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Midway's Controversial NARC Update Ups Drug Intake
Thanks to IGN PS2 for its hands-on preview of Midway's PS2/Xbox action title NARC, an update of the classic '80s anti-drug arcade title of the same name. This game, which Game Informer notes has been "built on VIS Entertainment's State of Emergency engine", takes the "good cop/bad cop" gameplay concept to an extreme, as GameSpot explains: "You'll actually be able to use the illegal drugs you confiscate throughout the game. In fact, they'll actually give you short-term benefits." The drugs include "pot, speed, LSD, crack, and the newly invented Liquid Soul", and effects vary - for example, IGN notes: "Smoking marijuana in NARC slows time down and makes the screen blur, but also gives incredible focus", and GameSpot mentions: "Dropping acid fills the screen with crazy colors, but it also gives innocent citizens large jester heads while giving criminals large devil heads, for easy identification." But GI also cautions: "By taking one of the addictive drugs... the controller vibrations will get longer and longer until the player will literally have to fight to keep the shakes at bay."
Upon clicking the link, I was greeted by a freevibe anti-drug advert
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Anyone want to take bets on how long it is before a drug death gets blamed on "Little Jimmy wanted to see who the Devil was in his homeroom"?
Screw "Bullet Time"
;-) oh my.
Gimmee my weedtime, cracktime, and lsdtime
Gee...a game like this will produce just the kind of press that the gaming industry needs post-GTA3.
DecafJedi
my weblog: apropos of something
Instead of resisting the childproofing campaign of the world's worst parents and politicians, we could just give up now! Genious! I bet there are all kinds of things that might be interesting, but unpopular that I quit at everyday!
I'm glad to see that Midway is finally making kiddie games again. I really enjoyed Bubbles as well. They must have been on all kinds of drugs when they made that one.
I see no sidescrollers. Yes, I've played the original, but haven't you learned from every other game series out there? Follow-ups to old 2D games rarely stay 2D, even when it suits the genre better. The new NARC is a 3rd person 3D game.
I wonder how much hands-on "research" the developers did for this game? ;-)
"I filter at +6, and have yet to miss out on an important comment." (#822545)
I guess they must be planning on shipping a special controller with the game. I simply dont see how its possible for them to make the standard x-box controller impossible to handle with the vibrations. They simply are not severe enough to make them a considerable issue. Its annoying, thats it
paul reinheimer
But not everyone has played Rise of the Triad. Ahh Shrooms. Normally annoying if encountered in the game. Often fatal if you encountered them just before a bunch of enemies.
But then there was "that one" secret level. All shrooms and trampolines. I think it might have been called The Vomitorium. And if it wasn't, it should have been.
While I agree that this may be a tad over the top, and will serve as ammunition by family-groups and so on, we should stop for one moment and consider intellectually how retarded this actually is: We are actually more concerned with the player taking behavior modifying (and potentially addicting) substances than with a major part of the game's premesis, which is for the player to kill or harm other humans in the game. Somehow killing people isnt as bad as taking drugs...
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
And people "wonder why games have to be subject to crime, no matter how virtual"?
And then, of course, Slashdot's footer quote today was "If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their Heads."
And it's still a month until April...
What happens if I just play with a controller that doesn't have force feedback or whatever the buzzword is for it?
schild
editor, f13.net
Awww heck, what am I saying, I'd get baked before playing.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Apparently Midway's still trying to figure out how to force you to make Taco Bell and Hershey bar runs every few hours...
My English teacher once told me that two positives don't make a negative. Two words for her: Yeah, right.
I wonder if anybody will come up with a crack for this game?
I don't know whether to think this one is being thrown out their for the sole purpose of taunting the media or if some crazed developer actually thought this stuff up on his own.. it sounds like an interesting title, but I'm sure the media will pull it every direction it can.. at least it might take attention away from gta and manhunt...
This is part of a trend that I've seen grow over the past few years of games taking into account the moral and ethical aspects of a player's style of gaming. The idea of having a player's environment be changed in accordance with his in-game morality is really pretty interesting. Past examples of this are in Resident Evil:Zero, Black & White, and many of the MMORPG's out there.
------- "A true friend stabs you in the front." -Eliot
I'm sure that the game will probably get some media attention for this, ahem, "feature." Personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal...lot's of games involve shooting people (which is worse) and I'm not going to go and shoot people, or do drugs, just because I see someone do it in a videogame. I'm not stupid, I know that games are pretend, and one of the main reasons I play games is to escape and do things I can't do in real life...I think lots of the media's fascination with the evils of videogames stems from the fact that it's new to them, and they "don't get it." I mean, at least they should treat R-rated movies the same way...
Screw this new version.. just give me MAME and the original and I am a happy man.
I hope the new one has the rocket launcer.. it was so much fun to blow away drug dealers with a rocket launcher!
Will be able to kill the big headed, Mr. Big, again?
So I'm the only one who, after reading the article, thought this version would probably come under just as much fire from drug activists as it will from the conservative right?
The game certainly depicts drug use in a negative light, and will probably make them a bit more dramatic by the final release. I predict that they'll come up with some stronger deterrants to Marijuana and LSD.
Of course, I wish they'd include N20...
Happiness is relative, Based upon the way we live.
Cop smokes Pot, heads on over to the local convenience store to grab some munchies, sees a robbery in progress, arrests the guy, continually says, "Hey dude, just chill out man. It's no biggie," buys some twinkies and cheetos, and leaves *without the perp*. (Dude! I totally spaced.)
...
Cop drops Acid, sees someone with a devil's head. But was it really a devil's head? How would I recognize a devil's head if I saw it? What is so evil about a devil's head? I mean, I don't even go to church often. It's bullshit. This whole Judeo-Christian thing is just out of control. It brainwashes people. Wait... Am I brainwashed too? No way. To question is to be sane, right? But is sanity mutually exclusive to brainwashing? Brainwashing. Like with soap and water? What would that do? I mean. It might hurt. But would it clean your thoughts...y'know...if you could do it right? How would you do it right? Just be very careful. Very very careful. Very very very careful. Okay, gonna clean those thoughts when I get home from work. Okay, back to the grind. Back to work. Hey! That guy has a devil's head. But how would I recognize a devil's head?
And where's the alcohol? Cop drinks a bunch of shots, and suddenly "everyone" wants to start something. You want some? You want some of this!?! Get over here ya fucking punk! I don't give a shit what you said. You calling me a liar you little...? What's up! Get in the fucking car!
(1 hour later)
What Chief? No! They guy was getting in my face. Hell no I didn't do that to his face. Witnesses my ass. I would remember doing that. No! All I'm saying is...
-----
In other news, "the shakes"? From Pot and LSD? LSD and Pot are physically addictive? Since when? I don't know about anyone else, but after 10-12 hours of an LSD, I am more than done for the duration.
- I don't need to go outside, my CRT tan'll do me just fine.
Instead of being a bad enough dude to rescue the president, you can be a [i]badder[/i] dude, sock ol' Ronnie right in the kisser and go bag a Dragon Ninja hooker. It's edgy that way, you see.
...for proving once again that creating controversy is easier than creating a good game. Say hi to Acclaim there. :-|
-Henry
"Useless organic meatbag" -HK-47
It's all well and good that parent and child protection groups are watchful for titles like this, but I'm still having trouble understanding what the big to do is all about.
I can pretty much guarantee that this game will be rated "M - For Mature" and many retailers have resorted to id checks at the register already. What else can we do? If YOU don't think your kid should be exposed to this kind of stuff, then don't expose them. That's YOUR responsibility as a parent.
"But aren't you worried about the kids?"
Well you know what? I DO worry about the kids. My kids. All freaking day. Contrary to popular appearances, it's a full-time job. And once the little people go to sleep at night, it's time for me to relax and do something "adult" for a change. No more Elmo, or Teletubbies, or those ever present "kids songs" collections.
My daughters must think it's really odd that I always pause my videogames or turn them off completely when they're around. But I don't rely on Joe Politician or Jane Activist to protect my kids, I do it my damn self, because that's what I'M SUPPOSED TO DO as a parent.
If everyone spent more time filtering what their kids see, hear, and do, this wouldn't even be an issue. I'm not talking about locking them up in a room, but if they happen upon something "objectionable", you just have to explain it to them. "This is not real..." or "This is not right..." goes a long way. Is it really that difficult or unusual?
Kids are smart and explaining the context of a given situation is the key.
In this game, you play a cop whose job is to kill people who would dare sell or use something that you fully intend to use.
I think it's a sign of our times. We have heard government propaganda about "drugs" for decades, but, in the day of the Internet, facts about drugs are freely available. The government, not willing to admit that they were wrong (political suicide), has not abated their propaganda or their persecution of people who sell or use "drugs". Hence, we have people who believe that it is both acceptable to use drugs and acceptable that some people get punished and killed for doing it.
And this game caters to people who hold those beliefs.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
Random Simpsons quote, aimed at Midway:
"Sometimes I think you WANT to fail.."
Two things:
1. Midway hasn't made a "good" game in ages. This trend isn't going to stop anytime soon, obviously..
2. They're going to ruin it for the rest of the industry. The media swarming all over violence in video games is silly, but damn. Drug use is just not a good idea to put into a video game. It just doensn't need to be there. No doubt this would get political attention. STUPID move, Midway.
Midway is the least creative bunch there is. Surely they dont think they're going to get good sales from this.
Seems like a good way to wear out the rumble, and sell more controllers. Back in my N64 days, even with the only occasional shaking of Zelda, I found the rumblies get less and less as the months rolled by. A game like this would change that to weeks, if not days.