Boycott Modern Warfare 2, play The Strike
instead!

What the world needs is more fishing games and less violent first-person shooters. Take my good friend and Dtoid community member, SnakeDude4life. The screeching sounds of gunfire and the metal dings of bouncing grenades are now silenced by the long hours of relaxing Bass fishing. This poor boy's mind has been polluted and deranged with violent video games and next-generation graphics of death and destruction. Luckily for you and him, it's nothing that hours of daily therapy with Bass Pro Shops: The Strike can't heal.

Let me, help you, help yourself.

Be the 200th comment and you too can begin the healing process of scraping away the thousands of hours of mental strain that's caked onto your feeble gaming mind. Here's your chance to win the ultimate therapeutic package! We'll ship one lucky winner, Bass Pro Shops: The Strike for the Xbox 360 including the "rod & reel" fishing-rod peripheral. All it takes is admitting you have a problem.

Do yourself a favor, bring out your inner SnakeDude4life, and be the 200th comment.

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Gamers Need to Send the Right Signals

 If we ask for a game in which Broccoli Man and his sidekick Bariatric Bob beat the hell out of overweight kids to defeat Dr. Obesity, and Square Enix makes it, then we?d better buy it or at least hold off on the complaints. If we?re clamoring for something new and somebody finally tries a [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.backhandofjustice.com/gamers-need-to-send-the-right-signals/

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ChipTuesday: Got 121 seconds We've got a
chiptune doc.

video details and more



DEADBEATBLAST is featured in this short but entertaining "mini documentary" about chiptunes and a street performance in Toronto.  Keep an eye out for the awesome custom painted NES at the very beginning.

via 8bitcollective

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Monthly Musings: do the wrong thing

_{Every month, the Destructoid Monthly Musing topic gives community members the ability to have their work posted on the Dtoid front page.}

Evil.

It's ubiquitous. It's poorly-defined. It's sexy. And, depending on who you talk to, it's a common ingredient in most video games.

From Shadow of the Colossus to the (admittedly out of context) snippet of Modern Warfare 2 we saw a couple weeks ago, modern games are showing a greater willingness to force the player into compromising situations, and either ask, allow, or encourage them to do that which two decades of heroic plumbers and one-dimensional villains have implicitly taught us never to do: to commit evil acts.

Sometimes, games ask us to do evil out of necessity (Far Cry 2); sometimes, out of love (Shadow of the Colossus); and sometimes, because it's just plain goddamn funny (Dungeon Keeper). This month's musing topic is meant to make you consider how the concept of doing the "wrong" thing has infiltrated modern gameplay, and the subsequent implications.

Hit the jump for a further explanation of the theme.

Go to our cblogs, get an account, and when you write your post make sure to title it "The wrong thing: blah blah blah" and choose the "monthly assignment" post tag.

You can take this month's theme in several directions.

What does "evil" even mean in regards to videogames, where violence is our primary mode of expression? Is Nathan Drake "evil" just because he kills a lot of people? If not, why not? And if so, does this really matter all that much since "it's just a game"?

Which evil-centric games utilize concepts of selfishness or immorality in interesting ways? What do they offer that less morally ambiguous games do not?

The medium being as demonized as it is by the mainstream news outlets and trigger-happy politicians, what is the place of horrifying or evil gameplay in modern design? Much of the community has been talking around this issue in regard to the leaked MW2 video, and you could take it in a direction of your choosing once the game's actually out.

Any questions/comments/whatever?

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Once Upon a Pixel: Katamari Damacy

Once Upon a Pixel kicks off its official first season with an episode based on Katamari Damacy! Except this time, it's not a bright and happy videogame about consumerism. You see, in the world of Once Upon a Pixel, Katamari is called Death Ball. It is a dark story about death and revenge, conveyed through the medium of comics.

Okay, so it might sound a bit silly, but Katamari Damacy makes a lot more sense as a hard-boiled graphic novel than you may think. Head on over to Gametrailers to see for yourself!

If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes of OUP are now scheduled to debut on the first Monday of every month! And, as always, stay tuned to Destructoid for exclusive looks at the art behind the episodes.

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Iwata: Wii situation cannot be defined as healthy

It's no secret that the Wii isn't the scarce object of lust that once it was, now freely available to purchase and no longer selling out everywhere in the world. Nintendo, of course, does not like this and boss man Satoru Iwata has voiced his dismay, along with a determination to reignite the waggle box's fire.

"As you probably know, the current situation of Wii cannot be defined as healthy," explains Iwata, talking about the system's Japanese sales performance. "The price cut seems to have the least impact here than other parts of the world. It is our urgent mission to recover the momentum of Wii during the holidays utilizing Nintendo’s strength."

While I respect the humility on Iwata's part, let us not forget that the Wii has had a ludicrously popular few years and a drop like this should be expected. I dare say that nearly everybody who ever wanted a Wii has one by now. It's not like Nintendo can keep the same sales figures consistently until the end of time.

This seems to be a rather cunning way for Nintendo to show off, acting like the Wii has set such high standards in the past that even selling thousands of systems a week is some sort of failure. Iwata, you cheeky scamp, I'm onto your tricks!

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