Scandalous Games Scandalous Games

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Kate Lynch, and Phil Thomas. Topics discussed include: Kevin shows his privilege when it comes to handling explosives, and we get to the bottom of whether we really eat eight spiders in our sleep. Plus, some more rounds of Pokémon or Prescription Drug?Theme Music: Occam's Sikhwee by Sikh Knowledge (Free Music Archive: https://bit.ly/33G4sLO), used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US (https://bi...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Kate Lynch and Phil Thomas. We leave the quirky little town of Harvest to continue our look into the self-proclaimed "killologist" Dave Grossman. This time around, we start looking at what Dave has been up to on the violent video games train in the last decade or so, and we take some time to think about the "why" of Dave. Topics discussed include: Scandalous Games is officially a Pulitzer...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends. This time, we wrap up Harvester with an interview with Aarno Malin, host of "The Harvester Show" and the Harvester Facebook page. Aarno graciously shared his experiences as a Harvester superfan and we discuss the process of tracking down people involved with the game, and he shares his thoughts on what might have kept the Harvester from joining the pantheon of controversial 90s video games. Be sure to check...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter and Kate Lynch. Today, it's the thrilling conclusion to our look into the over-the-top PC game Harvester (DigiFX, Merit Studios, 1996). We warp up by examining how its creators attempted to market Harvester, its reception (or lack thereof), and its surprising resurgence over the past decade. Topics discussed include: Harvester's creators desperately try to find someone who will get m...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter and Kate Lynch. This time, we continue our deep dive into the wild horror themed point-and-click adventure game Harvester (DigiFX, Merit Studios, 1996). This time, we shift our focus to this game's troubled production and some of its pre-release hype. Topics discussed include: Harvester's diverse cast and crew, a whole bunch of talk about Event Horizon, and comparing your computer game to ...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Kate Lynch, and Elford Stephens. This month, we take another break from the "killologist" to take a closer look at the wildest 90s PC game you may have never heard of: Harvester (DigiFX, Merit Studios, 1996). We start our deep dive into this cult piece of 90s PC weirdness by examining the impetus behind the game and what inspired its creators to try to make the most over-the-top video game ever...