Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Kate Lynch. In today's episode, we take a deep dive into the research that claims playing violent video games leads to aggression, antisocial behavior, and violent crime. The gang examine the evolution of "violent video games" as a political issue in the United States, why so much of the research is flawed,  and the motivations of the people and organizations behind the studies.

Topics discussed include:  a video game based on C. Everett Koop, the relationship between video games and sass, and the chilling relationship between violent video game studies and police violence.

If you want to know more about the debate over violent video game research, check out Patrick M. Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson, Moral Combat: Why  the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong (Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 2017) .

For more on Dave Grossman, check out the following pieces:
Josh Eells, "Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, the 'Killologist' Training America's Cops," Mens Journal (February 8, 2017):  https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/lt-dave-grossman-the-self-described-killologist-training-americas-cops-w463304/
Bryan Schatz, "'Are You Prepared to Kill Somebody?' A Day With One of America’s Most Popular Police Trainers," Mother Jones (March/April 2017): https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/dave-grossman-training-police-militarization/.

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: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In today's episode, we go back to the Postal series to look at Postal’s 2003 sequel: the “anti-PC” PC game Postal 2. We look at its development, the fortunes of its maker (Running with Scissors), and how the company handled criticism.

Also, Kevin makes an argument for why Postal 2 might be the first "MAGA video game."

Topics discussed include:  the logistics of using a cat as a silencer, whether Gary Coleman represented everything wrong with America, and Running with Scissors’ unsurprising embrace of the Alt-Right.

Correction: based on Steam achievement statistics, by making it through Wednesday, Kevin managed to surpass 75.5% of Postal 2 players (https://steamcommunity.com/stats/223470/achievements).

For more on Postal III’s rough production, check out Matt McMuscles’ “What Happened?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJnivzm-WjA.
For a detailed analysis of the entire Postal series, check out Noah Caldwell Gervais’ video  “Postal, Hatred, and Weighing the Worth of Asshole Simulators”: https://youtu.be/kivtv6wabBk. 

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: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Ryan Weaver. In today's episode, we take a deep dive into "Hot Coffee," the infamous 2005 mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that unlocked a hidden sex mini-game left in the game's code, prompting denunciations from moral crusaders, calls to regulate violence and sex in video games, and the filings of so many lawsuits.

Topics discussed include:  how hard was it to actually access the hidden content, ways Rockstar/Take-Two might have avoided the scandal, and Take-Two's various shady financial wheelings and dealings,

Shout out to some great write-ups on the scandal, which provided some of the basis for this episode's research:
David Kushner, Jacked: The Unauthorised Behind-the-Scenes Story of Grand Theft Auto (London: Collins, 2012).
Simon Parkin, "Who Spilled Hot Coffee?" Eurogamer, December 2, 2012: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-30-who-spilled-hot-coffee. 

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: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In today's episode, we examine Edmund G. Brown, Governor of the State of California, and Kamala Harris, Attorney General of the State of California v. Entertainment Merchants Association and Entertainment Software Association aka Brown v. EMA, a landmark 2011 Supreme Court ruling that granted video games free speech protection in the United States.

Topics discussed include: the history of laws banning access to "violent video games," why they kept failing, Jack Thompson's feuds, and what Rod Blagojevich has been up to since getting thrown out office for massive corruption.

Check out all the records on the case, including oral arguments and the Supreme Court's ruling: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2010/08-1448.

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: Elford Stephens and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we examine the aggressively controversial 1997 "murder simulator" Postal. We talk about the history of creator Running with Scissors, their aggressive attempts to spark a controversy and the ways they have massaged the truth about the impact of their supposed "software trauma of a game."

Topics discussed include: how a company went from making games based on Sesame Street to one where you mow down entire towns worth of people, the history of "going Postal," and how has Running with Scissors stayed in business for so long???

More information on the history of "going postal":
DeLani R. Bartlette, "The Origin of 'Going Postal,'" Medium, June 29, 2020: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-origin-of-going-postal-90992ce6fa6a.
Aaron Gordon, "The Legacy of Going Postal," Vice,  September 24, 2020: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5pabb/the-legacy-of-going-postal.

Content warning: discussion of mass shootings.

Also, check out Noah Caldwell Gervais' overview of the entire Postal series: https://youtu.be/kivtv6wabBk.

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: Elford Stephens, John Dukes, and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we examine the career of infamous director of bad video game movies, Uwe Boll aka "The Raging Boll," "The Deutschland Destroyer," "The Teutonic Terror," and the "Worst Director Ever."  We talk about his personal and professional style; his literal and figurative battles with critics, gamers, and pretty much everyone else; and whether he knew something about film making that the rest of us didn't.

Topics discussed include: the video game movies that never got made, Boll's tax-related shenanigans,  and who's the biggest "Uwe Duva?"

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: Elford Stephens, John Dukes, and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we take a closer look at the "erotic" themed 1982 Atari 2600 game Custer's Revenge. What on Earth did people find offensive about a racist, sexual assault-themed game? We also examine whether American Multiple Industries, the game's creators, were trying to troll people for free publicity. 
Topics discussed include: Damage control when Atari sues you for your gross game, the Washington Football Team, and the Activision-Blizzard lawsuit.
Content warning: Sexual assault, discussion of racism and abuse against Indigenous peoples, brief mention of suicide.
For more resources on sexual assault, please check out RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network): https://www.rainn.org/; the National Sexual Violence Resource Center: https://www.nsvrc.org/: and the National Sexual Abuse Hotline: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Want to learn more about the history of Custer's Revenge? Check out Kate Willaert, "Porno Hustlers of the Atari Age," Kotaku, September 6, 2021: https://kotaku.com/porno-hustlers-of-the-atari-age-1847622176.
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: Elford Stephens, John Dukes, and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we tackle the infamous 1992 FMV game Night Trap and how the game became the "ultimate violent video game."
Topics discussed include:  alternative titles Digital Pictures could have used instead of Night Trap, why would anyone bother playing this game,  and who stole money from the old guy from Scene of the Crime?
Content warning: brief discussion of sexual assault.
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: Elford Stephens, John Dukes, and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we take on part two of our two part series on Jack Thompson, the one-man anti-video game moral crusader. In Part Two, we take a deep dive into his crusade against video game violence, his personal feuds against game developers and journalists, his attempts to develop his own video game, and his eventual downfall. 

Content warning: murder, mass shootings, child abuse

Topics discussed include:  fixing cable news, the relationship between video games and forest fires, and (seriously) what is Jack Thompson's deal?

Today's game: Thompson's Tips, Part Two. Kevin has more advice from Mr. Jack Thompson himself on waging culture wars. Can the guys tell real tips  from stuff Kevin made up?

*Correction: David Grossman didn't describe police as "apex predators." He described them as sheep dogs who protected the sheep (that's how he sees us) against the wolves (violent criminals).

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)   

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, John Dukes, and Phil Thomas. In today's episode, we tackle Jack Thompson, the one-man anti-video game moral crusader. In Part One of our two-part series, we examine Jack Thompson's early life; the start of his war against obscenity; his personal feuds with rappers, DJs, and Janet Reno; and his personal style.
Topics discussed include:  our personal moral crusades, Thompson getting yelled at on a national talk show,  whether or not Jack Thompson is actually Batman, and Bibleman's robust rogue's gallery.
Today's game: Thompson's Tips. Can the guys identify real advice from Jack Thompson on waging culture wars from stuff Kevin made up?
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)