Indiana Mom Uptight, Possibly Racist – Developers Respond

I made some posts about this ‘news’ story on Twitter a few days ago. The content of those posts isn’t quite suitable for the site as this sort of thing is offensive to me on several levels.

Of course a rational person hears that and thinks, “That sounds like baby garble.” not “OMFG! TERRORISTS IN TEH VIDEOGAMEZ!!!” Since rational people are few and far between here’s the response from Crave, who developed the game and responded promptly when GamePolitics asked them about it:

In creating the Nintendo DS game “Baby Pals”, the game developer Brain Toys / InXile used sounds files to simulate the life like baby noises and babbling. The sounds are publicly available for license. It is a recording of a 5 month old baby babbling non-intelligible phrases. In over 200 hours of testing the product, no recognizable English words or phrases were discernable.

The sound in question of this babble may sound like the words night, right or light, but it is only coincidence as the baby recorded was too young to pronounce these words let alone a whole grammatically correct phrase.

We at Crave Entertainment and InXile regret that there was any misinterpretation of the baby noises and in no way have intentionally put any words or phrases into the baby sounds.

We hope this eases any concerns and fans continue to enjoy playing the game.

For the lay folk “Publicly available for license” means they paid someone for the sounds, and those sounds came cheap, which explains why the same phrase turned up in other products.

The news story seemed to insinuate that this game isn’t E for Everyone because it “says” ‘Islam is the Light.” What if the baby said “There is one true God.” or “From Nile to Forth” or “Hail Eris” or “Aum Shiva” or (most disturbingly) “Let’s eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ!”

Boomer's Day Off Part 2

Be sure to keep an eye on kill9 Studios for more.

This Just In: Zombies Ahead!

Games Are Evil has reported “hackers” changed an Austin electronic road signs to read:

The Austin Transportation Authority  believes this is a hoax. I have just finished The Zombie Survival Guide. I know to expect confused media reports and denouncements from authorities. I’ll be heading to the Arctic Circle to build my fortifications. Zombies freeze solid in the cold. Be vigilant, be armed, be safe.

New NHR Video Podcast

It's Like the Gold Rush, Only Not

Bethesda Softworks’ award-winning RPG, “Fallout 3,” has already taken millions of gamers on a journey through a vividly-realized, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Now, exclusively on Microsoft Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows – LIVE, “Fallout 3” fans can travel back before the bombs dropped in the first piece of exclusive “Fallout 3” downloadable content, Operation: Anchorage.

Full of new weapons, characters, achievements and more, Operation: Anchorage takes gamers through the legendary battle of Anchorage, to combat the invading Chinese army and in the process learn the truth behind Fallout lore.

With hours of exciting gameplay for only 800 Microsoft points (less than the price of a movie ticket), Operation: Anchorage expands the “Fallout 3” story exclusively on Xbox LIVE, and as the first piece of premium content available on the new Games for Windows – LIVE Marketplace.

Enjoy your journey to Alaska. If you’d rather wait for our expert opinions I think Andrew will tell us how it is. Maybe.

Survival/Horror Demo Day

In the last 12 hours I’ve nabbed two demos, F.E.A.R. 2 off Steam and Resident Evil 5 from Xbox Live. I’d like to take a minute now to save you, the reader, some time later.

I played F.E.A.R. 2 alone at 2 am, in the dark with headphones turned way up. I suggest that’s how you approach it. I was pretty scared for a while, hesitant to open doors and progressing very slowly. Then I realized these ‘ghosts’ respond to bullets. By the time I was getting ok with the jHorror movie feel of the game I found myself in a giant mech suit which was nearly indestructible. I think this demo is worth checking out.

For RE5 I was playing mid day, with the room as dark as I made it. I don’t think playing at night would help this game since the story is set in daylight. I haven’t played RE since the second installment of the series. I’m a little surprised by how nicely the game has cleaned up for the current generation of consoles. That said, killing people that have plants growing from their necks isn’t very scary in a video game. If it were a book and I had to imagine what the characters are seeing this story being a decent read. With the gory details explicitly drawn out for me I wasn’t able to connect with the events of the story. In other words: This was not scary. The controls don’t really lend themselves to the close quarter situations you’ll find yourself in. I’m going to say it’s okay to pass up this demo.

Sony Vs. IGN: FIGHT!

Yesterday IGN cited “credible sources” when breaking a PSP2 rumor. Today “sources close to Sony” have told MCV:

Clearly, being a quiet time of year, many, what we thought to be credible websites, are making up stories about PSP2, and how it allows you to teleport across the globe, travel through time, and will be powered by the horns of baby rhinoceroses.

Hopefully, you can sense a mild tone of sarcasm, which should hopefully indicate how ‘on the money’ IGN are. Needless to say, we don’t comment on rumour or speculation, but this is nonsense.

Way to call them on it, “Sony”.

RE5 Demo on XBL Now

I have been informed by Microsoft, Capcom, and nearly every blog and podcast I pay attention to that Resident Evil 5’s demo is on Xbox Live. This is said to be a week ahead of anyone else (by which I assume they mean Sony’s Playstation Network) and exclusive to gold subscribers at first.

I’ve got some time for console gaming lined up tomorrow. I’ll probably write up some impressions after that.

Hellgate Lives On

Gamasutra has a piece up about HanbitSoft’s recent announcement. HS says they own everything but the actual infrastructure, and it sounds like they have plans in place to put that stuff up. They go on to say they will switch to a pure free-to-play model.

Finally there is a large-scale patch on the way soon. They’re saying the patch will balance the classes, unify the communities and add distinctions between the five acts.

I really hope HanbitSoft know’s what it’s doing – and more importantly are legally able to do it. It’d be interesting to see what happens to this games in the hands of a company who understands the property.

Very NSFW Podcast Outtakes

Andrew, Caleb, and I have been working on making a new podcast for you. This is the stuff that I couldn’t include in the show for various reasons. Please, please, PLEASE do not take this seriously. It’s three gamers trying to make each other laugh. You might enjoy it too.

• 0 – 25 Ode to Notepad
• 25 – 5:16 Fred Phelps and GodHatesFredPhelps.com
• 5:17 – 5:22 An end to stupid jokes?
• 5:23 – 6:24 Enter: Gay Jokes
• 6:25 – 6:44 Timing is everything.
• 6:45 – 8:10 Confessing my love for Andrew Pfister and my failed pregnancy attempts.
• 8:11 – 8:46 Laughter
• 8:47 – 9:20 Bob Dylan had the same problem.
• 9:21 – 10:22 The reason I keep Caleb around
• 10:23 – 11:10 Someone should tell FEMA about this patch
• 11:10 – 11:49 Based on a true story (more gay jokes)
• 11:50 – 13:04 So Long Caleb, Hello Fat People
• 13:05 – 14:11 The Manchurian Candidate
• 14:12 – 15:13 Andrew’s alibi and my barren ass
• 15:14 – 16:07 Pickin’ up girls at the gay bar
• 16:08 – 16:46 We can do celebrity gossip too
• 16:48 – 18:07 GPUs, AI, and Writing in games
• 18:08 – 19:08 Rock Band on the 2600
• 19:09 – A history lesson on the Dreamcast

Next Page »