EPISODE 67 | Pixels & Paranoia: Video Game Conspiracies
From its humble beginnings, the video game industry has expanded from cabinet arcade games to PCs and home consoles. Two-thirds of adults in the US and three-quarters of children play them. It makes more than the film industry, which got to around $21 bn last year; and music, which made almost $26 billion in 2021. Globally, gaming hit $192 bn in 2021 and is expected to break $200 bn this year.
And it should come as no surprise that there have been rumours, urban legends, controversies and even outright conspiracy theories about video games. Games that kill, or carry a curse, or control people's minds, or contain hidden truths that some would prefer remained hidden. 
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VIDEO VERSION: https://youtu.be/__bLJOkZYgw 
SECTIONS

02:36 - Intruder Alert! - Berzerk kills
06:43 - Lavender Town - Pokemon kills
09:32 - The Madden Curse - Fame carries a price
15:50 - Killswitch - A legendary game from Czechslovakia
19:47 - Polybius - Mind control in Oregon
30:20 - Drowned God - Harry Horse, history and aliens
37: 37 - Omikron: The Nomad Soul - A Big Pharma/NWO playbook
40:48 - Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation and Covid-19
42:16 - Corrupted Blood - A virus sweeps through the World of Warcraft MMORPG


Music by Fanette Ronjat

More Info:

Video Game Conspiracy Theories by TheHairyGamer (Michael Carter)
The Best Video Game Urban Legends Ever in IGN Southeast Asia
20 Video Game Myths, Conspiracy Theories, and Urban Legends to Celebrate Halloween
10 Video Game Conspiracy Theories You'll Start To Believe
10 Video Games Myths & Conspiracies to Keep You Up at Night
30 Video Game Urban Legends: Are They True Or False? on 80s Kids
How Many People Has the Berzerk Arcade Game Killed?
Berzerk: The Killer Arcade Game? on Little Bits of Gaming
Video Game Related Deaths
Pokémon: What Is Lavender Town Syndrome (& Is It Real?) on ScreenRant
Did the 'Madden' cover curse strike again?
The covers of the Madden video game on NFL.com
Secrets & Lies on GamePro
Computerspiele in der DDR (in German)
The Story Of Killswitch, The Creepy Game No-One Has Ever Played on Kotaku
Gamebusters myth 8: KILLSWITCH on GotGame
Polybius on CoinOp.org
Sinnesloschen webpage
Reinvestigating Polybius on RetroBitch
The Polybius Conspiracy on Vimeo
Polybius mockup by Rogue Synapse
Morava Academy on WWASP Survivors
Polybius Conspiracy podcast
Drowned God page on Harry Horse website
Aliens, conspiracy theories, and a forged diary inspired one of the weirdest games of the '90s on PC Gamer
Drowned God on Hardcore Gaming 101
Bandersnatch IRL: Harry Horse & "Drowned God: Conspiracy of the Ages" in /blackmirror/ Reddit forum
Gamespot interview with Harry Horse
Reality check: Microsoft, David Bowie, Bill Gates, and a creepy video game called ‘Omikron’
Fact check: 1999 'Omikron' video game has no connection to pandemic, Bill Gates
Plaguelands.. - 2005 article on Corrupted Blood Incident
'Virtual' Virus Sheds Light on Real-World Behavior on NPR
The researchers who once studied WoW's Corrupted Blood plague are now fighting the coronavirus on PC Gamer

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