If {working for Smash! magazine robs me of time to post The Week in Pixels}, then {say working for Smash! magazine robs me of time to post The Week in Pixels}.

• “No Longer Too Soon?” is games journo Leigh Alexander comparing images of Wall Street post-9/11 and images of Crysis 2, set to take place in New York City while allowing for an unprecedent level of destruction. “Crytek’s Cevat Yerli spoke of an international sense of attachment to, and desire to defend, the city of New York as one of the emotional forces driving Crysis 2′s world, but 9-11 never came up. Nobody at all made that association when looking at screenshots of the city covered in drifting ash?” Apparently not. This is an interesting take on the social and gaming landscape: the post-Twin Tower frenzy saw an unbelievable amount of public outcry whenever images that would remind people of the terrorist attack were found… Well, anywhere. Yet, almost 9 years later no one seems to be condemning similar imagery anymore or at least, videogame imagery that’s strikingly similar with the event itself. Curious because, as Leigh also points out, it wasn’t too long ago that Fallout 3 concept art was mistaken for terrorist propaganda. Is it safe again for videogames to come out under that particular shadow?

• First-Person Observer, by Christopher Livingston, is styled after a gaming news site as if reporting news from inside videogames themselves. The way it mixes satire, deadpan fact reporting and speculation as to how game mechanics and fiction would operate realistically is pure gold. Prime examples of this are Liberty City’s lack of legal system, the universe waiting for Commander Shepard to solve minor squabbles and how Sander Cohen claims minigames will never be art (the last one being a fantastic stab at Roger Ebert’s take on videogames not being art).
• Following from the last one, yes, movie critic Roger Ebert once again claims videogames will never be art. Moved by Kellee Santiago’s conference, he does make some good points. Among them, he criticizes Santiago’s attempt to suggest videogames’ artistic merit is being recognized by their market penetration. Which, in truth, is an incredibly naive thing to say. On the other hand, many of Ebert’s arguments still fall into the usual stereotypes and fundamental ignorance of the medium hidden under a veil of arrogance. “I’m not too old to “get” video games, but I may be too well-read”, says Ebert on his Twitter account, and the irony is that it reeks of the same elitism once shown toward cinema.
• “Can a computer make you cry?”. This is a 1983 ad for Electronic Arts, which had been founded by Trip Hawkins in 1982 and was ready to take the world by storm with their vision of videogames. In the ad you can see David Maynard (Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer) and Danny – later Danielle – Bunten (M.U.L.E., Modem Wars), among others. “It is a communications medium: an interactive tool that can bring people’s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation may seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance it will mean something more”. The more things change…
• Ever played Sega’s Virtual On and wished it would have featured crustaceans instead of giant robots? No? Anyway, here’s Neo Aquarium: King of Crustaceans, which is… Virtual On featuring crustaceans instead of giant robots. You can select between five characters, such as crabs and lobsters, then engage in battle. By battle I mean using techniques such as shooting bullets and FIRING LASER BEAMS FROM YOUR PINCERS! If only they were wearing monocles and top hats, then this would be the greatest game ever. Although the similarities between “Neo Aquarium: King of Crustaceans” and “Neo Geo: King of Fighters” already take it close enough. See it in motion here and there, and download the demo at your own risk elsewhere.
• And here is a 2D demake of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, by CalbiTheZebra.
• The Mirror Man, a street performer wearing a fractured glass suit, must have been a surprise to anyone visiting the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles last year. Flickr user SiLver sKY was there at the time and, between images of the observatory itself, there are over 20 pictures of the man. For some reason the suit and poses remind me of DC Comics’ in the 1980s, in particular of The Question. Though when people look at him in awe and surprise, not understanding what he’s doing there, that’s something almost straight out of “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
• In 1991, David Lynch returned to “Twin Peaks” to direct the final episode of the series. Richard Beymer – who played the role of Benjamin Horne – was on the set during the last week of shooting, and took incredible pictures of the cast and crew. Bob is still creepy.
• Wall Street regulators spent hours watching porn instead of monitoring crisis. The title alone says it all, although the article goes on to give some examples of what happened. We desperately need Tyler Durden.
• Malcom McLaren – performer, iconoclast, former manager of the Sex Pistols and an undeniable influence on punk aesthetics – has passed away. Stuart Campbell, videogame journalist and ocasional enfant terrible, talks about the legacy of “The Great Rock’n'Roll Swindle” documentary about the Pistols.
• The sky before Katrina struck.
• Me am play gods!
• 25 different ways to look at the Wizard of Oz.
• According to this, I’m a very trustworthy person… Except when it comes to shaving

“You spoony bard!”