Daily Mail Criticizes MadWorld For Wii

The Daily Mail has criticized the pending release of MadWorld on the Wii, saying the launch of the "most violent videogame ever" on the system will utterly transform its family-friendly image.

Describing the "hack and slash" game as one in which players can "impale enemies on road signs, rip out hearts and execute them with weapons including chainsaws and daggers," the article says the pending release of a violent game on the Nintendo console has shocked anti-violence groups. The game has not yet been rated by the BBFC, and Mediawatch-uk Director John Beyer hopes it stays that way.

"I hope the British Board of Film Classification will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification," he said. "Without that it cannot be marketed in Britain. What the rest of the world does is up to them. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people."

"It seems a shame that the game's manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii," he added. "I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii."

In MadWorld, players take the role of Jack, trapped in the twisted terror of Death Watch, a "game show" concocted by a group of terrorists who have overtaken the virtual world of Varrigan City. To survive and solve the mystery of Death Watch, players must master the use of weapons and other items and "compete in ultra-violent mini-games designed to push you over the edge." In a style reminiscent of Frank Miller's Sin City and 300, the game is presented entirely in black and white, except for blood, which is depicted in stark red.

The game is something of a departure from the usual Wii fare, but a Nintendo representative claimed the game is simply representative of the wide appeal of the system. "Wii appeals to a wide range of audiences from children and teenagers to adults and senior citizens, anyone from five to 95, as such there is a wide range of content for all ages and tastes available," he said. "MadWorld will be suitably age rated through the appropriate legal channels and thus only available to an audience above the age rating it is given."

MadWorld is being developed by Sega, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, and is slated for release in early 2009. For more information, check out the official MadWorld website.

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And people complain that the Wii doesn't have "Hardcore" games. :P

That article made me want Mad World more than ever. Thanks, Daily Mail!

mjhhiv:
That article made me want Mad World more than ever. Thanks, Daily Mail!

Same. Where would we be without the Mail pointing out all these fun sounding movies and games for us?

Ooh! So it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii you say? I think this is exactly the game we need then. Maybe Nintendo will stop calling Animal Crossing 'Hardcore'...

I, for one, absolutely love the visual style the game is taking, and can only hope the rest of it lives up to the screen shots.

Despite the fact that the game doesn't appeal to me, as a gamer I think this is a game the Wii needs to extend beyond its current niche appeal. It may be a large niche, but its a niche nonetheless.

What I feel about the Wii is that Nintendo had adopted a motto something along the lines of "appeal to everyone." However, in that fervor, they ended up not trying to "appeal to everyone" but "appeal to everyone we haven't appealed to before" (i.e. the casual crowd). The Wii, while an amusing system with some decent games, has been running strong on a casual crowd, but has left the "hardcore" audience out in the rain. Now are "violence" and "hardcore gamer" equivalent? Well, some people seem to think so. But regardless, I think MadWorld will open up that "appeal to everyone" mantra a little more and make the Wii have TRULY universal appeal.

Malygris:
Describing the "hack and slash" game as one in which players can "impale enemies on road signs, rip out hearts and execute them with weapons including chainsaws and daggers,"

And I havn't preordered this game why? Seriously, this game is exactly what the Wii needs but let's pray that it's actually good.

Infact, I could just imagine this game at a party. You see, if this game was on any of the other consoles you would play by yourself, but since it's on the wii everyone is going to want to play it and everyone will see the brutal combos and impalements that you do.

IT WOULD BE FUCKING AWESOME!

Well the mail is one of the papers we can thank for predudice and grumpy old people in the UK for! Maybe when this generation of old people die out so will the Daily Mail! Fingers crossed anywho.

This is totally NOT the most violent game ever.

Until FATAL migrates from pen and paper RPG, this will have to do.

The best part is that these are the fun loving and happy people who brought you Okami and their new studio.

They are late to the party.

Time to ban everything

Here's a radical idea for those who want to keep their Wiis family friendly: don't buy this game. You already have the freedom to choose, and by trying to remove that freedom from others you are not making any friends.

Nintendo should be thanking The Daily Mail - this type of publicity is priceless.
Look at what it did for the GTA series.
I sense a conspiracy - Britain's tabloids in the pay of games companies to boost sales?

The Daily Mail has always been this way. Utterly conservative in appearances, using their "ban this filth" approach to hype to hell out of something, and shaking their heads disapprovingly when it fails to be. It keeps their paper circulating, it gives them easy articles for a few weeks, and lets them keep face.

However, The Mail on Sunday does this neat magazine supplement called Weekend, which has the best TV guide in the UK. So despite the fact that both myself and my mum are "vaguely on the liberal side of things" and otherwise apolitical, we've been funding the bastards for years.

They also do good puzzle pages!

My only concern is whether or not this game will be a retail success. With the failure of No More Heroes I'm afraid that if this flops too it will make future hardcore games a tough sell to publishers.

Does anyone see the problem with the government trying to keep the Wii 'family friendly?' Since when does the government care about the reputation of a system, and how the company that manufactures the damn thing runs its system.

Notice that Beyer says that it would be OK if the game was released on another platform like the PS3 and 360. I personally find this very disturbing.

Who gives a shit about British tabloids? Reading them is pretty much a slow,painless lobotomy.

I didn't know "image" was the biggest priority for a console. Family-friendliness in a console is ultimately a facade born of nothing more than generalizations and comparisons. Everything's going to have its "family-friendly" image put to the back seat at some point. Back in the day, it used to be that some things lost any kind of mature image for the sake of being more family friendly, and they've usually ended up sucking with each step into the aforementioned image, like the first three Ninja Turtles movies; It went from a relatively accurate portrayal of the comic books' fairly dark tone to what was probably a live-action rendition of a scrapped idea for a story arc for the animated series. That's not the only example, Batman had that problem once too back in the 1990's (the movies, I mean). Ratchet and Clank even had treatment like that. I think taking a turn in the reverse direction is a decent change of pace if only marginally occasional in the case of Nintendo's latest console.

Now, one could tell from just the trailer that there's probably gonna be more gore to this than Wii's last bloodfest No More Heroes. But at the same time, there's an even more uniquely stylistic atmosphere, with an even quirkier, if more brutally executed, concept. I tend to try and not classify games like this for their gore, but for their take on it, as well as it's integration into its game's atmosphere, and these stylized types of atmospheres went seamlessly with the gameplay, which is one reason why hold games like Okami and No More Heroes in such high regard. If we're lucky, Madworld here will do the same.

yeeeeeeeeesssssssss! NOW THE PLATNIUM GAMES TEAM WILL GET THE SALES THEY NEED! THANK YOU DAILY MAIL

Sounds like an interesting game. Thanks Daily Mail, without your hysterical bleating I might have let this one pass me by!

Of course if the BBFC won't give it a rating I'll have to order over the internet... but that's what it's there for right?

Gift.

Fuck the Daily Mail, I'm worried what Fox News is gonna say about it. Other than that. I have this to say:

OH MY GOD! I CAN'T FRIGGIN WAIT FOR THIS GAME!!!! XD

"No More Heroes." This is my response to the idea of the Wii being entirely family friendly. "Madworld" looks like it's going to rock.

Mediawatch:
We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people.

Civilisation is practically BASED on killing and maiming people.

To be honest, the Mail's credibility has never been high in my view, They even claimed that the Dark Knight was too violent.
The moment they realise that games AREN'T just for children is the day they earn some respect

They'll release this atrocity on the Wii, but not RE5?

sorry, but the award for most violent game ever made belongs soley and unarguably to postal 2.

"I hope the British Board of Film Classification will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification," he said. "Without that it cannot be marketed in Britain. What the rest of the world does is up to them. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people."

PLEEEEASE tell me they're not going to ban it in the UK ;_;
I mean it's not like Manhunt where it looks kind of real, this is unrealistic artsy violence!
How easy is it to stab someone with a signpost anyway?!

"It seems a shame that the game's manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii," he added. "I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii."

The image indeed.

It's basically all they care about. That's the core of the buzz, it's about "mii too" demeanours.

They want to entertain that idea that they're not old but current, that they're playing video games too, they even have bet on the most succesful console which loves them, a machine for a civilized age, gratifying their assumed flair and even superiority to gamers who are stuck on less appealing machines, it makes them warm and fuzzy.

But the realities of business come. Pride is hurt.

I really hope MadWorld will be as good as No More Heroes in terms of gameplay and violence. Fromt the looks of the trailer, I think it will even exceed NMH. This better get realeased with out any temperments

300 was black and white?

Sweet, my reasons to buy a Wii went from 1 to 2, thank you very much Daily Mail.

Lunar6:
Back in the day, it used to be that some things lost any kind of mature image for the sake of being more family friendly, and they've usually ended up sucking with each step into the aforementioned image...... Ratchet and Clank even had treatment like that

When did R&C ever have a mature image? A couple of sly self-referential gags, and a couple of double entendre's here and there, but never a mature image. Please enlighten me, I must have missed something (I've played R&C's 1, 2, 3 and ToD)

wadark:
Despite the fact that the game doesn't appeal to me, as a gamer I think this is a game the Wii needs to extend beyond its current niche appeal. It may be a large niche, but its a niche nonetheless.

What I feel about the Wii is that Nintendo had adopted a motto something along the lines of "appeal to everyone." However, in that fervor, they ended up not trying to "appeal to everyone" but "appeal to everyone we haven't appealed to before" (i.e. the casual crowd). The Wii, while an amusing system with some decent games, has been running strong on a casual crowd, but has left the "hardcore" audience out in the rain. Now are "violence" and "hardcore gamer" equivalent? Well, some people seem to think so. But regardless, I think MadWorld will open up that "appeal to everyone" mantra a little more and make the Wii have TRULY universal appeal.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

riftinducer:
Sweet, my reasons to buy a Wii went from 1 to 2, thank you very much Daily Mail.

Lunar6:
Back in the day, it used to be that some things lost any kind of mature image for the sake of being more family friendly, and they've usually ended up sucking with each step into the aforementioned image...... Ratchet and Clank even had treatment like that

When did R&C ever have a mature image? A couple of sly self-referential gags, and a couple of double entendre's here and there, but never a mature image. Please enlighten me, I must have missed something (I've played R&C's 1, 2, 3 and ToD)

Well, I can't really put it in my own words, but to quote a line I heard somewhere, the humor of Ratchet and Clank has kind of changed from something out of Comedy Central into something out of Nickelodeon, meaning by my guess that it became a little less and less subtle. At least that's how I'd interpret a metaphor like that.

Lunar6:

riftinducer:
Sweet, my reasons to buy a Wii went from 1 to 2, thank you very much Daily Mail.

Lunar6:
Back in the day, it used to be that some things lost any kind of mature image for the sake of being more family friendly, and they've usually ended up sucking with each step into the aforementioned image...... Ratchet and Clank even had treatment like that

When did R&C ever have a mature image? A couple of sly self-referential gags, and a couple of double entendre's here and there, but never a mature image. Please enlighten me, I must have missed something (I've played R&C's 1, 2, 3 and ToD)

Well, I can't really put it in my own words, but to quote a line I heard somewhere, the humor of Ratchet and Clank has kind of changed from something out of Comedy Central into something out of Nickelodeon, meaning by my guess that it became a little less and less subtle. At least that's how I'd interpret a metaphor like that.

Depends on whether we're talking 90's Nickelodeon or modern Nick. The old stuff had some surprisingly adult humour under the surface (the "Spank the Monkey" board game from Rocko's Modern Life, anyone?)

I can see the point of what you're saying, although there was some subtle humour in ToD.