Tag: notable

As the only editor still playing Fallout 4 after five months, Marvin was naturally discredited at the editorial meeting, and the numerous Gamergate comments during his internship didn’t make it any better. It is therefore suitable for discussing the most striking game controversies with you.

Game controversies will always persist and x number of them crop up every year. Therefore, we try not to discuss all the controversies below, but to give an overview of the most influential and downright absurd game mechanics, advertising campaigns and stories that developers have come up with. For example, we do not need to discuss why a racism-soaked game called Ethnic Cleansing (2002) is really unacceptable, for example Ubisoft’s 2014 does not even deserve attention anymore, we are still bombarded with sexism and alleged misogyny every month and we live in a world where everyone loves to whine; discussing everything is impossible. If you miss something essential in this list, drop it in the comments!

Death Race (1976)

Let’s kick off with the OG controversy, a game called Death Race that could be released today without any problems due to its outdated graphics. Are those twenty pixels on sticks goblins that you bump into or are they people after all? The developer of the arcade game, of course, says it has nothing to do with human violence and that goblins deserve to die, and the tombstones that appear after being hit add to uhh … the atmosphere. 

When we look at the development phase of the game, you immediately understand why Death Race was a controversial topic in the 1970s. The working title of the game was Pedestrian. Pedestrian. Responses came from the National Safety Council (American organization that focuses on safety in the work environment, on the road and in the home) who called him “gross”, CBS responded with a 60 Minutes broadcast about the psychological impact of games and the game appeared in several news outlets such as that of NBC. 

Leisure Suit Larry (1987)

A game about a much too guy who likes nothing more than to conquer women, that’s how you can briefly describe Leisure Suit Larry. Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards already appeared in 1987 and main character Larry’s goal is to lose his virginity before the night is over. If the player does not manage to ramp up Larry within a certain amount of time – this is pure writing skills – then he picks up a weapon and discharges not his love nectar but his brain on the sidewalk. The game is based on an old Sierra text-only adventure called Soft___ Adventure, which actually says enough. Nevertheless, Leisure Suit Larry has almost 10 games to his credit, which is unlikely due to the fact that the games skip pure and keep the implicit (although the latest original game Love for Sail! is particularly explicit). Check out some gameplay below, which also shows the five opening questions that determine whether the player is 18. 

Mortal Kombat (1992)/Night Trap (1992)/Doom (1993) en ESRB

The early 1990s saw another spike in game controversies, which can be traced back to three games: Mortal Kombat, Night Trap and Doom. Starting with the most violent game that has undoubtedly had the greatest impact in the emergence of an age rating system for games, Mortal Kombat. Do I have to explain why? The aim of the game is to beat one enemy after another, eventually finishing them off with special finishing moves called fatality’s. Ripping hearts out of people, knocking heads off hulls, Sub-Zero’s spine remover, lots of fire and more:

In the same year, Night Trap saw the light, a game that was banned from the American Toys “R” Us and Kay-Bee Toys, among others – which is striking since Mortal Kombat simply remained on sale. Goal of the interactive film / game: a stereotypical group of women in need (according to the B-movie formula) must be protected from a horde of vampires (Augers). Night Trap also owes its controversy to the violence, but over the top sexism and countless misogynistic scenes also contributed to it. Doom was the last straw that exploded the already overflowing bucket a year later (read more about the Doom violence here), and before you could scream “big gun” the ESRB was created;

Daikatana (2000)

John Romero was of course the man after Doom and Quake, but when the designer / director left Id Software to work on something new, no one expected it to be a game like Daikatana. Not the emphasis on swords and the chopping off of body parts caused controversy, but an accompanying ad campaign with Romero’s name was the culprit. Not the fact that an icon like Romero is linked to such a game caused angry parents and gamers on their toes, but the grind “John Romero’s about to make you his ” caused that. “Suck it down”, concludes the poster, and I actually find the poster hilarious to this day. Something that fits perfectly with Romero’s edgy ’90s personality, but nevertheless brought with it a controversy. 

Shadow Man: 2econd Coming (2002)

No, the Shadow Man: 2econd Coming controversy isn’t about the horrible use of the number 2 as’ s’, a trend that sadly still lives on in movies (Se7en was good, but that thing doesn’t even look like a ‘v ‘). The much-discussed issue isn’t even the wicked gameplay (where you travel between life and death to save the world) or the story, but an absurd ad campaign. Acclaim Entertainment came up with the idea of ​​making small billboards out of tombstones. Not replicas, but real breeding headstones. Families of the deceased would be paid for the graf-iti, and the developer said that poor families in particular might be interested. Very unsavory to say the least. 

Postal 2 (2003) / Manhunt (2004)

About ten years after the releases of the controversial games Doom and Mortal Kombat, it’s the turn of a new generation to shock, and that’s exactly what Postal 2 and Manhunt did in 2003 and 2004. Starting with Postal, a game that was released exclusively for the Macintosh and therefore remained under the radar of many journalists and gamers. Part 2 changed that, and developer Running With Scissors seemed to want to boost the shock level with the freedom the player gets to unleash his sadism in a crazy town with equally crazy residents. The game is still illegal in New Zealand, although it will be tolerated in 2016. Gallons of urine, cat mufflers on pistols, more guns and fire than you’d like – and… Uwe Boll’s ghastly Postal movie as a result.

Anyone who thought Postal was the worst of the worst had clearly not heard of Manhunt. Where in Postal you could finish the game without killing a single person – which gives the violent aspect an interesting addition to the violence debate – in Manhunt you have to kill lazily in the most horrible ways. As you will no doubt know, the Manhunt franchise has received fierce reactions: many gamers thought it was fun to do mindlessly chopping ugly characters into pieces – resulting in horrible gurgling noises – because it was almost absurd, but the “video games incited violence The debate was of course stirred up considerably. Rockstar contributor Jeff Williams later reported that the development team did not fully support the project due to the excessive violence: “we were crossing a line.

Grand Theft Auto

A simulation in which you can kill any person and then give your car a new color to make the police forget and forgive your massacres; who would have expected this franchise to kick worried parents and self-proclaimed “video game connoisseurs”? Lazy people like Jack Thompson are unfairly using GTA to try and demolish all the violence and sexuality in games, because if a game gives you the freedom to kill prostitutes and steal cars, you’re dealing with Satan’s work, apparently. The minigame that was (inaccessible) in GTA: San Andreas also does not help with the name of the franchise. In addition to violence and sexuality, the way in which GTA (V) continues to criticize, for example, American capitalism to this day ensures that the franchise will remain discredited for a long time, and in any case will generate game petitites. Lindsey Lohan has already sued Rockstar because one of the characters looked like her and some hyperfeminists started a ridiculous petition that states that GTA V incites sexual violence and hatred of women.

Limbo of the lost (2007)

It’s okay that you’ve never heard of Limbo of the Lost, as the project lives up to its name by being stuck in limbo forever. The game was never physically released due to a controversy that was discredited in 2008. Apparently developers Steve Bovis and Tim Croucher, who finally released Limbo of the Lost in 2007 after more than a decade, had coped a lot from the competition. GamePlasma discovered a space that was identical to a space in Oblivion, prompting the game community to look for more similar objects or spaces. And they found them: backgrounds and objects from Diablo 2, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief: Deadly Shadows, a CryEngine 2 demo, Painkiller (and Battle out of Hell), Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament 2004, Silent Hill 4: The Room, 

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

The famous airport mission “No Russian” from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 can be compared to the Postal 2 controversy: the possibility of massacring ordinary citizens in an airport was seen by many as horrible – in 2016 the response would be probably even more intense – but here too the player gets a choice. As an undercover CIA agent you walk with the Russians and see them parading trigger happy through an airport, but you don’t have to pull the trigger yourself; an interesting choice that makes you wonder where the violence in games begins – with the player or with the content itself. Because this airport scene isn’t the most palatable (with the cries for help and all the blood), let alone a respectful choice for a war game, Activision and Infinity Ward have decided to do something about it. This is also due to the fact that this scene changed the international age ratings abruptly. Solution: In some countries the whole scene is unplayable and in others the mission will fail as soon as you start shooting at civilians. Check out the scene below, with some Benny Hill music to make up for the violence:

YouTubers promote Xbox One without admitting it

Under the guise of something different: ‘new’ trends like Let’s Plays and game streaming also generate new controversies, such as when Machinima bribed certain YouTubers and let them be way too positive about the Xbox One. An independent organization called FTC decided that Machinima is indeed guilty of fraudulent advertising of the Xbox One because creators were paid to create content on the Xbox One without being allowed to indicate in the video or anywhere that they were being paid. The FTC quotes Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection Jessica Rich as rightly stating that consumers have the right to know if they are watching an ad or if the video in question represents an authentic opinion. 

#Gamergate

Because Gamergate is from the past years and is freshly engraved in our memories, we do not dwell too long on the famous hashtag. In fact, the term overlaps a whole discussion and is therefore scattered all over the place, as long as it serves as a comment on something to do with sexism and / or progressivism (read: social justice warriors) in our gaming culture. The Gamergate movement began by harassing some well-known women in the games industry in August 2014, including developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, and a feminist critic named Anita Sarkeesian. Besides hilarity – just take someone seriously who never responds substantively to an issue but only shouts out #Gamergate – caused a huge controversy, but what do you want with such an all-encompassing term.

Honorable mentions

• Custer’s Revenge (1982) (aka Raping Simulator)
• This PS Vita ad:
• This PSP ad:
• This Soldier of Fortune ad: