September 14, 2022

Pixels & Paranoia: Video Game Conspiracies

49 minutes

EPISODE 67 | Pixels & Paranoia: Video Game Conspiracies

From its humble beginnings, the video game industry has expanded from cabinet arcade games to PCs and home consoles. Two-thirds of adults in the US and three-quarters of children play them. It makes more than the film industry, which got to around $21 bn last year; and music, which made almost $26 billion in 2021. Globally, gaming hit $192 bn in 2021 and is expected to break $200 bn this year.

And it should come as no surprise that there have been rumours, urban legends, controversies and even outright conspiracy theories about video games. Games that kill, or carry a curse, or control people's minds, or contain hidden truths that some would prefer remained hidden.

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VIDEO VERSION: https://youtu.be/__bLJOkZYgw

SECTIONS

02:36 - Intruder Alert! - Berzerk kills

06:43 - Lavender Town - Pokemon kills

09:32 - The Madden Curse - Fame carries a price

15:50 - Killswitch - A legendary game from Czechslovakia

19:47 - Polybius - Mind control in Oregon

30:20 - Drowned God - Harry Horse, history and aliens

37: 37 - Omikron: The Nomad Soul - A Big Pharma/NWO playbook

40:48 - Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation and Covid-19

42:16 - Corrupted Blood - A virus sweeps through the World of Warcraft MMORPG

Music by Fanette Ronjat

More Info:

Video Game Conspiracy Theories by TheHairyGamer (Michael Carter)

The Best Video Game Urban Legends Ever in IGN Southeast Asia

20 Video Game Myths, Conspiracy Theories, and Urban Legends to Celebrate Halloween

10 Video Game Conspiracy Theories You'll Start To Believe

10 Video Games Myths & Conspiracies to Keep You Up at Night

30 Video Game Urban Legends: Are They True Or False? on 80s Kids

How Many People Has the Berzerk Arcade Game Killed?

Berzerk: The Killer Arcade Game? on Little Bits of Gaming

Video Game Related Deaths

Pokémon: What Is Lavender Town Syndrome (& Is It Real?) on ScreenRant

Did the 'Madden' cover curse strike again?

The covers of the Madden video game on NFL.com

Secrets & Lies on GamePro

Computerspiele in der DDR (in German)

The Story Of Killswitch, The Creepy Game No-One Has Ever Played on Kotaku

Gamebusters myth 8: KILLSWITCH on GotGame

Polybius on CoinOp.org

Sinnesloschen webpage

Reinvestigating Polybius on RetroBitch

The Polybius Conspiracy on Vimeo

Polybius mockup by Rogue Synapse

Morava Academy on WWASP Survivors

Polybius Conspiracy podcast

Drowned God page on Harry Horse website

Aliens, conspiracy theories, and a forged diary inspired one of the weirdest games of the '90s on PC Gamer

Drowned God on Hardcore Gaming 101

Bandersnatch IRL: Harry Horse & "Drowned God: Conspiracy of the Ages" in /blackmirror/ Reddit forum

Gamespot interview with Harry Horse

Reality check: Microsoft, David Bowie, Bill Gates, and a creepy video game called ‘Omikron’

Fact check: 1999 'Omikron' video game has no connection to pandemic, Bill Gates

Plaguelands.. - 2005 article on Corrupted Blood Incident

'Virtual' Virus Sheds Light on Real-World Behavior on NPR

The researchers who once studied WoW's Corrupted Blood plague are now fighting the coronavirus on PC Gamer

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4.9

2020 ratings