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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..."
That was vulgar and featured nudity and everybody loved it. No stores, as I recall, refused to sell that. Still I suppose the graphics have come a little since those days, perhaps it is the realism that shocks them.
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The walmart spokesman cleared his throat and continued, "The staple of gaming content has always been VIOLENCE. Sure, we'll sell games where you can watch someone get their head cut off, THATS good clean fun."
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Just like one of the posters said on the accompanying message board, this is nothing but capitalism working as it normally does, and working quite well.
;-D) in person.
"Developers have the right to make it. Stores have the right to carry it or shun it. We have the right to buy it, ignore it or shop elsewhere."
Sure, it serves as an eye-popper and conversation piece for news outlets since there's (gasp!) nudity in a video game, but it's not like 99.6% of all 15-year old guys haven't already seen a naked woman on video, in a magazine, or (hopefully
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This isn't these stores taking "responsibility", its them acknowledging that the parents who can't police their children properly will shove their responsibility (that of the parents) onto the store. The fact is, if parents were able to actually take care of their children, it wouldn't matter if hard-core pornography was shelved next to Barney cartoons - the kids wouldn't ever actually get access. My parents made it quite clear whenever I was not to be doing something, and when I went behind their backs I was inevitably punished. More importantly, they explained their reasons for each edict, and as a result I respected their decisions as my parents instead of resenting them blindly. Thats the lesson the stores are teaching parents: if you dont take care of your kids, we'll do it for you. Thats plain fucking lazy.
"Stumble before you crawl"
People will do as they want. If stores didnt carry Grand Theft Auto 3, they would be losing out on a good chunk of change.
If this game gets that popular, then either they will sell it or miss out on the profit.
I really dont have a problem with things like this unless it is the government (federal, state, or local) saying that something can't be sold in town, state, or country. If Wal-Mart et al want to not sell it, frankly, its their business.
Of course it is good that the public stays informed... Wal-mart doesnt get my money when I need paper towels any more if they choose to censor this.
But that their choice, and I imagine plenty of other people who like dirty games will continue to buy their paper towels at Wal-Mart.
From reading the blurb from the acclaim site I would say it is not near X rated. While I do think it is compleatly distastefull, I think you can find more sexual content in "Not Another Teen Movie" or "Too High".
... I won't *buy* it at Wal-mart, Best Buy...
FLR
I think the article's comparisons to GTA 3 are unfounded. Why? Because GTA 3 had some very innovative gameplay: a continuous and hugely interactive world with missions taking place directly in the environment, a wide variety of exploration options leading to a huge replay value.
BMX XXX is a.... bmx game. Now I'm not going to say that GTA 3 is a Goodfellas or even a Sopranos but it at least had a semi-adult theme: criminal underworld. It was about as accurate as... I dunno, a CBS Sunday Night movie on the mob. And so there was little stretching the imagination to see that prostitution and drugs and violence would be involved.
But a BMX game? It's like trying to get people to switch to Linux by lacing nekkid girlie pictures into the kernel. A shallow attempt to spice something up.
What is music when you despise all sound?
Doubtful that there's connection between this and lax parental responsibility. Different parents raise their kids differently.
This is about WalMart, et al, making a decision about what they'll sell or not sell, and also avoiding a great deal of bad publicity by carrying the games. The game section of these stores are meccas for kids; no store manager wants to explain to the local news folks why they let school kids buy the games.
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I am from Sweden but I have been living in the US for a few years now. In Sweden, violence is censored to a much greater extent than in the US, but for nudity it is the other way around.
I can see the reasoning behind the ciolence argument (although I am not sure to what extent I agree)
watching lotsa violence -> violent behavior
But for nudity...
watching lotsa nudity -> ???
Spontanious stripping? Unlikely.
Will young men start raping girls if they see somebody naked? C'mon.
Will there be more unprotected sex? No, lack of information has to my knowledge never stopped anyone that wanted to get at it.
Could somebody with longer time in the US please explain. I really don't get it.
Tor
Insightful huh?
Last time I checked, I haven't heard about anyone writing a book about stamps appear on TV. By your logic, Stamp collecting must be far-far worse than sex or farting.
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I must admit, I'm a bit confused as to when, in the eyes of "Your Smut Online" retailers lost the right of choosing how to stock their shelves while, somehow, you retain the right to buy it. You have a right to speak: you don't have a right to make me or anyone else listen.
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Being from NZ an' all...
Wal-mart won't sell a computer game because of a little bit of nudity, yet it continues to sell guns.
Is there anyone _inside_ the US that doesn't find that just a tad strange?
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Does Walmart sell Penthouse / Playboy / Hustler? No?
Do they sell Time / Field & Stream / Sports Illustrated? Yes?
Then why isn't everyone here getting their panties in a bunch over _that_ bias? Why would not the clear policy they have for which print media they retail carry across into the electronic media they stock? Why should a retailer like Walmart make an exception for a one-trick pony console game?
Hey, Mr. Magazine Man! Yeah, you! You're selling House & Garden, but I don't see no Juggs! What kind of friggin' hypocrite are you? Don't you know this is America, Land of the Free, and I gotta right to buy what I want where I want to? [spit]
[sigh]
Sometimes it seems everybody is spoilin' for a fight, but all these Walmart guys are doing is looking to make a living and not piss off their core clientele. Seems to me they're behaving sensibly.
No, I think you're missing the point -- the fact that parents have a responsibility to take care of their kids does not in any way take away a store-owner's right to decide what type of establishment he wants to run.
Nor is this `just' about morality -- the storeowner (in this case WalMart) is making a clear business decision based on the fact that many customers will choose a store without porn in it over a store with porn in it when they take their kids shopping.
Only topless nudity. The dialogue and such isn't anything worse than GTA3. No full frontals, definately no sex .. just alot of attitude. Really, if they dont sell this, they shouldn't sell GTA3.
....
.. graphic violence is fine, easily found on their shelves, the heavens forbid we should see a nipple! For crying out loud ...
[sarcasm]
yeah, its way more moral to carjack and kill people in GTA3 than it is to ride a skateboard and look at women's boobs
[/sarcasm]
This society has a rediculous double standard when it comes to what kids see and watch
"Old man yells at systemd"
Yeah
but it is ironic that they will usually carry games where you can KILL others but the minute you show some one naked it's vulger.
So the message to the youth... making love is bad. Killing is good.
so mindless.
I've lived in the US my entire life, and I've never understood it. People here have somehow picked up the idea that naked bodies hurt children, but violence does not.
Now some guys in suits play the "we da bad boyz" card with a well-orchestrated PR blitz, stupid Walmart plays right into their hands, and all the usual comments are made.
Scott Adams, call your office!
Ya know that US stereotype of a cowboy - the guy who carries at least one gun on him at all times, but doesn't even take his clothes off to bathe?
That's us.
We still think violence is an excellent way to solve problems, and are largely inured to it - hence the reason why we're one of the last countries in the world to allow captial punishment for mentally retarded individuals.
Besides, violence raises few anxieties in people that affect them directly. Sex, on the other hand, raises all sorts of issues that Americans never deal with - like our own lack of comfort with our bodies. I still think one of the biggest reasons why there is basically no full-frontal male nudity in movies as opposed to female full-frontal nudity, which is quite common, is related to size issues. I wouldn't be surprised if there are guys out there who have refused to se The Pillow Book because they know they'd have to see Ewan McGregor's big dick.
Of course, I can't really say this is all that much different from other cultures, since I have never lived anywhere but the USA. Let's hope I'm providing some insight, though - I'd be depressed if this is the way it is around the world.
...to regain their reputation as a company pushing the envelope in video game vulgarity. Remember how big of a hit Mortal Kombat was when it first came out? Pure shock value. Acclaim made a killing off it, as well as MK2, and even made a movie out of it the video game.
Since then we've had countless other fighting games, some of which were purely copycat games, others which introduced new technology such as 3D arenas, which Acclaim hasn't really been keeping up with. Now that gore fest fighting games are no longer so offensive, perhaps even tame compared to gore fest shooters like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament, they decide to make money off the next most provocative cultural taboo--Sex.
What's next? A game about wife beaters? Kids who set fire to animals? No, I'm not some paranoid Rosie 'O Donnel wannabe, and I'm glad id won their lawsuit against those neglegent deadbeat Columbine parents, but there is a point when it just becomes painfully obvious that some in the entertainment business are out to take advantage of stupid kids with too much money by offering them the forbidden fruit in a medium their parents are likely very ill-informed about.
How many billions of dollars in sales does Wal-Mart do each year? If you honestly think they are staying up late at night because of the missed revenue for a single video game title, you are sadly mistaken.
And frankly, there are larger marketing issues here which I'm sure you can't appreciate. Wal-Mart has spent a lot of money to cultivate a family-friendly image. A BMX game that overtly promotes sexuality would cost more to repair the PR damage than the revenue it would generate.