[Zack]

Hey everyone, I saw an article on Gamespot, which I thought you should all see. It's about this group of people who have chosen what they thought are the worst violent games of this year.

Here's the address: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11...s_6113877.html

Look at it, and see what you think.

[pleto4_ryan]

the misspelling was funny...

I am afraid in some years we are gonna have the *gasp* "he is going into the adult area of the store" (ala video clubs some years ago)

Don't want to blame anyone, i don't know all these organisations or their work, but some of these names just scares me...

[mag]

I love their recommended non-violent games:

5. Madden NFL 2005

Because we all know that there's no violence in football.

7. Prince of Persia

Yeah, that looks non-violent too.

mag

[Renegade]

I'm all for violence being flagged correctly in video games, but these people clearly don't know their stuff. Honestly, "Mortal Combat"? Eeshk. Nobody who knows anything about video games would make that mistake.

[Molgera]

What bugs me about this is that they openly say that it's the parents that don't heed the game rating yet they still want to go and blame the game companies. These sort of groups wouldn't annoy me as much if I knew that they weren't out to ultimately just ban violence in video games altogether. Censorship isn't the answer, good parenting is.

[remixor]

Originally Posted by mag

Because we all know that there's no violence in football

Of course, you're linking to a site about real football, not video game football. And "sustaining injuries" isn't really the same as "violence".

Yeah, that looks non-violent too.

Well, they probably meant the previous game since they didn't say "2" or "Warrior Within", which had both less violence and less graphic violence.

[mag]

Originally Posted by remixor

Of course, you're linking to a site about real football, not video game football. And "sustaining injuries" isn't really the same as "violence".

The whole game is a bunch of guys hitting each other. Even if it isn't real, how non-violent can it really be and still be football?

Originally Posted by remixor

Well, they probably meant the previous game since they didn't say "2" or "Warrior Within", which had both less violence and less graphic violence.

I was under the impression that this list only included games from 2004. The last PoP was 2003. But I could be wrong about that. Still, my point is simply that if you're going to make a list like that, it's not that hard to find a game that doesn't have any violence.

mag

[Draco2.5]

That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever read.

Why is it that the popular games always get picked on by these groups?

I mean c'mon, Halo 2?

Why not Far Cry or Chronicles Of Riddick?


And they recommend the Jak series?
last I check Jak 2 "depicts acts of violence and brutality, (hurting innocent civilians, killing scores of Metal Heads) and that depict images demeaning to women and minorities(Daxter oogling the girl at the bars tits is okay?)."

Oh well...

I don't really care about groups like this. It's not like they will actually succeed in bring down all violence in the media.

[Tanukitsune]

I've never heard of Gunslinger Girls before, I went to the site and...
It doesn't look that violent, I think they're just offended by ten years girls with guns....

[Royal Fool]

Doesn't look like they put a lot of thought into that list... and if they did then they should have put double that effort into it.

Postal 2 and Manhunt are certainly valid complaints, except that they're not really holiday games for this year.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2... don't all those games carry 'Mature' and '18+' labels (In the U.S. and Europe respectively)?

Oh well, it's just another angry religious group that thinks their opinion is more right than anyone elses.

[SoccerDude28]

It's pretty interesting how the "Violent Games" are the most highly acclaimed games out there.
Doom 3
Grand Theft Auto: “San Andreas"
Halo 2
Half Life 2
Shadow Hearts
These are the best games of 2004. Yeah good luck banning them. And I agree with Draco, In Jak you nuke everything that comes your way, and in POP, you mutilate zombies with your sword. Then they phase out and forget about Metal Gear Solid 3 where you actually eat animals live, Pain Killer which is pretty scary,
and Far Cry. Man I wish these people just spend a little time playing these games and getting acquainted with their names before bashing them.

[mag]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

Then they phase out and forget about Metal Gear Solid 3 where you actually eat animals live

Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that their are lives that matter that aren't human?

mag

[Kolorabi]

This is an interesting read: http://www.buzzcut.com/article.php?s...41123222310861

I followed up with a simple question, “Who on this panel has played which of the games?”

Burke answered first, “I haven’t played any of them.” She backed up her willful ignorance of the games by suggesting that she didn’t need to read Soldier of Fortune to know that she was opposed to its glorification of killing. “I think it’s an irrelevant question,” she concluded.

Another panelist, Pat Wolf, executive director of the ICCR, took the opportunity to suggest that the ESRB raters didn’t play the games either. They simply watched submitted footage.

Finally, Pamela Eakes, president and founder, Mothers Against Violence in America, offered that she had reviewed play of GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2 for about 6 hours. Her answer was not clear in terms of how she reviewed the games or with whom.

[JHousequake]

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

It's pretty interesting how the "Violent Games" are the most highly acclaimed games out there.
Doom 3
Grand Theft Auto: “San Andreas"
Halo 2
Half Life 2

Hmm, that's intresting, most of those titles make up my "Most Boring Games Of The Year" list as well...

[Estoy Loco]

Originally Posted by JHousequake

Hmm, that's intresting, most of those titles make up my "Most Boring Games Of The Year" list as well...

And what exactly would make up your "Most Exciting Games of the Year" list?

[mag]

mag

[Tanukitsune]

He, he, I just came here to talk about PA's strip...
Is Manhunt that bad?

[JHousequake]

Originally Posted by Estoy Loco

And what exactly would make up your "Most Exciting Games of the Year" list?

Well, a nailgun to the head is at the top of my list...

I'll try to be less judgemental about those games; I liked DOOM III on a technical level but that's about it. I sense some of the id staff are getting bored with making first person shooters, introducing features like the PDA to make it not feel like another Quake. Why would I care about another GTA or Halo though? Sorry.

[ConcreteRancor]

I have to say I'm pretty surprised that they recommend Prince of Persia. Even if they refer to the original game, and not the new one, I'm still surprised. I actually am of the opinion that the original Prince of Persia was more violent than Sands of Time, in the sense that there was far more blood. (Remember the guillotine blades that sliced you in half?) Plus you fought real people in the original, as opposed to zombies that just turned into sand.

But Sands of Time, mainly because of the punishment that can be inflicted on the Prince and the whole people-turning-into-zombies thing, is still an unusual choice for a "non-violent" game. Warrior Within looks to be even more violent, too.