-damned minds" moment, the Republican Senator Sam Brownback and pals are trying to get some legislation together and passed that would force the ESRB to play every game through, in it's entirety [which would mean all difficulty levels, finding all Easter eggs, etc,] before it can be rated and then released. Um, yeah... what bonehead told the Esteemed Gentlemen from the great state of Kansas that this was an executable idea, let alone a good one? It's obvious that it wasn't anyone who was an actual gamer, because there are way too many game franchises that will never pass this kind of inspection. Allow me to explain, or rather pose some questions of my own.

    How does one play Everquest, World of Warcraft, Second Life, or any MMORPG through in it's entirety? Throw into the mix user created content, patches, and the hallowed expansion pack and the review process is neverending... like the story. [Which is an AWESOME ass movie, TYVM] I doubt Blizzard wants to create a game or gamescape that never sees the light of day because it hasn't completed the review for rating by the ESRB process. What about the level of ability of the ESRB folks that will have to play the games? Will we have to wait an extra 10 months for a game to be rated and released because the person at the ESRB assigned the title happens to balls out suck at that particular type of game?

    Think about it this way, how long does it take the average gamer to get 100% clear in any game? Even with a guide, on average how long does it take? Few months? Tack on to that the fact that these people will have to be noting every instance of violence, potential violence, sexual content, and language in every scene. Add on a few more months for that. Then they will have to create a report that backs up why they believe the game deserves the rating they have suggested... and a committee goes over the document and then agrees or disagrees. Another month. Looks like 9 months to push that baby out the door if we are lucky and everyone agrees. What developer can afford to add an additional almost year to their development and release cycle?

    Senator Brownback has been quoted as saying:
    The current video game ratings system needs improvement because reviewers do not see the full content of games and don't even play the games they are supposed to rate. For video game ratings to be meaningful and worthy of a parent's trust, the game ratings must be more objective and accurate.
    Which I think is slightly off the mark. While I agree there are flaws within the ESRB rating system, it's better than not having a system at all. Many politicians and ESRB critics are quick to cite the GTA: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" incident and the Oblivion re-rating. Out of the hundreds upon hundreds of games that are released every year on the PC, console, and handheld gaming devices, two only have 2 notable misses [which aren't even bonafide misses... the "Hot Coffee" content was not intended to be seen as the triggers for the content had been removed by the games developer, and the Oblivion deal required a PC only 3rd party hack... hardly something the ESRB could be expected to find] I think is doing a pretty damn good job of screening games. I doubt that many of the already rated games would be re-rated if the ESRB had played them all the way through.

    What sends shivers down my spine is that if this legislation gets some power behind it and becomes law, it will mean the end of the ESRB. There is no way that the ESRB could keep up with the amount of games that they would have to review, so they would have to throw their hands up and say, "NO MAS!" Which would mean the government would step in and create a rating board system. And if you thought the ESRB process was going to be long, can you imaging how long the "Federal Rating Process" would be. Can you imagine your local federal representation assigning people to play games through in their entirety? Huh? Can you? Most times ougub'mentnt works, but it works ssss-lllllll-ooooooo-wwwwwwww people. It takes a lot of paper pushing, and lobbyists to get anything done in all honesty. AKK! Video Game Lobbyists?!?! Those words scare the shit out of me, they should scare the crap out of you too.

    I never thought I would write anything where I was coming to the aid of the ESRB, but they aren't the bad guy here. Personally I always thought that games should kind of be rated on their contents. If I was to rework the rating system, it would look something like this:

    Games for kids age 11 and under, would carry a KS - (kid safe) rating.
    Games like Super Monkey Ball, and most games that currently carry the EC, E or E 10+ rating.

    Games for young adults suitable for people age 13-16 that have most likely been exposed to violence (i.e. a fight in real life, or seen the TV news) and have heard or used strong language, and/or watch MTV... i.e. they've experienced the real world would carry the YA - Young Adult rating.

    Games that have nekkidness, next to nekkidness, allow you to slice an opponent in half with kick ass blood spurts, you know, the stuff you know when you play it no one with a still forming brain should play, would carry an A - Adult rating.

    And we'll keep the RP - Rating Pending rating from the original ESRB system for games that are still under review when their print ad campaigns start.


    Now is thst so difficult? Require that a more detailed explaination of potential game content appear on the back of the game box art [you know, contains violence, naughty language, and sexually suggestive stuff] and be done with it. Make a special area at the bottom on the front of the box art case [make it the standard template for the entire industry] and allow them to use whatever highlight color they want so as not to interfere with the artwork, and put the rating in there clearly. For some examples click on the images below.




    These are just some of the thoughts that have been bouncing around my head since I read this comic from Penny Arcade. They make a valid point... a scary, valid, on point, point.

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    F.E.A.R. - Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

    posted @ 9/27/2006 10:41:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    F.E.A.R. stands for First Encounter Assault Recon, and while I could care less about the acronym, I figured I ought to go ahead and explain it now so I wouldn't have to later. Moving on.

    First thing, F.E.A.R. plays extremely well... this coming from a gamer that plays mostly fighter games, is a big deal. Right from the level start very little controller tweaking is needed feel comfortable playing the game. The visuals in the game are gorgeous. A lot of attention was paid to detail you find as you run through the levels: dripping liquids from ceilings and pipes, and great use of light and shadow that is equally balanced by nearly perfect audio. Background music swells in places heightening the player's awareness, which is then startled even more by some gameplay element that seems to appear out of nowhere. The game also uses time manipulation to slow down your movement and focus the player on some increasing spooky or "weird you the hell out" stuff. [Which they succeed at, by the way]

    There is nothing special about the game control setup. Like most FPS games you use one analog stick for aiming, one for movement, a button for weapon switching, a button for reloading or action, a button for jumping, and the d-pad for incidental items. [Flashlight, medpacks, etc] Yes, all in all, F.E.A.R. would be just another good-looking, solid, FPS if it weren't for the storyline and environment development. Where F.E.A.R. differs from most FPS games is that the story isn't just a run of the mill "kill the alien invaders" type deal. As the game starts, a base is taken over by some military unit that takes a bunch of hostages but make no demands. The F.E.A.R. Unit is sent in to take control of the situation, but some unknown force or entity takes out nearly every member of the team. The player is left alone to save the hostages from the intruding military unit, and find out who or what is behind the mysterious stuff that has started happening on the base.

    From the start, the game unfolds more like a love child from a Resident Evil, The Shinning, and The Grudge. [You might even want to throw in Eternal Darkness as, like, maybe a fluffer] I mean the game is designed to psych you out and then scare you out of your drawers not by just bombarding you with gory images, but with creating environments that draw you in and then confine you. The use of space, dimly lit areas with a finite light source, music that seems to build to a crest as something is about to happen, all lead the player to a worked up state that lends itself well to the quick introduction of a "what the fuck was that" element. F.E.A.R. does this over and over and over in the game. As you progress on in the game your character starts experiencing paranormal things... you start seeing people in an area that when you get there, aren't there. You hear children laughing in a place that is just littered with dead bodies... a place that no children belong at all. I don't even want to mention the voices you hear from time to time. F.E.A.R. wants to un-nerve you, and it will.

    That's what I really enjoy about this game. I don't like games that are just gory for the sake of being gory. Not because they are fodder for the likes of Jack Thompson, but because they just aren't entertaining. F.E.A.R. is made more scary to me, even terrifyingly so at times, for me because the game directly tries to mess with my head. That excites me. Get me where I live and I'll be loyal to your franchise until the day I die. The plot is revealed through accessing data via intercepted voicemail message, laptop access, listening to radio newscasts, and pc character encounters throughout the game. And while I never played the PC version of the game, I'm almost certain that all these elements combined will still leave some gaps in the story that my imagination gets to fill in. That's even more exciting to me about this game. I love games that just give me enough... enough of the story that I can let my fertile and active little imagination run around free and create it's own story scenarios. That keeps me engaged in the game and ultimately makes me go back for more. Maybe there was a bit of info that I missed, or a clue I somehow didn't see. Maybe it was a puzzle I didn't know I had to solve, the answer that I needed might have been right there and I just missed it. I have to go back and find out... I need to know for sure. Any game that makes me feel that way is a game that I will probably pre-order.

    So even though I totally suck at FPS games, I am probably going buy F.E.A.R. when it comes out on 16 NOV 06. The game will be available on both the XB360 and PS3 platforms, but if you have an XB360 with a hard drive you can get the demo from the marketplace right now.

    Tell them NinJaSistah sent you.




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