Gawker: Videogames

New Girly Videogames Based On Teen Movies

Richard — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:21:00 EDT

Because videogames, let's be honest, have so far mostly appealed to only half the population (the one with doodles), videogame makers have long been racking their brains trying to come up with a way to attract that other half (the ones with hoo-has). It's that eternal dance of nerds trying to woo ladies and failing miserably. But now they've got a new plan that's sure to work! Video games based on girly movies like Mean Girls, Clueless, and Pretty In Pink.

Paramount is developing all of these as so-called "casual titles." We don't really know what that means (maybe our brother site Kotaku does), but we like to guess challenges include fighting all the junior girls in a hallway battle royale, running around the Valley dodging muggers and the sleazy Elton's car, and trying to do the Duckie prom dance while dodging Bolo tie projectiles. Squeeeeallll doesn't it sound fun? So much better than those games where you just indiscriminately kill people. Right?

(OK, am I crazy or are there different scenes and takes in this preview than what made it into the movie? I'm pretty sure there are).

Niko Bellic Crushes 'Iron Man'

Nick Denton — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:32:52 EDT

Put aside any admiration for Iron Man's blockbuster opening weekend. The fourth outing of Rockstar's simulation of urban mayhem—Grand Theft Auto—took half a billion dollars in the videogame's first week on sale.

The Media Universe Of Grand Theft Auto

Nick Denton — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:34:53 EDT

Grand Theft Auto IV is not so much the apotheosis of modern console entertainment as the first post-modern video game. While it provides the usual bloody entertainment, the latest installment of Rockstar's hit title is also a fully-imagined alternate world—complete with a witty satire of 21st century media. Serbian hardman Niko Bellic, the game's central character, can browse a self-mocking version of photo sharing site Flickr ("perfect for hopeless losers who like to spend days categorizing, alphabetizing and organizing their online galleries") and scour the missed connections on Liberty City's craplist.net ("sorry for checking out your 13-year-old daughter"). Most absurd of all are the mock cable shows—though they contend with their real-world equivalents. The newscasters of Weasel News are even more rabid than Bill O'Reilly and his colleagues at Fox News. If you have a friend with a Playstation, get them to show you I'm Rich, a celebrity show which in this episode profiles a cocaine heiress called Chloe Parker and as absurd as Paris Hilton. A campy British narrator—resembling that of the Daily Show's John Oliver—provides the voiceover.

Chloe Parker went from tycoon tot to tycoon twat... She's got it all. Daddy, money, and one of those tiny little dogs that rich people keep in their vagina... Her penthouse in Algonquin's exclusive Little Barkings district is a palace in the sky complete with a motor drawbridge, torture dungeon, and servants with scurvy. This is real estate we can only watch on television and masturbate over. (After the jump, the clip, and two screenshots from Liberty City's self-mocking version of the web; and here's blow-by-blow coverage of Grand Theft Auto's new release from Kotaku.)

Gameplay

Nick Denton — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:59:13 EDT

If you're taking the day off to explore Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto's revamped version of New York, keep us in mind. We're looking for Gawker-worthy gameplay from the videogame—Niko beating up an annoying hipster would work for instance, or a clip from I'm Rich, the celebrity gossip show-in-show. Send to tips@gawker.com.