Jonathan Zabel

I was recently talking to the manager at my local EB Games and asked him how the new gaming laws impacted his store. He mentioned that, even though not strictly required to, he tells a parent why a game is a mature title before selling it to a minor. For example: "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is rated M (Mature 17+) because of: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content and Use of Drugs."

Despite this, these are the three responses he usually gets:
(a) I don't care.
(b) My kid already has Halo.
(c) So what? You see worse on TV.

This saddens me -- after all, it can't be easy to sell GTA to a seven-year-old child whose parents ignore the content.

Posted by Jonathan Zabel at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Normally, I don't consider SomethingAwful to be a particularly insightful source on any topic, let alone gaming journalism. Though the rest of the site is crude, I found their "Worst Gaming Articles of 2005" feature to bring up some good points. Take GameSpot's preview for Black and White 2, which celebrated the game as an amazing achievement before it was even released.

The SomethingAwful commentary reads:

Roger Ebert doesn't go to the set of "King Kong" and get the vapors over dolly shots. Leonard Maltin didn't ride a trained seal around the ocean during the filming of "Into the Blue" and start hooting "I smell Oscarrrrr!" over a bullhorn. Even cover articles full of huge pictures and adjective-laden text in Entertainment Weekly don't dare to claim that the movie is going to be great.

The Five Worst Gaming Articles of 2005
The Five Worst Gaming Articles of 2005 (The Final Battle)

Posted by Jonathan Zabel at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

GameSetWatch has an interesting article up about how casual games might go the way of Pac-Man after all the clones -- after all, when blatant-copy Roller Rush can surpass Diner Dash in popularity on Yahoo Games, where's the incentive in innovation?

Puzzloop or Zuma, Diner Dash Or Roller Rush?

Posted by Jonathan Zabel at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will be having its annual D.I.C.E. Summit (http://www.dicesummit.org/) this February 6-10 at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada. Key speakers this year include Richard Gariott, David Jaffe, Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, and Reginald Fils-Aime.

The Academy is looking for 4-6 students in the field of Interactive Entertainment to help with the event (travel expenses will be paid for). If you're interested, e-mail your resume to Geri Gordon Miller at geri@interactive.org.

See you at D.I.C.E.!

Posted by Jonathan Zabel at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)