Autumn: Simulating PTSD

I am reluctant to refer to Autumn as a "game" (although the developers use that term themselves); rather it is an attempt to metaphorically simulate the experience of PTSD following sexual assault. The result is as haunting as it is unsettling.

Given the number of rape threats thrown around in gaming forums recently, Autumn is a sobering and necessary intervention that takes sexual assault seriously, focuses on aftermath rather than the attack itself, and seeks to foster empathy: the essential facets that are missing from or are negated by the idle rape threats and jokes that are too often proliferated on social media.

From the developer's website:

This is a story about the struggles and conflicts with fear; the guilt and the shame; but also about perseverance and healing. Autumn is about the aftermath of an attack and sexual assault.

Autumn has been designed to take people through the looking glass, using Oculus Rift to step into someone else’s reality. We ask of our players to experience something terrible, but also to be part of the healing process and empathize with the vulnerability of a rape survivor.

We believe that an interactive experience, where you literally walk in someone else’s shoes, is the best medium to explain what words alone cannot. We also believe that games can be about meaningful and important topics, capable of exploring uncomfortable and thought provoking subjects, just like film, literature and other media are capable of doing too

Tusmørke is a two people team, a designer and a developer. We have created Autumn because we believe that an interactive experience, where you literally walk in someone else’s shoes, is the best medium to explain what words alone cannot. We have created a game that asks of players to experience something very difficult, to have some distressful emotions first-hand. It is very challenging to try to project your own personality into the personality of another in order to understand that person better and relate to their emotions, and that is why we wanted to create an experience about empathy and identification, to take you on an emotional journey, and to engage with these emotions deliberately.

Retron 5

From http://www.funstock.co.uk/retron-5

Wow, what a great idea. Playing older consoles on TVs now is a pain because few TVs have co-ax inputs. There are solutions, but this one is particularly elegant for those of us who have a stash of old NES and SNES cartridges.

The system operates by reading the game cartridge then coding that content through an emulator. That does not really matter inasmuch as the hardware is not original either, but there is something philosophically interesting about the step-removal between the original cartridge and the emulation produced: it is not like playing the original game because one is not playing the original game. This is no more authentic than using any other emulator, despite using original cartridges. Still, copyright holders and cartridge hoarders rejoice: the ghost of Christmas past has arrived!

Freddy NES Time

Remember that old NES Friday the 13th game that was unplayable? What could possibly make that game more fun? Well, for $40 you can find out whether playing as Freddy will do the trick. Somehow I doubt it, but this hack is great in any case.

You will also probably need to pick up one of these to play it on:

Uterus Man: The Game

During a seminar about the 2008 rom-com The Women, my students and I had a discussion about femininity, power and child-birth, leading to the question of why child-birth is so "unfeminine" (in stereotypical terms) even though it is a) an ability only women have, and b) is so powerful. The point was to explore how "femininity" is constructed, and the powered connotations of gender constructions. As part of that stimulating debate, I began to ponder how the cultural connotations of child-birth would change (and how gender stereotypes might shift) if men could give birth instead of women.

Shanghai-based artist Lu Yang may have provided an answer with UterusMan. I am reticent to describe or comment on the video in too much detail since it is such an affecting experience. However, it is a fascinating thought-experiment. UterusMan is a superhero, but he is divested of the muscularity that is so often employed to denote masculine might in the comic-book context: his power instead emanates from his uterus (and his Pelvis Chariot, of course). Via his radically re-sexed body - which disassociates birth from the genital region - UterusMan produces weapons. The latter evinces that this is not an unabashed celebration of birth-as-power, but rather an exploration into alternative perspectives on pregnancy in a hypothetical post-sex epoch. UterusMan's violence stems more from his essence as a superhero rather than his essence as a man, since his biological sex defies the "male/female" dichotomy: even though he is explicitly called UterusMan and has XY Chromosomes, he also has a vagina.

For more on Lu's intense body-related art work, visit this article and her Vimeo page.

15 Second Review: Hitman: Absolution (Xbox 360)

The premise may not be overly pleasant insofar as it is oriented around murdering (at least a handful of) people, yet Hitman is principally a strategy game. It is possible to rampage through, but doing so leaves the game feeling hollow. The narrative alone is certainly not strong enough to sustain one's interest in the material. The game leads the player towards committing multiple homicides inasmuch as one's progression is marked by taking out targets, but success is measured by stealth. The game is "about" skulking in corners, ducking into air-vents, and above all waiting... hours of waiting. That might not sound especially fun to FPS fanatics, but I had a blast. Where the game really comes to life is in its challenge mode. Each hit has a number of possible permutations and extra challenges (such as not using disguises). These options have always been part of the Hitman experience, but Absolution benefits from its challenge list/reward system which incentivises repeat plays and exploration. Absolution has been received negatively in some quarters (Io-Interactive even offered an apology of sorts following accusations of "suckery"), but having played the previous Hitman games again recently, the purists seem to be either mis-remembering the previous Hitman games - which are nowhere near as smooth or rich as Absolution - or are biased against change per se. Absolution is one of the best games I have played on the 360, and is easily the best in the franchise so far. The next-gen Hitman game is rumoured to be an open sandbox experience. I just hope the developers retain the challenge list system to highlight some of the many options the game offers.

Faux Fulci Videogames

Some of the graphics are clearly more 16-Bit than they are 8-Bit, but this is still lovely work. What could be better than a video game of The Beyond, in which (presumably) the player wanders around aimlessly because the game MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL? The music is fantastic: I'd love to see a cut of City of the Living Dead with an NEScore.

Atari Porn Games that Time Forgot

Check out this awesome article about old Atari porn games. http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/322710/red-hot-blocky-porn-atari-s-lost-adult-titles
Proof that being good graphics are not necessary in order to supply graphic content.

Raid II: the 8 Bit Game

I love an 8-bit game, even if it is pastiche. As part of the promotional campaign for The Raid II (which has received glowing reviews all-round), an 8-bit style game has been created. Apparently it only works on Google Chrome at the moment, but any Chrome users who fancy an "old skool" side-scrolling brawler in the vein of Kung Fu Master can check out the game here.

http://theraidarcade.com/#/

Censorship: Dangerous Games Documentary

 

A lovely little 8 minute documentary about the censoring of the "horror" game Night Trap

Trailer Trash: Paperboy 3

I've seen too many videogame to movie adaptations that have fallen flat. Mortal Kombat, Mario, Streetfighter, House of the Dead... I feel sullied even thinking about it.

Then along comes this awesome trailer for Paperboy 3: if only this were real.

Rambo Videogame Shifts Series' Violent Aesthetic...Again

A while back, I wrote an article in  New Review of Film and Television Studies about the Rambo series - having seen all of the Rambo films together for the first time in my late 20s, I was struck by how radically the approach to depicting violence shifted across the sequels. Of particular note is the most recent film (Rambo), which is jaw-droppingly bloody. A couple of years later, and the aesthetic has shifted again: the Rambo Videogame is due out in 2014. Although the game's plot is based around the first three films, the approach to violence is clearly aligned with the fourth film's "splattery" ethos. I am intrigued to see whether the game also ditches the comic-book storytelling of First Blood: Part 2 in favour of Rambo's grim tone.

8-Bit Version of The Shining

Maybe not quite as creepy as Kubrick's, but it has a pumping soundtrack

RIP Hiroshi Yamauchi

I don't really do obituaries, but Hiroshi Yamauchi dies today, age 85. Hiroshi was president of Nintendo from 1949-2002, overseeing the launch of the Famicom (NES), Gameboy and SNES,  not to mention Mario Bros. Without Hiroshi, I would have undoubtedly read more books in my youth, but my hand-eye co-ordination would be severely lacking. 任天堂

Cultural Oddities: Some German Guy...

 

...plays TMNT on the Gameboy. It is no secret that I love TMNT and 8-bit gaming, but I found this video really funny.

Mario Piano Double Whammy

For anyone who hasn't seen this classic, the Blindfolded Pianst plays themes from Mario. Keep watching until the end, since he plays one of the themes from Mario 3 superfast, and then at double speed. Seriously, I can't move my arm that quickly, let alone moving it with enough accuracy to hold a tune.

For anyone wishing to test their blindfold mettle, the sheet music for various Mario themes can be found here: http://www.mariopiano.com/

 

 

Forgotten Nightmare on Elm Street PC Game

Check out http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/freddy-pcgame/ for a detailed synopsis of this rad Nightmare on Elm Street PC game - it includes a download link so you too can play the game. It beats the hell out of the NES Elm Street game

Elm Street NES Intro Screen

Here is another awesome piece of Nintendo history - the intro sequence form the (poor) Elm Street game

Gremlins 2 NES Advert

A wonderful piece of advertising history: a full commercial for Gremlins 2 on the NES

Time for Tubby Bye-Bye

Die Teletubbies, Die. Thou art sooooo 1997.

Street Fighter Arcade History from 1987 to 2010

Check out this rad history of Streetfighter arcade game development. A wonderful snapshot of how computer graphics and trends in gameplay have changed over 20+ years