EPISODE 71 ANNOUNCEMENT

UPDATE: Technical issue has been resolved, my apologies for any confusion that may have arisen.
Here we go: EPISODE 71: "Eulogii" will go live for all-audiences this Sunday 6/2. ScrewAttack Advantage members, however, can get their usual early look starting, er... right now HERE.

ALSO: The big announcement made at the end of this one is that Episode 72 will be another MAILBAG... but this one will be exclusive to ScrewAttack G1's (read: members) who ask their questions in the comments-section under this episode (on the screwattack page, NOT HERE.) No, G1 isn't Advantage (i.e. it doesn't cost anything) and yes, we will do another for all-audiences soon.

Big Tease

Apologies for the lack of updates recently - I've been dealing with a lot of stuff. Some of it business, some of it personal, some of it related to the absolute hell of real-estate shopping in Massachusetts, some of it good and some of it just plain old shitty and unpleasant.

In any case, EPISODE 71 has been recorded, edited and readied to go - though I don't have an exact date yet, I believe it will be in the near future and I'll specify when I know for sure. For now, here are three things I can tell you about this particular installment:

1. This will be the second-to-last episode to feature The NecroThinker. Does the same hold true for RetroThinker? I'm not telling.

2. The title of the episode is "Eulogii."

3. A Special Announcement will be made at the conclusion of the episode.

Stay tuned...

EPISODE 70: "Fall of Duty"

Now viewable for ALL AUDIENCES!!! The Game OverThinker takes on "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" and Oliver North...




I like how this one came out, though it certainly wasn't the most fun episode to produce. The "real world" side of this is seriously, seriously ugly stuff; and I never like coming down on a game or a developer for something like this - "your design scheme sucks!" is just an aesthetic critique, and can be a lead-in for humor... "you're associating with despicable people and the increasingly overt ideological-underpinnings of your product are bringing something poisonous and corrupt to the medium" is dark business, and there's nothing "funny" about it.

Episode 70 Coming 5/12

Head's up! Episode 70: "Fall of Duty" will be viewable by everyone starting this Saturday 5/12 at 11:30pm CST.

Subscribers to ScrewAttack Advantage can see it a few days early starting right how HERE.

Moderation

As a rule, I try to let the comments section of these blogs run wild - people can post anonymously if they want, and the only things I tend to delete are abusive comments directed at other users. Unfortunately, owing to the continued bad behavior of some repeat-offenders I'm going to have to start getting more strict. I don't like it, but there it is.

From now on, the comments sections will be moderated by me on the following criteria: No abuse of others, no soliciting, no intentional derailing and try to stay on-topic to whatever degree possible. In other words, attempting to hijack any given conversation or spamming the recurrent "gotcha" lines into every damn post is a good way to get yourself consistently removed. Several recent posts will have their comment-sections culled in this manner once this message is posted.

I don't like it, but that's the way it has to be. Hopefully this will not overly impact the vast majority of commenters who don't make trouble.

Episode 70 Announcement!

I'm still working out some scheduling details, but I can now confirm that Episode 70 - which will cover the Oliver North/Call of Duty issue at length - should make it's debut later this week. Until then, do yourselves a favor and read this solid editorial on Kotaku that gets into some of the other more troubling aspects of the campaign and the general Fox News-style fear-selling vibe that has set in across the COD franchise in general.

Oliver North is The Pitchman for "Call of Duty"

Every time I think the modern gaming industry cannot sink any lower, I am proven wrong. This is... inexcusable, even for this industry. This is disgusting, despicable. This is evil. Oliver North - a man who was convicted of what many feel amount to (but do not technically qualify as) war crimes - is doing commercials for "Call of Duty."

Hey, I've got an idea - Charles Manson isn't doing anything right now, maybe he'd like to lend a thumbs-up to the next "Manhunt?" Or maybe we can get some actual gangbangers to stump for GTAV?

Are you fucking SERIOUS, Activision??
For those you too young to remember, North was the central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal - in which he was effectively the "bagman" for a covert and illegal scheme by agents of the U.S. government to sell weapons to Iran (an enemy nation) and funnel the profits to The Contras, a Nicaragaun rebel group opposing the Sandinista government of the time.

North was convicted, but it was overturned via an ACLU appeal (strange bedfellows and all that); and since the Sandinista's were "dirty commies" and North did his dirty-work during the time of Saint Reagan, he remains a folk-hero to far-right Conservatives to this day. But this isn't an issue of politics - or rather it shouldn't be. If you can't see why this is a horrifying development after reading the provided links about who North is, I don't know what else to say to you.

Congratulations, Activision - this is officially the worst thing a video game company has ever done to promote it's game. You win. You're the new champ. Say hi to EA for me when you go to pick up the trophy.

Un-fucking-believable...

BLOPS To The Future

With this emergence into general public knowledge of weaponized military drones over the last few years, it seemed innevitable that we were going to start getting schlocky technophobe-paranoia action movies reminding us how "Ya just can't trust those dang machines!!!" and that no matter how advanced our fancy-shmancy technobabble gets we're always gonna need "Real. Hard. Men. RARGH!" to bail us out.

What didn't seem innevitable - but, in retrospect, probably ought to have - was that Hollywood would get beaten to the punch on this new subgenre by a "Call of Duty" game: The trailer for "Black Ops 2" reveals that the game takes place in the near-future and finds you battling unmanned military machinery that's been hijacked by Al Qaeda/North Korea/Russia/Neo-Nazis/China/Does-It-Really-Matter. I like the Tank With Feet:



I'm not even joking - I think Tank With Feet is immediately my favorite "Call of Duty" character ever.

I'd also like to thank the good folks at Treyarch for effectively demonstrating what Michael Bay's adaptation of "Metal Gear" would look like...