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A History of Video Game Controversy

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the something-to-think-about dept.

Decaffeinated Jedi writes "Sex, violence, animal cruelty, and scandalous pixels -- GameSpot has posted an in-depth feature examining the history of controversy in the video game industry. The feature examines several "major offenders" dating back as far as Death Race in the arcades up through more recent games like Grand Theft Auto III and Manhunt. Also included in the feature is coverage of the so-called "retail rogues" (games controversial enough that they were pulled from the shelves), as well as a docket of game-industry lawsuits and a look at the lighter side of game controversy. Who wants to bet that that the use-confiscated-drugs-for-short-term-benefit gameplay of Midway's upcoming NARC will make the cut in future articles about video game controversy?"

5 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 3, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Lost games: Loverboy by AndroidCat · · Score: 4, Informative
    I notice that Loverboy doesn't get any mention. (MAME has it on their Want These ROMs list.) Basically a maze'n'dots coin-op game, with a little perv in a park. After gobbling a pickup, your perv could gobble a ghost, er, woman (without getting arrested). At that point it switched to a fairly graphic screen showing one of several positions. The object was to, umm, get both bar graphs to top at the same time by rhythmic taps on the fire button.

    I don't know if anyone ever distributed it, but it toured the trade shows (1984) as a back-at-the-room demo.

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  3. Re:I wonder why... by corbettw · · Score: 2, Informative

    nobody complains about movies

    Um, you really need to get out more.

    A quick search for movie violence turns up over 1,750,000 pages. I'm guessing more than one of those is a complaint.

    Also, where do you think the MPAA rating system came from?

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  4. Re:Been there, done that by Ayaress · · Score: 2, Informative

    Fallout 2 went beyond stimpaks. In Fallout 1, all the drugs (while many were addictive) had a purpose in the game (raise strength, charisma, intelligence, purge radiation from the system, heal wounds, etc). Fallout 2 had Jet, which is probably the most realistic drug ever put into a game. It gives you some brief effect for about two minutes (I forget what it is. I think it was like +1 all stats), but when it wears off, all your stats get lowered and you're addicted. The addiction never wears off, and the only way to stop the slow stat loss is to take MORE jet. Over time, it takes more and more of the stuff just to keep your stats from going down the crapper, and usually once you're addicted, the game is more an excercize in trying to get enough jet to keep from hitting the minimums in all your stats until you can get the antidote (if you can even keep your intelligence high enough to handle that quest).

  5. Re:More violence doesn't mean better by Ondo · · Score: 2, Informative

    BMX:XXX tanked, to my knowledge, as did DOA:Extreme Beach Volleyball.

    No, DOA Volleyball sold fairly well. A brief googling shows it sold 73,000 copies in it's first day in Japan, which I think is somewhere around a fifth of the number of Xboxes sold there. Last April it was "approaching 500,000" units sold worldwide.