Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). If you're interested in the history of North America's largest gaming convention or the history of Dungeons & Dragons, this is the book for you! Matt joins us for the conclusion of ou...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). We continue our deep dive into anti-Dungeons & Dragons moral activist Patricia Pulling, founder of Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (BADD), how she became an alleged expert...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Andy Hunter, and recently-published author Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). We continue our look at moral panics over Dungeons & Dragons by taking a closer look at Patricia Pulling, the founder of Bothered About D...

, Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Andy Hunter, and Phil Thomas. We are also joined by a special guest: Matt Shoemaker, who is a game designer, librarian, game historian, and author of the new book Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, which is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). In the spirit of his new book, Matt joins us ...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We finally wrap up our look at legendary (?) video game movie director Uwe Boll's attempt to make a sequel to his 2007 adaptation of Postal we his ill-advised, ill-conceived 2024 Indiegogo campaign to finance Postal 2. Topics discussed include: Uwe Boll vs. Alex Jones: the Fight of the Century we were denied, leave Gary alone, and Vince Desi actually has a good point. For t...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. Having learned about Uwe Boll's 2007 adaptation of Postal, we pivot into his attempts to make a film sequel to Running with Scissors' flagship/only game franchise, starting with Uwe's 2013 Kickstarter campaign to finance Postal 2. Topics discussed include: how Veronica Mars inspired Uwe Boll to make more movies, Uwe needs someone to tell him he's great, paying Uwe to work for him...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We wrap up our discussion of Uwe Boll's 2007 film Postal by examining the film's critical and audience reception at the time of its release. This will help set the stage for Uwe's multiple attempts to make a sequel to the video game movie audiences didn't seem to hate as much as his other movies. Topics discussed include: Uwe gets big mad at critics, Uwe should probably get...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. For our first episode coming off Scandalous Games Summer, we stick around the world of movies and take a closer look at Uwe Boll's 2007 film Postal, Uwe's raunchy, satirical comedy adaptation of Running with Scissors' only franchise. This time, we look at its development, production, and its very, very poor box office showing. Topics discussed include: Kevin bravely doesn't...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri usually shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends. However, we're taking a few months off for the second annual Scandalous Games Summer, where we offer syncable audio commentaries for video game related movies. This time around Join Kevin, Andy Hunter, Phil Thomas, Lauren, and Kate Lynch as we trust the fungus and talk over the 1993 debut of licensed video game films, Super Mario Bros. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/), directed by ...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri usually shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends. However, we're taking a few months off for the second annual Scandalous Games Summer, where we offer syncable audio commentaries for video game related movies. Join Kevin, Andy Hunter, and Kate Lynch as they talk over the 1989 coming of age tale/100-minute Nintendo commercial The Wizard (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/). Together, we tackle some aggressive product placement, reminisce on...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We bring you the thrilling conclusion of our look at John DeCamp, the disgraced former politician/conspiracy monger who sued the games industry following the Columbine shooting. We look at John's associations with some very fine people and how he tried to get to the bottom of a bunch of other conspiracies leading into his massive suit against violent video games. Topics dis...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Phil Thomas. As a new wrongful death lawsuit levied against a video game company looms, we take a closer look at Sanders v. Acclaim, the 2001 lawsuit filed against the video game industry alleging games like DOOM, Redneck Rampage, and Final Fantasy (?!?) trained the Columbine High School shooters to kill. To that end, we examine John DeCamp, an eccentric Nebraska politician, lawyer, and consp...

In today's installment of Scandalous Games Theatre, Dr. Kevin Impellizeri, PhD, recites Jack Thompson's "A Modest Video Game Proposal," delivered via open letter on October 10, 2005, in which the self proclaimed "only certified sane lawyer in the State of Florida" offered a $10,000 charitable donation in the name of then Take-Two CEO Paul Eibeler if a game company developed and distributed a game in which all Jack's personal enemies were brutally killed. However, when a company came forward t...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Phil Thomas, and Elford Stephens. We finally wrap up our look back at the year of controversies that was 2024. This time around, we look at a whole bunch of weird and wild Pokémon related stuff that came up during the previous year. Topics discussed include: the potential murder related implications of the number 286, Kevin gets scammed, Nintendo goes after Palworld, and uncomfortable allegation...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Phil Thomas, and Elford Stephens. We continue looking back at the previous year that was with a sample platter of gaming related controversies that came up over 2024. This time around, we look at some wild backlashes against Sony in the Helldivers II community and the alleged role of video games in the December 4, 2024, shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Topics disc...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Kate Lynch, and Phil Thomas. For our first recording of 2025, we share our favorite gaming experiences from 2024 and take a look at the tumultuous state of the games industry over the past year, including the discussions of corporate greed, massive layoffs, and huge live service failures. Also, a scheduling note: we will not be airing a second episode this month. Check back in on March 4 ...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Elford Stephens, and Phil Thomas. Part Two (of two) of our remastered edition of our deep dive at Postal 2 (Running with Scissors, Whiptail Interactive, PC, 2003). This time, we go past the game's less-than-stellar reception and learn how developer Running with Scissors found a second life in the anti-woke crowd. Topics discussed include: Running with Scissors accuses critics of giving their g...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Andy Hunter, Elford Stephens, and Phil Thomas. We're taking a month off for the holidays, so enjoy part one of a two-part remastered version of our episode on Postal 2 (Running with Scissors, Whiptail Interactive, PC, 2003), the crass magnum opus of the rudest, crudest dudes in gaming: Running with Scissors. This time, you'll be treated to tons of never-before-aired footage and additional info from Kevin. ...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Elford Stephens, and Phil Thomas. We reach the thrilling conclusion of our deep dive into the history of college sports video games and why there weren't college football video games for over a decade until the release of EA Sports College Football 25. Topics discussed include: The NCAA loses a whole bunch, college athletes gain NIL rights (and $600 for their troubles), that time the Supreme C...

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Elford Stephens, and Phil Thomas. On Elford's triumphant return, we start looking at the state of college football during the 2010s that led to the end of the NCAA Football video game series. This includes student athletes fighting to unionize and the backlash to chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Plus, we tackle the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match in the latest installment of Scandalous Games ...