Gamertell

Ah, Halloween. I still remember chanting “Trick or Treat! Smell our feet! Give us something good to eat!“ hoping to find Candy Corn, M&Ms and pieces of chocolate shaped like pumpkins in my bag. And like other towns across the United States, the variety of costumes you could dress in just to entice the homeowner for that extra piece of candy was the greatest thing since sliced bread to an 8-year-old kid.

Well now players can relive those days from the safety of their homes on Gaia Online. Gaia just started its Halloween Hysteria event last night (October 24, 2008) with trick or treating in the Gaia stores or in the towns. And for those who love dressing up for Halloween, a variety of Halloween costumes are available in the…

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Much like cartoons, most gadgets and videogames are really not meant for kids. Let your toddler play Grand Theft Auto for a while or mess with your iPod and you’ll probably not be too happy with the results.

As a safer and more education alternative, LeapFrog Enterprises has been selling the Leaspter educational gaming system for about four years in retail stores across the US. This Summer (2008), LeapFrog will update the Leapster with web connectivity and also release a new handheld, web-enabled system called Didj…

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When wealthy Texas businessman, Richard H. Collins, decided to campaign against Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, he began creating anti-Hillary websites. With Thanksgiving coming up, he also included an interactive Whack-a-Turkey Flash game featuring Clinton as a pilgrim bopping presidential candidates on the head, a la Whack-a-Mole.

“While there is a place for negative advertising, we’ve heard so much of it that we’re almost immune to name-calling. But we’re always eager to hear a new joke. Humor can be an effective political tool,” Collins said.

Collins is so concerned about Clinton’s presidential bid that he has created StopHerNow, an anti-Hillary website that features news, humor and public views about Clinton. The free Flash-based game allows the player to controls Clinton, dressed in a pilgrim outfit, who bops a variety of pop-up presidential candidates with a virtual mallet to scores points. Former president Bill Clinton will earn the players double points when whacked. In fact, when Bill is whacked the animated Hillary shouts “Hit Bill Again!”

Collins, a community newspaper publisher and online education entrepreneur from Dallas, has raised millions of dollars over the past three decades for Republicans such as conservative icon Jesse Helms to establishment favorite Kay Bailey Hutchison. He claims that when Clinton complains about a conspiracy against her that she’s talking about him, stating, “The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is alive and well and flourishing in Red State America and I’m glad to be a part of it.”

Collins said he hopes his humor will be strong enough of a potent weapon against Clinton to knock her out of the running since most of the younger viewers favor getting their political news from comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, that the game and his humor will be more effective than negative information or name-calling.

“No profanity,” he said. “Chelsea is off-limits. No gay-bashing. And Bill’s womanizing is OK, but we don’t name names unless they’re public knowledge. Hillary has used the woman-as-victim routine throughout her career. She claims she’s a woman. We say she’s the front-runner, no different than anyone else.”

While Collins acknowledges that some Republicans remain skeptical of his approach through comedy and games, the Democrats don’t mind because they feel this approach will only create more sympathy than antipathy for Clinton. Collins and his comrades feel humor is the best cure for the public who is tired of watching negative ads.

“It’s easy to be mean,” Bell said. “It’s hard to be funny. It’s even harder to be funny and clever.”

Clever, as well as fun, is what this game is about.

Read [The Houston Chronicle] Site [Stop Her Now] Play [Whack-A-Turkey game]

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