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          <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">- <a href="index.html">Contents</a><br>
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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 3</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../2.15/feat/index.html" target="">Livin' 
  With The Sims</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: 
  theAntiELVIS explores the wild and wacky world that is Will Wright's <b>The Sims</b>, 
  asking the inevitable quesiton, &quot;is <b>The Sims</b> the first step toward a virtual 
  life where everyone is Swedish?&quot;</font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../2.15/pixel/index.html" target="">Pixel 
  Obscura</a></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">: Josh 
  Vasquez on <b>Omikron: The Nomad Soul</b>.</font></p>
<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../rl/index.html" target="">Real 
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Related 
                Links:</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="http://www.3drealms.com">3D 
                Realms </a>: Developers of <b>Duke Nukem</b>.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="bgnbn/index.html">The 
                Bargain Bin</a>: Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman reviews <b>Duke 
                3D. </b></font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="geek/index.html">Geek 
                Toys</a>: You won't believe what Jason &quot;loonyboi&quot; Bergman 
                did to those <b>Resident Evil</b> toys. No wait...you will believe 
                it. It's nothing <i>too</i> sick, you perverts.</font></p>
              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="http://www.3dportal.com">3D 
                Portal</a>: The best 3D Realms fan page on the 'net.</font></p>
              
              
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              <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><b><font color="#339900">Random 
                Feature :</font></b></font></p>
               
<p align="CENTER"><img src="../images/thumbs/bgnbn.jpg" width="98" height="120" align="MIDDLE" border="0"></p><p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1"><a href="../2.2/bgnbn/index.html">The Bargain Bin</a>: Reviews of games you can actually afford to buy.</font></p>


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        <p align="LEFT"><img src="../images/pixel.jpg" width="190" height="227" align="RIGHT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../columns.1"><font size="-1">Pixel 
          Obscura </font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Duke Nukem: Master of Satire and Carnage</font></p>
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        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Josh &quot;<a target="" href="mailto:josh@dawnofthedead.com">Dr.Rouge</a>&quot; 
          Vasquez</font></b></font></p><p align="right"> 
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        <br>
        <p align="LEFT"><i><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"What 
          can we learn from that thing except a faster way to die." </font><font size="-1"> 

          </font></i></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><img src="../images/letters/d.jpg" width="26" height="40" align="LEFT">uke 
          Nukem</b>, that lovable, irrepressible mass murdering wisecracker, is 
          a gestalt entity, a symbolic configuration unified as a whole out of 
          many borrowed bits and pieces. He is the end result of years of crossbreeding 
          between the action and science-fiction genres, the bloody last man standing. 
          One only has to look at the little guy to immediately begin to pick 
          up on his multifoliate origins.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Duke's</b> 
          physical heritage can be traced back along a steroid laden family tree 
          the branches of which include such notables as illiterate action goon 
          Dolph Lundgren and <i>Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot </i>autuer Sylvester 
          Stallone in his <i>Rambo</i> phase. The wife beater style shirt can't 
          help but recall every thick necked tough guy from Bruce Willis in <i>Die 
          Hard</i> (a somewhat higher figure on the action evolutionary scale) 
          to <b>Sgt. Slaughter</b>, perhaps one of the silliest thuggie types 
          either while he was "slamming and jamming" the competition in the <b>WWF</b>, 
          or selling <b>GIJoe</b> products. Now speaking of <b>GIJoe</b>, I must 
          admit that there was one character which slid into my pop culture diseased 
          mind the second I laid eyes on <b>Duke's</b> oily muscles and especially 
          his blonde-on-blonde buzzcut: <b>Sgt. Duke</b>, erstwhile leader of 
          the original <b>GIJoe </b>organization.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dear Sgt. Duke 
          lead his team through thick and thin before being supplanted by the 
          particularly uninteresting General Hawk. I recently made my way back 
          home to unearth my old <b>Joe </b>action figures, and after finding 
          <b>Duke </b>and studying him for a few seconds the connection was undeniable. 
          The rigid facial features where a definite marker but again it was that 
          hair that was a dead giveaway. Both <b>Dukes</b> share a fondness for 
          severe facistic folical fashions...a little touch of aryan goes a long 
          way I suppose. In the end,<b> Duke</b> is really just a combination 
          of every powerhouse action type. You could point to him as the new <b>Thundar 
          the Barbarian</b> or the latest model of the muscle bound <b>Pex</b>, 
          late of <i>Paradise Towers </i>really doesn't matter. <b>Duke Nukem 
          </b>equals pumped up hero material whose comic bookish look separates 
          him from such other popular muscle-gainer eating machines like the troop 
          characters seen in both <i>Quake </i>1 and 2. The <i>Quake</i> soldiers, 
          particularly in the second game, are designed with a grittier realism 
          which is slightly creepy. <b>Duke Nukem</b> is far from disturbing; 
          he's a big ol' gore soaked teddy bear spouting witty rejoinders in the 
          face of death. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is<b> Duke's</b> 
          voice which is his most memorable feature. The deep, gruff tone of Nukem's 
          voice seems reminiscent of the original "Duke", John Wayne, and of another 
          wrestling spokesman, Randy "Macho Man" Savage (I for one can certainly 
          imagine <b>Nukem </b>backing the right wing politics of "cowboy-for-hire" 
          Wayne and snapping into a slim-jim while he does it). <b>Nukem </b>also 
          follows the vocal intonations of another cult hero: <b>Ash</b> of the 
          <i>Evil Dead</i> Trilogy. There is a trace of the comically macho <b>Ash 
          </b>in <b>Duke's</b> speech patterns, but the connection is felt most 
          directly in the actual phrases <b>Nukem</b> utters from time to time. 
          </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">All a horror 
          film fan has to hear is the word "groovy" to think of Sam Raimi's battered 
          hero <b>Ash</b>. This is just one of <b>Nukem's</b> borrowed catch phrases. 
          The game <i>Duke Nukem 3D </i> follows the idea behind <i>Evil Dead 
          II </i>and <i>Army of Darkness </i>pretty closely: gory action/horror 
          combined with humor. The outrageous "<u>House of Mystery</u> meets <u>Mad 
          Magazine</u>" hero style is also very Raimi-esque, and <b>Duke</b> is 
          definitely shaped from this mold. Another comic action/science-fiction 
          film, John Carpenter's <i>They Live</i> is referenced in Nukem's use 
          of the phrase "It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum...and I'm all 
          out of gum." Like Raimi's films, Carpenter's little smash 'em up flick 
          is an over the top adventure into a world part <i>Three Stooges</i> 
          and part <i>Twilight Zone</i>...and like Raimi and Carpenter, the creators 
          of <b>Duke</b> are spoofing the genre with just the right amount of 
          love and appreciation. </font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The character 
          of <b>Duke Nukem</b> is clearly a creation of fans of the action/science-fiction 
          genre. He is the end result of years of watching countless film, tv, 
          comic book and cartoon militerized heroes battle their way across popular 
          culture. As expected, <b>Duke</b> also embodies the changes which have 
          developed in the genre, particularly the steady stream of wiseacre comments 
          and slightly sinister sense of humor which the modern action hero is 
          called upon to spout to get the audience cheering. One can see the pieces 
          from which <b>Duke</b> was built but don't expect a further evolution 
          for our dependable killer. <b>Nukem's</b> personality is a character 
          cul-de-sac: sewn together from various cliches he is a limited creation 
          very much the sum of his parts.</font></p>
        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And so <b>Duke 
          Nukem </b>stands in his little corner of the collective pop culture 
          universe, guns blazing while behind him stands a somewhat proud heritage 
          of musclebound heroes whose buttons are the brightest things about them, 
          and who just can't rest until they've rid the universe of a few more 
          "damn aliens." </font></p>
        <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></font> 
        <p align="RIGHT"><i><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">- 
          Josh &quot;Dr.Rouge&quot; Vasquez is a regular contributor to <font color="#804000"><b>loonygames.</b></font></font></i></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> </font></i><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
        Pixel Obscura logo illustrated and is &copy; 1998 Dan Zalkus. Pixel Obscura 
        is &copy; 1998 Josh Vasquez. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited...we 
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