Fantastic Faceplates: Xbox Nerd Corps

[Nato King]

Are very own SpaceGhost2K on OXM. He didn't even tell us.
click here to read more.

[moltenluv]

Yeah it was also a 2 page spread in the actual OXM magazine too. I kept my issue because my Space Ghost, Iron Giant, and Star Wars pod crash faceplates are the ones that are pictured in the article

[Krooklyn Punk]

wow thats sick man congrats

[SpaceGhost2K]

Thanks. That first interview was like six months ago for the magazine. They just got the online part up and running so Dan Amrich sent me the link. I wish they'd linked to these forums, but they used the original tinyurl link from the original article and we hadn' tstarted this place yet.

I'm being interviewed in two hours by the local Bakersfield Magazine. They have a thing called "Citizen Kern", Kern being the name of the local county. It's mostly about the MVP thing and what it means to have a local person win that award. I know I'll get a chance to talk faceplates, and hopefully get to discuss other video game things. I've been cleaning house all morning. I wish I had tomdeaf's displays for my plates...

[JakofallAces]

nice spacey now your famous also what issue were your customs in i know i saw it and i remember seeing another one with sean korbs stuff in it but do you have a number or date which the magazine was distributed thanks, good luck with the interview, remember breathe

[SpaceGhost2K]

I breathed. It got a little silly towards the end, but it's all fun anyway, right? We talked MVP and plates and gaming. I wore my MVP shirt, and then we took some silly "secret agent" pics with my dark sunglasses and 360 aluminum briefcase.

I think the OXM was the October issue, but it came out in August and had Master Chief on the cover... oh wait, they all do. j/k Dan

[SpaceGhost2K]

They said it was going to be the "Man" issue. Men of Kern County? But I'm not available. Technically. Twice. Anyway. I told the two girls who came out that if they did a calendar, I had dibs on January.

I told them about wanting to be an ambassador for video games and not just a "gamer." I vented a little about the Jack Thompson crap. Then, I just sent her (Anika) this email:

Hello there. This is an example of the idiocy I spoke of earlier today. None of the links are particularly long. You should be able to read through everything in a half-hour or less. And even to a layperson not particularly interested in video games, I think you'll find this really interesting:

http://kotaku.com/358052/larouche-bl...or-niu-tragedy and the article referenced:

http://www.larouchepac.com/news/2008...th-hitler.html

----

http://kotaku.com/357301/nypost-coll...lent-vid-games and the article referenced:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162008..._gam_97871.htm

----

http://kotaku.com/357294/jt-on-the-n...ng-+-the-video

That's just the shooting. The point is obvious to me: this guy played shooter games 4-5 years ago. He went off his medication three weeks ago. Which one of these is more likely to have caused a violent outburst?

What motivates people like Jack Thompson?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23204875/


http://www.realitypanic.com/archives/301

"The rush of critics to blame games soon after the Virginia Tech tragedy has been well trodden. And, earlier, I posted Jack Thomspon’s challenge to debate me. Knowing that he’s done this before (though sometimes has backed out) and that he actually has an agent and production company on board, I took his bait and started asking questions about how such a debate would work.
The unedited log of emails between Jack and I are below. As you’ll see, the discussion quickly moves toward getting an agent, negotiating revenue, getting paid (likely $3k each per debate, plus expenses), etc.



Personally, I’m not interested in getting paid under such a controversy-for-profit model. As you’ll see, my “counter challenge” of coming up to Montreal to do a free debate at Dawson College (where a school shooting took place last year) was declined by Jack. Oh well."

----

One more, and that ought to be plenty:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/u...l#comments_top

That is a link to a Fox News video with commentary about the "mature" content of the video game "Mass Effect." I will let you watch it to see what obscene gameplay elements the game is accused of having.

And here's the fallout:



http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=32500

"Author and commentator Cooper Lawrence has apologized for criticizing the sexual content of the Xbox 360 game Mass Effect.

Last week, Electronic Arts wrote a letter to Fox News Channel asking the organization to correct alleged inaccuracies during a news segment on BioWare's Mass Effect game.

Ray Muzyka, boss of developer BioWare, had said: "We're hurt. We believe in video games as an art form, and on behalf of the 120 people who poured their blood and tears into this game over three years, we're just really hurt that someone would misrepresent the game without even playing it. All we can hope for is that people who actually play our games will see the truth."

So far, Fox News has refused to make any retraction or corrections, saying only that EA was invited to tell its side of the story.

Lawrence, however, told The New York Times that she jumped to conclusions.

"I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography. But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of Lost that are more sexually explicit," she confessed.

Lawrence later admitted that she had never actually played Mass Effect."

By the way, there is NO apology in her statement, and she actually seems amused that she was wrong because it really didn't matter. It was only a game. The truth of the matter is that it is a very long game and yes, a "romance" is an option. You can play as a male or female. If your character is male, there is ONE female crewmember with whom you may become involved. If you are male, there is ONE female crew member. And, whether you are male or female, there is one alien crewmember. That means that regardless of the gender of the character you create, you have the option of a member of the opposite sex, OR an alien (the aliens are female in appearance, but are gender-neutral, which is why they are an option for either gender of player-controller character). Players can not create their own romantic partners, nor can they control any action except dialog. Except for a brief side shot in silhouette, there is no nudity at all, and the scene has been broadcast on numerous outlets during prime time television. Referring to the game as a rape simulator is not "misspeak." It's a simple lie.

---

A "gamer" can be anyone who enjoys video games, but "gamers" are generally defined as either "hardcore" or "casual." The defining lines are very much a matter of opinion, but my defining question is this: Are video games your main form of entertainment? "Gamers" number in the millions, but the majority of those would answer "no." They are new to gaming, or play only occasionally.

However, casual gamers and non-gamers make up an enormous majority. The hardcore understand. The others... not so much. When a salt-and-pepper haired, well dressed lawyer comes on television to state that video games are the ruination of our country, they believe it, because it takes less effort than finding the truth. Finding the truth about video games when there are so many high profile politicians, lawyers and media with ulterior motives is practically impossible for a layman. They benefit, financially and politically, by spreading fear through an unknowing public.

Like I said during your visit, time will see to it that there will be a point where everyone has grown up in a culture that included video games. Until then, I'll do what I can to strengthen and educate the gaming community and show these charlatans for what they are. It would be easy to chalk it up to ingorance on their part, except that the evidence is clear that they DO know the information and are working towards stifiling it for their own gain.

[gameking28]

Well done Spacey! I (like pretty much everyone here) hate Jack Thompson. The guy has no idea what he's talking about and (like many other attention whores out there - I'm pointing at you Al Sharpton!) is only doing what he does for the attention and money.

[SpaceGhost2K]

Well done Spacey! I (like pretty much everyone here) hate Jack Thompson. The guy has no idea what he's talking about and (like many other attention whores out there - I'm pointing at you Al Sharpton!) is only doing what he does for the attention and money.

Well that's my point is that he DOES know what he's talking about. He's just manipulating the circumstances to his advantage. That's the part that makes him a bastage. He is profiting from these tragedies under the guise of being helpful. He's absolutely in it for no purpose other than the money to be made. Name one person he's helped besides himself. There are none.