E16: Sex and Violence

Recorded on February 20th, 2013 with Brian Fife, James Fingal, and Thomas Westberg.

Examples of sex and violence in video games are often trotted out as the root cause of many of society’s ills. Stepping away from the drama, are video games materially different than, say, movies?

Brian laments the fact that we don’t have many interesting examples of love and romance in video games. Jim’s been playing available interpretations as they are released, and Tom optimistically reminds us that we’re still in early days as far as the medium is concerned.

Referenced items:

Thoughts About App Store Curation, Video Games and the Human Condition, Fifty Shades of Grey, Postal, Manhunt, Call of Duty, Top 10 Movies, Top 10 Games, Just Dance 4, NBA Jam, Madden NFL, Lego Batman, Call of Duty, Halo, Grantland - Spec Ops the Line, Sexposition, Mass Effect, Grantland - Mass Effect Three, Fable, Skyrim, Catherine, Karateka, Spec Ops the Line, Natural Born Killers, Bioshock, Doom, Cut the Rope, FarmVille, Infinity Blade, Mortal Kombat, Death Race, Peggle, Angry Birds, Minecraft, Clear Vision Two, Skinner Box, No Violence Please, We’re Gamers, Rethinking Mass Murder, Gears of War, Killzone, Mirror’s Edge, Heat, Kill Bill, Let The Right One In, Portal, Dating Sim, Leisure Suit Larry, Scenes From a Marriage, Heavy Rain, The Witcher, God of War, Duke Nukem, The Player, The Mummy, G.I. Joe, Girls Gone Wild, Two and a Half Men, Anna Anthropy, Proteus, Dear Esther, Thirty Flights of Loving.