Quickies
Skepchick Quickies, 6.3
- Scientology probed over underpayment claims. (From John.)
- Do new airport security measures rely on pseudoscience? (From Alexrkr7.)
- Video games might be good for kids. Even girls! But probably more so if they feature, instead of guns shooting, magic wands that turn everything into butterflies and sparkles. (From Sean.)
- “I trust these two a whole lot more than I trust Jenny McCarthy.” (From Sydney.)
I don’t know, sparkles and butterflies might overstimulate a poor girl’s brain. Might I suggest Stacker, developed by Rockstar games, or perhaps Pleasing Your Man II: Barefoot and Pregnant?
When I saw the sentence “I trust these two a whole lot more than I trust Jenny McCarthy”, a series of pornographic images went through my mind which could fit that sentence.
Needless to say I was a little disappointed by the actual poster.
Regarding that video games article, when I posted that piece of fail on my Facebook page a little while ago, this was a female friend’s response:
“Or I could Akimbo G18s like a noob and turn on that princess instead. Technically, she’d sparkle. Ish. Gunfire sparkles, no? Like pretty rainbows.”
I think that making a first person shooter which simply has a princess theme is the wrong way to go as it limits creativity. Instead the focus should be on making new types of games, for example, Katamari Damancy, which appeals to everyone.
ETA: I should also mention that I enjoy first person shooters, and I think people should play them if they choose. My original point was more towards those who want to create a game which has the benefits of fps, but not the violence.
Hmmm…girls don’t like action games. They need to have magic wands and sparkly butterflies to enjoy the video game….
Didn’t we have this discussion yesterday? Appearantly, she set her phaser to Stereotype, and is blasting everything she sees.
“Scientology probed”
I’ll sign up to perform some probing.
There is a recent article in Nature commenting on the lack of evidence for the SPOT security program. http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465412a.html
My 2.5 year old already is addicted to my iPod Touch. She has a number of educational apps that she enjoys (she has more apps than I do). Vocabulary flash cards, matching games, and all sorts of other fun educational games. (For the record, she’s very active and loves books, too.)
However, none can deny the glee as she proclaims “I like zombies! Hmm! Zombies go fly! BOOM!”
She doesn’t like to play it herself, but loves to watch her dad play Zombie Smash.
I’m sure she’d love to play a magic wand game. She’d turn the bad guys into frogs, and then squish them with her pretty princess shoes. Who says she can’t have the best of both worlds?
@Imrryr: Goddammit, you stole my video game. Now how am I supposed to market “Barefoot & Pregnant III: Back to the Kitchen”?
My mom only likes magic wands and sparkly butterflies, that’s why she played Assassin’s Creed.
Does Rayman Ravin’ Rabbids count as a FPS? I love killing me some bunnies with plungers.
@slightlymadscience: Or cut off her My Little Pony ™ heads… that used to be my favourite past-time. *grin*
My favourite video game of all time is System Shock (the first one – pre-precursor to BioShock), for the record.
Butterflies and sparkles? Well, okay. Those are kind of small things, but if you give me a accurate representation of, say, a Lee Enfield or an FN P90 I could probably take those out no problem on the 360 at visible range without scope or laser sight modification.
When they brought up Unreal Tournament and the Medal of Honor series, I went and checked the article date, just in case. It makes me feel that they’re still sadly out of touch if they’re referring to games that are 10 years old. The sexist comments really sealed that view for me.
That article started out with promise and finished flat on it’s face.
SPOT, huh? Should probably rename it MISS, or Most Intruders Screen Successfully.