Snakes On A Plain Biscuit

You’ve seen the movie Snakes On A Plane, right? No, me neither. It is by all accounts a terrible film however, that only got made due to internet hype that never translated into ticket sales. A shoddy unprofessional effort, that somehow snagged Samuel L. Jackson so it had a professional, talented face to show to the world. This reminds me of the games industry, and its laughable attempts to convince governments and mainstream media that it mass produces valid art.

Nintendo blocks flashcarts on Wii and DSi

Contributing to the piracy prevention buzz currently circling consoles, Nintendo has waded back into the ring and stepped on the toes of the homebrew and software piracy scene with a new firmware update that has stopped flashcarts from working on the DSi and Wii.

Why we enjoy videogames

The point, I realised after I’d started typing this sentence, is that the fundamentals of how and why we enjoy gaming are much simpler than we may suspect. Staying with Red Dead Redemption for a moment; it’s a great story, some of the moral choices are interesting, and there are so many set objectives both big and small, it’ll take you dozens of hours to do everything. Not to mention the multiplayer modes. But come on; are you telling me you didn’t buy that game because you get to be a cowboy? Not at all? You get a horse and a lasso and everything!!

Raise Hope For Congo talk to Critical Gamer

“It is important to note that the Enough Project is not calling for a ban or boycott of Congolese minerals, which would hurt miners. Instead, we encourage the development of legitimate, conflict-free mineral supplies from Congo through the development of tracing and auditing.”

Grumpy Gurevitz: How to save a Seal.

Nintendo’s ‘seal of quality’ has traditionally been a badge, which reassured customers that software for their platform wouldn’t crash or damage their console. It was never meant to be a badge to guarantee the quality of the software. Yet, over the years, due to the large volume of quality titles that were released on Nintendo systems, it developed a following for meaning just that.

Congo war minerals in your console: Here’s how to tell them ‘no more’.

Last week, I wrote an article regarding the connection between videogame consoles and computers, and the war in the Congo – more specifically, people’s reactions to an article in Kotaku on the subject. Now, I am able to offer you a chance to show that you care.

E3: Conduit 2 Preview

Critical Gamer gets hands on with Conduit 2. Yes, they dropped the word “The” from their title. Seems weird. Oh, yeah. This was at E3.

The value of gaming > the value of human lives

What would it take to make you think about the fact that your gaming hobby might be contributing to real world suffering? An anonymous claim that the factory workers who make your discs are criminally underpaid? Reports of iphone factory – style suicides? Or how about this one, which there is reason to believe may be true: That your gaming consoles contain minerals mined to fund the devastating Congo war?

Super Mario Galaxy 2: review

The original Super Mario Galaxy was by far the best game on the Wii, and is also one of the greatest games of all time. Nintendo haven’t released a numbered sequel to a Mario game since Super Mario Bros 3 on the NES in 1989, so can this new entry hope to capture some of the original Galaxy’s magic stardust, or does it fall tragically into the black hole of identikit sequel?

The 3DS can’t fail

The 3DS is simply too good to be a failure

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