Overly Positive

Perhaps you’re looking to get a pick-me-up after that long holiday weekend, or you drank too much and have to deal with a hangover at work. Maybe you just had to see what would happen if you put your hand around that bottle rocket, and you’re paying for it.

Well, Overly Positive is here to cure your Monday blues with another set of sunny goodness and a cup of coffee to jolt you into awareness. Let’s see what’s going on today:

Valve Trying to Allow for L4D1 and 2 Crossplay (via Destructoid): In spite of online revolutionaries still looking to storm the Valve castle over the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2, Valve continues to release tiny details about the game that show the players they get it. Today has a report that crossplay between the first and second Left 4 Dead is trying to be enabled, perhaps allowing everything from choosing from a bigger pool of survivors and sharing maps and sweet melee weaponry. A merging of this nature might take the sting off of those who are feeling a little put off by Valve’s uncharacteristic quick turnaround on a sequel, so keep an eye out, folks.

Twitter Potential for Charities (via TechCrunch): Twitter has become the darling for social media enthusiasts everywhere this past year, but practical use has always been a point of skepticism for some. Reports of non-profits using Twitter for fundraising purposes, however, show that the viral microblogging service might be getting an increase in usefulness. With amounts of $250,000, $10,000, and more being credited to initiatives started on Twitter, the future can only get brighter for everyone’s favorite blue birds.

Sesame Street Thinks Games are Good (via The Escapist): Sure, we’ve heard the video gaming industry take hits from some pretty visible and popular figures, but once in a while, they get some back. A report released by the Joan Ganz Clooney center, the minds behind Sesame Street, shows that video games can be “a force for good”, and that games such as Dance Dance Revolution promote valuable ideas such as physical fitness and perceptive understanding. Who knew that watching all those arrows would be Big Bird‘s cup of tea? Anyway, the full report, detailing several examples of games as well as a call to parents to play with their children, is in the link, but it’s good news for the industry when friends can be found in interesting places.

And finally, speaking of the perception of the video games industry…

Jack Thompson Puts Best Foot Forward at SGC09 (via Game Politics): Even if I weren’t giving my thimble-full of regular readers a shout-out to Game Politics for linking Overly Positive in their article (thanks to reader and friend Slurm for pointing it out to me), the Jack Thompson show rolling onward in a constructive direction is worthy news. Thompson has been no friend to the games industry these past couple of years, but even if this was only for a day, we had a meaningful, rational debate on violence in video games at a gaming convention. If that isn’t progress, I don’t know what is.

Have a good one folks – and remember – Mondays are just a reminder that the weekend will eventually come by to rescue you.

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