One of the strangest (and strangely disturbing) things to ever come from a respected (?) news source has to be MSNBC’s Flash game NewsBreaker. The online game, which plays just like the classic game Breakout, can be found on the news channel’s Web site.
The concept is simple: move your paddle left and right to keep the bouncing ball in play, knocking colored bricks away for points and the occasional power-up. What is so odd is every so often a current news story pulled directly from the MSNBC feeds falls from one of the destroyed blocks. Collect it and it appears on your sidebar, ready to link you to the topic whenever you finish the game.
As I was trying it out, about 30 seconds in, the stories “33 people dead in Virginia Tech shootings” and “An unadulterated look at adultery” came cascading down for me to catch. This made me feel dirty and weird so I immediately closed my browser. Something is just not right about playing a fun game and trying to nab a story about a terrible massacre for bonuses (no joke, 25 stories gets you an extra life -- ugh).
It was pretty obvious to me that some old people got together and thought this would be an easy to way to trick the young, “hip” generation into getting their news. Kind of like The Daily Show, but without the reverence.
[Thanks, Disrupto]
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.
Likes
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.
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
19 comments | showing # 1 to 19
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
10:58 PM on 04.16.2007
| 
awesome!! that like triple score bonus
Away, Light Crusaders! A fight is afoot!
Seriously though, couldn't they just choose to drop stories from innocuous categories like Technology and Politics? It's not like anyone comes to get caught up on the tragedy that unfurled today via a rousing round of Breakout. If their playing the game, they're either tuning out the world or are all caught up.
"If their playing the game,"
lrn2spell n00b! ZOMGIROXORS!!11
Must....have........edit feature.......
then "veteran has wrong testicle removed" came up
"Grandma probably had premarital sex too"
Seriously...why would you even report that?