Slashdot Mirror
Rockstar's Family-Friendly Shocker
kleptonin writes "IGN is running an article about a new game being developed by Rockstar San Diego. Unlike their previous releases, the game will feature no guns, no violence, and no swearing. The game, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and will cost $39.99." Chris Morris, over at the CNN Game Over column, has some commentary on Grand Theft Ping Pong.
Too bad they couldn't release it on XBLA. I am a BIG fan of the arcade games on there. I dont think it would meet the size requirements, and I find it unlikely that too many people will buy this, aside from it being "from rockstar! OMG!"
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
What's a little money on a ping-pong game if it gives you the ability to say "My company doesn't make SOLELY violent games, Senator..."
....the game will feature no guns, no violence, and no swearing...
...So it's NUDY tennis! Those crazy Rockstar developers!
It's defnately Love-Love, in my book.
__
Bow chicka wow wow.
"..Rockstar San Diego. Unlike their previous releases, the game will feature no guns, no violence, and no swearing. The game, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and will cost $39.99."
40 bucks for Table Tennis..... WHAT...THE...FUCK....
Three processors, monster graphics chip, millions in research and development...
For 3D pong?
Seriously though, do we need (another) electric ping pong? Forest Gump and the Chinese players aside, I thought ping-pong was lazy enough already.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.-TJ
That is Grand Theft Ping Pong...
MadOgre.com
This game sounds a little silly, but I think it could be a hit.
Here's why:
- It's the first ping-pong game to have come out in years.
- It's probably also the first ping-pong game to have decent graphics.
- Whilst ping-pong isn't going to attract many gamers into GTA, it could be a hit amongst asian gamers. Ping-pong is fairly popular in Asia. (at least more so than typical western sports)
- It's different. No competition. (maybe tennis games, but that's a bit of a stretch)
At last! All the fun, drama, and thrills of table tennis without having to go outside to your local ping-pong court. For the first time ever, you can play it from the comfort of your family rec room!!!
Hey, wait...
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Forgive this flame bait, but who cares? Lot's of companies make sports games, be it tennis, golf, football, etc. Surely everyone could figure out that Rockstar had games other than the GTA line, so I ask again, how is this news worthy?
Scott Swezey
This game is all about virtual beer pong. What is the most popular non-video game on campus? Beer pong. I bet there will be game modes that easily simulate beer pong. Maybe a secret hidden game as well.
Okay - admittedly I haven't purchased GTA 1, 2, 3, VC, SA, or, well, anything, from Rockstar. It's not so much a boycott, this run around shooting people just wasn't enough to make such games more than a 2 night rental for me.
Now the graphics do look nice, taking advantage of all that that is the 360 - but I just can't see this being a fun game. I mean, do you really want to take the time to learn how to maneuver a table paddle with your joypad? Personally this is one of those things that if I was going to spend time on, I think I'd play real table tennis. Unlike racing cars, shooting guns, and blowing stuff up, the costs and risks of doing the real thing are so minimal - why make a game to simulate it?
You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
I'm sorry, but "Family Friendly" and "Shocker" just do not belong in the same sentence together.
Computers don't make mistakes. What they do, they do on purpose.
This is not Rockstar North of GTA and Manhunter fame, this is Rockstar San Diego, who made Midtown Madness and Red Dead Revolver. The two are totally different studios that just happen to both be under the "Rockstar" umbrella.
Ehm, baseballs and footballs are hard to find? If football is indeed the american soccer I am willing to bet a shit load of cash that more families own a football then a ping pong table. You need a bit more equipment for baseball but still. I wasn't exactly aware that amateurs playing baseball was rare.
It is, in fact, one of the very few "indoor" sports that has a video game patterned after it. (Poker's about the only other one that springs to mind.)
Well, if you consider poker a sport then how about the video game versions of the following. Chess, EVERY bloody card game every invented, checkers, darts, bowling, snooker, etc etc etc.
In fact isn't basketball often played indoors by pros AND done to dead as a videogame?
The only unusual thing here is that a 'big' name company did a weird sports title. Weird sports titles on the other hand are nothing new.
I just hate journalists who think ignorance is a good thing.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You don't want to know where the female players keep their ping pong balls. Or how they serve, for that matter.
what's the secret patch gonna be called, Hot Cocoa?
---
Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
So they are going to release a graphicly overpowered ping pong game exclusively for the Xbox 360? Can anyone tell my why Rockstar hasn't lost it's mind for making this a 360 exclusive instead of at the very least porting it to the Nintendo Revolution? The system that it would probably fit this game like a glove?
Can't wait to see what sort of hidden games and goodies they stick in there... : p
This guy's the limit!
I'm waiting for the patch that let me bust a cap in the other player for smashing to hard, or that unlocks the graphics of the bitches doing things underneat the ping-pong table. You just wait those people at Rockstar just can't control themselves when it comes to nudity and violence.
I mean, you can run into the middle of the road stark naked and scream "GRAND THEFT AUTO!" at the top of your lungs and people will just look at you and say, "It's another one of those video game freaks".
Try the same thing but scream "NINTENDOGS!" and people will call the cops.
Try it sometime, you'll see what I mean.
Obligatory Soundbite Catchphrase
Reminds me of the Futurama episode where they're in an arcade and one person is playing Skee-Ball, beside them is someone playing Virtual Skee-Ball, and beside them is someone sitting down playing Virtual Virtual Skee-Ball...
:)
That said, I think the potential for internet beer pong could make this worthwhile...
Personally, I think they jumped the shark when they based a game on a lame 70's gang movie. However, if done properly (big IF), I coulde certainly see a ping pong game being as intertaining as a tennis game and tennis games are pretty fun. Then again, I'd rather play Virtua Tennis than Vice City and I'm not exactly a big tennis fan. I'd also certainly NOT play the game if they added crap like "bling" and 'hoods.
If this was something on the Revolution I'd care (it'd be a great use of the controller). This is just an publicity stunt. Straight up on the rocks.
This is just a thinly veiled attempt to see if R* can sell non-GTA games. They have other franchises they could do this with. If they actually put some effort into Midnight Club maybe they could actually offer something other than GTA.
Insert Sig Here
Exclusive to the Xbox? This game would be perfect on the Revolution!
I bet there's a way to crack your opponents over the head with your paddle, and get all the trophys back you previously lost to them.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Rockstar is one of the game developers out there that is at the height of whoring a franchise. It's the big developers like this that continue re-releasing the same game over and over that is leading to the stagnating gaming industry. As far as I'm concerned, they should have stopped after GTA3. Nintendo on the other hand, has it's franchise characters (Mario and such) but each time they release a game they make it a different one. Every Mario release might fall under the platformer genre, but they all play/look different. Transfering the franchise characters to other genres is also a positive. Kart, Smash Brothers, Tennis, and Strikers are all very different games with similar characters. This makes for good brand awareness while giving the diversity in gameplay that I wish more people would demand. So I give props to Rockstar on this one, but please don't make anymore GTAs... it's as tired and played out as WW2 based FPS games.
Wouldnt you like to be a pepper too?
Not only is this "news" a week or more behind everyone else (you're getting faster, Zonk) - but the comments here are really ridiculously closed-minded.
"How can it be fun?" "I don't see this being fun!" etc. etc.
WHAT? You haven't played it, seen it moving, or done anything other than go "Hmm, ping pong...crap"
I didn't see how Virtua Tennis could be fun, but its easily one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time, and does a stand-up job of providing a solid single player experience, too.
Open your minds and close your damn mouths.
My Mind Is Rewired. Is Yours?
The interview was less than inspired.
The answers were PR fluff and tired.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/01/20
Wow, what a vote of confidence for Microsoft's beleaguered console!
I wonder what exclusive poor Sony's PS3 is going to be stuck with...
Uh... I know what a "shocker" is, and I'll state here that it's explicitly not "family friendly". Suffice it to say I recommend not doing a Google Image search.
This game is going to a major win for Rockstar, but the interview with Houser, et al doesn't give the whole story. Background: for China, ping pong is huge and for those in America with shorter memories, check out "ping pong diplomacy" which represented the first thaw in relations between U.S. & China. But what about the vital American market? Who's interested in ping-pong besides hundreds of thousands of students living in dorms? Well, an animation programmer who works in San Diego for an unnamed gamesco had a few too many shooters on Friday night, and told us to keep an eye on the characters that can be put into play (with a "top-secret" key sequence, of course). One of the wacky combos of interest to /.'s: a sweaty Ballmer takes on the team of Page and Brin, and as the game progresses the ping-pong ball evolves into a little wooden chair. If Ballmer starts to lose, pieces of the little chair fly off and bloody the faces of specators, one of which looks suspiciously like a B. Gates. Whether you find this stupid or funny, it's going to generate publicity. My friend talked about some other interesting combos of opponents, but most of them are more familiar to a younger age group, so I can't remember who Avril Lavigne plays against and what her ball morphs into.
So one day, you (as the hero) are walking through the 'hood, waving to the hos, and looking for your next fix. Suddenly, a van screaches up beside you and a couple of bad-asses jump out and start dissing you. It's time to defend your terretory from these a-holes! You challenge them to meet on your turf, and they agree to ... Gangsta Ping Pong!
Don't forget the "hot coffee" mod for when you win the tournament...
(Yeah, I know...it's lame...)
It is not our abilities that show what we truly are... it is our choices.
Just thought I'd remind ya'll....
"Death and poverty like me so much, they brought friends!" - Vash the Stampede, Trigun
I'm sorry, but "Family Friendly" and "Shocker" just do not belong in the same sentence together.
Try telling that to Ash Ketchum, the hero of several E-rated games, and see if he doesn't send his Pikachu after you.
(Standard rhetorical disclaimer.)
That isn't what this bbc story says. Okay maybe not the nudity but the violence seems to be an issue that is up for debate in the UK.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4118270.stm
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I'm hoping the Hot Coffee style mod will let you play a fun spanking game with the ping pong paddles and the girls ;)
It's not April yet.
Mullinator wrote: "Can anyone tell my why Rockstar hasn't lost it's mind for making this a 360 exclusive instead of at the very least porting it to the Nintendo Revolution?"
Red Flayer wrote: "Because it would cost additional to dev for PS2/3"
Does the "Red" in your name stand for red herring?
games like Mariocart, Super Monkey Ball and Nintendogs
I'll give you the last two, but what is it about mario kart's guided missiles, fireballs, running over and crushing your shrunken enemies, and generally dealing death and destruction to those all around you that somehow makes it not the same as quake?
Is it just the lack of gibs?
too bad that the 360 is third place there, but I still think the few 360 owners in Japan will really take to this game, and having it made by RockStar will make it naughty enough that people will check it out.
...
Now if I could just unlock that secret table tennis scene in the game
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
release, is that the 360 is te most expensive machine that will go PING
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
(In best Sterling Holloway voice) Uh, Christopher Robin, your comment is what they call ... a dupe.
Please tell me there is a hot coffee mod for this game. I refuse to believe R* has gone soft on us. All the resourses to make this glorified Pong could have been put into finishing their Bully game. Honestly, what would you rather do play ping pong, or beat the crap out of classmates for no reason? I'll be taking peoples lunch money... I can play with balls any time I want.
... unfortunately the translation service for Ozzy's running commentary will cost $29.99 a month.
Wow. War. Y'know? Wow. Okay! And now for your enjoyment, here's my famous ping-pong ball trick!
Not every argument requires reduction to absurdity.
This is not ping pong game, is a table tennis game, huge difference. Just see what pro table tennis really is here http://youtube.com/watch?v=9xrCQMxWMzk .
I'm sorry... but when did The Shocker become family friendly? Aren't there laws against this with little children?
3D Ping pong.
3D Pong is free.
Yes! I was just about to post something about this. Why can't people understand that Rockstar is a publishing label? DMA Design became Rockstar North and did the GTA series. Rockstar Toronto did The Warriors. Rockstar Vancouver is working on Bully. Rockstar Leeds did GTA on PSP.
It's like attributing every game published by Capcom to the same development staff. Which is amusing, if you consider that Capcom published GTA in Japan.
...I could just buy a used ping pong table at a garage sale, and play the real thing. Of course, my video game callouses might not be compatible with the controllers....
Now complete couch potatoes have yet another way to vicariously experience the thrill of elite, competitive sport, while evading the dangers of injury and overexertion.
The only diference between Mario Kart and Twisted Metal, content-wise, is that one uses goofy cartoony-looking characters in Go Karts, and the other uses gritty, angsty-looking guys in death machines. If you just replaced the character and invironment sprites with something more colorful, and with bigger heads, then you'd have a family-friendly game.
It's like the rock bands who're still protested against be people with too much time on their hands, even if they don't sing about raping Jesus or something. If they cleaned up their images and played different melodies, their songs would be listened to be the people who protest them without any change in content.
It's not about content. It's about how it's presented.
what is it about mario kart's guided missiles, fireballs, running over and crushing your shrunken enemies, and generally dealing death and destruction to those all around you that somehow makes it not the same as quake?
Mario Kart violence is on the same level of the violence in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Fireballs hit you and take your item, when you get crushed you go flat for a few seconds then pop back up at full size, etc. A bit different than the very realistic damage effects in most modern FPS games.
In fact, you are actually incorrect when you say "dealing death", because you can't die in Mario Kart. In Battle mode, the worst that can happen is you get all your balloons popped, and in a race, no matter what happens, you always get back up. In many FPS games you do respawn after you die, but in Mario Kart you never die.
This isn't to say I disapprove of FPS games - I think they are great. But you can't argue that the violence level of Mario Kart is the same as Counter-Strike or Quake.
You're comparing Mario Kart and Quake? Well they're both video games, I'll give you that.
THAT would be a great idea. You can also read CNN Game Over
Options like balls with long sharp spikes (Ooh, I got him in the other eye that time), explosive balls, and acid-filled balls.
Or how about the opponent options: sexy hooker, national politician of your choice, or -- my favorite -- CEO of your favorite computer company!
No "love" lost there, Bill!
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Senator Carl Schurz (1872)
The only difference between the death/respawn in an FPS and the miraculous survival after getting shoved into lava or being crushed flat by another driver is that one of them actually calls the intervening period prior to your resurrection "death." The effect is the same. Would quake cease to be violent if instead of calling it dying, you fell over and were then towed back to an upright position by a little dude in a cloud?
I think it's the gore, not the actual violence, that makes us think the game is less violent.
This whole line of thinking makes me want a quake mod with mario kart weapons. The blue shell, in particular, would be spectacular.
If you have been waiting and hoping for a hi-tech 3D graphics update to PONG!, the original video game; here it is.
How ya like dat?
GT-ping pong? Riiiiight. If Rockstar North was producing it - then it would be an apt comentary. This is just fishing for a headline for entertainment purposes (what? from the fucking news?! color me shocked!).
This is the same crappola that even Rockstar foisted when trying to unload stinkbombs outside the GTA franchise by claiming "from the same people who brought you Grand Theft Auto". I still recall the "If you loved Grand Theft Auto - then you'll love" marketing tripe for promos hyping the ubber turd "State of Emergency".
And did everyone notice - that not "one" reviewer of video games made mention of "The Warriors" being an obvious and similarly boring repackaging of "Manhunt"? When did the collective balls of the so-called video game journalists undrop? Can anyone answer me this? I'm guessing sometime when sophisticated writ-large emerged claiming I'd "crap my pants" about some pixel snooze.
On the other hand I wish I could cash paychecks based on my ability to receive PR faxes from companies and transcribe them word for word for my "previews" and "reviews". Nice job if you can get it.
Not one to be outdone by another games publisher, EA is already working on Forrest Gump's Ping Pong 2007.
Unless the voice acting ruins the mood, which happens too often...
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
The girl in the screenshot is HOT! I can't wait until someone releases a nude patch for that game.
Dragon Ball Z changed death to being transported to anopther demension, and became less violent.
They also took A LOT of gore out.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Unless the voice acting ruins the mood, which happens too often...
"I see the president has equipped his daughter with ballistics!"
... I'm impressed that they've simulated the game in such detail (down to the dust that accumulates in the center of the racket!!)... but I'd much rather play the real game and get some exercise.
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
i've played a couple twisted metal games and don't quite remember it being a go-kart game like mario kart. you know, with the racing aspects of it and all. the battling part is secondary. in mario kart, you try to finish first in what's typically a three lap race. all the items and attacks are there simply to slow your opponent down, so you in turn can take the lead. damage never lasts and you're back to your original state after a few seconds. twisted metal seemed more like a demolition derby event, with various weapons. you won by not being beat up the least.
hackers of the world unite!
You get extra points for:
Killing you opponent.
Raping them.
Stealing their paddle.
Shoving the tennis ball...
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Good to know XBOX360 is really dishing out them thar High Quality Games. (Ehhyukkk)
Would quake cease to be violent if instead of calling it dying, you fell over and were then towed back to an upright position by a little dude in a cloud?
As opposed to being hit with a rail gun and exploding into bloody gibs? Yes.
Like I said, there is a difference between cartoonish violence and realistic violence. If Bugs Bunny (or Mario) gets squashed flat then pops back out with a "SWWOOP" sound, the tone is simply NOT the same if his head pops and blood, eyes and brains fly out. Sorry if you disagree, but it just doesn't have the same tone at all.
Note: I am not advocating game censorship. I love violent games, both the realistic and cartoony variety. I just recognize that the two kinds of violence ARE different. If I had kids, I would probably not give them a copy of a violent FPS at age 5. 12-13, sure, probably. But if they were 5, I'd give them something a little more like a cartoon.
Well, it might not have guns, violence, or swearing, but at least they'll have nudity to fall back on...
Saving the World: One Drink at a Time
It's refreshing to see the occasional game that might be focussed on fun without resorting to violence or gratuitous T&A.
But an XBox 360 exclusive? What are they thinking? Why cut out most of your market?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
This is just an excellent way to get hype up. They will sell this ping-pong game as if it's the real deal, and when people buy it, they will realise what this really is when they play the arcade minigame in the locker room - this little minigame will be the next grand theft auto.
Rockstar has become the lead target for "moralists" to attack get a sensacionalist note, blame for societies ills and even get an extra buck from, I mean even prostitutes went forth and law sued these guys for making totally legal MATURE themed games! is it so much of a surprise they had totally abandoned that venture now? I wouldnt count on a "next generation GTA" or "Bully" ever seing the light of day now.
Good luck on this next game Rockstar, it does sound interesting, you can be sure I will be checking it out. -(hey who knows? maybe this will be the next big thing)
Go ahead MOD my day!
More opinions here
and with a simple D,U,L,R,X,Y,B,A,SELECT,START combo on the court and the players will have no clothes on!
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
I don't want to see any stories about the XBox 360 until mods allowing playback of legally backed-up games are available.
Oh no, not another sports game!!
Repeat after me: "Won't someone please think of the children!!"
... Ping Pong is OBVIOUSLY a stupid game ...
... because all of us dumbasses on Slashdot just *KNOW* about this stuff ...
The key to proper deadpan delivery is to maintain the tone and never slip up...
"Rockstar has just been sued for the alleged 'pocket tennis' mod resulting in a homeless man playing pocket tennis on the corner of the street."
I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
developers for the PS3 need to code their own online service
Or license one from a middleware vendor. Firms that develop for Xbox 360 are already doing this, except from Microsoft instead of a middleware vendor.
Finally, the 360 has enough similarities to development for PCs that there has been a larger base of developers for it
So does GameCube, and Revolution is said to be a fairly transparent extension of the well-understood GameCube architecture. For those who haven't been following along, GameCube uses the Gekko CPU (a PowerPC G3 with some custom on-chip I/O) and the Flipper GPU (whose standard API strongly resembles OpenGL, as does the Nintendo DS 3D API). Based on what the public already knows, anybody who has developed games for Mac OS X and/or Nintendo DS can probably easily learn the Revolution.
I dunno, IMHO cartoons stopped being "apparantly" less violent in the days of "Sam & Max Hit the Road". Its funny violent, but when the cute little rabbit picks up a kitten, rams his fist down its throat, rummages around for a while, rips out a letter and then throws the kitten into a trash can, its hard to justify the diference between the two. I understand your meaning, and to a certain extent agree with it, but to the uninitiated, the diferences are small enough to be considered trivial.
I sure hope you can smack prostitutes with table tennis paddles.
You probably wouldn't have to recode very much for DOA: Extreme Ping Pong. I mean, the er.. important portions of the physics engine code base are already done, right?
WTF? A game for the Halo-Box that isn't named Halo?
I'm in complete agreement that the *tone* is the difference. That was my entire point-- the players of both games carry out nearly identical acts of violence (like firing a huge missile at eachother) yet we consider one violent because it shows the death graphically, and the other nonviolent because it hides the consequences.
Your example of the railgun is exactly what I was talking about in my first posts-- in one game, you can shoot a guy and he gibs all over the place. In the other game, you can shoot a guy, and he's charred, blown into the air, and tumbles back to the ground-- but it's cartoony, and that somehow changes our perception of the fact that in both instances, you shot somebody with a considerable weapon.
Note: I'm not advocating censorship either-- in fact, I think these sorts of arbitrary distinctions are what's so goofy about it. Like why Halo gets an "M" rating, but Baldur's Gate gets the lesser "T" even though both consist entirely of you mowing down the bad guys. Using Mario Kart as an example exaggerates this, but the fact remains that these distinctions are often arbitrary and pointless.
The rating system:
E: Shooting people is fine, as long as the resulting 40' blast radius doesn't actually kill them and they don't bleed.
T: Shooting and stabbing people is okay, as long as they don't bleed.
M: Shooting and bleeding are fine.
Phillippousis... to serve.
Virtua Tennis is definitely in my top five games of all time. What's better than a four player game of the old VT? Nothing. Although, they should have lowered the volume of the guy saying "Virtua Tennis" at the beginning of the game. I need to lower my TV's volume preemptively when I play!
I never saw that cartoon, but yeah- of course you can have a cartoon that has more grotesquely depicted violence. Many animes, for example. That doesn't change my point that if you depict violence in the more "Mario" sort of way, it has a very different tone. If a cartoon tries to make it's violence more disturbing, well, sure it's going to be so.
I would say the difference between Baldur's Gate and Halo is you are using spells and so forth in the former, and guns in the latter. In the same way, I would say that shooting someone with a red shell in Mario Kart just isn't the same as shooting someone with a rail gun in Quake, even if you are technically 'shooting' in each game.
I would imagine the ratings system is designed with the idea of influence on impressionable young minds, and the people who make those calls feel like a child is far more likely to get a bad impression from someone shooting a gun than a red turtle shell or a mystical fireball. I think this is probably a good call, though I don't think kids are as impressionable - or as stupid - as adults often seem to think they are. I think the factors that would make a kid pick up a gun and use it probably are a result of something outside of what games they play... that said, ratings, I don't mind that they exist as long as they aren't intrusive to adults.
I do agree with much of what you are saying, however.