Results tagged “videogames”

Whether you've convinced yourself that you're an adult or not, somewhere deep inside each one of us is a small child clamoring to be let out. And we find that more often than not, our inner child wants us to take him to the arcade- specifically, the Sega World arcade in the New Century Plaza right off People's Park.

There's a lot to protest about in China: ethnic tension in Xinjiang, forced eviction and resettlement, and even gay rights. Now you can add video games to that list as well.

• Barack Obama and Bill Gates endorse real estate in Xi'an [Danwei] "The developer erected four giant 10x6m billboards around the building, each displaying the portrait of one "spokesperson" coupled with a quote in English and Chinese. In the Obama sign, the quote of choice is 'The values upon which our success depends have never changed,' a slight adaptation from a line in his inaugural address: 'Our challenges may be new....but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old'."
• Red tape to test transsexuals' desire [Eastday] "It was revealed last month officials at the Ministry of Health plan to set clear criteria for people who qualify for the surgery, as well as the hospitals and staff allowed to carry it out. Some in the transgender community, however, have raised concerns the new rules could be too strict [...] His fears center on the fact that, if the rules are approved, patients will have to prove they have had the desire to swap their gender for at least five years, and have lived full-time as their chosen gender for two years."
• A Virtual Game to Teach Children Languages [NYTimes Bits Blog] "Kids choose an avatar and pick a scene, like a castle in a fantasy land or a supermarket in the United States. They are confronted with challenges, like dodging flying monsters or buying fruit, all of which ask them to use English. If they hit a ceiling in their language capabilities, they go to the wizards’ library and read so-called magical books that teach them lessons. The company is initially focusing on kids age 7 to 12 in China but plans to expand globally, eventually teaching many different languages to kids all over the world."

We don't know what prompted a bunch of people to reenact the seminal video game, Super Mario Bro.s, but we're glad they did. Live Mario runs through pipes, snags a mushroom to grow bigger, hits a star to become invincible and jumps for the flag. The only thing missing: someone from the Mushroom Kingdom to tell him "Thank you Mario, but our Princess is in another castle."

The show, which featured several other Shanghai performers, included what Houge self-described as “a sneak preview of a sound installation that [he's] working on, incorporating ambient automated filters and algorithmic rhythms.”

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Before we begin, we'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of James Kim. We are not, by any means, trying to discount that tragedy by juxtaposing posts about the Kims with more light-hearted posts. It's the nature of doing a compilation such as this one: we're trying to give a full slice of the goings-on in the Ist-a-Verse: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

What a weekend—the Shanghaiist Halloween Party was a blast! We loved the diverse crowd and friendly vibe. (Local residents, who contacted the police about the noise, were rather less enthused.) We’ll start planning for the next event soon — when we nail down the details, we’ll be sure to let you know. Any suggestions on places to go?

Via p2pnet.net (and also seen on chinatechnews.com and Pacific Epoch) we learn that the Ministry of Culture has banned four video games: Blood Rayne II, Obscure, AV Mahjong and Kong Bu Lao Long (Horrible Cage).

We wonder if there will be major brawls between basketball and soccer fans this week in Shanghai. We sure hope so! Because this week as soccer is being played inside Shanghai Stadium, basketball -- or, at least, some sexed-up replication of the sport -- will be played outside. Something called the NBA Jam Van starts its three-month, 10-city tour of China in Shanghai this week. Billed as "the NBA’s premiere interactive touring program" (there are others?), the NBA Jam Van will annoy soccer fans July 28-31, from 11 am to 7 pm daily. Here's exactly what the NBA PR people want Shanghaiist to tell you about it:

Rainy season in Shanghai and sweltering heat takes many of us into the air conditioned confines of our apartments for recreation. Sick of DVDs? Why not venture into the newest home video games? (Shanghaiist sure has.) Now that we are all officially "victims of piracy," just blame the whole mess on those wascally Westerners, and gaming can be cheaper then ever.