Tried "We Dare" with some friends, this game doesn't need to be boycotted, it's lame, the sexiest thing in this game was the commercial, awfull gameplay, bad movement recognition... just a lame game.
 |
Nowhere is this more evident, perhaps, than in the world of videogaming. Over the years there have been plenty of games boycotted and whined about for somewhat legitimate reasons like excessive and wanton sexuality and running really fast with really really sharp scissors. But these aren't those games. These are games that were boycotted and bitched about for the dumbest, goofiest reasons anyone could imagine.
12) Gotcha
 |
11) Mortal Kombat
Before we all got desensitized to games that allowed us to curb stomp suckers and torch abortion clinics with tampon bombs, the depiction of violence and murder in Midway's was a huge, huge deal. In '92, there was no ratings system for games, and actually, this was the game that caused Congress hearings that ultimately yielded the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Even though Ed Boon later said he thought Mortal Kombat's outraged critics had a point -- "I wouldn't want my 10-year-old playing a game like that" -- still, it was a big nothing. Violence in games was nothing new; pretty much every other arcade game was about shooting as many people in the face as you could. What people should've been offended by was the excessive use of palette swapping to make "new" characters.
10) Scribblenauts
The very obviously kid-friendly DS game lets players punch in any word they can imagine and it'll pop up on the system's pair of screens. But, someone, somewhere, probably a racist player, wanted to see what'd happen if they typed in "sambo." It's the only slur in the 2009 game that produces anything, and that word makes what appears to be a watermelon. Some game blogs picked up on it -- Fox News didn't touch it -- and publisher Warner Bros. responded that "the word was included as a reference to a Spanish term for a fig leafed gourd." Leave it to all those uneducated racist DS owners not to know the difference between a gourd and a watermelon, and then cause a stink about it. Also, there's a difference between a digital fruit and Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Remus stories. Right?
9) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
 |
8) LittleBigPlanet
The PlayStation 3 puzzle-platformer so saccharine it might as well have been coded with cotton candy and Skittles, the game was pre-emptively delayed just before its release but after it was in retail stores because the background music in the Swinging Safari level had "two expressions that can be found in the Qur'an." The offending phrases were, reportedly, "all that is on earth will perish" and "every soul shall have the taste of death." Bleak, sure, but they're not exactly "kill the infidels"or anything -- plus the song, sung by a devout Muslim, had been freely available on iTunes since 2006. Why background music is so much more offensive than say killing hookers in GTA is anyone's guess.
7) Left Behind: Eternal Forces
Yup, even goody-goody Christian video games can offend milquetoast players. This 2006 RTS, based on the evangelical novels, allowed folks to take control of the Tribulation Force, who must convert neutral and government-allied civilians -- sometimes using lethal force. Some reviewers who clearly have never heard of The Crusades found it upsetting that killing those who don't believe in Christianity was even an option. Activist and disbarred attorney Jack Thompson, who is often outspoken against videogames, told the Washington Post that "the game is about killing people for their lack of faith in Jesus... The Gospel is not about killing people in the name of the Lord, and Jesus made that very clear." (The game's developer made fruitless legal threats against sites posting "misleading" reviews touching on this.) How about you crack a couple of history books, here, gumshoe, because one man's devout is another's terrorist. And that's nothing new at all.
1 | 2 | Next Page >>
More links from around the web!
150 comments
You know what's amazing? How much people are whining and crying over something as frivolous as a list about people whining and crying about frivolous things.
Perhaps I should make a video game that makes babies coo that ...It'd be called...Kill the terrorist babies!
What did you think?IT'S FOX (LIBERAL WORLD) NEWS!My parents would chop the dude's head off!And if they made a video game like this and it got banned,It would not be pretty.
Just wanted to say that with the sims game, it isn't mods to unlock hidden things in the game. Those are nude mods created by users and shared. The nudity and anything that would be rated higher than PG13 is not in the game at all. People make it and pass it around on their own.
The ME3 ending was completely nonsensical, but I feel the real reason for outrage was that BioWare lied about what we could expect numerous times over the past two years right up to a few days before the game's release.
It's part of the whole fubar goodness, but it doesn't help when you're expecting something great from the wonderful game story that was made by a full team, only to get the main guy of the company to pull a George Lucas and kicked out the team during any and all planning to the ending.
It reads like a first draft that was rushed though at the last minute. Didn't help any that the "Galactic Readiness" (aka DRM) forced people to play multiplayer and dumb fetch quests for almost nil to show for their effort in regards to the end.
OK seriously, weren't most of us at least a little mad after being told the princess was in another castle a few times?
Had me until the end. I believe that boycotting--as in not buying something--is the appropriate response when it isn't worth your money.
I've not seen the Mass Effect ending yet, or spoilt it. For all the complaints, this is what I imagine.
Wasn't the actual reason people boicotted LBP and horrendous Xbox fighter Kakutou Choujin because of Muslims complaining about the usage of Quran passages? And that that's kind of a thing with them? Or am I remembering that wrong?
Hot Coffee was one of the greatest days of my life. I worked at Gamestop at the time. and the trade ins on GTA: SA were beyond ridiculous, whole shelves in the back room where being taken up by bricks of the game, we were shrinkwrapping them in packages of 10 to make for easier inventory, there was probably something around 200+ used copies of the game, and this is an out of the way small town Gamestop. The day our District manager called up and said "They're all AO rated games now, box em' up and ship em' out" was a pretty good day!
Most boycotts for anything are incredibly stupid, usually orchestrated by prudes, idiots and easily-angered people who think if they don't want it, nobody should want it.
I'd like to suggest an addendum to this that lists Diablo III. If the various forums I've seen have been any indication there has been a general outcry to boycott this game that as far as I can tell is most commonly articulated as follows.
"Mrrgls burg fuggle mug mug GRRRRRR fargle brgle ALWAYS ONLINE DRM huffle dug frggle brrrgle rawrfgle gargle REAL MONEY AUCTION HOUSE mrgle brgle ishkabibble ibble dibble BOYCOTT FOREVER!"
"Remember how we left Britain to evade religious persecution?"
Really? I thought your ancestors left because there wasn't enough religious persecution.
I agree with everything except me3. There was a lot of greed that went into that game. Greed that spoiled an entire series for a lot of gamers.
Anyone notice how dark it is in the "Islam is the light" lady's house? Will bleach harm a Wiimote?
I've never had any problems with Ichigo Kurosaki harming my Wiimote. (worst joke ever, I know.)
that lady is a nut job.. lol hmm dark house eh... seems the real question here is... what was more offensive to her,.. Islam,..or maybe the word light!!!!!!!!!!!!
The only way a super mario bros game could get more fan rage than ME3 is if Miyamoto decided to manage the entire game except for the final world, which was designed and tested by former programmers of Superman 64.
Which is pretty much close to what happened over at Bioware.
What's the over-under on how many years one will be able to incite blind nerd-rage by suggesting that the backlash regarding Mass Effect 3 is, shall we say, overblown?
You know, up until the first entry, you were doing pretty good. Then you fucking lost me. There is no 'entitlement' the way you round it off. It is not 'entitled' to be pissed off that ap roduct that you paid good money for, hard-earned or not, not only blatantly lied to you in the marketing -- and yes, it is a lie, as certain producers and others, such as Gamble and Hudson explicitly said the game would not have three slightly differently colored endings -- but they also defended their decision with the crock of shit called 'artistic integrity.
Even artists I know as friends called bullshit on that immediately. Like, right out of the gate, 'that's complete fucking bullshit.' For all the arguments you can make about video games =/= art, the worst of this is the potential of abuse for 'artistic integrity' But nevermind that, acting condescending to your very audience with this list at the end, it's perfectly reasonable for people to want that DLC to come out before they purchase the game.
You know why? It's so fucking bad, people would throw 15 dollars at the screen to make it go away. It's so bad, so infamous that no one wants to touch the game until that DLC is out, which is a fair point. Not only are you given a character out of the asspull dimension that you're supposed to believe, not to mention that Shepard is supposed to believe, you're supposed to assume everything they say is exactly true, despite being given contrary things from the very nature of the game before it.
Then, your best friend throughout all the series who's with you in the final battle, including your squad, bails out. Like, bails the fuck out, gets the shit out of the way and takes a few people on board to escape to a nice jungle planet that may cause everyone there to die or not. Not to mention that Earth is doomed as is the rest of the Galaxy, according to the series' own lore.
It is not 'entitlement' or being whiny. These are legitimate complaints that people have about their products. Way to be a dick. I'll avoid your articles from now on if this is how your attitude is.
Yeah, no way you're being whiny or entitled with your 5 paragraphs worth of whine & entitlement. And sadly, no, those are not legitimate complaints. A legitimate complaint would be if the game failed to work at all - what you & your ilk are pissing about is the content, and believe it or not, the developers get to put whatever the hell they want in the games they create whether you like it or not. Get a moist towelette and clean the sand out of your vagina, you idiot. You make gamers like me look bad.
Ah yes, classy gamers like you who tell people to wipe sand out of their vaginas. What a shame anyone would put an unsightly scuff on your pristine image you create for yourself.
To say that a game should be above criticism because it functions properly is ridiculous. Its like saying Transformers is a good movie because the DVD works. Yes, Developers get to put whatever they want into a game and that content is subject to criticism, like the above tirade. It is not entitlement, it is free discussion. If we stop talking about games and just accept whatever slop a company puts out all we are going to get is slop. Fix or not, Bioware knows it can't just shit out an ending now. Maybe 20 years ago, when there was not a close relationship between their developers and their customers, your argument would hold up. But we made them and we can break them, and they had best not forget that.
I began reading the Left Behind books and closed them after the 20th page. It was such a narrow-minded fanatical religious point of view I didn't care for one bit... As in I'm-Right-Because-God-Told-Me-And-You-Are-ALL-GOING-TO-HELL! The game only sold among those in that particular religious group and was considered a failure by gamers magazines.
If there's no actual sex involved, what good is a nude patch except for reminding you of how lonely and unsatisfying your life is?
Huh. I never heard of this 'Sambo' slur before reading this article.
In fact, my first thought was the MST3K episode "The Day the Earth Froze".
The evil witch wants a 'Sampo'.
Now I'm imagining said evil witch desperately desiring a Spanish fruit.
I got about as far as "aging pubic mound" and stopped reading. Are the Daily Lists meant to be read as FFF now? If so Doctor Abraxas should edit . . .
figured when i saw this lists title that the infamous grand theft auto hot coffee mod would wind up on this list though thought it would be in the top . plus this list shows even video games are not immune from some one going crazy and wanting to call a lawer over some stupid thing.
Uh, perhaps I'm wrong on this. But the Commander Shepard contest had three options, one of which was white, and two of which were ambiguously non-white. For a game where the character's appearance is up to the player. Basically, Bioware were offering an opportunity for minority representation on their box art, and the winner was... a blonde white lady. That's a little disappointing, no?
I mean, I know white people are incredibly underrepresented in the media, but...
The complaint was largely about the choices offered.
They had combined too many different options into the same question. People weren't being asked to pick a skin color or a hair color or a hair style separately. They were being asked to from three or six already decided combinations. You couldn't choose, for example, long-haired red head, or short haired blonde with dark skin.
From the start, everyone knew "long haired blonde white lady" was going to win. While it wasn't necessarily what the majority would have created for FemShep, it ticked the most beauty contest boxes. And, to be fair, when they extended the contest to let people pick a hair color separately, "blonde" did *not* win.
(Which does get to one other complaint, that FemShep was reduced to a game promotional beauty pageant.)
I think one of the big problems was that there was already a default femshep. She had short red hair, and that femshep was not given as an option, probably because she was 'not hot enough'. That was my beef with it, I saw no reason to fix what wasn't broken. But I don't think it was ever a dealbreaker for anyone.
Way to round off that article by insulting your target audience. The list was simply going too well, I assume? I think fans have every right to be upset when a beloved trilogy culminates in an incoherent mess of an ending which contradicts the thematic points established by the two previous games, provides no closure whatsoever, has a long chain of events that make no sense, removes the gameplay principles as previously established and then tops it of by asking you to give them more money.
Not to mention the fact that the companies reaction to it is to completely cut themselves off from their fanbase and not comment on the ending whatsoever. I mean, if there was some kind of deeper meaning to it, or if they intended to make a point, I would get that. But PR has just kept everything tight which gives me the impression that the game was rushed so they couldn't make a decent ending.
Artists like to defend their art when so many people rip into it.
Agreed. Games are art just like movies in that they are firstly a business selling a product to customers and in a very distant second place an art.
If you refuse to listen to your customers then you probably don't deserve to be where you are or have what you have, and if your "customer" is the employer you sell your skills to then you'll probably be fired, but if you're able to cloak your business in the veil of being "art" apparently we should all shut up and accept whatever is shoveled out.
Complaining shows how much people care about a subject. Asking people not to complain, or not listening to complaints reveals how little a person cares about a subject. Which is why politicians (whose "customer" is the voters) hate open town hall meetings where any peasant gets to voice their grievances - they don't really care, not one of them.
I find it interesting how many of these games I never heard of, which in some cases probably means that they just sucked. A Left Behind video game? Having read the books, I found them offensive, and I'm Catholic -- the books pretty much offended anyone who wasn't the exact flavor of evangelical wingbat the authors were.
Actually, it's sad that some of these games were so bad, even a boycott couldn't shore up their sales (let's face it, how many times does banning something improve the distribution? More often than not). I never heard of Mind Quiz, or Left Behind, We Dare, etc.
However, if you really want a game to offend people, we should have "Jihad, 640-1095" and "Crusades, 1095-1420," followed by "The Wars of Reformation," so you can play as either Catholic or Protestant, so we can offend everybody.
I remember people were offended at the idea of WWII-era FPS where you could play the Nazi side. And the same happened to a lesser degree with the still-current Middle Eastern setting FPS games.
To be honest, Left Behind would be called hate speech if it didn't purport to be based on the bible. (Which it isn't, by the way. But that's another story.) Unless you happen to be part of a religion that believes in the second coming of the United Nations, or an illuminati conspiracy of Jewish billionaires, those books are going to contain an offensive caricature of you and everyone you know.
