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What happens if the developers who made the 80’s classic Frogger, had the idea of Grand Theft Auto long before Rockstar? Dane Boe, who created the video above, has the answer on what the gameplay would be like.
Video of the Day is a feature of /gamer showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at slashgamer@gmail.com
Last night during The Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien made a joke about how a new statistic which proves the elderly are underrepresented in videogames. Apparently Rockstar is going to try and change this perception. But, I don’t think I want to play this ‘new’ game.
Check out the joke up top.
The man who created Lemmings and the first Grand Theft Auto, has been told by more than one person that GTA was a lot like Pac-Man. As far out as that sounds, he somewhat tries to makes sense out of it.
“People said to me that GTA was just like Pac-Man — he eats the dots, while you drive over the dots in GTA. The police chase you like the ghosts in Pac-Man.”
I can kinda see what he’s talking about, especially if you only count the original Grand Theft Auto and the second one. Those games didn’t have the glorious 3D graphics the series has been known for now, but a 2D overhead point of view. Although I’m pretty sure being that vague, you could easily find quite a few games that are ’similar.
In February, we told you about how Penn & Teller were going to dedicate a full episode about video games on ‘Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.’ We found out that the episode would try to disprove that videogames were harmful to children. It was also said that everyone’s favorite disbarred lawyer Jack Thompson, would be interviewed on the show and obviously speak out against the gaming industry. A promo trailer was released and it shows Jacko speak briefly and says:
“Grand Theft Auto is the worst assault on children since polio.”
Up top is a promo for season 7, and I guess it’s NSFW because Penn says “Bullshit” several times.
Thanks to gaygamer for the video.
Funny People is an upcoming film which is written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow (40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up). The movie stars Adam Sandler, who plays a successful comedian named George Simmons, who learns that he has contracted a inoperable blood disease and is given a year until he dies.
One night, Simmons watches a struggling comedian Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), and hires him to be his personal assistant, as well his opening act. During their time together, the two build a bond and a close relationship throughout the film. Although the story sounds depressing, remember, it is directed by Apatow — so expect some big laughs.
A few trailers have been released, but this TV spot we embedded up top which came from traileraddict, has a video game reference. 15 seconds into the clip, Seth Rogan makes a joke to one of his co-workers, played by RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, that revolves around Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto.
Watch the trailer above and not just the video game mention because the movie really does look great.
One of my favorite show’s on TV is “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” on Showtime. In case you’re not familiar with the series; the show is a weekly documentary that tries to debunk myths and/or beliefs of the general public — generally from a libertarian point of view. Although I don’t always agree with their opinions, I find the episodes entertaining nonetheless.
With that said, Penn & Teller have confirmed that they are having an episode of their upcoming season about video game violence and the affect it has on children. The show has already interviewed everyone’s favorite disbarred lawyer Jack Thompson, who is known as the real life bad guy in the gaming community.
However, according to GamePolitics.com, the crew just finished interviewing co-author of Grand Theft Childhood, Dr. Cheryl Oldson. The book is about how blaming video games first when a child commits a crime is well…ridiculous.
During a recent post on twitter, Penn Jillette wrote about the video game episode:
We’re taping “Video Game Violence” BS. A first-person shooter game where you get to be BS “Penn”. My Father-in-law got to get shot.
Season 7 for Penn & Teller: BullShit! should start mid-2009.
After missing the school bus, a 6-year-old boy from Virginia decided that he didn’t want to miss school. So, like any other responsible kid, he took his parents’ sedan and drove himself while they were asleep. The Associated Press reports the boy, whose name was not released, made two 90-degree turns, passed a few cars and ran off the road until he hit an “embankment,” near the school.
After thw crash, the boy (who we named Awesome) got out of the vehicle and proceed to walk into the school building.
“He was very intent on getting to school,” said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. “When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE.”
“Awesome” told the police he learned his driving ability by playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam. Now, we haven’t play ‘Truck Jam,’ but the way he drove is exactly how we drive in Grand Theft Auto — so we believe him!
His parents are both being charged with ‘child endangerment.’ However, it’s not clear if the charges brought to them because he was driving the car or because he played GTA. We all know people go crazy when they find children playing a rated ‘M’ game; especially when it is Grand Theft Auto.
Not so long ago, the city of Chicago saw a major increase in violence in April 2008. The midwest metropolitan area had seen thirteen fatal shootings while almost forty shootings were reported. During the same time, Grand Theft Auto IV was about to be released on store shelves. Obviously, Take-Two was promoting the game as much as they could and some even were marketed on buses and billboards around the country.
Of course Chicago had to do something about the situation of the rise of gun violence and decided to blame the soon-to-be released GTA IV. They went so far to have any ads visible to the public taken down — while comparing the ads to porn and how porn would never be allowed to have any kind advertisements in public places. That included the same bus ads and billboards. Before the incident, Take-Two and the city agreed to a $300,000 contract to have the ads seen across the city, but because of the censorship, the Grand Theft Auto publisher had no choice — they had to sue.
Today we have word the Chicago Transit Authority and Take-Two are nearing a settlement but as of now, there are no details. It’s good to see another victory for a video game company, even though we would have rather seen Chicago just keep the ads and understand that censorship is actually worse than GTA — it’s good to know every time in the end, video games always win.
Maybe one day advocacy groups will know it’s pretty much impossible to censer any kind of speech…and just leave us alone.
An Illinois family are using the Grand Theft Auto defense yet again. But this time their not saying it corrupting youth, but actually ‘informing’ them. Around 9 p.m. on August 27, the Norris Family was on their way to visit relatives in Diamond, IL when the father, Robert Norris started to feel lightheaded while driving 55 to 60 mph and drifted of the road. Their Jeep Cherokee than proceed to flip four times and stopped into a ditch.
11 year-old Audrey quickly reacted and noticed the back window had been smashed and was able to crawl out of the vehicle, and managed to help her family get out one by one. The family thinks Audrey responded quickly to the situation because she knew when a car tips over in GTA — it explodes.
“She just knew, from playing ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ She saw on there that when a car rolls over, it can blow up. She knew that could happen to us.”
Okay, this is just ridiculous. I know every gamer wants to use this as a defense in an argument against anyone who feels GTA and video games in general are slowly killing children. It would be hypocritical for us to even use this in a debate. If we truly believe that games don’t influence kids to become future criminals, than it certainly wouldn’t have made this kid move any faster than she did. It’s human nature for us to react and save anyone we love who are in trouble. If the young girl didn’t play GTA (should she be anyway?), I have 100% confidence that she would have done the same thing.
And honestly, unlike in the old GTA world, when a car flips over, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to blow up.
Source: Kotaku
The consumer information site called, whattheyplay.com, asked a series of questions regarding what parents fear most about the activities of their children. The online poll that ran August 1-6th asked “what they’d be most concerned about their 17-year-old child indulging in while in a sleepover”. Here are the results.
49% smoking marijuana
19% playing Grand Theft Auto
16% watching porn
14% drinking beer
