2007: Play the news

This is the news

Scientist Craig Venter revealed in October that he'd created a synthetic chromosome, with the intention of forging the world's first artificial lifeform. Ruh-roh. Artificial life? Synthetic sentient beings? Clearly the horrifying nightmare vision of the consequences of Venter's research is a few years off yet (thank goodness, eh? Plenty of time to pack) but what would happen if his creation was loosed onto an unprepared world, then applied with extremely unlikely consequences?

The game

DNA DISASTER

The blurb

"From the creator of hit hallucinogenic art house shooter Bez comes DNA Disaster, an apocryphal tale of science gone too far, a terrified world and plinky-plonky psychedelic music-based action. Use the PSP's GPS receiver to locate and scan escaped artificial life forms around the globe, which have leaked from a Top Science Laboratory and threaten to rewrite the DNA of The Whole World, turning everything around us into liquid metal gloop! Once scanned, guide your molecular avatar down the artificial DNA strand and destroy it, matching your attacks to the bleeping from the dying gooey cyborg-thing."

The review

"Scientifically, DNA Disaster is farcical, as Venter's research proposes nothing so much as an artificial chromosome, certainly not a sentient - or near-sentient - life form with motor functions and an ability to 'rewrite the genetic code of the universe'. This is crass non-science. Where do these talentless developers get their ideas from?"
2/113, HumourBypass.com

The game

DNA DISASTER

The blurb

"From the creator of hit hallucinogenic art house shooter Bez comes DNA Disaster, an apocryphal tale of science gone too far, a terrified world and plinky-plonky psychedelic music-based action. Use the PSP's GPS receiver to locate and scan escaped artificial life forms around the globe, which have leaked from a Top Science Laboratory and threaten to rewrite the DNA of The Whole World, turning everything around us into liquid metal gloop! Once scanned, guide your molecular avatar down the artificial DNA strand and destroy it, matching your attacks to the bleeping from the dying gooey cyborg-thing."

The review

"Scientifically, DNA Disaster is farcical, as Venter's research proposes nothing so much as an artificial chromosome, certainly not a sentient - or near-sentient - life form with motor functions and an ability to 'rewrite the genetic code of the universe'. This is crass non-science. Where do these talentless developers get their ideas from?"
2/113, HumourBypass.com

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games. 

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