Kinsman

This image was part of an advertisement for educational software back in the 80s. I forget which company exactly, it might have been Spinnaker.

Man, I wanted to play Space Turkeys for real, it looked pretty cool.

I remember getting that game, and being annoyed that you couldn't set your character's skin and hair colour - nothing would happen when you clicked those buttons. A patch to the game came out quickly, though, so I was happy to download it and have some character customization.

The patch disabled and greyed out those buttons.

How about an MMORPG with a real treadmill?

"air a half-hour special at midnight called: Halo 3 Launched. That program will feature a performance by Linkin Park."

COVEEEENANT INNNN MY SKINNNNNNN
THESE WOUNDSSS THEY WILLLLL NOT HALOOOOOO

You mentioning Shakespeare being universal reminded me of something.

Take a look at "Shakespeare in the Bush"..

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/home/idris/Essays/Shakes_in_Bush.htm

(To be honest, I think this is a problem inherent in the industry itself. Think about it - we refer to our art as video *games*. Games. I think that, to truly bring about a revolution in interactive art, we need to change that perception - and fundamental nature - of video games as a whole...but that's a conversation for another day.)

Perhaps, but keep in mind that other art forms are known by undignified names as well - "movies". "Novel". Movies and novels do have alternate names of "cinema" and "literature", but the casual terms are more common.

I don't think we need to send the industry on a mission to turn video games into, I dunno.. "interactive storytelling", as Bioshock press releases put it? Just have some dedicated artists make some good and serious video games, and things will change naturally over time, just like any other artform that moved from purely entertainment to reputable capital-A Art.

Next month, Automatic Mario will simulate the logic circuitry of a four-function calculator.

Even with its problems, Rockstar, thank you; every art form needs to be dragged through a valley of trouble and controversy before it matures into something respected and true, and however clumsily, you were the agent of the beginning.

"Keep Peter Moore, get rid of Jeff Bell." And then a picture of Jeff Bell's smiling face.

As far as heckling goes, that was pretty mild. Hard to tell apart from an ordinary opinion, really. And if the heckling comes from just letting the photo speak for itself - well, Mr. Bell, *you're* the one who smiled for it.

It's just strange that he decided to talk back on some Internet insult. And on such a mild one, at that.

On the other hand, gruesome deaths weren't all *that* common in Fallout - they only became so if you chose the "Bloody Mess" perk when you were creating their character. I remember one interview with a Bethesda developer, though, where they claimed that Fallout was all about that "Bloody Mess".

Bethesda seems to be trying to remain faithful to the Fallout license, but it's skewed by their opinions; they seem to like the flashy, surface aspects of the game and play them up, at the expense of the more sober, tragic, or intellectual aspects.