Video game story on NPR - now with link

[dreams]

I was listening to NPR this morning on my way to work and imagine my surprise when they start doing a piece about video games.

Granted the piece was mainly about the popularity of Madden 2005. An editor (if I remember right) of the online magazine Gamespot basically played a short game of Madden 2005 with the NPR on-air personality. While it was never specifically mentioned, they were playing the GCN version ("Push the green A button.") :)

Sega's NFL 2K5 got a brief mention when the question was asked about other football games available. When asked about other games as popular as Madden, Halo 2 was brought up. The Gamespot guy's comment about Halo 2 was something along the lines of "you will be able to hook up and play against 16 friends and kill them all in good American fun." :roll: Then, of course, the NPR guy asks about the whole violence in video games. The discussion of that was limited mainly to the fact that violent games tend to sell better. There was no implication of video games being the cause of the increasing violence being seen in society, thankfully. Finally, the last game to get a nod was the Sims when the NPR guy asked for a popular non-violent game.

I tried looking for a copy of the story on NPRs website, but had no luck. I don't know if it's just too early for it to be there or if they just think it's not that important.

*edit* Found a link: http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=3916809

[PhoeniX]

I guess NPR was serious when they claim, "all things considered." :)

[Quazick]

Maybe I'm living under a rock - But what is NPR?

[PhoeniX]

Maybe I'm living under a rock - But what is NPR?

National Public Radio.

www.npr.gov

EDIT: www.npr.org D'oh! :embarrassed:

[rolenta]

I was at a meeting for media professionals in March and they had a speaker who was a reporter for NPR. When I told her that I wrote the first book on videogame history, she was interested in doing the piece about me. She was further interested in doing a story when I told her about CGE and by coincidence she was going to be in San Jose that weekend for something else.

In June she sent me an email saying she looked on Amazon and there were several other books on videogame history and so my claim that I wrote the only such book was not true. I wrote back and said I never claimed to write the only book, I wrote the first book. Never-the-less her interest in me was gone and as far as I know she never attended CGE.

[mezrabad]

Actually, you should have said "best". :)

Yours was the first one I read and since then I've read a few. The rest of them start off interestingly enough but it seems when they reach the modern era they only discuss the "controversies" surrounding the industry instead of continuing to talk about the interesting/milestone games.

The PBS special recently did this, and so did Dungeons and Dreamers to some extent (though the "historical" sections were very interesting). We start out with history and interviews about what happened and by the time we reach the nineties we're talking about the "effects on society". I've read enough about the effects, I want to hear more about what makes particular games interesting as in how they play, or what they introduce in gameplay.

Are there any books out there that talk about the evolution of the structures of video games? It seems the only thing that gets talked about is how much they sell and how the newer ones are in 3-D. I want a book that talks about how the gameplay designs have changed, or how they haven't changed. Or how the PC game industry has begun to emulate the videogame industry (to make its products more accessible) and this can be seen by elements in games X, Y and Z. Does anyone understand what I'm trying to say? Someone say it better for me, my brain stopped.

[dreams]

Maybe I'm living under a rock - But what is NPR?

National Public Radio.

www.npr.gov

Actually, I believe it is www.npr.org . :)

[Sniderman]

I was at a meeting for media professionals in March and they had a speaker who was a reporter for NPR.

She called specifically to berate you for "lying" to her? Whattan assclown. For what it's worth, I'm a former reporter who got out of the news biz when I found out how biased it was. So you can imagine my opinion of this person.

And as a card-carrying member of the jackbooted right, you can imagine my opinion of NPR or "The Anti-Fox."

Now, put the two together. x_x You can only imagine the heights I hold this reporter.

[dreams]

I found a link to an audio of the piece. You can find it here:

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=3916809

[RCM]

it was never specifically mentioned, they were playing the GCN version ("Push the green A button.")

The Xbox has a green A button as well.

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM