Vince Desi Pimp Slaps the Entertainment Industry
Hollywood, Hypocrisy & Video Games

I’m bored, I hate repeating myself, and yet it seems the word ‘hypocrisy’ keeps coming out of my mouth. When I first thought of writing this piece it was because I wanted to go on record with my opinion of how I see a major distinction between video games and movies; you know, the fancy $10 million NON-Playable cinematic intro, ugh… when did the train go off the track? What happened to gaming?

I like to think I’m a purist when it comes to video games. Sure, they’re different, they’re interactive, they’re electronic, they’re fuckin’ expensive, but they are also GAMES. So let’s explore this basic premise for a moment. A game, regardless off its form, shape, or medium is a game because a) you play it; and b) you win or lose. That’s it, that’s the common fundamentals of a game, but somewhere along the line, games, as in video games, discovered plot lines, multiple endings, and endless beginnings. Hey I’m all for anything that entertains, that’s just another common particle of what makes a game – FUN, or at least it should be fun, why else would anyone want to play?

At around the same time (the ‘90s) that the video game industry train left the tracks, we were also submitting ourselves to the fancy of Hollywood. Well beyond the entry into the games business from the major Hollywood studios and corporate parents, it was also the game publishers and developers who were fighting to kiss Hollywood Ass, with a capital A. Not Running With Scissors; we have always believed in the basic principal of gaming –play>win/lose>play again=FUN.

There have been many games that have been made into movies and the dreadful reverse of movies made into games, and people wonder why they suck?

Now, Running With Scissors is getting into the act. Our movie POSTAL, directed by the equally controversial independent film director Uwe Boll will be released sometime soon, and it amazes me as I watch, listen and read the critics and pseudo professionals—does anybody really care anymore what anyone else says? Do we really need people to think for us? Just because our parents followed the leader, and maybe because the 60s went up in smoke, the 70s to disco, the 80s to coke, and the 90s to crack, we’ve now entered the Meth Century, I still have faith in people and their ability to think independently and make their own choices, so don’t throw popcorn at me!

All I ask is that you see POSTAL the movie for yourself. If you want to go to the theatre and enjoy the live group experience? GREAT. Prefer to rent the DVD and watch it at home? GREAT. Want to download a bootleg copy? GREAT. Just don’t let the politics of hypocrisy think for you. Decide for yourself, and to paraphrase John Lennon: “Give POSTAL a chance.”

- Vince Desi, RWS