Scandalous Games

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We finally wrap up our look at legendary (?) video game movie director Uwe Boll's attempt to make a sequel to his 2007 adaptation of Postal we his ill-advised, ill-conceived 2024 Indiegogo campaign to finance Postal 2. 

Topics discussed include: Uwe Boll vs. Alex Jones: the Fight of the Century we were denied, leave Gary alone, and Vince Desi actually has a good point.

For the full track of Uwulous-B's 2024 single, "Sonic the Hedgehog," check out "Uwulous-B is back with a brand new single, “Sonic The Hedgehog” (2024)," Uwe Boll Raw, August 3, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QP5mcpwUPk.

For information on Love on a Leash, check out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2185022/. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. Having learned about Uwe Boll's 2007 adaptation of Postal, we pivot into his attempts to make a film sequel to Running with Scissors' flagship/only game franchise, starting with Uwe's 2013 Kickstarter campaign to finance Postal 2.

Topics discussed include: how Veronica Mars inspired Uwe Boll to make more movies, Uwe needs someone to tell him he's great, paying Uwe to work for him, and what movie would you watch with Uwe Boll? 

Guinevere Turner's account of writing the script for BloodRayne comes from the 2009 documentary Tales from the Script (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045642/). See also: Ben Gilbert, "Bloodrayne screenwriter explains the perils of working with Uwe Boll," Eurogamer, October 26, 2011, https://www.engadget.com/2011-10-26-bloodrayne-screenwriter-explains-the-perils-of-working-with-uwe.html?guccounter=1.

You can check out the Ouya Kickstarter campaign, the indie video game system whose campaign ousted The Veronica Mars Movie Project as the then most successful on the platform, here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console/.

For a clip of Jamie Kennedy at the 2007 E3, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfzThMe7bBM.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We wrap up our discussion of Uwe Boll's 2007 film Postal by examining the film's critical and audience reception at the time of its release. This will help set the stage for Uwe's multiple attempts to make a sequel to the video game movie audiences didn't seem to hate as much as his other movies. 

Topics discussed include: Uwe gets big mad at critics, Uwe should probably get a new publicist, Kevin's lukewarm takes on an 18-year-old flop, and we look at Uwe Boll vs. Chris Koehler of Wired in another installment of Scandalous Games Theatre.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. For our first episode coming off Scandalous Games Summer, we stick around the world of movies and take a closer look at Uwe Boll's 2007 film Postal, Uwe's raunchy, satirical comedy adaptation of Running with Scissors' only franchise. This time, we look at its development, production, and its very, very poor box office showing. 

Topics discussed include: Kevin bravely doesn't bother Running with Scissors on social media, Uwe Boll vs. Billy Zane, and which doomed Postal: political correctness or a director who's box office poison? 

Uwe Boll vs. Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3M_wGfYewo.

Check out Uwe Boll's demise in Postal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq0G9DPatWw

For more on the history of the Postal movie relative to the games, check out Brock Wilbur and Nathan Rabin, Postal (Boss Fight Books, 2020): https://bossfightbooks.com/products/postal-by-brock-wilbur-nathan-rabin. 

For a brief history on the term "going postal," see: Aaron Gordon, "The Legacy of ‘Going Postal,’"Vice, https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-legacy-of-going-postal/

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri usually shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends. However, we're taking a few months off for the second annual Scandalous Games Summer, where we offer syncable audio commentaries for video game related movies. 

This time around Join Kevin, Andy Hunter, Phil Thomas, Lauren, and Kate Lynch as we trust the fungus and talk over the 1993 debut of licensed video game films, Super Mario Bros. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/), directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton and starring John Leguizamo, Samantha Mathis, and the late great Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper (among other actors).

If you want access to tons of resources related to this movie, including interviews, behind-the-scenes photos, and even early scripts, check out the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Archive (https://www.smbmovie.com/).

You can also check out Luke Owen, Lights, Camera, Game Over: How Video Game Movies Get Made (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2017): 15-34 and Normal Caruso (aka The Gaming Historian), "The Making of the Super Mario Bros. Movie," YouTube, November 18, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve26GpPDTgY.

To sync the movie, queue up the film to 00:00:10 and wait for the countdown. If you want to cut through the intro and get right to the commentary, head to 00:13:57 in the recording.

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ) 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri usually shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends. However, we're taking a few months off for the second annual Scandalous Games Summer, where we offer syncable audio commentaries for video game related movies. 

Join Kevin, Andy Hunter, and Kate Lynch as they talk over the 1989 coming of age tale/100-minute Nintendo commercial The Wizard (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/). Together, we tackle some aggressive product placement, reminisce on Nintendo video games from days gone by, and contemplate why several main characters do not end up dead in the Utah desert.

For more on the history of The Wizard from some of the folks involved in its creation, check out:

Anthony Maurizio, “Interview: The Wizard Director Todd Holland On Everyone's Favourite Nintendo Movie Turning 25,” Nintendo Life, June 18, 2014, https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2014/06/interview_the_wizard_director_todd_holland_on_everyones_favourite_nintendo_movie_turning_25

Damien McFerran, “Ninterview: The Wizard's Luke Edwards,” Nintendo Life, October 21 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20140319061639/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2011/10/ninterview_the_wizards_luke_edwards 

Damien McFerran, “The Wizard - An Oral History Of Nintendo's Hollywood Debut,” Time Extension, May 11, 2024, https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/05/the-making-of-the-wizard-an-oral-history-of-nintendos-hollywood-debut

To sync the movie, queue up the film to 00:00:10 and wait for the countdown. If you want to cut through the intro and get right to the commentary, head to 00:05:35 in the recording.

Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bit.ly/33JXogQ) 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We bring you the thrilling conclusion of our look at John DeCamp, the disgraced former politician/conspiracy monger who sued the games industry following the Columbine shooting. We look at John's associations with some very fine people and how he tried to get to the bottom of a bunch of other conspiracies leading into his massive suit against violent video games. 

Topics discussed include: John's nigh infinite supply of secret information on essentially every conspiracy, the surely gripping conversations between John DeCamp and Dave Grossman, and video games gain free speech protection thanks to an unlikely hero. 

On the relationship of Qanon, the militia movement, and the January 6, 2021, insurrection, check out: Gia Kokotakis, "Into the Abyss: QAnon and the Militia Sphere in the 2020 Election," George Washington University's GW Program on Extremism, March 28, 2023, https://extremism.gwu.edu/into-the-abyss-QAnon-in-US.  

Some resources on identifying conspiracy theories and what to do if you or someone you care about is falling into conspiracies:

"Conspiracy Theories and How to Help Family and Friends Who Believe Them," Anti Defamation League, August 23, 2022, https://www.adl.org/conspiracy-theories. 

Stephen Lewandowsky and John Cook, The Conspiracy Theory Handbook, March 2020, https://skepticalscience.com/conspiracy-theory-handbook-downloads-translations.html.

We'd also be remiss if we didn't recommend Natalie Wynn's March 24, 2025, video, simply titled "CONSPIRACY" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teqkK0RLNkI. 

Also, the two podcasts we mentioned today:

Knowledge Fight: https://knowledgefight.com/. 

QAA Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qAmVJsQW0k51ZJ9bDZyZd. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Phil Thomas. As a new wrongful death lawsuit levied against a video game company looms, we take a closer look at Sanders v. Acclaim, the 2001 lawsuit filed against the video game industry alleging games like DOOM, Redneck Rampage, and Final Fantasy (?!?) trained the Columbine High School shooters to kill. To that end, we examine John DeCamp, an eccentric Nebraska politician, lawyer, and conspiracy monger who filed the suit on behalf of one of the Columbine victims. Along the way, we untangle the life of a man who went from soldier to senator to the whistleblower in an alleged Satanic child sex trafficking ring that provided a preview of the likes of Pizzagate and Qanon.  

Content warning: accusations of child sexual assault.

Topics discussed include: Kevin's increasingly eclectic book collection, a wild LaRouche appears, Kevin sets the record straight on whether he's a cannibal, and what's Jack Thompson been up to? 

For more on the upcoming lawsuit against, gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, Meta, and Activision, see: Brandon Drennon, “Uvalde families sue Meta, video game creator and gunmaker,” BBC, May 24, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8449dxw23do. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

In today's installment of Scandalous Games Theatre, Dr. Kevin Impellizeri, PhD, recites Jack Thompson's "A Modest Video Game Proposal," delivered via open letter on October 10, 2005, in which the self proclaimed "only certified sane lawyer in the State of Florida" offered a $10,000 charitable donation in the name of then Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if a game company developed and distributed a game in which all Jack's personal enemies were brutally killed. However, when a company came forward to develop the game, titled I'm OK: A Murder Simulator (Thompsonsoft, PC, 2006) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_O.K_%E2%80%93_A_Murder_Simulator), Thompson reneged on the deal. When the makers of Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, made the donation in his name to the Entertainment Software Association Foundation (on a check with the memo, "For Jack Thompson Because Jack Thompson Won't"), Jack faxed the Seattle police department on October 18, 2005, accusing Penny Arcade of instigating “criminal harassment of me by various means.”  

For more on Jack's antics, including how his mad crusade against video games led to him getting permanently disbarred, check out our two-part series on Mr. Jack Thompson.

Sources: "Paul Levinson vs. Jack Thompson on videogames and violence," Paul Levinson on YouTube, April 17, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XtWV-tIeVg.

Bach - Violin Concerto in A minor - Complete - BWV1041, by GregorQuendel via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/music/classical-string-quartet-bach-violin-concerto-in-a-minor-complete-bwv1041-289529/). 

JackThompson.org: http://jackthompson.org/archives/index.htm#10_10_05_01. This is also a useful source for a bunch of Jack's other open letters and public correspondence.

All other sound effects in the public domain via Pixabay's license: https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Phil Thomas, and Elford Stephens. We finally wrap up our look back at the year of controversies that was 2024. This time around, we look at a whole bunch of weird and wild Pokémon related stuff that came up during the previous year.

Topics discussed include: the potential murder related implications of the number 286, Kevin gets scammed, Nintendo goes after Palworld, and uncomfortable allegations against Typhlosion.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.