cstGaming

…this one is for AbraXas.
The things i find on my news updates at work:

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By MARIA CHENG,Associated Press Writer AP – Tuesday, August 18

LONDON – Since swine flu first emerged in April, it has sparked panic, vaccine production and now, a video game.

In an effort to further raise awareness, Dutch researchers have created a game that challenges players to control a new pandemic.

“It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world,” said Albert Osterhaus, head of virology at the Erasmus Medical Center, who designed “The Great Flu” game with colleagues.

The game can only be played online at http://www.thegreatflu.com and it is free. A World Health Organization spokesman said Monday the agency was not familiar with the game and had not had time to play it.

WHO has reported nearly 178,000 cases of swine flu including 1,462 deaths worldwide, though those numbers are believed to be a gross underestimate of the actual caseload, since hard-hit countries no longer test all cases with flu-like symptoms.

As the virus has spread worldwide, countries have tried different methods to slow it down and pharmaceutical companies are now racing to produce a swine flu vaccine.

The game begins with images of bedridden patients and graveyards from the 1918 Spanish flu. As the head of the fictitious “World Pandemic Control,” players pick a flu strain, and then monitor that strain’s spread around the world.

To fight the emerging outbreak, players use measures including setting up surveillance systems, stockpiling antivirals and vaccines, and closing schools and airports. Players also have a limited budget and are warned that “your actions to control the virus cost money, so keep an eye on it.”

A running tally of the numbers of people infected and those who have died sit above the budget. Newspaper stories about the deadly virus and the global response to it _ like riots breaking out worldwide _ pop up to help players monitor the outbreak.

Messages from governments mirror the difficulties faced by international agencies like WHO. For instance, when players set up costly surveillance systems, the game often relays a message from governments that “we will comply with your directions…but we must inform you that the political support for this action is low in this region. Therefore, the effectiveness of the system may differ from your expectations.”

Osterhaus said the video game’s approximation of combating a pandemic, choosing between various interventions yet still watching the outbreak spread, gives people a sense of how difficult it is to make decisions in the public health world.

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Seriously though, this game is one of the coolest sim games i’ve ever played. It’s has a full flash interface  and is very easy to use. Handling something like this isn’t something you’d see yourself doing everyday which makes it all the more interesting. It’s free…. so there’s no reason you shouldn’t check it out.

www.thegreatflu.com

p.s. don’t get the swine flu…who seriously wants to smell like pigs while they’re sick?

by Michael Camacho

A group of 4Chan /a/ regulars have decided to step away from posting memes and get into Eroge/Hentai game creation. It began in 2007 when an anonymous posting of Doujin work by Raita focusing on character designs for a dating sim revolving around Crippled characters. The lightbulb went off and the small group banded together to bring that idea to reality. Once a dedicated team was fully assembled, they created Four Leaf Studios and began their work.

Here is the official description of the game: Katawa Shoujo is a bishoujo-style visual novel set in the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children, located somewhere in modern Japan. Hisao Nakai, a normal boy living a normal life, has his life turned upside down when a congenital heart defect forces him to move to a new school after a long hospitalization. Despite his difficulties, Hisao is able to find friends—and perhaps love, if he plays his cards right. There are five main paths corresponding to the 5 main female characters, each path following the storyline pertaining to that character.

For those not familiar with Bishoujo titles, the game is basically a text and image driven dating sim, in which you progress through the story making choices and trying to reach the ultimate goal, in which you end up with the girl of your choice. The game utilizes the Ren’Py Visual Novel Engine, a free scripting engine used for Visual Novel games.

While this game will be adult oriented, Kawata Shoujo will feature an option to turn off the hentai scenes, so those who would prefer the game without any sexual scenes can do so.  The demo is out now and is currently without any adult scenes.

Kawata Shoujo will be released free of charge upon completion under a Creative Commons license. The title is showing a lot of promise, and I highly recommend people check out the demo and support the hard work that Four Leaf Studios is putting into this game. Screenshots below.

Kawata Shoujo Official Page