There aren’t many Mario hacks, or video game hacks in general, that deserve a great deal of attention. Few are done with any real forethought or planning. Super Mario Fusion is different. Think of it as Mushroom Kingdom Hearts (an apparent subtitle). The game has Mario running through levels inspired by everything from Halo to Mega Man to Doom to Tetris.
Not only that, but the levels themselves actually look good, and fairly creative. The game is still in beta format, but you can download and play it. One has to wonder if Nintendo is keeping a watchful eye and thinking of their own Mario escapade through their catalog of games.
While many await news from Capcom of a Mega Man X17: Zero Battle Nexus, the rest of the gaming world will have to make due with the company’s newest legal entanglement. Seems someone finally realized that Capcom’s Dead Rising was a blatant rip-off of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, and its less socially conscience remake. Capcom has preemptively filed a claim that “humans battling zombies in a shopping mall” is a “wholly unprotectible idea” by copyright standards.
They may be right. Really, almost any film premise can be translated into game form, and short of using character names and direct situations, be considered fair use. For example, someone could make a game of the last man on earth battling zombies and being held up in his apartment. Would the producers of I Am Legend like to sue? Sure, and they’d probably have a legitimate case in one regard. Still, how does that come off any more a rip off than many low budget films that attempt to capitalize off new theatrical releases? (more…)
Are video games really all sex and violence? Not according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). It recently released its ratings numbers for 2007 and revealed that only 6% of titles received a Mature rating.
In fact, games in general got very acceptable ratings with 74% receiving an Everyone rating of some form. Another 20% of titles received the Teen rating. So, what does all of this mean to gamers?
For one, it means that mature games simply aren’t being made, despite the aging of the gaming audience. Whether this is due to fear of social backlash or limiting a game’s potential market is debatable. Still, this is hardly the future of games many pictured fifteen years ago after the success of Mortal Kombat and Doom. (more…)
While many await news from 
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