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[img width=560 height=347]https://hobbydb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/processed_uploads/subject_photo/subject_photo/image/21024/1487177367-24608-3767/Beam_20Software_20logo_large.jpg[/img]
In the middle of the 1970s, there were small game development studios popping up all over the world. In Melbourne, Australia; in 1977, one of those companies was Beam Software. Their initial games were developed for the home computers of the early 1980s, and they scored a whopper of an early hit in 1982's The Hobbit. At the tail end of the 80s, they finally made the move into home console development for the NES. A couple early stinkers in the two Back to the Future games did not slow the company down, and they started to get contracts to port arcade games to the console. In the early 1990s, there was a shift in the company's audio staff which saw Gavan Anderson and Tania Smith working on music and audio, but Tania ended up leaving to go on a world tour, and she asked Marshall Parker to be her replacement. Marshall was already 38 years old when he joined Beam Software in 1990, making him one of the older composers even at that time.
Continue reading Composer Compendium: Marshall Parker
[img width=150 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/163238371547c70bd77c7e9Porteous-OP804.jpg[/img]See this man to the right? His name is Julian Porteous, and he has something to say about video games. Clearly, being the auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney Australia just doesn't fancy all of his time. Never mind striving for that "Just Community" and other Catholic mumbo jumbo*, for now is the time to talk about video games.
See, Australia currently has a maximum rating of R15 on video games. As you know, the age 15 generally doesn't correlate to mature audiences. As such, there are quite a few games that just don't get released in Australia. I don't know what I'd do if I could not play Manhunt, Postal, or Marc Ecko's Getting Up. I'd probably go crazy. Regardless, that is how it is in Australia. Clearly, video games are a subversion where any game intended for people over the age of 15 should be banned.
Recently, it was mentioned by sometime in the Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification that they may consider adding the R18 rating to the game ratings. Currently, the R18 rating exists for film, but not games. Certainly, there are a couple prudes that think that it is their God given right to think what other people should or should not do. Take for example Julian Porteous. As a ranking member of the Catholic clergy shouldn't he be worrying about something more important than what games are rated, such as clergy abuse, or is that strictly an American thing? Either way, the auxiliary bishop of Sydney opposes the proposal to add R18 to the Australian Classification system. Why? He thinks that video game violence can desensitize people into performing acts of violence. Hogwash. If that was the case, I would have gone out killing lots of people with a beam katana that I obtained at the local flea market. Thanks No More Heroes! Thankfully for everyone, I would never make such an absurd connection and my rationality and morality would keep me from performing such a heinous action. God knows though what would happen if I was subjected to sitting through one of Julian's homilies. Now that's desensitizing.
Julian, bugger off. Convince your congregation to perform acts of charity and see God in all things. Stay the hell off of our modes of entertainment, and I'll be less inclined to criticize the work that you and your cohorts do.
*David Murnan is a raised Catholic kid who was subjected to 12 years of Catholic education, of which four of those years were in an amazing Jesuit Institution. As such, he is allowed to be openly critical of his own faith.
via Gamepolitics
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