Death Race. The first game to corrupt America's youth and corrode our great society.

So my buddy from the college days has a pretty great weekly video podcast called the Totally Rad Show. The show has made him a fairly internet famous, even allowing him to rub elbows with some of my heroes from the world of games industry journalism.

At any rate, I was on the phone today with my brother who was also a friend of Jeff's back in the old days. Anywhoo...my brother and I were talking about a recent episode of Jeff's show in which they discussed the recent 'drivin and shootin' film Death Race.

In their review they were talking about how it would be such a great video game. Actually Jeff invited me to see this movie with him, and it's too bad that I didn't go or else I could have made the joke that I'd been saving for just such an event. Which is basically that I'd say "not another video game movie!"

But this is a pretty obscure reference, which I'm not even sure Jeff would have understood, despite the fact that he is about the only other person I know of who can keep up with my constant nerd references and inside jokes.

So OK...keep up. Back in the 70s Roger Corman, famed horror film producer put out a little flick called Death Race 2000. This is the same flick which I would assume inspired the recent Death Race I haven't seen the newer version, but it's a safe bet to assume it's basically just "asplody" than the original but still just as "fun".

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Back in the 70s a little company called exidy created an Arcade machine based on the film which was simply called Death Race. By today's standards the game is primitive, basically imagine Atari's Gran Trak 10 with little stick Zombies for you to drive over:




However, Exidy helped to add to the game's gruesome atmosphere of the game by housing it in an arcade cabinet covered with creepy images of zombies, hot rods, and skeletons:



Long before the days of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap helped bring about the ESRB or Grand Theft Auto poured us some "Hot Coffee", Death Race was appearing on 60 minutes. Exidy tried to subdue the Parental outcry by claiming that the stick figures weren't humans but rather "ghouls", but eventually the game would have to be recalled.

So now flash forward to 2008. Ryan sees a preview for the new Death Race and thinks to himself, "ha it's another damn video game movie! too bad no one would get that joke." But maybe now, maybe my dear readers...you to can make that joke when you start seeing the film's DVD release being advertised at midnight on Spike TV. And like me you can look around hoping in vain that someone else will "get it".

Until then enjoy this video from the you tubes of some hot AZN CHIK and a NECK Bearded Bro playing death race around the :59 sec mark:

What's makes a game truly great chainsaws or chainmail bikinis?

Over on the Girls Entertainment Network, good old Aktrez has posted an interesting editorial on sex in games. While I suspect that it's as much about driving traffic to her site as it is about her interest in the subject, I was still compelled to leave a comment. It turned into such an epic that I decided to repost it here:

First off, I wouldn't say that there isn't also a lot of blowback about sexualized music and television pop culture.

Having worked at both a record store and a video rental store I can say that I heard a lot of vitriol and concern from parents when it came to sexual content. I can defiantly tell you that most parents at the video store could care less about graphic violence...but god forbid you recommend a move for the family that has even the remotest sexual content.

The same can be said for the sort of virgin slut pop starlets of the late 90s. I remember several parents trying to return britney and christina albums that heir daughters had purchased because they didn't approve of the message (such as it was).

having said that. I agree that the same attitude is present when it comes to the general publics view of video games.

but I think it's amplified for three reasons:

1. The average member of "the public" may not be as familiar with video games as they are with other forms of media (hence the popular "What ever happened to Pac Man?" mantra)

2. The perception by the average member of "the public" that video games are "for kids". I don't need to belabor this...you all know the reality is that much like other media Games are enjoyed by all sorts of people old and young, and like other media there are games for kids and there are games that are obviously only for adults.

3. This is the big one, interactivity. I think that the general public is most uncomfortable with the idea that games let you "act out" some of these acts. Take the Mass Effect flap. It seemed like much of the criticism was phrased to emphasize the fact that the player could "choose" to do all this crazy sex. And that the player "takes part" in rape etc.
There is something about interactivity that makes people uncomfortable.

like it's somehow less harmful for people to watch violent movies than it is for them to play violent games, because the interaction somehow trains or conditions them. The same goes for sex. I mean even I have to say that it'd be one thing to watch a movie about a sexually aggressive deviant than it would to actually play a game where I was behaving like a sexually aggressive deviant. Even if I know that I can tell the difference between right and wrong. the "free will" or "choice" aspect is a very powerful element of gaming that can not be underestimated.

In the end though it is basically our right to enjoy media that we pay for. If I want to play a bunch of deviant sex sims...or even if I just want to play a game that has mature themes of romance and love...then I have a right to do so without being legislated and persecuted for doing so.