Slashdot Mirror
Retailers Won't Sell New Acclaim Game
DrEnter writes "According to this Yahoo article, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, and Kay-Bee Toys are refusing to carry Acclaim's new video game 'BMX XXX'. Best Buy has stated it will sell a censored version of the game. Acclaim is billing it as the first major release game to feature full-action nudity, with prostitutes and pimps and main characters. A Wal-Mart spokesman stated "We're not going to carry any software with any vulgarity or nudity -- we're just not going to do it." I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart sells rated-R movies (including those arguably targeted at the same age group as this game is), so make your own judgement..."
Ask the man himself, Al Lowe, creator of the series.
So the following sample of Eminem lyrics
That's actually Ja Rule. Eminem has made a point of the fact that he won't say "nigga" because he is white and for a white man to refer to a black man as a "nigga" is considered derogatory. If you actually listen to Eminem's message, it's basically self-parody. He's got a point that if this country was truly so shocked by what he had to say, NO ONE WOULD BUY HIS ALBUMS.
A better analogy would be that Wal-Mart sells shotguns. Killing animals with firearms = good, playing a video game with virtual tits and ass = bad. That's just typical good ol' boy thinking anyway - it's to be expected from Wal-Mart.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
I'm a store manager for one of the video game chains that will be selling BMX XXX, and last month I got a chance to hear about the game from the people at Akklaim and even saw a bit of game footage. Here is what I took away from the preview: 1) This game plays like the old dave mirra games, but with more plot thrown into each stage ( pimps yelling at their employees, monkeys throwing poo, dogs fornicating) 2) Somebody went to great pains to give you the ultimate control in the create a skater mode including breast size and (abscence of) choice of clothes. 3) If you get enough money, you get to go to Scores gentleman's club to watch a video clip of a real dancer. 4) The Gamecube and XBOX versions will have a raunch-o-meter to let you turn off nudity and bad language while the PS2 version will automatically be a little more tame (no full nudity). 5) They made sure to stay in the M rating, as an Ao would mean that the rest of the chains that are selling the game would also drop it from their shelves.
Basically, it looks like annother lame BMX game that Akklaim is trying to boost sales of by tossing in a little raunch. A good buy, if you have no life or acess to better adult materials.
"We're not going to carry any software with any vulgarity or nudity -- we're just not going to do it."
I just don't get these double standards. They sell all kinds of movies and videos where sex and violence are rampant. Walmart sells Sopranos, American Pie and some other R-rated dvds. I am guessing (and hoping) that they don't sell such videos/dvds to underage children.
Then why in the world they refuse to acknowledge the ratings on the games. The rating are there for a purpose. Of all the big games that are out/coming out, violence is a big part of them. And of course, as we all know from TV, sex follows. Read and understand the the ratings on the games and stick to them. Sell the games like cigarettes if you have to, just don't give me your double standards.
http://www.esrb.org/power_search.asp?type=game
Select "Adults Only" and then search. You should get 15 titles, none of which sound familiar. Maybe Hastings (as mentioned above) has them on the top shelf with the Penthouse entertainment.
Custer's Revenge for the Atari 2600 was probably the first game that retailers would refuse to sell. Check it out here
Screw fileshack, they want you to WAIT for the download to start. They actually have queues, the wait time right now is at least 12 minutes. Why not get the trailer directly from the bmx xxx site. Its embedded in a page but here's the URL it pulls the mpg from:
m pg
http://209.10.163.130/aux/bmxxxx/movies/mpg_01.
Yes walmart sells r-rated movies, but censored. They also sell sensored audio cds. For instance, I made the mistake of buying a Cake cd. CAKE for christ's sake, and it was censored. It doesn't suprise me in the least they'd refuse to sell even a censored version of the game.
Furthermore, if guns were not freely available, then I'd say its more likely that a criminal would have a gun than a law abiding, sedentary female.
Here in Japan, guns are illegal. And yet the number of people (outside of gang members) who get shot a year is on the order of 20-25. In the whole country.
Hmm.