A friend of mine recently posted a link to this website on my facebook wall, and I figured I'd pass along the favors to the readership here. Check out "The Cross and the Controller" website here:
http://www.thecrossandthecontroller.com/tcatccom/Default.aspx
Also, a certain Colin Malcolm contacted me on facebook recently requesting that I ask around for Catholics who are involved in or interested in game development. While I find it hard to believe that Catholics AREN'T involved in this industry, I do think Colin presents an interesting question. How does a Catholic integrate game development into their Catholic faith? I'd love to hear from an actual game developer about this.
On a final note, Merry 4th day of Christmas!
Showing posts with label video game journalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video game journalism. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Video Games and the Economy
In love with your iPhone? Thank your local video game nerd.
And for those of us (all of us?) who are now addicted to seeing our latest text message, facebook update, e-mail, blog comment, etc., well, you have video games to thank for that, too.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203418804576040103609214400.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Opinion
And for those of us (all of us?) who are now addicted to seeing our latest text message, facebook update, e-mail, blog comment, etc., well, you have video games to thank for that, too.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203418804576040103609214400.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Opinion
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
E3!!!
Ok, so we've seen all the press conferences. Zelda. Killzone 3. Golden Sun DS. A Gears of War rip-off...blah, blah, blah. I'll be honest: nothing too interesting so far, and at this point, the only revelations we can expect are impressions from the show floor. Ah well... I'm too busy playing Pokemon right now to care! Maybe if they announce FFXIII Versus for the 360...or an new F-Zero game...
Anything noteworthy from my fellow gamers? That new Xbox 360 slim looks pretty nifty...
Anything noteworthy from my fellow gamers? That new Xbox 360 slim looks pretty nifty...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
U.S. Supreme Court to hear case on Violent Video Games
h/t Sr. Helena at the Hell Burns blog.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-court-videos-20100427-39,0,5997035.story
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-court-videos-20100427-39,0,5997035.story
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Xbox Live: (Too) Great Expections?
It's been less than a week since I signed up for my free one-month Xbox LIVE "gold" membership, and I'm wondering if I'm already at the point where I have, more or less, "seen all there is to see." Sure, Soul Calibur IV online is awesome, if only because I have an actual human being playing against me instead of some CPU controlled artificial intelligence (not to mention nabbing some of those completely useless but strangely desirable "Achievements"!). Still, it's hard to make friends with people you're in contact with for all of 5 minutes at most, and when half of them don't bother to talk to you (those headsets came with the XBOX for free, people! Why not USE them?), it oftentimes feels as though I may as well be playing the CPU in the single player campaign, anyway.
I DID make sure to check for available "freebies" for the few games I own that actually have free downloadable content; I nabbed the free gel set for Tales of Vesperia as well as the "Portal Song" for Rock Band 2. Heck, whiny as this post is, LIVE will probably be worth it for that song alone. My brother seminarians are quite the Portal/Half-Life enthusiasts, and considering all the fun we've had just jammin' to Livin' On a Prayer, I'm sure the lyrics to that dainty little ditty will soon become something of a seminary MEME, if they aren't already!
The other unexpected (underutilized?) benefit of XBOX Live is the fact that I can talk to any of my "friends" (would it really be fair to call it Xbox LIVE if it didn't have a certain "networking" aspect to it?) free of charge. No need to rack up a huge phone bill when you can pay $60 bucks a year to chat with your friends via headset with no strings attached!
Still, all of those little "perks" are really secondary to what I was expecting on XBOX Live: an actual community of gamers. I suppose I shouldn't have been so naive, and I certainly don't regret the $100 I paid for that wireless router, but I like to think the "gaming community" has more to offer than bragging rights and a perpetual deluge of foul language and tasteless humor. Really now, is HALO 3 some important that you need to mouth off at everyone just because you/your team lost (I'm one to talk; my brothers back at home will gladly show me to be quite the hypocrite, as I have had my share of outraged outbursts when I've lost rounds of Mario Kart and Smash Bros., among many other games)?
There's no real "common thread" binding everyone together on LIVE other than, well...that fact that they're on LIVE? Not much of "guiding light," is it (unless we're talking RROD...I know, I know, stupid, stupid joke)? There's not really ANYTHING here beyond facing the guy from L.A. who's willing to make small talk as he COMPLETELY OBLITERATES ME in Soul Calibur IV.
Am I being too hasty? Yes, but pardon me for having to perform a bit of a reality check. People without LIVE: it's not the end of the world. You can do without the achievements, and you can always go over to your friends' house to play video games, anyway. Plus, ya know, you may actually end up chit-chatting about something semi-interesting that way - you know, something that may actually bring you both closer to the One who made You?
Anyway, enough ranting for now. A surprisingly fun DS RPG has been occupying my spare time for the past two days, and with any luck I'll be able to write a blurb about it sooner rather than later. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for me!
I DID make sure to check for available "freebies" for the few games I own that actually have free downloadable content; I nabbed the free gel set for Tales of Vesperia as well as the "Portal Song" for Rock Band 2. Heck, whiny as this post is, LIVE will probably be worth it for that song alone. My brother seminarians are quite the Portal/Half-Life enthusiasts, and considering all the fun we've had just jammin' to Livin' On a Prayer, I'm sure the lyrics to that dainty little ditty will soon become something of a seminary MEME, if they aren't already!
The other unexpected (underutilized?) benefit of XBOX Live is the fact that I can talk to any of my "friends" (would it really be fair to call it Xbox LIVE if it didn't have a certain "networking" aspect to it?) free of charge. No need to rack up a huge phone bill when you can pay $60 bucks a year to chat with your friends via headset with no strings attached!
Still, all of those little "perks" are really secondary to what I was expecting on XBOX Live: an actual community of gamers. I suppose I shouldn't have been so naive, and I certainly don't regret the $100 I paid for that wireless router, but I like to think the "gaming community" has more to offer than bragging rights and a perpetual deluge of foul language and tasteless humor. Really now, is HALO 3 some important that you need to mouth off at everyone just because you/your team lost (I'm one to talk; my brothers back at home will gladly show me to be quite the hypocrite, as I have had my share of outraged outbursts when I've lost rounds of Mario Kart and Smash Bros., among many other games)?
There's no real "common thread" binding everyone together on LIVE other than, well...that fact that they're on LIVE? Not much of "guiding light," is it (unless we're talking RROD...I know, I know, stupid, stupid joke)? There's not really ANYTHING here beyond facing the guy from L.A. who's willing to make small talk as he COMPLETELY OBLITERATES ME in Soul Calibur IV.
Am I being too hasty? Yes, but pardon me for having to perform a bit of a reality check. People without LIVE: it's not the end of the world. You can do without the achievements, and you can always go over to your friends' house to play video games, anyway. Plus, ya know, you may actually end up chit-chatting about something semi-interesting that way - you know, something that may actually bring you both closer to the One who made You?
Anyway, enough ranting for now. A surprisingly fun DS RPG has been occupying my spare time for the past two days, and with any luck I'll be able to write a blurb about it sooner rather than later. Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for me!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
We're St. Blog's Parishioners!
It's official: Catholic Video Gamers is now registered at Saint Blogs' Parish, the online Catholic blog directory! This should make it far easier for the writers and readers in the Catholic blogosphere to find us, as we'll now be listed in the St. Blog's Parish aggregator, appear in their search engine, and have an official listing in their extensive directory.
It's my hope that membership at St. Blogs' will garner some attention from faithful Catholics who, thus far, have constituted a minority of this blog's followers and readers. Catholic Video Gamers began in large part because of a perceived lack of attention for the video game entertainment medium on the part of Catholics, and the participation of St. blog's "parishioners" should remedy this; they'll be a excellent supplement to the already active voices from the gaming culture that have been reading, linking, and commenting on this blog during the past few weeks.
Glory to God in the highest! St. Vincent Kaun, pray for us and the success of this blog!
It's my hope that membership at St. Blogs' will garner some attention from faithful Catholics who, thus far, have constituted a minority of this blog's followers and readers. Catholic Video Gamers began in large part because of a perceived lack of attention for the video game entertainment medium on the part of Catholics, and the participation of St. blog's "parishioners" should remedy this; they'll be a excellent supplement to the already active voices from the gaming culture that have been reading, linking, and commenting on this blog during the past few weeks.
Glory to God in the highest! St. Vincent Kaun, pray for us and the success of this blog!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Final Thoughts on "Dante-Gate," Forgiveness, & an Apology
Quite a bit of the media circus that's pitched its tent on this blog over the past week or so has made the disparity between the Catholic doctrine of forgiveness of sins and the alleged lack of it thereof in my blog post into something of a premiere attraction. Both the combox here and some of the actual articles published by various gaming websites contained allegations that I had failed in my Christian obligation to show mercy/forgive/"turn the other cheek."
Though I did address this issue (among many others) in the combox myself, after reading Mark Shea's brilliant article on the subject today, I've come to the conclusion that I did myself and all readers a disservice when I claimed that "If EA comes out with an apology of some sort, I'll gladly extend my own olive branch." Those who accuse me of being lacking in the charity department after reading that particular comment do so with considerable merit. Whoever made the decision to perform that ludicrous stunt at EA deserves my forgiveness, even if (especially if!) they don't acknowledge their own petty wrongdoing. Rest assured, they have it. I owe everyone an apology for not doing so sooner, including EA. Mea Culpa. To the gaming journalists and combox warriors who deliberately and/or scurrilously distorted the meaning of my posting for your own ends (which, for the record, I find to be far more offensive than EA's mock-protest): this same mercy applies to you, too.
HOWEVER --- "What I have written, I have written." I offer no apologies for the tone or the content of the blog post itself, with a slight exception that perhaps my diction could have clearer (my descriptors left far too many people feeling slighted, most of whom were not the intended recipients of my comments). I think I've said enough in regards to the actual content in the comments already, so I'll let this sleeping dog lie down and die now. I hope Mark Shea's article (do take the time to read it! It's long but well worth your time!) and my subsequent apology are sufficient door-closers for the manufactured controversy centered around that particular posting once and for all. Peace and God Bless!
St. Isidore and St. Ranieri, pray for us!
Though I did address this issue (among many others) in the combox myself, after reading Mark Shea's brilliant article on the subject today, I've come to the conclusion that I did myself and all readers a disservice when I claimed that "If EA comes out with an apology of some sort, I'll gladly extend my own olive branch." Those who accuse me of being lacking in the charity department after reading that particular comment do so with considerable merit. Whoever made the decision to perform that ludicrous stunt at EA deserves my forgiveness, even if (especially if!) they don't acknowledge their own petty wrongdoing. Rest assured, they have it. I owe everyone an apology for not doing so sooner, including EA. Mea Culpa. To the gaming journalists and combox warriors who deliberately and/or scurrilously distorted the meaning of my posting for your own ends (which, for the record, I find to be far more offensive than EA's mock-protest): this same mercy applies to you, too.
HOWEVER --- "What I have written, I have written." I offer no apologies for the tone or the content of the blog post itself, with a slight exception that perhaps my diction could have clearer (my descriptors left far too many people feeling slighted, most of whom were not the intended recipients of my comments). I think I've said enough in regards to the actual content in the comments already, so I'll let this sleeping dog lie down and die now. I hope Mark Shea's article (do take the time to read it! It's long but well worth your time!) and my subsequent apology are sufficient door-closers for the manufactured controversy centered around that particular posting once and for all. Peace and God Bless!
St. Isidore and St. Ranieri, pray for us!
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