Results tagged “videogames”

Remember the great frenzy over Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A? Well, it's going to start up again as we move into the school year and the colder fall and winter months, so we might as well have some fun with it, right? Enter The Great Flu, a game that "Dutch researchers" have created that challenges the users to fight a global pandemic. WBBM has more on the game.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) filed a lawsuit against the CTA yesterday alleging the transit agency was infringing upon their first amendment rights by refusing to display ads for "mature audience" video games. Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, said in a statement:

Everyone remembers the legendary Jordan vs Bird video game. But do you remember His Royal Airness's other video game? If you didn't, we can't blame you. But our friends over at Tremendous Upside Potential recently dug up and revisited Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City (1994, Super Nintendo, and yes, it's real). The objective: to rescue other basketball players who have been taking captive by Maximus Cranium. The weapon: basketballs. The enemies: zombies. There's nothing left we should have to say.

• The Sun-Times looks at Amber Cremeens, the McHenry native killed last week by her ex-boyfriend Tyler James Martin, who shot himself after a stand-off with police in Logan Square on Friday.
• State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is prepping a lawsuit against Caterpillar, Inc. over the huge oil sludge spill from earlier this month.
• The Arlington Heights-based company responsible for Golden Tee is gambling on a new slot machine.

No, that's not a typo. There really is a CTA video game. It's called "Railfan" and it's a Japan-only release for the Playstation 3. After a bit of digging, we discovered the game is actually two years old and was one of the launch titles for Playstation 3 in the fall of 2006. As train simulators are apparently huge across the Pacific, it's no surprise that the game wasn't released here as...it's a train simulator. Though we suppose there are some CTA history buffs and Metra-steering teens out there who'd dig it.

The publishers of Grand Theft Auto are suing the CTA after the agency pulled the ads for the game a few weeks ago. According to Take-Two Interactive Software, that violates a $300,000 deal and their right to free speech. Also, common sense.

The CTA is yanking ads for the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 4 after Fox Chicago made a stink about it. It's almost as if this has all happened before. Wait a second...it totally did in 2004.

Chicagland native Evan Lysacek grew up idolizing Chris Chelios. Now he's the U.S. figure skating champion, and boy is runner-up Jonny Weir not happy about it. [NYT]

OK, after BradyM80 pointed out the similarities, we couldn't resist the side-by-side. The guy on the cover of this Sega SNK game....

Friday’s late night crowd at Gorilla Tango Theater is raucous and loud, with some patrons sloshed to the point of major distraction. But complaining about a drunken scene at sketch comedy revue Boozelegger’s Ball is like complaining about excessive violence in There Will Be Blood. The title alone should clue you in.

We're feeling punchy here at Chicagoist HQ today--blame the cabin fever, the extra coffee, whatever you like. But writing about Steve Dahl this morning, all we could think about was Dhalsim from Street Fighter.

At first glance, we thought the story of the mom who left her kid in the mall to "teach him a lesson" was a classic case of parents misunderstanding what punishment is — like when a kid is sent to his room full of video games, TV and other toys for a time out. That was before we realized that she actually left the mall, and that the child was just 6 years old.

In a move sure to send ripples throughout the video game community, Electronic Arts, aka EA, is shuttering its Chicago office effective immediately. In case that leaves you scratching your head, EA is responsible for such gaming franchises as Madden NFL, The Sims, The Orange Box, and the upcoming Rock Band. The now former studio was located at 215 W. Ohio. According to EA Games president Frank Gibeau, shutting down the Chicago branch was “the...

We have a fair bit of experience with the people who sit in their basements with the blinds drawn playing RPG games and decide the fate of the world. We can also confirm that four hours of listening to the theme songs on Nintendo's "Smash Brothers" is time better spent in a mental institution. All of those kinds of things aside, however, video games are undeniably influential.

Much of mankind's great literature contains conflict, violence, and death. We remember part of our high school curriculum contained Lord of the Flies, which by no means is about children living peacefully on a deserted island. There were many more, but that was just one of the more disturbing ones.

Interviewers and Foodies aren't the only new staff members we've recently added. You may have noticed that Mr. Louis Frascogna and Ms. Amanda Dickman have joined the staff and are writing on general topics — things that are newsy and on subject matters that don't really fall into the categories of our established beats. Louis is a law student who loves video games, music, art, food, beer and writing. He's originally from the south but...

We are guessing it is the weather and lack of activity, but we’ve been actively searching for good food-related events for the past month or so. This week is no different. We've also got dancing and book swapping, so get on it.

This is a really simple, informational post. There is a website called SwapSimple.com, where you can trade books, DVDs and video games with people. You open up a free account, you list your stuff, and you trade for other people's stuff. We checked it out, and you have to pay for the shipping and handling (via USPS), but other than that, you can change out your collection nearly for free.

We just heard that a bunch of area schools are closed because of the cold, so woo-hoo if you're in school. A free day to stay home and play video games! Though, we bet it does put a lot of families in a bind to try to find childcare all of a sudden. Here's a list of the schools that are closed.

Remember when G-Rod made it a crime to sell violent or sexually explicit games to minors in the state of Illinois? Bad move, Illinois still owes the video games industry $520,000 in legal fees for writing unconstitutional laws, and the judges say we have to pay, even though we don’t want to. Chicagoist imagines the time Illinois politicians spent dreaming up, researching, writing, and defending the restrictive legislation could easily add another $500,000 to the...

As the days turn longer and colder, and thoughts of spending time with loved ones drinking cocoa draws near, your desk probably isn’t the at the top of the list of places you’d like to be. So what are poor employees to do when vacation time is dried up, and they really “need” a day off? Sick time to the rescue! A recent Sun-Times article suggests that the holidays are a hot period to fake...

Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Londonist wants you to know where to...

Besides appointing Tammy Duckworth to the state Department of Veteran's Affairs, Rod Blagojevich has made the news again recently for some other, not-so-sexy reasons lately, too. Blago gave the boot to two East Coast law firms that had made large donations to the Governor. A third firm had been removed from the state's list of preferred law firms in May. The Sun-Times is reporting that the preferred list kept by the state (which is a...

Everyone needs a hobby. Some people knit, some play video games, others bust some heads out on the roller derby track. How do you blow off steam?

Those of us at the Chicagoist offices enjoy video games as much as the next person. It's not that uncommon for us to go head-to-head in a round of Mario Kart while we're waiting for new stories to post. Why, last week, we were on the last lap of the 150cc dinosaur track when KFed became Fed-Ex. The losers in last place driving the Goomba Kart decided that we had to post that story right then and there, and that was the end of our match. (Frakking editors...)

Now that it's winter -- err, autumn -- we'll be staying inside and watching movies and TV-on-DVD more often. We'll have some freshly popped Newman's Own Movie Butter Boom and a precious bottle of Bell's Two-Hearted by our side. And of course a round shiny disc or two. But where to rent from? In our search for the golden choice, let's lay out some options:

Chicagoist likes to think we’ve seen it all, but, sometimes, we’re still a little shocked, or at least puzzled, by our fellow humans. Which, we suppose, isn’t a bad thing. Good to keep things interesting.

In another stunning display of his leadership skills, the Rod signed another bill to ensure the welfare and safety of our children yesterday. Well, our college-age children. When he's not keeping them safe from wacked out video games and making sure we all don't fall victim to fake war heroes, he's going to make sure they're not getting the cancer, either.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs