Village Voice Media

Five Things We Learned From Mario Paint

Do not fear, whimpering advocates of the arts! Video game giant Nintendo has heard your plaintive cries! And they released a game meant to spur the latent artistic abilities of young gamers the world over. Its name is Mario Paint.

Five Things We Learned From Cool Spot

So what do Cool Spot and its hero, the 7 Up logo named “Cool Spot,” teach us about life, love and the Uncola?

The Best Mario Painting You’ll See Today (PIC)

Nearly a hundred international artists participated in the show, which featured a gigantic Galaga game and an interactive Kinect hack.

10 Videos of People Smashing Video Games Consoles

For one reason or another, jaded gamers are smashing their consoles for the YouTube masses. No consoles are safe!

Five Books Improved With Pokemon

We’ve added Pokemon to books because Pokemon are awesome.

10 of Gaming’s Most Memorable Songs

These just may be ten of the most iconic video game songs of all time.

Are Video Games Are Making Us Jerks?

One experiment found that kids dressed in Halloween costumes were more likely to steal money when they had their masks on than when their faces were showing. What are videogames, but highly complex masks? I’m a huge proponent of fantasy. I value videogames because they let me act out on impulses that I’d never honor in real life. I’d never steal a car or point a gun at another human being. But in videogames I do both unconscionable acts with frequency. And I’d like to think that my ability to get those virtual kicks prevent me from ever feeling curious about doing the real thing. But games are often played with other humans.

The 10 Worst Examples of Video Game Box Art (PICS)

You can’t judge a game by its cover. While that statement doesn’t necessarily apply to all of the following titles, some pretty fantastic pieces of entertainment were hidden behind these hideous “interpretations” of the games in the box.

Chinese Couple Sells Children to Fund Video Game Lifestyle

The worst parents of the year award goes to…These guys.

“It’s On Like Donkey Kong,” a Brief History (Infographic)

How did DK go from mindlessly slinging 8-bit barrels at Mario to an icon for getting it on everywhere? It’s now a rallying cry for interpersonal challenges that inevitably end with one man victorious and the other taken down to China Town.