Scandalous Games

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends...except it's Halloween and we want to do something fun and scary, so buckle up for our second synchable audio commentary. This time, Kevin, Kate Lynch, Phil Thomas, Elford Stevens, and Andy Hunter are ripping and tearing through the 2005 film adaptation of DOOM (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419706/) directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.

We're watching the theatrical cut, which is 1 hour 45 minutes and not to be confused with the unrated director's cut.

To sync the movie, queue up the film to 00:00:05 and wait for the countdown. If you want to cut through the intro where Kevin offers some history behind the movie and get right to the commentary, head to 00:11:57 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 shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Elford Stevens, and Phil Thomas. We finally close the book on On Killing and three whole months on Lt. Col. Dave Grossman by taking a closer look into more of his profoundly sad so-called accomplishments and wrap up by a look at the popular reception to Dave's first book.

Topics discussed include: Dave Grossman: martial arts master? Kevin is a master of Gamekata, the martial art of the video game. The strange case of the guy with three doctorates, and the kinds of people who really took to Grossman's rhetoric in On Killing (spoiler: it's exactly the kinds of people you'd think would like it).

Be sure to check out our syncable audio commentary for DOOM (2005)(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419706/), which drops on the feed on October 31, 2023!

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, Elford Stevens, and Phil Thomas. Sorry, folks, but it's one more month on everyone's "favorite" "killologist" Dave Grossman.  This time, we shift away from Dave's debut book On Killing to some of his other alleged accomplishments (Spoiler alert: they're not much better than his book warning everyone about the "Virus of Violence").

Topics discussed include: On Killing's tepid reception, Dave wants everyone to know he's been to mountains and deserts, and is Dave Grossman a furry? Plus, more about Kevin's experience as a failed academic, and Scandalous Games "earns" a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
 
Plus, we share an exciting Halloween treat.

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, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. We continue our deep dive into self-proclaimed "killologist" Dave Grossman and his foundational work On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995). This time around, we take a closer look at Dave Grossman's research process and learn how, shockingly, the sources that aren't based on a World War II journalist who made some stuff up are also pretty bad.  

Topics discussed include: Kevin's run-in with Soldier of Fortune,  Andy's natural aversion to giving Dave Grossman money, Dave's looking out for the real victims (spoiler alert: it's white supremacists and fascists), a brief interlude about the 1994 Winter Olympics, and the ongoing debate over who stole valor. Plus, some more rounds of Pokémon or Prescription Drug!

For a look at the history of Rhodesia: check out Well There's Your Problem's episode - https://youtu.be/7dtJGRIWEls?si=2lJ2S3fFTAwVcsVy.  

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, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. We continue our deep dive into self-proclaimed "killologist" Dave Grossman and his 1995 book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995). Today, we tackle Dave's central argument--that as many as 85% of American soldiers in World War II outright refused to fire their guns, which led the Army to trick its soldiers into becoming killing machines--by looking at his one source: the work of Samuel Lyman Marshall. 

Topics discussed include: The epic tale of a jet setting adventurer and war correspondent (or is it?), Dave Grossman is (shockingly) not a diligent researcher, what happens when historians make up their sources, the great debate over who stole valor, and the gang offers some exciting new dieting advice. Plus, some more rounds of Pokémon or Prescription Drug!

Sources on Kevin's World War II numbers:
"U.S. Army Divisions, in World War II," US Army Divisions, https://www.armydivs.com/; "Life in the Army," PBS, https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-war/life-in-the-infantry; "Research Starters: US Military by the Numbers," National World War II Museum, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-us-military-numbers

For more info on S.L.A. Marshall and his "ratio of fire," see: Frederic Smoler, “The Secret of the Soldiers Who Didn’t Shoot,” American Heritage (March 1989): 36-45: https://www.americanheritage.com/secret-soldiers-who-didnt-shoot. 

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, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. We continue our deep dive into self-proclaimed "killologist" Dave Grossman and his 1995 book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995), dissecting his claims that America is in the midst of a hellish Purge style world of violent teens who have been activated by watching too many horror movies and playing one too many light gun games.

Topics discussed include:  Dave Grossman has never watched a horror movie or played a video game (but that won't stop him from having strong opinions anyway), whether Rodney King was a serial killer, Kevin has a problem with A Clockwork Orange, the gang learns there actually is no crime, and Andy offers more choices between Pokémon and prescription drugs.

For more on possible theories behind America's dramatic crime decrease since the 1990s, check out: Dana Lind and German Lopez, “16 Theories for Why Crime Plummeted in the US,” Vox, May 20, 2015, https://www.vox.com/2015/2/13/8032231/crime-drop.

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, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In honor of our second full year of doing this show, we start a deep dive into a guy who may be the single most influential figure in the violent video game discourse over the last 30-odd years: Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. Starting our six-month (don't worry, we'll take breaks along the way) deep dive into the self-proclaimed killology expert. Today, we start with Dave's early life and start looking at his most influential work on how we thing about video game violence: On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1995), and how a lot of the violent video game discourse is based on a bad book.

Topics discussed include:  The horrifying thought of soldiers not killing people (and how we allegedly "fixed" it), some sketchy wheelings and dealings among our panelists, Dave Grossman warns those nasty video games are teaching kids to kill (citation needed), and Andy tests the gang's knowledge on Pokémon and prescription drugs.

For more on the evolution of the public perception of the American soldier between World War II and the Vietnam War, check out Andrew J, Huebner, The Warrior Image: Soldiers in American Culture from the Second World War to the Vietnam Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008: https://www.amazon.com/Warrior-Image-Soldiers-American-Culture/dp/0807858382.  

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, Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In our jam-packed grand finale of our (longer than expected) deep dive into Pokémon fan projects, we examine how fans responded to Nintendo's legal strike against Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Prism and whether legal attacks against fan projects actually matter.  

Topics discussed include:  Gamers' mixed feelings about Nintendo's legal strike. What do ROM hacks have to do with Rifftrax? The weird alternate history where "Nintendo" became a generic brand for video games, a bonus mini controversy related to ROM hacks, and  Elford's surprising musical number.

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, Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Andy Hunter. In part six of our look at Pokémon fan projects, Nintendo finally sets its sights on Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Prism, and we look at Nintendo's quest to destroy emulation by any means necessary.  

Topics discussed include:  Nintendo vs. emulators, Nintendo vs. YouTubers, and that time Nintendo wrecked Bowser's life.

For more on the recent court ruling against the Internet Archive, see: Christine Kelley, "If we lose the Internet Archive, we’re screwed," The [Stony Brook] Statesman, April 4, 2023, https://www.sbstatesman.com/2023/04/04/if-we-lose-the-internet-archive-were-screwed/.

Want to see some fun Pokémon solo runs and other challenges? Kevin recommends:
VanMan: https://www.youtube.com/@vanman9142
Gym Leader Matt: https://www.youtube.com/@GymLeaderMatt1987
Mah Dry Bread: https://www.youtube.com/@MahDryBread
PointCrow: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR6FyQtHv8mPCPHkCBzyBbcBQuqGgMuFY

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, Elford Stephens, and Andy Hunter. In part five of our look at Pokémon fan projects, we finally edge ever closer to Nintendo's response to Pokémon Uranium and Pokémon Prism by examining the ways other game companies have responded to fan-developed games that use their IP. 

Topics discussed include:  The wild lore behind Twitch Plays Pokémon, the lost beauty that was Chrono Resurrection, the ways video game companies centralize and monetize fan creations, Kevin's (possibly) erotic Dark Souls II fanart, and the potential of poop-themed Pokémon.

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.