Postal²
Developer(s)	Running With Scissors
Publisher(s)	Whiptail Interactive , Linux Game Publishing (Linux Version)
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.0
Version	1337 - Postal 2 1409 - P2: STP 1411 - P2: AW
Platform(s)	Linux, Mac OS X, Windows
Release date	April 13, 2003
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: M (Mature) OFLC: RC USK: No release in Germany
Media	CD-ROM
System requirements	•Win 98, Me, 2000, XP, Pentium III 733 Mhz CPU, 128 MB RAM, DirectX 8. A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual that creates Video games A developer may specialize in a certain video Running With Scissors Inc (RWS for short is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. Linux Game Publishing (sometimes also referred to as LGP) is a software company based in Nottingham in England. A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of computer and video games The Unreal Engine is a popular Game engine developed by Epic Games. In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Events 1111 - Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople Events February 27 &mdash Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki See also [[Game classification]] Video games are categorized into Genres based on their Gameplay interaction A first-person shooter ( FPS) is an action Video game from the Shooter game The initial development of Maze War In video gaming, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session A multiplayer game is a Game which is played by several players. A video game content rating system is a system used for the classification of Video games into suitability-related groups The Entertainment Software Rating Board ( ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that applies and enforces ratings, Advertising guidelines and The Office of Film and Literature Classification is a Statutory Censorship and classification body which provides day to day administrative support for the Classification USK redirects here For the Usinsk airport see Usinsk Airport. Digital media (as opposed to analog media) usually refers to Electronic media that work on digital Codes. CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable Windows 98 ( codenamed Memphis) is a graphical Operating system released on 25 June 1998 by Microsoft and the successor to Windows 95 Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me (IPA pronunciation, iː is a hybrid 16-bit / 32-bit graphical Operating system released on 14 September Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K) is a preemptive, interruptible graphical and business-oriented Operating system designed to work with Windows XP is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit Operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on Personal computers including home and Pentium III variants Katmai The first Pentium III variant was the Katmai (Intel product code 80525 The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. Microsoft DirectX is a collection of Application programming interfaces (APIs for handling tasks related to Multimedia, especially Game programming and 1, 32Mb DirectX 8. A megabyte is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 106 (1000000 Bytes or 220 (1048576 bytes depending on 1 GeForce 2-class, DirectX Sound Card, 8× CD-ROM •Mac OS X 10. The GeForce2 ( codenamed NV15) was the second generation of GeForce Graphics cards by Nvidia Corporation. A sound card (also known as an audio card is a Computer Expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently 2. 8 or later, 700 MHz G3, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB Radeon or GeForce class video card •Linux Kernel 2. PowerPC G3 is a designation used by Apple Computer to a third generation of PowerPC Microprocessors from the PowerPC 750 family designed ATI Radeon is a brand of Graphics processing units (GPU that since 2000 has been manufactured by ATI Technologies and subsequently AMD and is GeForce is a Brand of PC graphics processor units (GPUs designed by Nvidia. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks 2 or later, Pentium 1GHz or better, Glibc 2. The Pentium brand refers to Intel 's single-core x86 Microprocessor based on the P5 fifth-generation Microarchitecture. The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. The GNU C Library, commonly known as glibc, is the C standard library released by the GNU Project. 1. x or later, 128 MB RAM, OpenGL capable video card with 64 MB of RAM
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse

Postal² is a 2003 American computer game by Running With Scissors (RWS). OpenGL ( Open G raphics L ibrary is a standard specification defining a cross-language Cross-platform API for writing applications that produce In Computing, a keyboard is an Input device partially modelled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys In Computing, a mouse (plural mice, mouse devices, or mouses) Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Running With Scissors Inc (RWS for short is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. It is a sequel to the 1997 game Postal. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Postal is a Computer game made by Running With Scissors and published by Ripcord Games in 1997. Both are intentionally highly controversial due to high levels of violence and stereotyping. Similar to other forms of media Video games have been the subject of debate and Censorship. Unlike its predecessor, Postal² is a first-person shooter based on the Unreal Graphics Engine. A first-person shooter ( FPS) is an action Video game from the Shooter game The initial development of Maze War The Unreal Engine is a popular Game engine developed by Epic Games.

Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay 2.1 Comparison with Grand Theft Auto 2.2 Gary Coleman cameos 2.3 Props 3 Game add-ons 3.1 1337 patch 3.2 Share the Pain 3.3 Apocalypse Weekend 3.4 Fan-made add-ons 3.4.1 A Week in Paradise 3.4.2 Eternal Damnation 3.5 Postal Fudge Pack 4 Controversy 4.1 Controversial aspects 4.1.1 Violence and police brutality 4.1.2 References of current and past events 4.1.3 Stereotypes 4.2 No Regrets 4.2.1 Misc 4.3 Legal status 5 Critical reception 6 Sequel 7 Trivia 8 Notes 9 External links

Story

The player takes on the role of 'The Postal Dude' (all evidence given in-game indicates that the character's full legal name actually is "The Postal Dude, Jr. Postal Dude Jr also known as the postal dude is the main character in the video game series Postal as well as the film Postal ": his father's tombstone reads "T. Dude Sr. "; characters constantly call him "Mr. The Dude" and a package for him is addressed to "P. Dude"), a tall thin man with a goatee, sunglasses, a blue alien t-shirt, and a long black leather coat. In the traditional taxonomy of facial hair a goatee is a Beard formed by a tuft of hair on the chin The Postal Dude also wears a Happy Smiley pin on his right lapel and a cross pin on his left one. The smiley, smiley face, or happy face, is a stylized representation of a smiling human face commonly represented as a yellow circle with two dots representing 'The Postal Dude' lives in a trailer park with his nagging wife (only identified in the credits as 'Postal Dude's Bitch') in the mining town of Paradise, Arizona. Postal Dude Jr also known as the postal dude is the main character in the video game series Postal as well as the film Postal A trailer park is a neighborhood consisting of an area of land where Travel trailers rest Paradise is a former Mining town in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, surrounded by National Forest land The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States.

The game levels are split into days of the week starting Monday and finishing Friday. At the beginning of each day, Dude is given several tasks to accomplish, such as 'Get milk', 'Confess sins', and other seemingly mundane tasks. The purpose of the game is to finish all of the tasks throughout the week, although the game encourages the player to play in any way he wishes, be it as civilly or as chaotically as possible. There are unique consequences to whichever path is chosen.

Dude must put up with being flipped the bird, mugged, attacked by protesters, put upon by an obnoxious convenience store owner/terrorist and his patrons who cut before Dude in the "money-line", plus an annoying marching band, a murderous toy mascot named Krotchy, the police and SWAT team, the ATF and the National Guard, a religious cult, savage butchers, psycho Taliban terrorists, and Gary Coleman, among many other things. In Western cultures, the finger (as in giving someone the finger) is a well-known Obscene Hand gesture made by extending the middle finger of A convenience store is a small store or shop. They are often located alongside busy roads or at gas/petrol stations. A marching band is in the broadest terms a group of performers that consist of instrumental Musicians and sometimes dance teams / color guard who generally perform Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force SWAT ( Special Weapons And Tactics) is an elite special operations tactical unit in American Police departments similar to the Taiwan Thunder Squad The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (abbreviated ATF) is a specialized federal law enforcement and regulatory organization within the United For the National Guard of a State and other countries' National Guard see National Guard. This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice" for that usage see Cult (religious practice The Taliban ( طالبان, also anglicised as Taleban; translation "students" is a Sunni Islamist, predominately Gary Wayne Coleman (born February 8, 1968) is an American Actor, best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom

Gameplay

One of the major concepts of Postal² is that it is meant to be a "living world", a simulation of a tongue-in-cheek off-kilter town. Game characters live out their lives completely separate from the actions of Dude; walking around town, buying and selling merchandise, and even engaging in random shootouts with each other and the police.

Comparison with Grand Theft Auto

Like the Grand Theft Auto series, the game aims to be non-linear by allowing Postal Dude to explore the town of Paradise. At first, the Postal Dude can only enter the neighborhood areas directly adjacent to his own neighborhood, but new areas are unlocked as each day of the week passes. However, the local inhabitants also become progressively more violent and heavily armed as the week goes on, and on the final two days of the week, SWAT teams and National Guard squads patrolling Paradise wear heavy body armor and are well-armed. SWAT ( Special Weapons And Tactics) is an elite special operations tactical unit in American Police departments similar to the Taiwan Thunder Squad For the National Guard of a State and other countries' National Guard see National Guard. According to the storyline, they are there for a convention and in response to a request for assistance hunting down a mass murderer. (It is implied that the mass murderer is Postal Dude, regardless of whether or not he has been killing people during the course of the game. )

Unlike Grand Theft Auto, the game world is not one single large continuous map, but rather several different neighborhood maps broken up by loading zones (which are marked by road signs saying 'Load Zone'). One of the main gameplay complaints about the game upon its initial release was that the loading time for each new map was extremely long, seriously interrupting the flow of gameplay and reducing the motivation for exploring new areas. The vendor-released 1337 patch managed to significantly reduce load times.

Missions work differently than in Grand Theft Auto. Instead of choosing a mission and then carrying it out from the beginning to its end, players are given a series of tasks at the start of each day. They can then complete the tasks in any order they like, as they go along without having to specifically select them or initiate any missions.

Gary Coleman cameos

The game also features a cameo by Gary Coleman, acting as himself, who appears early on as the objective of one of the game's tasks (travel to the local shopping mall to get Gary's autograph). Gary Wayne Coleman (born February 8, 1968) is an American Actor, best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in the American sitcom The player can choose to fight and kill Coleman as one of the game's two boss characters or simply have the book signed peacefully (after enduring a long line-up). A boss is a computer-controlled opponent which is found in Video games Their purpose is to test the skills that the player has accumulated over the course of a game Regardless of the Dude's actions, the police storm the building in an attempt to arrest Gary Coleman and a gunfight ensues which invariably results in Coleman's apparent demise, with or without the player's help. Later on in the game he can also be seen in the Police Station, when the player escapes from his cell he also frees everyone else - including Coleman, who can be seen running alongside Krotchy. Coleman apparently survives as he can be seen in the Apocalypse Weekend expansion, bandaged up in the hospital (various evil Gary Coleman clones also serve as recurring enemies during Postal Dude's constant hallucinations). A hallucination, in the broadest sense is a Perception in the absence of a stimulus.

Props

The town features many cars but they are all "useless exploding props", according to Dude, and cannot be driven, although they can be blown up and sent flying into the air. In addition to cats and dogs, other animals present are elephants; these animals can be shot or set on fire—or simply annoyed by the player walking into them—causing them to trumpet with rage and attack anyone within stomping distance. WikipediaManual of Style (spelling, articles should conform to one overall spelling style of English typically the one most linked to the article topic (if it is geographic The dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated Subspecies of the gray wolf, a Mammal of the Canidae family of the order Elephants ( family: Elephantidae) are large land Mammals of the order Proboscidea. A bizarre feature is the ability to pick up cats as an inventory item. When used, the Postal Dude shoves the barrel of the currently equipped firearm into the cat's anus (cats can only be used while equipped with a shotgun or assault rifle) as a 'silencer'. Every time a shot is fired, the cat meows in apparent agony, and the gunshot is muffled. After several shots the cat will be killed and will fly from the end of the weapon. Most dogs have the ability to befriend the Dude if he feeds them a continual supply of dog biscuits or feeds them any other food (pizza, donuts, fast food). Once a canine's loyalty has been earned, the dog will attack anyone who attacks the Dude, or alternatively, anyone whom the Dude attacks. Dogs will also chase and kill cats, and play fetch with the Dude's inventory items and also severed heads.

Game add-ons

1337 patch

The 1337 patch for Postal² reduced the long level loading times and also added two new levels, the Obligatory Sewer System, and the Tora Bora series of caves, where the Dude came across Osama Bin Laden in his search for the weapon of mass destruction, a missile launcher that fires chemical warheads. Leet or Eleet (sometimes rendered l33t, 1337, or 31337) also known as Leetspeak, is an Alphabet used primarily on the Tora Bora (Pashto توره بوره “black cellar”) Tora Bora (Pashto توره بوره “black dust”) known locally as Spīn Ghar is a cave complex situated Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March A weapon of mass destruction ( WMD) is a weapon which can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures (e The level Tora Bora was inspired by the 2001 Battle of Tora Bora. The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in Afghanistan in December 2001

Share the Pain

The 1. 5 edition of the game, entitled Postal²: Share The Pain extended the game with a multiplayer mode as well as the extra levels and other improvements of the 1337 patch, but it was not an expansion pack and did not require the original Postal² game. A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time The Macintosh version of Postal² shipped only as Postal²: Share The Pain. Share the Pain has since far eclipsed the original production version of Postal² in all markets.

Apocalypse Weekend

Another add-on called Postal²: Apocalypse Weekend (named such because the end of Postal² marks the beginning of the apocalypse in Paradise) was released by Running With Scissors, Inc. on May 12, 2005 for Windows, and September 28, 2005 for the Mac and Linux versions. Running With Scissors Inc (RWS for short is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. Events 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 48 BC - Pompey the Great is assassinated on orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Apocalypse Weekend expands the reaches of Paradise with new maps and missions, set on Saturday and Sunday, adds new weapons and foes, and raises Postal²'s gore and violence to an even greater level. All normal cats are also replaced with "dervish cats", which spin in a manner similar to that of Looney Tunes Tasmanian Devil, attacking any nearby character when agitated. Dervish cats can also be collected and, rather than muffling guns, can be thrown at NPCs to attack them. Whilst gameplay is similar to it's parent Postal², Apocalypse Weekend is not as open-ended. The gameplay is more linear in design, with the player mostly forced to follow a certain path to complete the game - typical of most First Person shooting games. In addition, the player cannot play as a pacifist and is forced to kill animals and zombies in order to progress in the game. Both Postal²: Share The Pain and Postal²: Apocalypse Weekend were ported to Linux and Macintosh by developer Ryan Gordon.

The add-on begins Saturday morning, with the Dude waking up in the hospital, his head bandaged from a near-fatal gunshot wound (while the Postal 2 ending leaves it ambiguous as to whether or not the Dude shot his wife or if his wife shot him, he wakes up in the hospital with a card from his wife exclaiming that she is leaving him. It was recently revealed on the official website[1] that the Dude shot himself due to his wife nagging him).

Fan-made add-ons

A Week in Paradise

A Week in Paradise is a fan-made mod that generally enhances gameplay with numerous extra weapons, a few new inventory items, new NPC character skins as well as two new areas of Paradise – the "crossroads" (a small section of road with a single house and gas station along it, with two blocked off roads out of the city) and the school (linked from the crossroads, no children are found here, but the place is overrun by zombies on Tuesday – clearing them out will leave the school filled with adult students the rest of the week). Using the modifications of Apocalypse Weekend, all AW weapons may be used on all seven days in addition to allowing limbs to be cut off by the machete and katana. The machete (məˈʃɛti is a large cleaver -like cutting tool A is a type of Japanese sword ( nihontō) and often is called a "samurai sword The mod also allows the player to play all seven days consecutively. In addition, certain arcade games are "playable", entering into short mission-based arenas, including a playable Fag Hunter game (see below controversy section).

The mod features numerous new weapons, to the point that the game offers an option to reassign cutting weapons to the 2 key and pistols to the 3 key with shotguns. Notable new weapons are the katana, which swings faster than the machete and can be thrown like a spear; the revolver, which can kill a police officer in one shot but holds limited ammo; the chainsaw, which is an instant one-hit kill but uses gasoline for fuel; and the mini-nuke launcher, which will kill anyone in the blast radius and send their gibs flying in all directions and sends a tall mushroom cloud into the air. A mushroom cloud is a distinctive Mushroom -shaped Cloud of condensed Water vapor or Debris resulting from a very large Explosion.

A previous version known as AW7 also exists. It is missing certain weapons and features, as well as certain differences in names—to distribute the mod in the Fudge Pack, RWS had to change certain things due to copyright concerns—the Mortal Kombat arcade machine becomes Immoral Kombat, and the "Holy Hand Grenade" weapon becomes "Jihad Grenade", for example. This article concerns the first entry of the fighting game series The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch is a fictional Weapon from the comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Both versions of the mod can be downloaded online.

A current update patch for AWP has been released, which adds the school section to the game's map, reads certain things cut from the AWP retail release, and adds 2 new harder difficulty levels. This patch removes multiplayer, however.

Eternal Damnation

Eternal Damnation, produced by Resurrection Studios, is an entirely new story that relies on being installed over Postal 2 to function. The only references to Postal 2 present are occasional advertisements and billboards featuring Postal Dude and Gary Coleman. In this story, a man recently sent to a mental asylum for beating his girlfriend's former boyfriend to death escapes as a psycho is set loose in the asylum killing everyone. On his way to his girlfriend's apartment, gangs begin rushing the streets. In addition, mysterious individuals bomb his girlfriend's apartment. Later meeting with a priest he once knew, he learns that the zombies may very well be a sign of the Apocalypse, and may have something to do with the city museum hosting an exhibit of water that was once used by Jesus to resurrect Lazarus. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Lazarus ( Hebrew: אלעזר Elʿāzār Eleazar "God (has helped" is the name of two separate men mentioned in the New Testament. It was intended to be released with the fudge pack, but was cancelled due to copyright issues.

Postal Fudge Pack

On November 13, 2006, RWS Released a compilation of Postal - Classic and Uncut, Postal²: Share The Pain, Apocalypse Weekend, A Week in Paradise, and Eternal Damnation, along with extra content (Postal Babes and video clips from "their cutting room floor") as the Postal Fudge Pack on a 3-way hybrid DVD for Windows, Linux, and the Mac.

Controversy

The developers of the game counteracted criticism of the violence by claiming that the amount of violence is up to the players—they may go about their tasks without causing trouble, or they can create mayhem. Critics state that the game clearly urges people playing the game to indulge in homicidal behaviour, given that Dude is often attacked by ludicrous hate groups who despise everything from books to video games. A hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates Hate, Hostility, or Violence towards members of a race ethnicity religion gender sexual A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Additionally, there are long queues when Dude visits the bank, the library, Church, and elsewhere. The people of Paradise are exceptionally rude and spit insults at Dude if he bumps into them, and furthermore weapons ranging from machine guns to rocket launchers are left lying around for him to collect. For other uses of the phrase see Machine Gun (disambiguation. A shoulder-launched missile weapon is a Weapon that fires a Projectile at a target, yet is small enough to be carried by a single person and fired while

Going on the rampage (or going postal, the phrase which the game is named after) is clearly encouraged, but never necessary. Going postal is an American English Slang term used as a verb meaning to suddenly become extremely and uncontrollably angry possibly to the point of violence While difficult, it is possible for the player to complete the game without resorting to violence or having to kill anyone; although in this case, the player will have to resort to using cunning tactics to survive—including a greater temptation to steal and take drugs. Some missions put Dude into extremely hostile environments where he will be tempted to kill the people attacking him in order to survive, and at these moments the player will have to make a moral choice whether to fight or to flee. The attackers include book protesters who set the local library on fire and then attempt to murder everyone trapped inside (including Postal Dude, of course), a band of armed robbers, and violent video game protesters who ironically begin brandishing weapons and opening fire on the Dude and the Running With Scissors (the company which makes the Postal series) staff without provocation.

In many of the scenarios presented, however, experienced players can make use of the game's version of monster infighting to actually cause police or other non-player characters to attack individuals who may be attacking the player, and thus escape from harm without inflicting any. Monster infighting is a term popularized by the FPS games in the Doom series and other similar games released in the 1990s A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a character that is controlled by the Gamemaster in Role-playing games or one that is not Unlike other games that utilize the "monster infighting" feature (such as Doom), non-player characters do not have to be in the enemy's line-of-fire to enter "infighting" mode; some NPCs (particularly law enforcement and military characters) are programmed to attack anyone brandishing a weapon or firing same (an NPC fleeing in panic can also trigger an attack). Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter In most (but not all) cases, once an enemy NPC is engaged by another NPC, he/she temporarily forgets about attacking the Postal Dude.

Several ambient features like advertisement signs, shop names, and interiors are loaded with some dark humor, thus exposing the decadent nature of Paradise. The game also involves some obvious inside jokes. An in-joke (also known as an in joke or inside joke) is a Joke whose Humor is clear only to those people who are "inside" a social Dude actually works for Running With Scissors, the game's developers, with its offices being the scene of a protest by a group opposed to violent computer games. Running With Scissors Inc (RWS for short is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. Some of the company employees show up in other areas too, such as Mike Jaret, who appears as the cross-dresser in the gay bar, and executive producer Vince Desiderio, who appears as himself in the game. RWS personnel are considered allies to Postal Dude and will often attack NPCs that attack the player (although they may also attack Postal Dude if he accidentally or purposefully shoots at them several times in a row).

Some game critics regarded Postal² as being a single-joke affair which clearly sets out to shock and has limited play value, but it also has quite a cult following. Postal² did not achieve moral panic in the sense that the Grand Theft Auto series did. A moral panic can be defined as "the intensity of feeling expressed by a large number of people about a specific group of people who appear to threaten the social order at a given While violence and sexuality were part of both games, it is used with discretion in the GTA series, while it was excessive enough in Postal² that it was considered tasteless and senseless. Violence aside, reviewers gave low ratings to Postal² for its cheesy production values and occasional technical flaws. Unlike the GTA games, Postal²'s content was sufficiently over the edge to preclude widespread distribution, and many North American retailers would not stock it.

The game received additional negative publicity following the 13 September, 2006 Dawson College shooting incident in Montreal. Events 509 BC - The Temple of Jupiter on Rome 's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September The Dawson College shooting occurred on September 13, 2006 at Dawson College, a CEGEP in Westmount near downtown Montreal Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec Media coverage regarding the shooter, Kimveer Gill, indicated that he played violent video games. Kimveer Gill (July 9 1981 &ndash September 13 2006 was the Canadian shooter involved in a school shooting referred to as the Dawson College shooting at Postal² was cited as one of these games, although some coverage by CTV erroneously stated that the game was only available for sale in the United Kingdom. CTV is a Canadian English language Television network. It is Canada's largest privately owned network the main television asset of CTVglobemedia

Regardless of the critical commentary received by Postal², the game has earned a cult following and a movie has been produced. Postal is a 2007 film based on the 2003 Computer game series of the same name.

Controversial aspects

Violence and police brutality

• The option of attacking and/or killing not only innocent bystanders, but also police officers and even soldiers in the US National Guard. During one segment of the game, Postal Dude must try to exit a meat-packing plant while being attacked by police; it is very difficult to complete this mission without using deadly force against officers.
• Decapitating people with shovels or similar weapons (katana, matchete etc. ) and kicking the heads about.
• Setting people on fire with a variety of methods, from gasoline and matches, to molotov cocktails and napalm launchers or even the kicking about of burning heads. If a kill by burning is achieved in multiplayer, the game will refer to it as a "Tibetan monk experience. (tʰɪ̌t kwɐ̂ːŋ ɗɨ̌k born Lâm Văn Tức in 1897 – died June 11 1963 was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist "
• Stun gunning people until they cower on the ground and urinate on themselves. An electroshock weapon is an Incapacitant Weapon used for subduing a person by administering Electric shock aimed at disrupting superficial muscle
• When Postal Dude wears the police outfit and brutalizes innocent people, the other police officers openly admit that they are corrupt. At several points in the game, police NPCs are seen attacking and killing civilians for no apparent reason. Furthermore, while they will attempt to arrest Postal Dude if he commits a crime, they will always attempt to kill any NPCs they participate in monster infighting with, usually by beating the NPC to death with their batons even if the targeted NPC has surrendered and is begging for mercy. Police brutality is the world wide use of excessive force usually physical but potentially also in the form verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by
• Playing "fetch" with dogs using the severed heads of slain NPCs (it should be noted that dogs "friendly" to the player will also fetch any non-food items dropped or kicked around by the player).

References of current and past events

• Al-Qaeda terrorists who carry out a suicide bombing of a church and a marching band (these characters all resemble Osama bin Laden and many characters in the game of Middle Eastern descent are shown to be connected in some way with the terrorists. Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The A marching band is in the broadest terms a group of performers that consist of instrumental Musicians and sometimes dance teams / color guard who generally perform Osama bin Laden, with some spelling variations is the name used in English to refer to (أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن born 10 March Osama bin Laden himself appears in the Tora Bora area).
• The hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq is parodied in the weapon called the "Weapon of Mass Destruction", found in the Tora Bora area after killing bin Laden. A weapon of mass destruction ( WMD) is a weapon which can kill large numbers of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures (e For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. It is a variation of the rocket launcher that fires chemical missiles.
• Anthrax-filled cow's heads used as weapons which make the victims vomit blood. Anthrax is an acute Disease in humans and animals caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis which is highly lethal in some forms
• A scene that bears resemblance to the Waco Siege of 1993, with a cult group being surrounded by ATF agents at "the compound". The Waco Siege (also known as the Waco Massacre) took place on February 28
• Jihad, the company that makes the goat milk in Monday's chores. Jihad (جهاد ʤɪhæːd an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims.

Stereotypes

• Homophobia in the shape of an arcade game prop called Fag Hunter (the Share the Pain release replaces this with a game called Bastard Fish). BenPhelpsJPG|thumb|right|Westboro Baptist Church picket signs with Ben Phelps grandson of Fred Phelps
• Racial stereotypes, such as Habib, the owner of the Lucky Ganesh convenience store, who speaks with a stereotypical Indian accent similar of that of Apu from the The Simpsons. An ethnic stereotype is a generalized representation of an Ethnic group, composed of what are thought to be typical characteristics of members of the group Ganesha ( Sanskrit: sa गणेश Gaṇeśa) also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh and also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar Habib appears to be a Muslim yet at the same time his store has obvious Hindu elements, suggesting that the game lumped both cultures into one stereotype.

No Regrets

Postal Dude can be made to commit suicide. He shouts: "I regret nothing" and then shoves a grenade into his mouth.

Misc

• Vulgarities such as cursing, spitting and rude gestures are rampant throughout the game.
• Killing women with short skirts would give them an upskirt view. Upskirt is a:slang term usually referring to up skirt photography, images of the view up a woman's Skirt (as seen from underneath including shots of
• The ability to urinate on bystanders to make them vomit in disgust. As cops will eat food items dropped by the player, urinating on a food item that is subsequently eaten by a cop will make the cop regurgitate. Regurgitation is the controlled flow of Stomach contents back into the Esophagus and Mouth.
• The use of cats as silencers for shotguns and machine guns, involving pushing the barrel of the gun into the feline's rectum was commented on in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Felidae is the biological family of the cats a member of this family is called a felid. The rectum (from the Latin rectum intestinum, meaning straight intestine) is the final straight portion of the Large intestine in some Mammals Law & Order Special Victims Unit (also known as Law & Order SVU or simply SVU) is an American Drama ^[1]
• Crack cocaine "health" pipes that can be smoked in order to boost Dude's health to 125, above the usual limit of 100, no matter what value of health the Dude previously had. Crack cocaine or crack is a solid smokable form of Cocaine. It is a freebase form of cocaine that can be made using baking soda ( Sodium bicarbonate These items will cause the Dude to become addicted, and if another dose is not used while the Dude is complaining about his withdrawal symptoms, his health will eventually be damaged, after which there are no further ill effects (unless another pipe is smoked). Withdrawal, also known as withdrawal/abstinence syndrome, refers to the characteristic signs and symptoms that appear when a drug that causes Physical dependence is
• A kid's TV show mascot named Krotchy (probably a parody of Krusty the Clown of The Simpsons), who is essentially a giant cartoon scrotum. The term mascot – defined as a term for any person animal or object thought to bring Luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common In some Male Mammals the scrotum - also 'scrutum' or 'scrootum' - is a protuberance of Skin and Muscle containing the Testicles A talking toy with his likeness even says phrases such as "Daddy said only he can touch me there!" or "Don't touch me! I callin' my lawyer!" when used. Krotchy has a partner character named Larry the Crab, whose toy seems much less popular (indicated by the toy store being literally filled with Larry dolls and no Krotchy).
• An arcade game called SymHomeless, which claims to be edutainment to teach children about their future (oddly enough, Paradise seems completely devoid of children NPCs or places where they might congregate, such as parks or schools). Edutainment (also educational entertainment or entertainment-education) is a form of Entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse The game is an undisguised parody of Will Wright's Sim games, down to a blurb in the Monday newspaper claiming "lawsuit narrowly averted by changing 'i' to 'y'. William Wright (born January 20 1960 in Atlanta Georgia) is an American computer Game designer and co-founder of This is a complete list of " Sim " games, their expansion packs and compilations "
• Numerous jabs and insults aimed at Joe Lieberman, including a banner that reads "Lieberman, God sees your lies", the easiest difficulty setting is "Liebermode", and in the final newspaper announcing the apocalypse on Friday, a byline that reads "Lieberman blames Doom". Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman (born February 24 1942 is the junior United States Senator from Connecticut. Doom (officially cased DOOM) is a 1993 Computer game by Id Software that is a landmark title in the First-person shooter Similarly, several jokes are aimed at Dave Grossman such as a video arcade named "Grossman's Arcade". Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman is an author who has specialized in the study of the psychology of killing which he calls ' Killology ' A video arcade (also known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom in Japan or as an "arcade" is a venue where people play arcade video games

Legal status

• Postal² became the second computer game to be banned by the Office of Film and Literature Classification of New Zealand after Manhunt. The Office of Film and Literature Classification ( OFLC, Te Tari Whakaropu Tukuata Tuhituhinga is the government agency in New Zealand that is responsible for New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Manhunt is a third-person Video game released by Rockstar Games in November.
• It was also banned in Australia by the OFLC due to the absence of an 18+ rating for software. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The Office of Film and Literature Classification is a Statutory Censorship and classification body which provides day to day administrative support for the Classification
• In Sweden, the attorney general took the Swedish distributor of the game to court. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. He was prosecuted with "illegal depiction of violence", a crime falling under the Swedish freedom of speech-act. The court dismissed the case on December 12, 2006.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator Game Rankings, Postal² received an average score of 61% based on 37 reviews. Game Rankings is a Website which keeps track of Video game reviews from other sites and combines them to present an average rating for each game ^[2] On Metacritic, the game received an average score of 50 out of 100, based on 27 reviews — indicating mixed or average reviews. Metacritic is a Website that collates reviews of music Albums games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and Books. ^[3]

Some of the game's better reviews came from PC Gamer, which gave the title a 79% out of 100, and Game Informer, which gave it a 7. PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. Game Informer (often abbreviated to GI) is an American -based monthly magazine featuring articles news strategy and reviews of 5 out of 10. On the other end of the spectrum, GMR and Computer Gaming World each gave Postal² scores of zero;^[4] CGW stated that "Postal 2 is the worst product ever foisted upon consumers. GMR was a monthly magazine on Video games that was published by Ziff-Davis — the publisher of such magazines as PC Magazine, Computer Gaming World ( CGW) was founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication "^[5]

Postal²: Share The Pain received an average score of 63% based on 15 reviews on the review aggregator Game Rankings^[6], and an average score of 59 out of 100 based on 10 reviews on Metacritic. Game Rankings is a Website which keeps track of Video game reviews from other sites and combines them to present an average rating for each game Metacritic is a Website that collates reviews of music Albums games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and Books. ^[7]

Postal²: Apocalypse Weekend received an average score of 56% based on 7 reviews on the review aggregator Game Rankings^[8], and an average score of 45 out of 100 based on 4 reviews on Metacritic. Game Rankings is a Website which keeps track of Video game reviews from other sites and combines them to present an average rating for each game Metacritic is a Website that collates reviews of music Albums games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and Books. ^[9]

Sequel

Main article: Postal III

Postal III is set to be released in 4th quarter 2008 on PC, Xbox 360 and probably later on PlayStation 3. Postal III is a Third-person shooter computer and Video game developed by Running With Scissors. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The Xbox 360 is the second Video game console produced by Microsoft, and was developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, and SiS. It is currently being developed by Running With Scissors and Akella, using Valve's Source engine. Akella is a Russian Software company specializing in the development, publishing and distribution of Computer games and multimedia

Trivia

• Postal² appears briefly in the hip-hop music group The Black Eyed Peas music video "Where is the Love?", showing young children playing the game and running around with a gasoline can. Hip hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a Music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with The Black Eyed Peas is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles. A music video is a Short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music most commonly a Song with lyrics " Where Is the Love? " is the first single from the Black Eyed Peas ' third album Elephunk Released in 2003 the single peaked at #8 in the
• Apocalypse Weekend teases the player with an apparent "super-fun" pigeon hunting mission at one point as Postal Dude is handed a rocket launcher, only to break into a video from the Running With Scissors offices of an angry Vince Desiderio shouting profanities and exlaiming "we ain't got no budget for pigeon mission!" at Steve Wik, with a title card reading "super fun pigeon hunter mission cancelled due to budgetary restrictions. Thank you, the management". Afterwards, Postal Dude is standing amidst a tremendous blood smear in Paradise with numerous feathers in the air, proclaiming "wow, that was the most incredible thing I've ever done!".
• Various headstones in the cemetery section read of things that were cut from the game at some point, including "Rebar Gun", "Meat Gun", "Rape Clowns", "Fetuses with guns", "Pigeons" (later referenced in Apocalypse Weekend- see above note) and "Postal Storyline" (a likely reference to the first Postal having no in-game story told). A rebar, or reinforcing bar, is a common Steel bar and is commonly used in Reinforced concrete and reinforced Masonry structures
• At a certain part of the game, The Postal Dude, after being knocked out from being hit with a shovel, wakes up to find himself dressed as a gimp, and locked in a box. Upon leaving the box he overhears two men having a discussion stolen from famous Pulp Fiction involving "Zed".

Notes

External links

• Official Running With Scissors web site
• Official Running With Scissors myspace page
• Resurrection-Studios: official company modding team
• Postal² at MobyGames
• Interview with the makers of Eternal Damnation
• Free Multiplayer version of Postal2STP Windows
• Free Multiplayer version of Postal2STP Linux
• Free Multiplayer version of Postal2STP Mac

MobyGames is a Website devoted to cataloging computer and video games, both past and present

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