Saturday, May 29, 2010

Will Your Privates Survive?

For all those who giggle when they hear newsreaders discussing 'sea men' on the news, game developers Zombie Cow have created a unique new video game called Privates:

"BRITAIN. Land of Hope and Glory-holes. Where pregnant, waddling teenagers take up the full width of the pavement with their oversized triplet pushchairs, unaware that their rampant, perpetual humping has filled them to the brim with all manner of grotty infections.

Privates is a platform twin-stick shooter in which you lead a teeny-tiny gang of condom-hatted marines as they delve into peoples’ vaginas and bottoms and blast away at all manner of oozy, shouty monsters. It’s rude, funny, bitingly satirical and technically pretty accurate if you don’t count the tiny people or the germs with teeth."

You see, the game's characters are 'privates' but they are also exploring 'privates' - so it's totally a play on words!! Oh, you got that already?




The use of the word 'grotty' fills me with excitement, because this is slang for 'grotesque.' It also strikes me as another example of the 'gross science' genre, especially given the game's safe-sex pitch:

"Zombie Cow founder Dan Marshall said the game is intended to indirectly promote safe sex through its dealing with condom use, sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancy and other themes. He said the game was written to follow the Personal, Social and Health Education guidelines of the British government's National Curriculum. "And the whole thing is essentially aimed at teenage boys," Marshall wrote. "That said, we're doing it in an entertaining, funny way so it's approachable by people of all ages. It's a really interesting project."

I like this idea, and not just because it's 'grotesque.' This game exhibits thinking outside of the box (no pun intended) because it approaches sex education via a media form that young people are attracted to, plus uses comedy to try and break down some of the shame barriers that prevent open discussion. A video game can't stop someone from having unprotected sex, but perhaps spending the afternoon shooting STD monsters is enough to make you think twice about it?

Here are a few early screen-shots:








The game will be a download for the PC and Xbox360. See the developer's website for more details.

[Via Kotaku and seattlepi]

No comments:

Post a Comment