RWS Invades Russia

Napolean couldn't do it.

His supply lines became over-extended, and the Russian people burnt their own towns and cities to keep the French from taking advantage of them. Boner-Part returned from the Land of the Czars a beaten man.

Hitler's crack troops ended up broken and freezing as they threw themselves against the rubble of Stalingrad in 1943.

Even the USA couldn't conquer the Russians through force of arms. But Vince Desi took Moscow like the Red Sox chewed up the Cardinals, arriving in Red Square as a major American celebrity and the publisher of the enormously popular POSTAL 2.

Who knew?

--The Gimp

Q: So Vince, I hear you're a major celeb/sex symbol behind the Rusted Curtain. How did POSTAL get so popular over there, Comrade Desi?

A: POSTAL is the real thing, the American hot dog of video games. Running With Scissors touches the souls of true gamers all over the world. I have a feeling that the Postal Dude is the ultimate Ugly American. Clearly, the Russian gaming audience identifies with RWS and the Postal Dude.

Q: We Boomers and X-Gens have a very weird image of Russia -- cold weather, ugly women in babushkas, everybody grim. Now that Capitalism has kicked out the commie jams, has it REALLY become "Party Central"?

A: The party is just getting started. On the flight over, the vodka was flowing, kids trading cigarettes; it was great, made me feel right at home. The Russian people have a natural honesty about them. I think they have suffered so much for so long that they are so appreciative of freedom. It was cold but somehow I always felt ok, and hey I live in Arizona. The women are very attractive and more amazing they are all thin - nobody is overweight! I kept telling the guys there to shut down McDonalds before its too late.

Q: So do they have software stores in Russia, or can you buy POSTAL 2 at the same supermarket where you get the AK-47s, the nuclear submarines and rent ex-KGB agents for birthday parties?

A: Games, music, cell phones are everywhere. POSTAL 2 was everywhere! It was great, especially since I can hardly find it here in the good old USA. Got me thinking about the irony of it all. Behind the iron curtain I could buy POSTAL all over the place. Freedom really is what you make it.

Q: What's it like being in a country that you were raised to hate?

A: I loved it. I've been fortunate to travel to many countries but Russia was different. As a kid in Catholic school I was trained to get under my desk when the air raid drill siren would go off. What were we all thinking? Was "duck and cover" under a wooden desk going to protect me from an Atomic blast? I think it's really important to separate people and culture from their government. I noticed there were two Russias - the old and the new, the old Soviet system and the new Russia, enthusiastic capitalists exercising their freedom. How can anyone hate $5 lap dances?

Q: How do you explain the popularity of POSTAL 2 back in the ex-USSR? Does it speak to the Ruskie soul?

A: There's something about the Postal Dude that connects with the Russian people. He tries hard, he doesn't have very much. He drinks and smokes, he loves women and guns. I'm starting to see a pattern here. If I had to take a wild guess I'd say it's the free spirit that POSTAL is all about, the Russians are now living it for the first time in generations.

I really think too many Americans have pissed their respect for freedom down the drain. Just look at us, we're paying for it now.

Another new review!
Speaking of the Mac version, check out the review of POSTAL 2 entitled: "Postcards from the edge of the Moral Abyss" at Don't Get Hurt posted on 10.4.04. Some good stuff.

Here's a taste:
"Postal 2 is set in… a southwestern American town inhabited by the filthiest, sluttiest, most sadistic and offensive swine that stagger across the face of America (yeah, they're despicable). You will hate these people, and you will want to kill them. At first you may just be disgusted by the lifestyle of the main character (P. Dude). After being sent out by your whiney wife to get milk and your severance cheque from the computer game company, you really get the feeling that your character is a loser.
"You will be heckled on the way to your objectives, but being a reasonable person like me, you will probably just brush it off. In the process of acquiring the cheque you will become involved in a gun battle that results in crude decapitation. But all of that happens more or less in self defense. The 'Parents for Decency' savagely attack the game company, and you and your game-programming friends are forced to turn the shotguns on these pathetic zealots. You feel justified as you swing the shovel on that oblique but critical angle at the protester's neck."

Vince speaks! Again!
There's also a Vince Desi interview out there in cyberspace at on the Euro site Spelbasen. Great picture of Vince, Mike J, two hot Postal Babes and Gary Coleman. Thanks to ed-in-chief Tobias Karlsson.

Or, as Vince put it, "RWS kom som ett resultat av folk som blev trötta på att utveckla prisbelönade barnspel i 15 år. Teamet gillade allihopa att spela actionskjutspel, så det var en naturlig evolution. När vi bestämde oss för att göra Postal ville vi kalla oss något annat. Steve Wik, vår huvuddesigner, kom på namnet Running With Scissors."

Desi, you slay me in any language!

Mike J goes gaming in Jersey, GXL style!
As usual, GXL kicked off without a hitch, except for one absurdly minor detail - I had to hitch a ride down to Jersey and the only available vehicle was with the mad mob from 10100.org! Smashing, squashing and otherwise flattening approximately 16 people into an RV designed to hold five.

We arrived 4 hours late, but as they say, any road trip you can walk away from is a success. I resolved the many fires that had started due to my getting there so late and set up my booth in time to avoid disaster.

This time around, GXL was twice as large as the previous year's event, 550 people in all! The Millville Rescue Squad seemed packed to near-capacity with all of these extreme gamers and their elaborate computers! The GXL crew, who did a fine job the first time, had it totally nailed this time around. There weren't any critical problems all weekend, no server outages and no net spikes!

An encouraging number of players found their way to the RWS booth, where each and every one of them had the same question: "WHERE IS APOCALYPSE WEEKEND??"

I wish I had a better answer other than: "SORRY, ITS DELAYED!"

Overall, GXL is a great event for both gamers and sponsors! Everyone had a great time, and unlike CPL, there were no reports of anything major stolen.

-Mike J

Going POSTAL on campus

Vince continues to be one of the hottest college speakers in the electronic gaming industry. He has lectured several times for Bill Kunkel's courses at UNLV and recently charmed the students of Collins College (1140 South Priest Drive Tempe, Arizona 85281, Fax 480.446.1177).

In fact, Elizabeth C. Bakken, Animation Career Services Advisor at Collins reports on the most recent event: "The Game Design students at Collins College were thrilled to welcome to campus [the] Running With Scissors team, Vince Desi, Mike Jaret, and Steve Wik. Our event on October 6th quickly filled to standing room only to accommodate all of the interested students. Most of our industry speakers are slotted for an hour, the Postal 2 presentation from Running with Scissors gradually became a two hour event that was both colorful and industry educational. Vince captivated the audience with his presence, background stories and advice as he demonstrated the Postal 2 game. We found it extremely beneficial to have the other team members present as many of the students questions were directed to Mike and Steve as well. We didn't realize how many Postal fans attended school until this successful event! Some of us are still not sure about that whole cat silencer thing but students are still talking about the presentation!"

To visit Collins College, check out http://placement.collinscollege.com