Just had to post about these awesome video game themed quilts, pillows and other assorted handicrafts!!!


Yes that's right, you can get a Raccoon Luigi quilt for $90 plus $16 shipping. Ridiculous or ridiculously cool??

CNN published an article today, "Developer explores the softer side of gaming", which basically reinforces the idea that (a) games are generally perceived as hyper-masculine or hyper-feminine and (b) that news sources really are out of touch with the video game industry. But let's start from the beginning.

The article highlights Kellee Santiago, a woman with pink hair who went to NYU Tisch, who founded thatgamecompany, a game development company that has created the games "Flower", "Flow", and "Cloud", all of which were very popular and are deemed "a gentler side of gaming" by the reporter.

The article goes on to describe Flower - "In "Flower," the player journeys through an imaginary landscape where they can blow breezes, collect flower petals and enjoy the colorful landscape of what Santiago says is a "video game version of a poem"".

Not that I'm saying I have a problem with these ideas - they are all visually very pretty games and obviously popular - upon Flower's release gaming sites like IGN gave it a 9/10 and Flow, as freeware, attracted 350,000 downloads within the first 2 weeks of its download. Not bad for a game that "involves the player guiding an aquatic microorganism through various depths of the ocean to consume other organisms and to evolve their organism as the player advances".

My issue with this article is that it suggests these types of games are a new wave - a movement away from what the article unfortunately describes as "slay and spray" games. Now I'm not a huge 1st person shooter player but at the same time there are games in between gore-fests and collecting flower petals. What about classic games like Mario, Zelda, RPGs, puzzle games, casual games, social games? Why is this woman being written about when honestly there have been plenty of developers with ideas like hers (Will Wright of The Sims and of sim games???)? Is CNN just interested in this woman's story because its so extreme? "A video game version of a poem? Come on. Gross.

The point is, while those 3 games are definitely worth checking out, we as consumers of media and video game players alike need to continue supporting a wide range of games and need to help push general media to understand that gamers aren't cut out of just two cloths - hyper-masculine "slay and spray" or hyper-feminine "video game versions of poems".

Columbine, Jokela, and now Albertville-Realschule; all have been settings of poignant acts by disturbed individuals. No one ever wants this to occur to friends, family or themselves. To prevent such tragedies from reoccurring we try to understand why the events played out as they did and what caused them. The natural tendency is to point fingers, at times without properly investigating the incident, and putting an end to those variables. Unfortunately due to such hasty assertions, when this occurs, the wrong persons or things are held liable.

I was following along on CNN, the events unfurling in Winnenden, Germany, when I came across an article written by Angela Merkel. Overall she did a good job of informing the reader of what occurred and how Germans are now dealing with the situation. Regretfully though, she made an either lackadaisical or calculated comment. She states, “Police said Thursday that 15 guns had been found at the killer's home and violent video games.” To me this accusation is completely and utterly appalling, especially considering the platform as to which this “journalist” was given to tell her story. This ad lib leads one to believe that the author of the story is insinuating that “violent video games” had as much a hand in the murders committed by this individual as the firearms.

This argument has been had time and again over the past couple of decades. And instead of “wowing” you with statistics comparing studies of video gamers and violent tendencies (which are low) opposed to low income neighborhoods and violence (which are high), I am going to give you my 2 cents.

If you read my first blog here on “8 Bits” you know that I grew up playing “Wolfenstien 3D” and “Doom”. I have also played many other violent video games; ranging from spray and plays like the GTA to strategic games like Rainbow Six. But why stop at video games? Why not blame TV shows like the “Sopranos” when ever they drag a body out of the Hudson River; or books like “The Catcher and the Rye” when a musician is assassinated; or Darudes music when a speeder commits vehicular manslaughter. I have watched, read, and listened to all of these medias and I have never committed a violent crime in my life, in fact, for four years I did the exact opposite. My point is that you can not blame anything or anyone else but the individual, and maybe, maybe the parents, for the acts committed. Over simplifying the situation to something as elementary as a source of past time, whether it be books, music, or video games, is not going to make the event any less tragic. And it will most definitely not prevent a violent episode such as this from reoccurring.

So when Angela Merkel decided to write that naïve sentence she helped no one, if anything, she actually misinformed people on two fronts: Those trying to understand what happened at Albertville-Realschule high school and those who are new to or do not totally understand the world of video gaming.