prokopetz:

hyratel:

prokopetz:

karhs:

prokopetz:

I’m sure that in all of us there was that nagging fear that maybe Hideo Kojima was merely cultivating a reputation as an unhinged auteur being held back by the Man because it was good self-promotion, and that if he was ever actually let off the leash he’d be forced to admit it was all a show.

How gratifying to know that we ain’t seen nothing yet.

the guy released a pc game that used a specially-formulated chemical to emit the stench of blood when the floppy heated up in the drive

there was never any doubt

a. No, he didn’t – he just later claimed that he’d wanted to.

b. I’ve always felt that story is somewhat overblown. I mean, yes, it sounds awful, but in terms of actually implementing it, you’d basically just be slapping a scratch-n-sniff sticker on a floppy disk. By the standards of the feelie era (i.e., back when it was common practice to sell video games as boxed sets that included physical props), that’s actually kind of mild – I can think of games that went a lot weirder with their feelies.

Ok now you have my worried curiosity. Care to share some memorable examples?

Off the top of my head:

• The original release of the 1986 erotic sci-fi text adventure Leather Goddesses of Phobos includes a numerically keyed scratch-n-sniff card, which the player is instructed to “whiff” at specific points in the game. Though the resulting scents are often just for atmosphere, in one case they serve as a clue to solving a puzzle.
• The 1991 point-and-click adventure game Space Quest IV shipped with a fully produced issue of a fictitious men’s magazine called “Space Piston”, including interviews, letter columns, advertisements for nonexistent products, and a glossy fold-out centerfold of a three-breasted alien.
• The 1990 NES game StarTropics includes a physical copy of a letter from the protagonist’s uncle. A puzzle about a third of the way into the game can only be solved by dipping the letter in water to reveal a hidden code. This one’s particularly infamous because NES games had a very robust second-hand market, meaning that most players got the cartridge without the feelies and were thus out of luck!
• This one’s not a video game, but I’m including it as a personal favourite: the boxed set for 1988′s short-lived licensed tabletop RPG based on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show famously included a set of ten hand puppets representing various recurring characters from the show. They have no rules function and aren’t referred to by the game’s text at any point; they’re just…. there.