The blowup this week over gun-camera footage showing an Army operation raised comparisons to “video game-like” behavior by the men pulling the triggers. NPR’s “On the Media” looked at this controversy and the relationships among games, tactics and weapons systems.
NPR revisits the controversy behind Atomic Games’ Six Days in Fallujah once again, presenting a strong argument in favour of the release of the “game-amentary.”
Another new concept we’re trying out for our expanded weekend coverage is the Weekend Reader, where we excerpt a well-written long-form piece on a subject in gaming and invite readers to discuss it.
I’ve made fun of NPR more than my fair share, but Heather Chaplin recently did an interesting piece regarding the “games that got away.” About 7 minutes of radio gives credit to three incredible games we’ve seen this year: Portal, Everyday Shooter, and Desktop Tower Defense.
It’s worth listening to just to hear Jonathan Mak call Everyday Shooter a “celebration of geometric sexuality.” And, of course, I don’t know that any Kotaku readers have overlooked any of these three games—but in case you have, yeah, it’s time to check them out. I just wish that the radio piece said a little less about GLaDOS, since her evolution of character is one of the most fascinating and surprising (yet gloriously inevitable) elements of Portal. Still, hopefully well-written stories like this on NPR help these games sink into the mainstream consciousness as much as they have our own.
For those who may not have wasted away the weekend with a bottle of Jack and their favourite National Public Radio programming, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell made an appearance to celebrate the 35th anniversary of PONG. In his short interview, he talked about things like the public reaction to Pong “How does the tv station know what I’ve turned this knob?” before taking a few shots at the violent and complex games that followed. Listening to the interview feels a lot like eating the comforting, nostalgic food that only your mum could make right, and then cracking a carton of decade-old, freezer burned ice cream for dessert. Still, it’s worth a listen.
Pong: The Ping Heard ‘Round the World [via vh1gamebreak][image]
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