Quote:The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals might be barking up the wrong mushroom.
On Monday, the controversial organization issued a press release attacking iconic Nintendo mascot Mario for wearing a 'Tanooki' suit in his latest adventure, the Nintendo 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land, which hit shelves on Sunday.
"Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but by wearing the skin of an animal, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur," PETA says.
The raccoon-like suit, which grants Mario the ability to glide across the screen, has been a part of the franchise since first appearing as a power-up in 1988's Super Mario Bros. 3. In the new game, Mario acquires the suit not by doing something lousy to a Tanooki, but by snagging a Super Leaf.
Still, PETA insists this encourages animal abuse.
"Tanukis are real-life raccoon dogs who are beaten and, as PETA's undercover exposés show, often skinned alive for their fur," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "This winter, everyone can give raccoon dogs and other fabulous animals a 1-UP by keeping our wardrobes fur-free."
To help prove their point, PETA has even commissioned a crude parody video game called "Super Tanooki Skin 2D" in which players try to re-capture their skin from a flying Mario (Warning: Kind of disturbing, and totally not fun.)
It's just the latest in a long line of PETA game complaints. In 2008 they went after Cooking Mama for not being a vegetarian, while just last year they parodied challenging downloadable platform hit Super Meat Boy for starring a piece of raw meat.
Nintendo has yet to comment, though we're pretty sure it will sound like a hand slapping a forehead.
UPDATE: Nintendo has now responded, via Eurogamer:
"Mario often takes the appearance of certain animals and objects in his games. These have included a frog, a penguin, a balloon and even a metallic version of himself. These lighthearted and whimsical transformations give Mario different abilities and make his games fun to play. The different forms that Mario takes make no statement beyond the games themselves."
It's a timetrial racing game, done as a Digipen student project. The name and car design (and wings) make you think of Rush 2049 of course, but the environments and gameplay isn't like Rush at all; instead, it's basically a challenge game where the goal is to get to the end of the course in the fastest time possible. There are Rush (2/2049)-style flip/spin tricks to do in the air, for points, as well. However, you won't explode if you land on your roof, you'll just not get points and flip back upright. Also the cars aren't topheavy like Rush cars often seem to be, so you land on your wheels more than in Rush. The physics are different too, as are of course the courses -- this game takes place on floating paths in a cyber world, not in real world tracks. So yeah, there are some elements of Rush, but it's also quite different in many ways.
Timetrial is basically the only mode, the only opponents will be (online or offline) ghosts. There are a good number of courses, starting easy and then getting harder, and the graphics and music are great. It's got a very stylized "computer world" look, Tron-esque I'd say. The music's good techno stuff, fits perfectly. The levels are long paths, all one way and not laps. You avoid obstacles, try to figure out your way through the stage as fast as possible, etc.
My only real complaint is that the game doesn't seem to be able to recognize any of my joysticks or gamepads, so it's keyboard only. It supposedly supports gamepads, but tapparently they only bothered to program in 360 pad support or something, and there's no control configuration either. This is a BIG problem, to be sure -- I am quite annoyed it doesn't work with gamepads that aren't the 360 controller, I don't have or want one of those things for my PC -- but the game's more than great enough to be really fun anyway. Definitely play it!
Huh... who knows if that will go well or badly for them, but that's kind of an odd choice. I mean, sure, he did make some good moves for the Red Sox, but he wasn't exactly missed when he was fired, to say the least.
(Dan Duquette was, of course, Red Sox GM from 1995-2001; the Henry group fired him as one of the first things they did after buying the team, and it was a popular move because of how widely disliked Duquette had become in Boston by that point.)
Doesn't nature know that earthquakes DON'T hit this state? Guess not...
Anyway, yeah, it reached here and my house shook but that's about it. Honestly I thought a big wind storm suddenly kicked up, as that's a thing that actually happens here.
My favorite part of that story?
"A boulder rolled into a rural county road, blocking it."
That right there is some serious Lassie stuff.
Also, Bubba Fernandez is probably the best name I've ever heard. There's some history behind a crazy name like that.
... When will this Apple scourge stop... Jobs, the most influential person on the gaming industry? Apple, the biggest influence? Have I ever seen a worse choice ever? I can't think of one, if I have...
Have you played it? If you want a good understanding of it, take Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Fusion, then mix it in a 3D blender. Not only is it "Metroid" in 3D, it even takes from all the Prime games in gameplay (such as charging your beam to fire a super missile which costs 5 missiles). The whole package is genius, it slowly takes you away from the group until its just you alone on a huge space station, the feeling of isolation is intense, to the point that when you hit a main elevator you take a sigh of relief. So, its perfect? Quite frankly yes. It's exactly what Metroid should be. I'm on my phone so I can't go In to huge detail, but the haters of this game (calling it sexist) have no idea what they're even saying. Other M is the Kubrickian patchwork of the Metroid series made whole. In the first it was so subdued it was transparent, in Zero mission the Zebesians flew around in sperm shaped vehicles. Just a BIT over the top in Its hidden meaning (of lack of) but got the job done. There's a big reason the phonetic sound of Samus Aran is Same As A Man and that you fight "Ridley" as in the director of alien - a story about a woman fighting a man's world. The cross of Aran's fascination of the 'baby' to Bergman's fascination of Melissa proves an awesome point. The relationship with Adam has nothing to do with sexism or women being told what to do. Adam is, for the role he fulfills, Samus Aran's father.
Man its hard making paragraphs. So before my browser force closes on me I want everyone to know that the resident Metroid guru is in love with this game. Not as much replay as the prime games and doesnt feel as big but eh, for what its offering its more than enough. Get ready for a gameplay twist that melds survival horror elements with classic Metroid. Disappointments? Sure:
Kraid is no where to be seen, there's a lack of 'natural' fauna but that becomes a plot point. The real difficulty curve just isn't there, even the items are bizarrely easy to find. Zero challenge. And don't look for intense shinespark puzzles because other than SHINESPARK HERE there's no thinking involved. Having said that the combat and mechanics is magical, if Nintendo released a remake of the original Metroid and Metroid 2 and hell Super Metroid with this format I'd be fine with it though theyd all 3 need tweaking in order to work, especially for the 'real' spiderball or X-ray.
Bottom line - don't pass judgement on this game, tear a part the story and trust me you will be impressed. Silent hill 2 levels of being impressed maybe even more so. Watch for some creatures getting angry/frustrated when they can't get to you and experiment with killing methods on every enemy. I don't see how anyone can be let down by this game other than its lacking replay or difficulty, both can be found in the 'hard' mode though (unlocked after beating it)
