To The Best of Our Knowledge

from Wisconsin Public Radio

You're part of the "Freedom Movement," - a group of anti-globalization anarchists. You're blowing up security stations to fight "The Corporation." Sounds like a scene out of Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests of a few years ago, doesn't it? But it's not. It's actually a new video game called "State of Emergency." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the use of video games as a pop-culture propaganda tool. And "The Pain Station," a shocking new computer game – literally.

Steven Poole is the author of "Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution." He tells Anne Strainchamps that video games can be an art form and that they will continue to increase in sophistication. Also, we hear some of Confusium's piece, "Compare This". And, Wagner James Au, who writes about video games for salon.com, tells Jim Fleming about "State of Emergency," the game that lets you attack global capitalism.

SEGMENT 2:

What might happen when Hollywood runs out of video games to turn into movies? Doug Gordon has a few ideas. Also, Tilman Reiff, one of the inventors of "The Pain Station," tries to explain to Steve Paulson why anyone would want to play a game that punishes poor play with physical pain.

SEGMENT 3:

Gerard Jones is the author of "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make-Believe Violence." He tells Steve Paulson, a dad himself, that children need to be able to "destroy" the things that scare them.

Books:

• Gerard Jones, "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make-Believe Violence" (Basic Books)
• Steven Poole, "Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution" (Arcade)

Music:

• "Compare This"/Confusium from the CD, "Intellivision Rocks" (Intellivision Productions) http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/131/intellivision.html
• "Swan's Splashdown"/Perrey & Kingsley from the CD, "The Out Sound From Way In!: The Complete Vanguard Recordings (Vanguard Records) http://www.vanguardrecords.com/home.cfm
• "Pac-Man Fever", "Froggy's Lament" and "Do the Donkey Kong" from the CD, "Pac-Man Fever"/Buckner & Garcia (Buckner Garcia Productions) http://www.bucknergarcia.com
• "Sparks In The Dark (Part One)" and "Sparks In The Dark (Part Two) by Sparks from the CD, "Pulling Rabbits Out of A Hat" (Oglio Records) http://www.oglio.com/contents/index.asp
• "NYC vs. Mario"/Tony Fox http://www.digitpress.com/mp3.htm

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/14/2002 - hour 1