StarCraft II given Adults Only rating for Korea
With StarCraft II on the verge of release, it’s no secret that fans all over the world are getting quite excited. But in Korea, the territory where the series is most popular, that excitement might be tempered by the fact that the country’s Game Rating Board has given the game the equivalent of an Adults Only rating.
StarCraft cheating scandal rocks Korea
The largest scandal in e-sports history is currently unfolding in Korea, with revelations that a number of current pro gamers are involved with match set-ups and illegal betting.
While the gamers are un-named at this point, the story is said to touch many A-list StarCraft celebrities – including sAviOr, Ja Mae Yoon – one of the best-known and most successful players of all time.
5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted
Cracked.com asks: are some games intentionally designed to keep you compulsively playing, even when you’re not enjoying it? Oh, hell yes, it answers, and their methods are downright creepy.
Kid Racks Up $1400 Debt in FarmVille
It’s time to add FarmVille to the list of internet addiction scares after a 12-year-old UK boy has amassed £905 in FarmVille debt. About £288 of that came from the boy’s own savings, while £625 was billed to his horrified mother’s credit card.
Read the rest here.
Decrying the Excessive Emulation of Reality In Games
An editorial at GameSetWatch makes the case that game developers’ relentless drive to make games more real has led to missed opportunities for creating unique fictional universes that are perhaps more interesting than our own. Quoting:
“Remember when the norm for a video game was a blue hedgehog that ran fast and collected rings and emeralds? Or a plumber that took mushrooms to become large, and grabbed a flower to throw fireballs? In reality they do none of those things, but in the name of a game, they make sense, inspire wonder, and create a new universe. … We’ve seen time and time again that the closer you try to emulate reality, the more the ‘game’ aspects begin to stick out. Invisible walls in Final Fantasy, or grenades spawning at your feet when you go the wrong way in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 are examples of kicking the player out of that illusion of reality, and letting them know that yes, this is a game, and yes, the rules are designed to keep you in the space of this world, not the real world. In reality, as a soldier I could disobey my orders and go exploring around the other side. I could be cowardly and turn back to base. Games shouldn’t have to plan for every eventuality, of course, but it’s not so hard to create universes that are compelling but where the unusual, or even simple backtracking, is not so unfeasible.”
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