July 30, 2007 -
Playing Columbine, filmmaker Danny LeDonne's movie about the controversy surrounding his Super Columbine Massacre RPG game, now has a video trailer.
We recognized some familiar faces including Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin, Smartbomb co-author Aaron Ruby, Manifesto Games head Greg Costikyan and some lawyer from Miami...
Over at Kotaku, editor Brian Crecente has concerns about the focus of the film. Is it about the game controversy or the game maker?
We recognized some familiar faces including Entertainment Consumers Association president Hal Halpin, Smartbomb co-author Aaron Ruby, Manifesto Games head Greg Costikyan and some lawyer from Miami...
Over at Kotaku, editor Brian Crecente has concerns about the focus of the film. Is it about the game controversy or the game maker?
The more Ledonne makes himself the center of the story, the less I believe that [he made the game as a way to deal with the shooting and its aftermath]...
Judging by the rather short trailer, it feels like the documentary is a little too much about Ledonne and not enough about the very real and complicated issues involving both the shooting and the idea of tacking serious subject matters with video games.
Comments
First, the south park reference was how long until something is funny, not until they make a game about it, but a joke.
He didnt program the game he used an rpg creator program so by calling the game crappy is just my opinion.
RPG Maker doesn't necessarily mean the game is crappy, the fact that he puts work into something that is touch doesn't mean its crappy, some people don't agree with what can be 'crappy' as some people simply make crappy games with the idea that it sells, LeDonne had other reasons.
I played the game and with the exception of the soundtrack i felt it sucked. Had it not been named off a tragedy no one wouldve cared about it. You dont thonk this guy thought of that when he made it.
That's the thing is that people like you put so much *gasp* fear into something that is touchy that people are afraid to talk about such a scenario of it existing, and people similar to that just tend to get others to believe that such a thing is so horrible that society is going to shit because of it.
The name of it doesn't mean he had the idea of the name after the game to sell its information; titles do come later, but not the meat of its content.
Try to make a title about something tragic and see how easy it is.
It would be like if i made holocaust tycoon” then filmed a documentary about americas reaction twords it.
if I’m “detached” by saying a game Created for shock value to make a quick buck is in bad taste, than im glad to not be in your community
Actually it won't be now, since you're starting to do so out of spite than simply out of the blue.
This game didn't make a quick buck, it isn't even a commercial title so I have more reason to believe you're just like many other person's who simply say misleading information to get the point across that your view is the final word.
GP would likely disagree with me, but he has his own personal opinion on that, but they at least give proper opinions, but your words have this political spin on it as if they aren't even your own.
Looks like they've just opened a whole new field of potential for Uwe Boll.
Seriously, it's one guy who made a stupid mistake. We don't need a documentary about it.
On the other side of the coin, it could just be LaDonne trying to recapture his 15 minutes in the limelight... I'll have to ee the finished piece to see.
Oh and....'Literally trained!!1!1!'
He didnt program the game he used an rpg creator program so by calling the game crappy is just my opinion. I played the game and with the exception of the soundtrack i felt it sucked. Had it not been named off a tragedy no one wouldve cared about it. You dont thonk this guy thought of that when he made it.
It would be like if i made holocaust tycoon" then filmed a documentary about americas reaction twords it.
if I'm "detached" by saying a game Created for shock value to make a quick buck is in bad taste, than im glad to not be in your community
JFK: Reloaded was considered in poor taste, but nobody batted an eyelid about Titanic: Adventure out of Time or Black Dahlia.
some people....
22 years, according to South Park (specifically season 6, episode 2: "Jared Has Aides").
To me, it seems more or less just him clipping videos from Thompson's interviews and recycling them over. Technically, this video can be beneficial to catch Thompson's bias and false claims as a documentary.
Seriously, is thos guy thinking that its a good idea to make a video about a crappy rpg he created about a national tragedy still in the headlimes?
Honestly, I don't think its good if you insult someone's programming skills by calling it 'crappy' if you don't have reason than just calling it crappy.
Its not a matter of if he can as he has the right to male a video or video game of whatever he wants, it is in bad taste and poor judgement that he does.
Actually judging by how much you hate this, it is very similar to having a right or not. The fact that we have freedom of expression here, he can make a pile of scrap metal into a crude statue of anything he wants. Right now, you're just sounding like any bandwagon-jumping politician or media reporter. To just say "it is in bad taste and poor judgement" without reason is just your refusal to accept that such an event happened.
We have documentaries on the History channel about Hitler's reign and how Charles Whitman perched on top of the tower sniping away at everyday people; why is this any different?
Its selfish as well concidering the heat the game community took for the actual game.
There is nothing selfish about bringing it the attention to the people that don't understand games in a similar documentary format. In fact, you remain distant from the gaming community in my eyes, so I don't see why it offends you at all. You are acting very much like any misinformed person. If you realized this, you'd have noticed that Danny LeDonne has taken a ton of heat for the gaming community as well, especially during the Montreal shooting.
I thought it was Bully that was called "The Columbine Game", and none of them even knew SCMRPG existed.
I believe most gamers would be glad to see the scandal about this game for what it actually is. Remember in courts how it was referred to as "The Columbine Game"? That doesn't conjure up thoughts of an RPG, that makes all the politicians and uninformed think of some kind of FPS.
In my opinion, this film could be important if it shows how mature and reasonable the gaming community is, compared to the scaremongers,
Its selfish as well concidering the heat the game community took for the actual game.
When I first heard about your game, I was appaled. When I played it I still didn't feel right. (I couldn't even set the bombs right)
But after reading various commentaries and the defense by indie developers (like the Behemoth) and yourself, i've switched sides. I support the game, despite its content. And your right; how can other people/forms of media exploit the massacre and a bored game programmer can't? But I also think that the reason that people got so uppity about it is becuase you're playing as the shooters.
I didn't get far into mthe game but I did read about it more on Wikipedia. I think the idea of the shooters going to hell and fighting DOOM monsters is genius.
I need to see this movie. And anyone else who still thinks that games are the devil, not an artform, and jumps on the "games-made-him-do-it" bandwagon after every senseless slaying should see it too.
Also, I didn't read the cast closely, but what about Goo Gum Produce and his V.T. Massacre game? Any mention of that in the movie?
Thanks for the willingness to listen. The Hell sequence seems to polarize even more gamers than the school sequence.
Ryan Lambourn and VTech Rampage will get brief mention in the film, yes... mostly because it goes to show that not all school shooting games are created equally or with equal intentions. Just yesterday I got an interview for the film with NY state senator Andrew Lanza (http://gamepolitics.com/2007/05/22/ny-senate-passes-video-game-bill/) who of course was livid upon hearing about the VTech game.
I really want gamers/prospective fans of the film to email me (check the film's site for contact info) if you have specific requests/ideas for the film; this IS a film for gamers and those in the general public who want to think more about what games can do - and why we're still having this debate about game violence at all.
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