Loving the sarcasm Logan! On topic though, I feel really sorry for Australians. America got Jack Thompson, an insane nutjob who's antics were hillarious to watch. Britain gets Keith Vaz who gets slapped in the face with the wet flannel of other MP's commmon sense enough to make sure he's just the one voice in a hoard of game lovers. But Atkinson... he's in a position of power. He has the opportunity to block this anytime it comes through without even trying, meaning that Australia has the ability to lose great looking games at any point in time. And,
Really? I thought we grew out of points in the 90's? Games have moved on Atkinson, grow the fuck up. On a lighter note, Erik Estavillo is freaking hilarious. Keep up the good work, Logan! | |
In Britain they call it "talking." | |
I always knew sarcasm was a language! | |
Ba-ZING! | |
I really do have to give it up to Capcom, they don't mess around By telling everyone straight up th- Does that Left 4 Dead match have 16 players? DAAAAAAaaaaaaaauuuummmmmn. Just imagine Versus mode on that mofo! That's it! I 'm going back to PC gaming. | |
What the hell? Was it "Lawsuit Week" or something?? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??? | |
The clergy are church people, not law men. | |
I think anytime someone makes a 'points for killing people' comment about video games, it certainly shows the ignorance on display from the anti-game crowd. A great number of games don't include points in any way, but people like Atkinson, Thompson, and Roger Ebert wouldn't know this because all they see is Pac-Man gobbling up pellets. Another generation from now, this mindset will be completely obsolete, replaced by one that has a far better understanding of what actually happens in games compared to what those who champion against them ignorantly believe. | |
If you are being sarcastic here then you are very wrong. Capcom's failure to pander to these clerics as if their opinion is in any way more important than the average person is the only way to handle this crap and maintain absolute control over their games. | |
You're right of course, there's no way that any cleric would dare say anything to Capcom now! (That was more sarcasm by the way, just in case you were unsure.) | |
It's not about preventing them from saying anything, it is about giving their opinion any weight. This reaction shows them Capcom don't care about their opinions, and that is the right attitude to have. | |
Is it? Why? | |
Because if every religious leader who has an opinion was taken into account we wouldn't have almost any kind of videogames. FPS would be gone for a start - Quakers abhorr violence and so would presumably object. Why don't these jumped up witchdoctors merely tell their congregations not to play games they find offensive? | |
And now we get to the root of it, any opinion you disagree with should be disregarded. I don't particularly agree with the the religious leaders, but their concerns are genuine and for Capcom to simply dismiss them out of hand displays a short-sightedness on its, and your, part. I don't know if you've ever been in an argument where the other person is angry, but telling them that they're being stupid rarely ends things. | |
So where, in your opinion, should Capcom draw the line? Some Christian leaders don't like something about your game? Some Muslim leaders don't like something about your game? Richard Dawkins doesn't like your game because it encourages religious belief? What about the US Army doesn't like your game because it paints them as a bunch of muscle-bound idiots? Et cetera ad infitum. You're right that telling someone who is angry and arguing with you that they are being stupid rarely ends things, but you are wrong to suggest that this is relevant. Capcom aren't in an argument. They are being criticised and they are dismissing the critic as irrelevant to them. Not engaging in an argument is not the same as telling them that they are stupid. | |
I didn't think my point was so difficult to understand. It's the difference between Capcom saying "We know you're worried about this game, and you're an idiot to do so" and "We know you're worried about this game, but you really don't have to be and here's why." One aggravates the situation, whilst the other calms it down, but at no point does Capcom actually change the game. | |
Lol left 16 dead. That was great! | |
I kind of stand by the argument of "Just because it can be asked doesn't mean it deserves an answer." The reason you shouldn't take people seriously when they say something absurd is because all you do is promote the absurdity. If I ran around saying video games were the leading cause of AIDS in the world I'm fairly sure getting that sort of response from Capcom would not warrant such a response from you defending my view. If you took time out of your day to calmly explain to every nutjob why their views are valid and respectful (however misguided) you'd never have a single second to your day. Sometimes when someone says the only reasonable thing to do is cut off the tip of your wang you just have to stop and say "No. That is stupid and you should feel bad." I'm all for differing points of view, it makes the world wonderful, however when your views are rooted in absolute ludicrousness there is little room to work. I know quoting a person who is just reading a line from their script isn't going to really help my case but I do find it to be fairly valid and I find him to be a pretty entertaining actor:
I'm sure at this point gaming companies are just sick and tired of the same recycled argument that has absolutely no solid foundation in reality. I'd be much more open to it if it weren't for spending two straight years in a field (psychology) that seems to provide almost unanimous evidence against the idea that video games are the cause of any real world (psychological) problems. You need to set the bar high for folks, don't let them be a dumb ass, the less you caudal folks the more you'll find people exceeding all your wildest expectations. I just get disheartened when we defend something that if released in modern day would be scoffed at almost unanimously. Unless I'm the only one that notices nearly all modern day prophets being put in psychiatric wards or utterly ignored. If you honestly believe that calm conversation is effective at all with ideologues I imagine you've never watched a debate on fox news. PS. I'm not trying to argue that religion is bad. I'm just saying it isn't reasonable. Perhaps I'm abusing the word reasonable. But I find it difficult to say that it is reasonable without accepting that all other possible concepts are equally reasonable (since you can just as easily devise any of an infinitely many concepts that cannot be proven, dis proven, or tested in any way). I just think people think that there is something inherently wrong with unreasonable thought processes. Perhaps because deep down we all want everything to make sense and silliness by design can't. Cognitive Dissonance perhaps? I dunno. | |
I understand that that is your point and it goes to the heart of what I am trying to convey. The necessary implication of what you want Capcom to say - "We know you're worried about this game, but you really don't have to be and here's why" - is that the concern of the priests is recognised as a legitimate one. By explaining that they shouldn't be worried, there is implicit recognition that encouraging occultism is something games should avoid (or Capcom needs to explain that games don't brainwash children, and if they need to do that again, their response is right merely due to the tedium of doing so over and over again). This recognition in turn leads to giving up some control over your product, and I don't see that priests have a more legitimate interest than any of my other examples or indeed the plethora of interest groups who may have an opinion on what a game should and should not be seen to encourage. Would you have Capcom explain why they think the violence in games in justified to the Quakers every time they release a game? | |
I agree with everything you said and it was what I was trying to say. The four sentences I left in all made me laugh out loud. Nice work. | |
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The Week in Review
Trim, and fit and ready to fight, the Week in Review is your round up of all the best news from the Escapist over the seven days. This week, Capcom defends itself against concerned clergymen, the "Many-Mario" equation is solved, Activision is sued, the Great Law-Devil rises and a horde of survivors take one a few lone zombies.
Capcom Disses Clergy
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is pretty old hat if you're a gamer; zombies, raccoons, umbrellas, nothing we haven't seen before. For the clergy however, it's a much different story as three British religious leaders criticized the game for promoting interest in the occult. Capcom, being the master of diplomacy that it is, has gone to every length to reassure the Bishop Mark Bryant of Jarrow, Archdeacon Brian Smith and the Rt. Rev. John Goddard that they have nothing to worry about: "This is scaremongering and typical religious hysteria. You cannot blame society's ills on video games. It's just absurd." Masterfully handled, I'm in awe. (link)
Miyamoto's Myriad Marios
'It's-a me-a, Mario' is a phrase that most gamers will be familiar with, although that's largely because they'll have heard it eighty bajillion times; but would it surprise you to learn that the surfeit of stout, nay portly, plumbers is deliberate? In a discussion between Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and head honcho Satoru Iwata, Miyamoto confessed his original plan for the character: "Well, I called him "Mr. Video". My plan was to use the same character in every video game I made ... I thought the way Hitchcock cropped up in all the films he directed was really cool! (laughs)." Thankfully, Miyamoto-san saw sense and didn't put him in every game he would go on to make, but considering that Mario has tried his hand being a go kart driver, golfer, and doctor, it's pretty much just splitting hairs by this point. (link)
Litigious Agoraphobe Sues Again
Erik Estavillo is well on his way to becoming a gamer meme, as he adds another feather to his cap of litigation. Not content with simply suing Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft for a bevy of weird and wonderful reasons, he's going after Activision-Blizzard because he fears that World of Warcraft may kill him and others who suffer from mental illness, because it alienates gamers from each other. It gets better though, as he's called Winona Ryder and the guitarist from Depeche Mode as witnesses because he believes that they understand alienation. But Estavillo genuinely ill, or is he simply a pawn in an elaborate game? Our very own Malygris puts forward the idea that Estavillo might be in employ of EA's marketing department and this might all just be an elaborate ad for Dante's Inferno. Sure, it sounds crazy, but it's not impossible... (link)
Law Devil vs Mewtwo: FIGHT!
Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson plans to challenge the OFLC's decision to allow the sale of Modern Warfare 2 with a MA15+ rating. According to the Great Law Devil, the OFLC is playing fast and loose with the rules in order to accommodate the gaming industry. "Expecting game designers to be responsible by not glorifying terrorism will always lead to disappointment," he told Gamespot Australia, "I worry about any game that encourages gamers to perpetrate extreme violence and cruelty on screen, but this game [Modern Warfare 2] allows players to be virtual terrorists and gain points by massacring civilians." According to the Classification Review Board, the body to which the Law Devil would have to complain, Atkinson will not get any special treatment because of his position, which I totally believe. Honest. In related news, would you like to buy some magic beans? (link)
Left 4 and 4 and 4 and 4 Dead
The four in Left 4 Dead is more than just lazy 'text speak' on Valve's part, it also represents a philosophy, an ideology if you will, of four survivors alone against the endless zombie horde. Once you start to tinker with that, well, let's just say the zombie hordes are much less frightening when you bring fifteen well armed buddies along: "Rochelle has startled the witch, no, not that Rochelle, that Rochelle. Oh, never mind, the witch is dead now anyway. Anyone hurt? No? Good. Company, move out!" Hit the link for a video of exactly what Left 16 Dead looks like. (link)
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