POSTAL BULLETS
News From The Postal Underworld

The sudden surge of international interest in this prestigious RWS newsletter has led to most unexpected development – requests from fans all around the world to reproduce "The Urinal" in their own language.

At press time, "The Urinal" has been approved for translations into the following lingoes:

Benelux , French, German, Italian, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Swedish. We are optimistic that by next issue we should have the first links available for those who have long craved the ability to read our depraved rantings in Sanskrit.

I don't know what it means, but I'm a'scared...
Jeanette Alexander of Creative Muse Productions (www.JeanetteAlexanderMusic.com) sent us this photo of herself with this interesting and disturbing piece of art she created. I don't know about you, but I experience an instictive urge to cover my crotch when I look at this. Definitely getting an Lorena Bobbit vibe here... (just kidding! -mostly.) Jeanette is actually an extremely talented artist/singer/composer. Check out her latest CD and you WILL touch yourself...

Going POSTAL on the Literary World

Author Joe Garrison ( ephtheg@gmail.com ) writes:

"I wasn't sure if you guys would be angry or not if I mentioned POSTAL 2 in my book, 'The Orange Catheter'.  I just self-published it, because every publisher I talked to refused the book on the basis that it had 'no mainstream appeal".  [The reference to P2 in the book] is a positive comment about the game, involving an autobiographical piece considering the effects of videogame violence one day, and realizing that I was actually a better person because I could get my aggression out in the virtual reality of POSTAL 2 instead of unleashing my horrible anger onto the real world.  So, that's what that's all about.  I'd gladly send you guys a copy of the piece, and you can see the whole book (with the exception of a very short story at the end of it) at: www.lulu.com/kusomanbooks. That storefront has both my first book on it, and 'The Orange Catheter'."

"Well, thanks for your time, and make "Postal 3" kick ass!"

No problem, Mr. G – between your writing being "odd" and your use of the word "Catheter" in a book title, it's obvious you're "one of us." Use the game reference and may your book sell a million copies.

From the Lulu site:
"In the vein of true revolutionaries, Eph G. and Doxy Demimond once again
manage to capture their trademark "intelligently perverse" musings, vulgar
and brilliant, in a way that even the most anarchistic of writers hasn't
attempted. It's not an anthology... it's not a scrapbook... it's not poetry,

and it's certainly not a story... It's, well, G. and Demimond making
distinct, groundbreaking literature, as they always have, and this is
possibly their best yet. They tackle an unimaginable slew of subjects, from
a French girl traveling with the Cyberpunk Queen into a desecrated Heaven in

a bathtub to screenplays about dysfunctional families of undead hicks to
commentary about videogame violence. Forget anything you ever thought a book was;

this is 'The Orange Catheter'."
 

Seeing the POSTAL Sites
Here's an arbitrary list of POSTAL-related sites presented in no particular order: (be sure to check out "Postal Nation" for all the sites run by members of the POSTAL League):

* To see some new zombie images from the Eternal Damnation Mod check out http://resurrection-studios.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=449

* http://www.freewebs.com/postalaw/thepostalworld.htm has a new Share The Pain review up.

* http://postalfr.tonsite.biz/news.php French Postal forums. Parlez des machettes de boomerang en Français!
Le' W00T!

 * The new URL for the Bitches With Attitude forums is: http://purepostal.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=26 go chat with the Grrlz that WILL kick your sorry ass.

*http://moddb.com/ Your one-stop shop for all things Mod related.

* www.postalnetwork.org The first and greatest Postal portal!

* http://www.resurrection-studios.com/ Home of the Eternal Damnation Mod project.

* http://elitebastard.com/kamek/ Kamek's batcave of Postal Moddery. Loads of cool stuff for multiplayer Postal!

* http://www.bitchassmofos.com/ BAMF's multiplayer Postal Clan

* http://postal2.tk/ Looks like a store page, smells like a store page, but under the brazen attempt to sell you Share The Pain are links to free multiplayer maps and other Postal-related goodness!

* http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=15229050&Mytoken=20050728120705 Ever wonder what The Dude's friends are like? Well, you can meet 27 of them right here.

* http://www.freewebs.com/bitches-with-attitude/index.htm The old Bitches With Attitude site with really awful LOUD midi music on it. They will taunt you a second time and kick your ear's ass!

* http://www.geocities.com/hellchild1989/home2.htm Another Postal fan sharing his pain. Quick, check out his Postal cartoons for some extra Deep Hurting before he does something crazy...

"I'll take the bloody wallpaper, thank you."
Postal Fan Aaron Hastings ( mole_man_123 ) created some really cool desktop wallpaper that he "made from stuff I found in the AW file. There are two pics – one with blood and one without so you can choose which one to put on your website."

PostEd wallpaper specially formatted for... er... 600x464 resolution <shrug>

Well, you know us, Aaron , we have to choose violence every time. We never cease to be impressed with the work and creativity you folks are willing to devote to our games.

The Vince Desi Interview Corner
Okay, for those of you who require your monthly fix of Vince Desi interviews, insidemacgames.com has a chat with the Czar of the Bizarre at http://www.insidemacgames.com/features/view.php?ID=367 and courtesy of D.G. Chichester.

"What you can't see is that I've got a gun up this bear's ass..."

Meanwhile, longtime RWS fan Per Eriksson conducted a dialogue with the inVINCEable one that we can reprint for you:

Q: When designing a game like Postal 2, what does your development look like? Do you all sit down with a pint at the bar discussing what would be cool to include or is it strictly marketing research? :P (Thinking of how you came around to including the ability to piss in Postal 2, that was pure genius.)

A: Actually there are a few of us who are involved in the design. The lead is Steve Wik .  The basic story is already there: white trash guy, smokes pot, has a pitbull named Champ, a bitch for a wife, lives in a trailer, and loves to shoot shit... so as we go forward we try to incorporate cool situations that make the most sense for the Postal Dude to do his thing.  As for the pissing, our AI programmer Nathan Fouts had written liquid physics for the gasoline, and then one day he said take a look at this, and I pissed myself. True story.

Q: Recently there have been some discussions about bans and regulations against violence in games; does that affect Running with Scissors and your work on Postal 3? Have you been forced to edit your ideas or will RWS rely on the fact that the sellers of the games don't sell to people under 18?

A: Running With Scissors has always been independent. We make games the way we want to play them. Basically we have two thoughts when designing: 1) will it be fun to play and 2) will it be funny, and that's our real guideline. We're much more about the humor than we are the violence.  Many games on the market are really for audiences 18 and older, but no one wants to deal with reality, especially the people who make all the money by misleading the public. It doesn't surprise me now that the shit is finally hitting the fan.

Q: Do you feel that people focus too much on the violence and controversy in Postal instead of seeing it as a normal game that can give the player a few moments of entertainment?

A: THANK YOU. This has always been the case, in the game media especially, which is funny because most of our fans are not typical gamers, but regular folks, lawyers, doctors, pimps, school teachers, you know.  Running With Scissors has always focused on mature humor, not violence.

Q: What have been your main influences when creating the environments and characters in Postal 2? Was there anything you included in Postal 2 that was removed because it was "too much" or "too lame"?

A: Actually, there was a lot more, but you can only do so much. We'll put the good stuff that didn't get in POSTAL 2, into POSTAL 3.  Not many people realize it, because most reviewers don't really play the games they review, but POSTAL 2 is a very, very big game, with many more characters than most, and a helluva lot smarter AI.  The basis for the Postal Dude is Arizona , and the characters are really just funny shit we think of, like Krotchy – and Champ is really my son's dog. It's really funny to be in the game as ourselves and have Gary Coleman with us.

Q: How far has the work on Postal 3 progressed? Will you try to mimic other games' successful features like drivable vehicles or physics?

A: We're still designing POSTAL 3, and we really don't mimic other games, as far as driving play in GTA. I don't think you can add driving to an open game like POSTAL and have it work; its either a driving game or it's not. We're real happy with our approach.  POSTAL 3 will have some new twists in terms of gameplay. As for physics, we will use them as we see best for overall game play as well as design.

Q: Do you feel that it's easy for people and/or organizations to pick on you because you are a smaller developer compared to huge corporations like EA and has that changed the way you look on the way you develop games?

A: Not so much how we feel as it is a fact.  Look, we spend our lunch money on marketing, which means very little payoffs to the big players. I can't even imagine what I would do if we had a few grand for marketing.  I'm hoping the hot coffee mess makes the retailers come to their sense, and they start to carry AO games, or I hope the ESRB changes the rating system to be more realistic.

Q: What kind of games do you yourself play to draw ideas or to just be entertained for a few minutes? Do you mostly enjoy online games like CS, Battlefield 2, and World of Warcraft or do you spend most of your gaming offline?

A: Right now I'm trying to read a book, "The Book of the Five Rings." I play new games that people send us to look at, otherwise I play mostly puzzle games for relief.  I answer email a few hours a day, so realistically I'm lucky if I get to play a little. We mostly check out new games to see what's out there.

Q: What has been most fun and rewarding for you in the development and release of Postal? Have you learned anything valuable from it that you can draw experience from, has it been a blast or just one hell of a trip that you wish just would end?

A: Without a doubt the most fun is answering fan mail.  I never expected POSTAL to become a cult game, but we are so lucky to have such loyal and crazy sane fans.  You learn something new every day. I've developed many personal relationships online, and I can't really describe what it's like; someone wrote today to tell me their dad passed away.  I take my responsibility very very seriously.  We all have real lives, and we all have responsibilities.  POSTAL will go on long after I'm gone – Running With Scissors is more like club than a company.

Q: Does RWS have any plans of releasing upcoming games on next gen consoles like the PS3 or Xbox 360? If you have been following the development of the "war" between Sony and Microsoft, what are your feelings about this as a game developer? Is it all a show for the masses with all the specifications or is this really as serious as they want us to think?

A: Yes, we are planning POSTAL 3 for console.  I think it is a war on several fronts:  tech wise, pr wise and [the search] for developers. Let's face it, if there are no great games, then what?   It looks like for sure MS will be out first which is critical for them. Sony can survive coming out 2nd, but I'm not sure MS could, and Nintendo will always be the family choice – don't count them out entirely, they could easily be #2.  Not everybody is the same around the world, so more than one system can succeed.

Q: Do you have any good advice for someone out there thinking about starting up and developing a idea they have had? Is there anything special one should have in mind when developing a game?

A: FUN, FUN, FUN.  You really have to ask yourself: Why are you doing this? What is the goal?  We really could use more creativity and originality.  The game industry has become too much like the movie biz, and in that sense Running With Scissors is like an independent film studio, thank god!

And finally, just to maintain a little balance, let's hear what reader Code Warrior (AKA Andy ) had to say on the subject of POSTAL controversy and Vince 's response:

CODE WARRIOR: After reading your responses to criticism that your products are harmful to children, a reasonable person can only conclude that you do not care what affect they have on children.  You seem to refuse to acknowledge the validity of any research on the matter. Is this true? What would it take for you to consider a study?

If you truly have no interest in how [RWS games] affect the developing mind of a child, it seems you would have to be considered a predator, just as drug dealers and prostitutes are considered predators.  I hope this is not the case.  To avoid this categorization, you ought to act in a way that demonstrates your desire to establish your business as an ethical one.

VINCE : Thanks for writing a thoughtful email; its always refreshing to hear from someone who is thinking.

I'm not sure which article or interview you are referencing, but fyi from the very beginning we initiated contact with parental groups, stated that our game POSTAL is for mature audiences only, requested that we be put on their list, and spoke of the crude humor and surreal violent content. But, unfortunately, to this day the media only writes about the extremes.

As for my personal feelings, I think all parties – developers, publishers, distributors, retailers and consumers all have a responsibility, but again, this doesn't serve the purpose of the media, or the money-hungry people that run our biz.

I could go on and on, compare other entertainment industries, but in the end it comes down to responsibility. I've never ignored nor declined mine, but I cannot control what other people write, or how they cover our game.

I'm not sure if you ever played POSTAL but it's a lot less violent than its reputation and a helluva lot funnier, but of course that depends on your sense of humor.

Anyway, thanks for writing and speaking out.

-And for the unbalanced response, here's the Postalmeister:

POSTALMEISTER: You know Code Warrior, it never fails to annoy me when brain-locked self-righteous "crusaders" such as yourself think they can nail me to the wall with their insipid and unverifiable "logic" garnished with "have you no care for the children" petulant wailing and drama. Invoking these shadowy and mysterious "studies", always without any proof of their existance beyond the "knowing smirk" they're delivered with, fail to convince me of anything other than your indignant self-righteousness and utter contempt for rational thought. Here's the deal, presented in a simple format so you can understand:

1. All games are not designed nor intended for kids. The same goes for food, movies, clothes and vehicles among other things. If you're concerned, then pay more attention to your kids, I'm not your babysitter. That pretty much sums it up and I should really just stop there, but I'm on a roll, so let's just go ahead and continue flogging the dead equine, shall we?

2. Whenever I do a Google search for these "studies" I can never seem to find any of them, only vague references to them made by people like YOU. Despite the fact that you assume they're true and valid and should have meaning in MY life, I've yet to find a single one of them, so I really can't comment about them. Much like Bigfoot. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I did find a report from the Surgeon General that concluded that friends, family, environment and heredity were all far more important factors in youth violence than exposure to entertainment media.

3. One thing I CAN find using Google are the FBI's youth crime stats and you know what? THEY say that the incidence of Youth violence and murder are at a 20-year low. So you can either believe your vague "studies" or you can believe the national crime statistics. That's why God gave you free will. -for that and also to decide not to be a violent, murdering psychopath. Notice how there's more possibilities than your personal "certainty"? Bet that blast of cold air that just rushed into your mind was a new sensation, wasn't it.

4. If, indeed there was a "study", I wouldn't discount it out of hand, BUT I'd need to know a lot of things in order to determine if I felt it was valid. Vital, important things such as: who paid for the study? Who performed the study? Do they have a bias or is this real science? Who were the test subjects? Average kids from middle income families? Ghetto kids from low income families? Psycho kids from the institute? Taliban kids from the Jihad school in Fuckamericastan? Do the subjects and/or their families have any history of violence, abuse or mental instability? What, exactly, were the "stimulai" that the test subjects were subjected to? What was the control methodology? What, exactly, is the scientific definition of "increased agressive tendancies?"

See, if the American Institute Of Amish Families Against Carnival Rides (AIOAFACR) wanted me to perform a "study" on the negative effects of rollercoasters, I could easily give a hyperactive kid a 40 oz. Big Gulp, stick him on a rollercoaster and when he starts acting all hyper and silly from the sugar and adrenaline rush, point my finger and say: "See?!? Increased agression! Case Closed! I'm a genius! Somebody put me on the news!" -And people like you would line up around the block to buy my book and tape series. Or elect me to Congress.

POSTAL Uber Alles – German Fan Magazine Debuts
German POSTALite Stefan just dropped us a note noting that the first "German Postal Fan Magazine" is now available. If you happen to speak Deutsch then you can either check out the website portal ( http://www.thedude-magazin.com ) or go to the site's download section and print it out as a hard copy PDF file.

And just to show we aren't making up all this international stuff, here's a picture of the first issue. Which wraps us for this month. Be here next time when The Urinal once again celebrates the beauty and intelligence of the fabulous Postal Babes.