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Have you ever wanted to work in video games? Well that's what the guys at GameBizCo Inc. do. Literally.

Join the cast of Another Videogame Webcomic as we peek behind the curtain to see what exactly goes into bringing your favorite video games to the small screen. It may be a job in video games, but it's still a job.

What's worse than full-frontal male nudity?

Seriously. Is there anything worse than full-frontal male nudity?

In case you hadn't heard, the Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV, the Lost and Damned, is out now. But having neither GTA IV nor an Xbox 360 to play it on, I can't give it a proper review. But from what I hear, for the Microsoft points equivalent of twenty bucks you get a pretty sizable chunk of content that extends your GTA IV experience. (As if the GTA IV experience really needed extending...) And you might have also heard that the Lost and Damned earns it's M rating with not only violence but nudity. Male nudity. Full-frontal male nudity.

But Rockstar Games, the creators of both GTA IV and the Lost and Damned, are no strangers to mature content. They are, after all, the ones responsible for the game mechanic of "having sex with a hooker to regain health and beating her up to get your money back". But while I haven't experienced the Lost and Damned firsthand, the full-frontal male nudity doesn't feel like a tasteful plot device, it seems more like your five year old cousin at family reunions who will poke his own eye out if it means all your aunts and uncles will pay attention to him.

You see, as much as you or I know about video games, they're still a tiny portion of the larger audience's attention span. And really, the best way to get some free advertising is to create some controversy. Buying airtime on any of the major networks costs millions of dollars, but if you put something less than puritanical in your game, that's free advertising.

Ironically, the people denouncing whatever game has their feathers ruffled has the exact opposite intended effect. There was no reason to play, let alone buy, Night Trap on the Sega CD in 1992 but when the Congressional hearings on video game violence featured the game a year later, people wanted a copy for pure curiosity's sake. When Fox News featured Mass Effect on the "SE"Xbox for it's "full digital nudity" and "the ability for players to engage in full graphic sex", it generated weeks of endless debates and introduced the game to much wider audience than any advertising campaign ever could. And even the controversy over Rockstar Games' own Grand Theft Auto San Andreas hidden "Hot Coffee" minigame caused copies of the unpatched game to sell for outrageous prices on second hand markets.

So knowing that selling the Lost and Damned was going to be an uphill battle, what with its potential audience being a fraction of the entire video game audience and that being a small subset of an even larger audience, I think Rockstar threw a little penis into the DLC in hopes of garnering some mainstream attention in the way of controversy. I don't think there's anything wrong with that though. Rockstar has a history of generating top notch content, penis or not. So if a little controversy helps get the game into gamers' hands, I'm ok with it.

But as of this writing, the full monty hasn't generated any interest outside of the gaming media. But it's only been a few weeks since the release of the Lost and Damned and if history is any indication, it will take a while for the mainstream media to get wind of something like this. After all, it took two months for the Mass Effect controversy to start and over a year between the release and the ensuing controversy for Night Trap and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. So maybe in anywhere from two months to a year, this will all be topical again...

About the Comic

I wish I could take credit for writing this comic all by myself, but I had help in the way of our first Another Videogame Webcomic contest. Two weeks ago we asked you guys to come up with what you thought would be worse than full-frontal male nudity... and we received many, how shall we say... imaginative entries. In the end, all of the entries we received were great (although some not appropriate for comic form) and while we were only planning to choose one winner, we ended up making room for two winners. Congratulations to Jorge Vega for submitting the "full-frontal Wookie nudity" and Diane Wall for submitting "hairless cats"!

And if you entered but didn't win, don't be discouraged... we've got a lot of other cool videogame related stuff that we're itching to give away. So keep an eye out for more contests in the future!

Player Two

After the resurgence of multiplayer co-op, GameBizCo Inc. hired Player Two to be the Goose to someone else's Maverick. His workload isn't quite as heavy as most of the other people working at GameBizCo Inc. and as a result, he spends a lot of time in the break room or playing computer solitaire.
First Appearance: Another Videogame Webcomic?!? An Introduction

Player One

Player One is top dog at GameBizCo Inc. Nearly every game, from Pong to Mario Bros to Grand Theft Auto, requires Player One's expertise. His cocksure and sometimes inappropriate attitude is an annoyance to his coworkers but seeing as every game needs a first player, they make due.
First Appearance: Bonus Stage! Here comes Player One!

Damsel I. Distress

Whether it be a castle, a dungeon or mystical island, Damsel always needs to be saved... and she hates it. Damsel longs for the day when she's given the role of a strong female lead character who doesn't have huge breasts with hyper accurate physics.
First Appearance: LittleBIGPlanet

Final Boss

Underneath the huge brute that is Final Boss lies a timid creature who wouldn't hurt a fly. He puts on his "angry face" when throwing barrels down ramps or breathing fire but deep down he feels sorry for doing so. He's been known to throw a game or two in the player's favor.
First Appearance: World Record

John Minion

John Minion, or Min for short, is the hardest working employee at GameBizCo Inc. Playing everything from Goombas to no name thugs, Min gets beat up on a daily basis but loves every minute of it. He always wanted to work in the gaming industry and was originally hired as an intern. After years of getting coffee, his big break came when someone called in sick... and the rest is history.
First Appearance: Watchmen: The End is Nigh

Middle Manager

Middle Manager works in the Human Resources department. He runs staff meetings and interviews prospective employees. The other 90% of his time is spent playing Freecell on his computer.
First Appearance: Another Videogame Webcomic?!? An Introduction