Trim, and fit and ready to fight, the Week in Review is your round up of all the best news from the Escapist over the seven days. This week, Capcom defends itself against concerned clergymen, the “Many-Mario” equation is solved, Activision is sued, the Great Law-Devil rises and a horde of survivors take one a few lone zombies.
Capcom Disses Clergy
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is pretty old hat if you’re a gamer; zombies, raccoons, umbrellas, nothing we haven’t seen before. For the clergy however, it’s a much different story as three British religious leaders criticized the game for promoting interest in the occult. Capcom, being the master of diplomacy that it is, has gone to every length to reassure the Bishop Mark Bryant of Jarrow, Archdeacon Brian Smith and the Rt. Rev. John Goddard that they have nothing to worry about: “This is scaremongering and typical religious hysteria. You cannot blame society’s ills on video games. It’s just absurd.” Masterfully handled, I’m in awe. (link)
Miyamoto’s Myriad Marios
‘It’s-a me-a, Mario’ is a phrase that most gamers will be familiar with, although that’s largely because they’ll have heard it eighty bajillion times; but would it surprise you to learn that the surfeit of stout, nay portly, plumbers is deliberate? In a discussion between Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and head honcho Satoru Iwata, Miyamoto confessed his original plan for the character: “Well, I called him “Mr. Video”. My plan was to use the same character in every video game I made … I thought the way Hitchcock cropped up in all the films he directed was really cool! (laughs).” Thankfully, Miyamoto-san saw sense and didn’t put him in every game he would go on to make, but considering that Mario has tried his hand being a go kart driver, golfer, and doctor, it’s pretty much just splitting hairs by this point. (link)
Litigious Agoraphobe Sues Again
Erik Estavillo is well on his way to becoming a gamer meme, as he adds another feather to his cap of litigation. Not content with simply suing Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft for a bevy of weird and wonderful reasons, he’s going after Activision-Blizzard because he fears that World of Warcraft may kill him and others who suffer from mental illness, because it alienates gamers from each other. It gets better though, as he’s called Winona Ryder and the guitarist from Depeche Mode as witnesses because he believes that they understand alienation. But Estavillo genuinely ill, or is he simply a pawn in an elaborate game? Our very own Malygris puts forward the idea that Estavillo might be in employ of EA’s marketing department and this might all just be an elaborate ad for Dante’s Inferno. Sure, it sounds crazy, but it’s not impossible… (link)
Law Devil vs Mewtwo: FIGHT!
Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson plans to challenge the OFLC’s decision to allow the sale of Modern Warfare 2 with a MA15+ rating. According to the Great Law Devil, the OFLC is playing fast and loose with the rules in order to accommodate the gaming industry. “Expecting game designers to be responsible by not glorifying terrorism will always lead to disappointment,” he told Gamespot Australia, “I worry about any game that encourages gamers to perpetrate extreme violence and cruelty on screen, but this game [Modern Warfare 2] allows players to be virtual terrorists and gain points by massacring civilians.” According to the Classification Review Board, the body to which the Law Devil would have to complain, Atkinson will not get any special treatment because of his position, which I totally believe. Honest. In related news, would you like to buy some magic beans? (link)
Left 4 and 4 and 4 and 4 Dead
The four in Left 4 Dead is more than just lazy ‘text speak’ on Valve’s part, it also represents a philosophy, an ideology if you will, of four survivors alone against the endless zombie horde. Once you start to tinker with that, well, let’s just say the zombie hordes are much less frightening when you bring fifteen well armed buddies along: “Rochelle has startled the witch, no, not that Rochelle, that Rochelle. Oh, never mind, the witch is dead now anyway. Anyone hurt? No? Good. Company, move out!” Hit the link for a video of exactly what Left 16 Dead looks like. (link)
