Tag Archives: Tentacle Bento

With Friends Like These: Screw Ups and Patterns of Power in the Games Industry

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Adam Maresca

Randy Pitchford is a happy man. Sure, the last couple of major titles he’s overseen as head of Gearbox Software have had their share of detractors, but that’s not going to be any skin off of his nose. If someone … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Conversation | Tagged Adam Maresca , Aliens , Atari , Ben Kuchera , Borderlands , Call of Duty , Code Hunters , Colonial Marines , Dave Mason , Dickwolves , Duke Nukem Forever , Erik Kain , Eurogamer , Gaspar Lewis , Gearbox , Kotaku , Krahulik , Mike Krahulick , Mike Sacco , New Games Journalims , Obsolescence , Penny Arcade , Randy Pitchford , RapeLay , Simon Parkin , Stephen Totilo , , The Penny Arcade Report , TimeGate , Tiny Tina | Leave a comment

Against Diluting Censorship

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Lana Polansky

Lana Polansky “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” -Soren Kierkegaard The past few weeks have been dogged by some rather unsavoury aspects of videogame subculture regarding rape culture and … Continue reading →

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Octopus Sashimi: Examining the Polemics of Tentacle Bento

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Kyle Carpenter

Editor’s note: the following is a discussion of the status of non-consensual sex in culture and fantasy, and necessarily employs some very charged terms. Please be warned before reading. If you don’t feel comfortable continuing, know that you have our sympathies. By Kyle Carpenter Tentacle Bento, the source of another whirlwind argument regarding the fictionalized portrayal of rape and its place in culture, is going to fade into obscurity within the next few months, but is for now the centre of much deserved discussion.  In many ways a microcosm of the furor that arose over the infamous Penny Arcade “Dick Wolves” fiasco, Tentacle Bento refocused the debate because of the way the game implicitly revolves around the goal of rape, as opposed to a throwaway line in a gag strip. The polemics of this argument are becoming well practiced. On one side, there is the suggestion that Tentacle Bento plays into a Continue reading →

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Pandora’s Lunchbox: Deregulating Decency With Dorks’ Dollars

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Adam Maresca

Editor’s Note: The Following Article contains images that, while not genuinely pornographic, would not be a great thing for your boss to see over your shoulder. Please read responsibly. by Adam Maresca Thanks to the likes of open-source funding services like Kickstarter, the “marketplace of ideas” has never been more literal, or more troubling. Though their record is far from perfect, the service recently has come under fire again. This time the cause is the cancellation of the card game Tentacle Bento for, presumably, flagrantly violating the company’s obscenity guidelines. The fact the game tripled its initial goal and ran on the site for quite some time is not the major source of the outcry, though. It’s that the game was pulled from Kickstarter at all. That Which Must Be Preserved At All Costs. Insert Credit’s initial coverage by Brandon Sheffield is one of the main sources of the complaints that got the Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Conversation , Features | Tagged Adam Maresca , Brandon Sheffield , Debug Chamber , First Amendment , , Insert Credit , John Cadice , Marie-Claude Bourbonnais , , , Penny Arcade , , , Turner Diaries | 12 Comments