One of the arguments against video games as art is that, generally, video games rarely (if ever) move anyone to tears.  I’m not sure what crying has to do with art, but Wonderland linked to a wonderful new blog/webcomic/project that may just finally prove that video games can make you cry.  It’s called Alice and Kev, and it is one of the most moving/wonderful things I’ve seen involving video games.

Alice and Kev is the brainchild of video game design student Robin Burkinshaw from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.  Using Sims 3 as a tool, Robin sought out to simulate homelessness in a video game.  Thus Alice and her mentally ill father Kev came to be.  With a minimum of interference from the creator, the Sims carry on their daily lives living hand-to-mouth, stealing food,  and generally being outcasts.

There have been other depressing video games, like Layoff the Game, but there’s never been something quite like Alice and Kev.  It’s a fascinating, heartbreaking sociological experiment.  This is the kind of thinking outside the norm that will help turn video games into a legitimate form of media.

Tags: Alice and Kev, The Sims, Sims 3, video games, Robin Burkinshaw, video games as art

Usually, when someone talks about hot beats, it’s just because they really like the music.  However, one unnamed woman on a flight from Beijing, China, to Melbourne, Australia, got exposed to some really hot beats.  A woman’s headphone burst into flames while she was wearing them! It’s just not safe to enjoy yourself anymore, between […]

This will be the last Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to ever be on an airplane.  After all, the phone has been pulled from shelves and pockets all around the world, because the phones tend to, uh… catch fire and/or explode.  It’s not a laughing matter if you’re flying over the Rocky Mountains with one in […]

Since 2014, Craig Sager has been caught in the fight of his life.  He’s been battling leukemia since 2014, and he’s had multiple stem-cell treatments and rounds of radiation, and he continues to struggle against the disease for all he’s worth.  He’s been a very public face for most of his life, and now he’s engaged […]

The Red Cross is a wonderful organization.  When there’s trouble, the Red Cross is there setting up shelters and handing out food and water.  The Red Cross is normally very sensitive to the community needs around them, to boot.  However, sometimes, something will slip through the cracks that just looks wrong.  One of these things is […]

One of the most famous features of Matt Groening’s fictional town of Springfield is a strange one.  Springfield is home to a giant, perpetually burning tire fire.  I guess considering the town also has a nuclear plant that routinely leaks glowing green waste into the town’s water supply, the tire fire isn’t such a big […]

Gas prices don’t usually go down.  They go up.  Gas prices rose for decades, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but always up on a long enough timeline.  Not long ago, $4 a gallon for gas was a very real proposition.  Nobody thought prices would go in the other direction, and yet… gas prices are going down […]

Fashion designers look for inspiration everywhere.  Some of it is pop culture, like Friday the 13th-inspired hoodies.  Other fashions are inspired by low culture, like deluxe Snuggies.  Some people turn to the culture of their past for inspiration, like the 8-bit video games they grew up on.  Italian fashion house Moschino is partnering with Nintendo […]