More than a year ago, we here at Destructoid told you about NewsBreaker, a Breakout-type game the MSNBC Web site created to get younger people to read its news. The concept was simple: hit a brick, get a news headline. It was fun, but I personally felt a little strange enjoying an addictive Flash game, only to unlock a news story entitled “Hundreds die in car bomb explosion.” The whole experience was a little unsettling.
Well, one of the creators of the game just contacted me to let me know a sequel to the game was just released: NewsBlaster. This time around, instead of Breakout, NewsBlaster finds inspiration in the beloved Bust-a-Move series: shoot an orb from the bottom of the screen in the hopes of matching other orbs of the same color. Accomplishing this seemingly simple feat will reward you with not news, but “awareness of the world around you.” Nicely put, MSNBC.
Now, I don’t know if I have changed over the last year, but I just spent the last hour playing this game (still in its beta stage) and had a lot of fun doing it. Sure, it was still a little odd getting the news this way, but who am I to complain when this is further proof that VIDEOGAMES ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD!
You can check out the surprisingly fun game here. Who knows? Maybe you will get the high score and learn something new about the crazy Austrian man who locked his daughter in the basement!
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Chad enjoys punching old ladies in the face, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES (best system ever!), Final Fantasy VI, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Contra III, Valkyria Chronicles, Punch-Out!!, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
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Contest:
7:59 PM on 05.05.2008
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They were shot... shot dead.
Anyway good find, I remember enjoying the original for quite a while when you reported about it Chad
"Just to summarize it has a friends and Facebook leaderboard and you can tag stories for the Facebook news feed. So when Britney Spears finally blows her head off, you can tag it and let everyone know that you saw it on NewsBlaster."
Here's the link for the curious:
http://apps.facebook.com/newsblastergame/
Awesome. :)
Hey, where's the Dtoid sealion representative?
Can they do that for me?
Cool game though, but I'm rather worried at some of the high scores... Do some people spend their whole day playing this? :S