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City Councilman Peter Vallone, who seems to have unofficially tagged (hee) himself the anti-graffiti Council member, wants the city to stop a permit for graffiti artists to tag subway car replicas, according to the NY Post. The party is for Atari's new game, Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, and people associated with the event tell the Post that Vallone is hypocritical, since one of the artists, Lady Pink, participating had been commissioned by Vallone to create a mural. There's also a quote from Animal magazine's Bucky Turco, who has been keeping an eye on Vallone's anti-graf remarks: "To actually try to stop the event is paramount to censorship, which is worse than graffiti. I really think this guy is using graffiti as a soapbox. I don't think he can get into the press for anything else."
Here are descriptions of the game's features:
- A revolutionary storyline written by Marc EckoNo word on what the "goon squad" is like, but Gothamist wonders if there would ever be any potential for a measure like "level of the tag's photobloggability" (sigh, of course not - no one wants to acknowledge how much of a nerd they are). Gothamist says Atari should think positively and spin the game by saying "Hey, at least the kids are at home, getting their tagging thrills through this game and eating transfats than tagging and getting some good cardio in reality."
- World-renowned hip-hop artist Talib Kweli as the voice of Trane
- Fighting mechanics that combine kicking, grappling and punching, along with improvised weaponry
- A groundbreaking graffiti gameplay system, designed to sharpen your skills as you tag with Aerosol, Rollers, Markers, Wheat Paste, Stickers and Stencils
- Eleven distinct city environments, with 20 gameplay levels
- Unique “Intuition” system, allowing you to find ideal places to tag
- Authentic tags from more than 50 real-life graffiti artists, six of whom appear in-game as mentors
- A digital “black book” to store unlocked tags and graf images
- As Trane grows from “toy” to “All City King,” his style and the state of graffiti evolve…
Begin in the 1980s’ train culture scene, where subways were prime targets for gaining fame; continue to a version of the silver-train era, a time of extreme anti-graffiti tactics when the government’s battle cry was “Take Back the City!”
On the video game front, Gothamist is waiting for the Rockstar Games version of The Warriors.
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What, no scratchiti option?
How is it that we as a society have sunk so low that we can't seem to make a popular computer game that doesn't involve glamorizing violence, destruction and mayhem? Where have you gone, Pac Man and Qbert? Remember when the worst we were asked to do was to destroy the bad guys, like Space Invaders? Now players revel in being the bad guys. If that isn't a sign of decadence as bad as in Ancient Rome, I don't know what is.
psychonauts
katamari damacy
we love katamari
rez
ico
lumines
etc.
With all due respect to Talib Kweli, he has a few million units to go before he's "world-renowned."
Sure thing, mom (or is it dad)! Violence sucks! Let's remove it from all media! Such a novel idea!
Irony aside, this game looks good. I only wonder if they've consulted some true graf artists. Ecko is fine for a fashion mogul's point of view, and Kweli great for a music perspective but...
The Warriors looks bad. Rockstar may never be able to top San Andreas. Hot Coffee may be their only bet for increasing sales.
what has this world come to when we scapegoat all of societies evils on a video game. Please, talk about decadence. People are being blown to bits in illegitimate wars, oligarchs are getting billions of dollars of public money at a time when their profits have never been higher, fascist regimes are building nuclear weapons unchallenged, yet video games are now the root of all evil? The greatest sign of a diseased societey? Please, wake up and smell the Paris Hilton.
well, there is a case to be made that societies rely on heroes to help form cohesion and enshrine values. in this sense, the lack of socially-cohesive types in favor of largely indulgent types could be said to be a symptom of decay, if one is into the whole jacques barzun thing. i sympathize with that view to a degree; at the same time, moral complexity (beyond all this gta style faux-depravity) is a sign of an artform maturing.
i have hopes for the warriors. i don't know why. the next GTA will sell quite well, of course. that's a given. they're one of the strongest brands in the industry.
i think the warriors looks awesome. i mean, sure the game won't be exactly like the trailer they show, but it couldn't be that bad, could it?
wander the streets of new york, beating people up? you can't go wrong!
I would love to smell Paris Hilton.
Actually, the next GTA will be the one released shortly for the PSP: "Liberty Stories". Can't wait to check this out.
I am so getting this BTW. I used to write when I was in high school (stopped in college when I was arrested and spent a night in jail). If it wasnt for graff, I wouldnt have the career I have now, so I am very thankful for my roots.
What's really funny about the current trend in anti-video game rhetoric from public officials is how assinine it ultimately is.
GTA: San Andreas suddenly became controversial when that hot coffee hack allowed players to *GASP* have sex on screen! Oh my! That's controversial, yet the constant bloodshed and brutality of GTA was acceptable before?
Now this. The game is unaccepatable because of graffiti? Whoop-de-do. It's quite a non-issue. Deal with real-world issues. And if you're going to go after video games at least go after the violence and brutality; which I think is more reprehensible. Not this superficial junk.
what makes the witchhunt re: GTASA so much more ridiculous, is that these hidden sex games are very hard to unlock. They require a fair amount of programming skill and patience, entering long strings of meaningless code, in which any mistake will not only not unlock the hidden stuff, but will very likely fuck up your game saves. For the PS2 versions, you need to have an aftermarket game hacking kit such as the Gameshark. This is not something that most people can access even if they tried very hard to. Its a complete political jerk job, and people fall for it because its an easy target. much easier than say, IMPEACHING THE FUCKING WAR CRIMINAL ELECTION STEALING PRESIDENT!!!!
in case of interest,facts and background,from 300 years of development of graffiti-research,visit our url and see the impact of graffiti since beginnings of time
I wonder if a hundred years from now, New York will still be compared against its own yardstick of the early-80s NYC.
Agreed, Jack. So many games today revel in violence. Notice how this game brags about, "Fighting mechanics that combine kicking, grappling and punching, along with improvised weaponry." Likely with lots of blood, maiming and dismemberment. I agree that Vallone is focusing on the wrong aspect. Anybody who thinks indulging in socially unacceptable activities onscreen like assault, murder, carjacking is fine has his head in the ground.
And, "sp," as you rail against the real-world ills, why do you think there isn't more of an outcry against them? Maybe because so many people have been desensitized by playing these violent games that just another 10 or 20 dead servicemen means nothing to them. They've probably seen thousands of them in their games, probably "killed" thousands themselves.
while I agree that media in general have contributed to "desensitize" people, this isnt why there isnt an "outcry" against the curruption and stupidity of our elected officials. the reason is a culture of mass consumerism, the belief in american exceptionalism (that we can do whatever the fuck we want to), the rise of christian fundamentalism which inherently teaches to not question authority and the mass news media that goes along with the spin put out by the neocon oligarchy, essentially covering up the mess they are making with outright lies, and distractions such as the video game witch hunts.
the american electorate is also extremely lazy and prefers to latch on to sounds bites like "flip flopper" rather than learn about real facts and real issues.
Bush Iz Retarded!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P
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