The extremely violent and sadistic sequel to controversial horror epic Manhunt, Manhunt 2, on the 20 July 2007 became the first game in over a decade to be refused a rating by the British Board of Film Classification.
The game has players help a deranged scientist to escape asylum and then go on the run, on his way commiting random acts of violence particularly against pimps and prostitutes. the BBFC stated it had no direction other than an unrelenting focus on brutal slaying.
It has been heavily criticised by parents across the UK, with some of them citing that it 'no-one should be allowed to view such inhumane acts of violence and gore, least of all a child'. The game came further into disrepute when a boy, who claimed to have been influenced by the original Manhunt, killed one his friends.
The fact that children, young children, can get online and get their hands on technology such a this shows the serious flaws that the rapidly expanding technology industry has. it suggests and displays acts that are not legal, let alone a regular occurance, within our society and these norms should not be available to affect the minds of young children.
Games are certfified according to the age for which they are suitable, so although Rockstar games disagreed with the decision, the BBFC pointed out that the game was the first in 10 years to be banned, proving just how twisted and sadistic the content was.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Swat Rock Interactive Gym
There is a third product in this saga of the virtual fitness world. The Clifton Leisure Centre, is currently offering the Swat Rock Interactive Gym application. Unlike the others, it is not yet available for you to have it in the comfort of your own home. It invloves playing phyiscally challenging games under the watchful eye of a qualified instructor.
It consists of 8 dance mats, two game walls and a specially modified PS3 on which you play things like racing games, but without using your thumbs as is the norm with traditional console controllers, you use your entire upper body to steer the car.
The programme follows a conventional method of training, e.g. startin with a warm up then completing the main activities, taking breaks and cooling down at the end. however the activities consist of things like, 15 minutes on the dance mat, then throwing bean bags at the game wall in correspondance with the flashing coloured lights.
this revelutionary technology not only helps you with your general fitness in a fun hearty environment, but it works to improve factors such as your co-ordination and balance. Those who take part in the programme swear by it and say that when they come out they feel as if they have done a full gym workout.
It consists of 8 dance mats, two game walls and a specially modified PS3 on which you play things like racing games, but without using your thumbs as is the norm with traditional console controllers, you use your entire upper body to steer the car.
The programme follows a conventional method of training, e.g. startin with a warm up then completing the main activities, taking breaks and cooling down at the end. however the activities consist of things like, 15 minutes on the dance mat, then throwing bean bags at the game wall in correspondance with the flashing coloured lights.
this revelutionary technology not only helps you with your general fitness in a fun hearty environment, but it works to improve factors such as your co-ordination and balance. Those who take part in the programme swear by it and say that when they come out they feel as if they have done a full gym workout.
Virtual Gym Online
Another new phenomenon in the same area of the market as the Wii Fit is the Virtual Gym. it is a CD/DVD like all fitness programmes. It claims to have the best instructors in the UK and you can have these masters of fitness in your home.
Unlike other, more conventional, fitness programmes where the instructor leading the routine goes at one pace and you at home are expected to keep up it doesn't have a fixed programme. There is a on screen libary of classes to suit everyones capabilities and needs. You chose the exercises that you feel suit you and you do them in your own time and at your own pace, stopping when your tired or at the end you can compile a programme that is tailored to your prefernces. Also by putting it onto a CD you can take it wherever you go. This shows how versatile technology has become in the last 10-15 years.
The programme even acts as a personal trainer. It asks you questions on your health, lifestyle, fitness and diet and processes this inforrmation in order to suggest a programme that will suit you. The added bonus is that if you feel that you are not doing the positions corresctly or if you missed a part of the routine, then as it is a DVD, you can easily rewind and double check to make sure.
The response for the new product was very positive. Although the results may not be as positive as if you go to an actual class but it makes it alot easier for those people whos life does not allow enough time to do regular exercise.
There was one minor criticism in that the programme, does not have a system in order for you to keep track of your progress, so if you are progressing, there is no way of knowing what level you have reached.
Unlike other, more conventional, fitness programmes where the instructor leading the routine goes at one pace and you at home are expected to keep up it doesn't have a fixed programme. There is a on screen libary of classes to suit everyones capabilities and needs. You chose the exercises that you feel suit you and you do them in your own time and at your own pace, stopping when your tired or at the end you can compile a programme that is tailored to your prefernces. Also by putting it onto a CD you can take it wherever you go. This shows how versatile technology has become in the last 10-15 years.
The programme even acts as a personal trainer. It asks you questions on your health, lifestyle, fitness and diet and processes this inforrmation in order to suggest a programme that will suit you. The added bonus is that if you feel that you are not doing the positions corresctly or if you missed a part of the routine, then as it is a DVD, you can easily rewind and double check to make sure.
The response for the new product was very positive. Although the results may not be as positive as if you go to an actual class but it makes it alot easier for those people whos life does not allow enough time to do regular exercise.
There was one minor criticism in that the programme, does not have a system in order for you to keep track of your progress, so if you are progressing, there is no way of knowing what level you have reached.
South Korean Gaming leads the way.
- Gaming is a highly developed market in South Korea and is experiencing a huge boom at the moment.
- The gamers, who contest the complex real-time strategy game, Starcraft, are celebrities in their own right. They are mobbed by teenage girls, they have their own clothing lines, and many of them are millionaires.
- To put Korean gaming into perspective, baseball's (South Korea's national sport) Grand FInal two years ago attracted 25,000 fans, whereas the Starcraft Final, which ran on the same weekend, had 100,000 spectators.
- The unreal tournament 3 contest is merely a quiet taster for what is to come from the korean faction of gaming.
- The excessive skill of the korean players means that they adopt the skills necessary to succeed in unreal tournament, something that the english champions take years to master to their full potential.
- They have made sure, with the obscene amount of money pumped into this industry, that Pro gaming could quite easily be the next big World Wide sports property and craze, with predictions that the sport and its players could reach the dizzy heights of professional Football.
Gaming Gets UNREAL!
- Unreal Tournament is an online MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role playing game) and europes best gamers came to Wembley Stadium to play Unreal Tournament 3 and in the process battle it out for a share of £50,000.
- 200 gamers contest the prize, with the winner of the one-on-one tournament collecting 20,000 and the winners of the 5-on-5 contest picking up 30,00 between them.
- eSports (pro gaming) is huge in the UK. most players are semi-professional at best due to the paultry amount of money involved, howecer many spend entire weekends playing in LAN tournaments. this shows the influence the internet has.
- Some playeers are as young as 16. Play.com hosted a massove gaming event with a wall of 44 interconnected PC's with a pro gamer glued to each one. there are up to 20,00 vistors come to watch these furious concebtrating 'geeks'.
- in the US, eSportsmen do battle in the Championship Gaming Series, run by Fox Sports, contesting a gross $500,000 top prize. many of the top gamers are contracted to this tournament. Fox Chairman David uses the gaming series as sport to combat such attractions as ESPN's BMX championships, the X-Games.
- he saw it, that if he bought the rights to host thst the sports, and brought it to the summit of sports entertainment, then he would effectively own a part of it, making it a great money earner.
- Championship Gaming tournaments and leagues are shown on primetime TV, on DirecTv in the U.S.A, Sky in the UK, and Star in the Far East, which gives it a potential audience of 350 million people.
- Also hugely popular in the US is Major League Gaming, which puts on glitzy pro-gaming events in cities up and down North America - attracting 10,000 spectators a time.
SpongeBob is the real online threat to our kids
It emerged recently that the real threats that parents should be worrying whrn their kids log onto the net, are harmless childrens TV characters such as SpongeBob Squarepants. Kids television companies have takken to the web in order to expand their empires and keep up with the market. Kids are so obsessed with their online profiles and 'commitments that the best way to reach them is online. You are practically printing your brand on the audiences eyeballs.
Disney did the same thing last year with their introduction of child-friendly world Club Penguin. and Nintendo did it with Neopets, which is now nursing a community of more than 45 million users. So now Nickelodeon, who have already created a virtual word named Nicktropolis, are set to launch a further to, in order to solidify their comsumption. the first, will be based on the surreal world of SpongeBob and the second named Monkey World. The SpongeBob phenomenon is set to continue as SponeBob's virtual world is looking to be scarily huge.
At present, there is a new virtual world aimed at the youth culture being created everyday, everyone desperate to send their busimess to the top of the media pile. The approach has changed drastically. There is no reward for probing kids from a TV set anymore, its about enticing them where they spend most of their time, online, creating a world for them and subtly dropping hints and messages for them to pic up on. and if you can't create a virtual world for yourself, advertise elsewhere.
it is acary how easily it is for these corporate giants to reach the youth community of today. They can develop poiwerful connections with their audiences. this makes it very easu to manipulate childrens imagintive and curious minds.
Disney did the same thing last year with their introduction of child-friendly world Club Penguin. and Nintendo did it with Neopets, which is now nursing a community of more than 45 million users. So now Nickelodeon, who have already created a virtual word named Nicktropolis, are set to launch a further to, in order to solidify their comsumption. the first, will be based on the surreal world of SpongeBob and the second named Monkey World. The SpongeBob phenomenon is set to continue as SponeBob's virtual world is looking to be scarily huge.
At present, there is a new virtual world aimed at the youth culture being created everyday, everyone desperate to send their busimess to the top of the media pile. The approach has changed drastically. There is no reward for probing kids from a TV set anymore, its about enticing them where they spend most of their time, online, creating a world for them and subtly dropping hints and messages for them to pic up on. and if you can't create a virtual world for yourself, advertise elsewhere.
it is acary how easily it is for these corporate giants to reach the youth community of today. They can develop poiwerful connections with their audiences. this makes it very easu to manipulate childrens imagintive and curious minds.
Kids help big boys to produce games
Microsofts Xbox 360, last week, made history by becoming the first of the leading consoles to host community - created games. they releasaed their XNA package two years ago allowing home coders and small syudios to write and create games without the enormous expense. these 'home made' games are now available for all gamers to try on microsofts online application Xbox Live.
Other leading gaming companies such as Sony, have tried before to market these community games, but without much success. Microsaft have succeeded as they have made the games available online, unlike Sony's Net Yaroze project. The only downfall in Microsafts plan is that there managed programming language, C#, slows the process down due to its continuous checks.
However depite Microsoft's 'love' of feeding the comunity, Xbox live arcade is not making the turnover they hoped. With games selling at just £5 a go it means professional developers are not willing to take a gamble. this means that there are alot of remakes being done e.g. Worms and Pacman: Championship Edition.
There has however, been some very good games produced by people involved in the scheme. Flow, Space Giraffe and Outpost Kaloki X are the main ones that spring to mind. If Microsoft, Sony and the likes want to stay atop the gaming mountain then they need these home coders to produce more of the hits that have been such secceeses. It's the kids Helping the BIG BOYS.
Other leading gaming companies such as Sony, have tried before to market these community games, but without much success. Microsaft have succeeded as they have made the games available online, unlike Sony's Net Yaroze project. The only downfall in Microsafts plan is that there managed programming language, C#, slows the process down due to its continuous checks.
However depite Microsoft's 'love' of feeding the comunity, Xbox live arcade is not making the turnover they hoped. With games selling at just £5 a go it means professional developers are not willing to take a gamble. this means that there are alot of remakes being done e.g. Worms and Pacman: Championship Edition.
There has however, been some very good games produced by people involved in the scheme. Flow, Space Giraffe and Outpost Kaloki X are the main ones that spring to mind. If Microsoft, Sony and the likes want to stay atop the gaming mountain then they need these home coders to produce more of the hits that have been such secceeses. It's the kids Helping the BIG BOYS.
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