Video Game Censorship

So, I was cruising online today and came across a youtube video from Fox News. It is about the horrible sex scenes in Mass Effect, a roleplaying game for the Xbox360 that I happened to have greatly enjoyed. The people at Fox News claim that this game allows for fully interactive sex scenes along with full-frontal nudity. Anyone who has played this game all the way through knows that it does no such thing. In fact, the announcer in the video as well as one of their "experts" admits that they have never even played the game. I am sick and tired of people making complaints about things when they have never even experienced what they are fighting about.

This hoopla about Mass Effect is really only the latest in a long line of controversies that the video game industry has had to endure. Ironically, it almost seems that people are complaining about games more now than they did in the past. I suppose this has alot to do with the overall prominence of video games in this culture: far more than in the past. This is ridiculous because the video game industry is far more regulated now than ever in the past, with the regulation enforced by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board). Prior to that, there was no watchdog in the industry and many blatantly sexual or violent games were released to the general public. Custer's Revenge is a famous example of a blatantly pornographic video game, where the soul point was to have sex with the squaws.

Nowadays, every game is rated from E for everyone to AO (Adults Only) along with between 3 and 6 descriptors of what is to be found in the video game. For instance, it might say something like 'partial nudity' or 'simulated violence' or 'suggestive dialogue'. These may seem kinda vague, but in video games that may occupy dozens of hours of a gamer's life it is very difficult to portray everything a game has, without publishing a small volume. It would seem that it would be much easier to rate movies, yet many movies get released at the PG-13 rating that I would not want my children to see.

It seems that in many ways our society as a whole is getting desensitized and callous about sex and violence. Regardless of your own individual viewpoint on what should or should not be allowed, it seems blatantly obvious that more of it is being allowed on TV and in the movies than ever before. This has never really bothered me because from the time most of it had been allowed on tv I've been old enough to view it. Video games, however, seem to provide a unique controversy with many conservative individuals.

Traditionally, video games seem to have always been child's play. Many of us in our twenties have grown up with video games and they have consequently grown up with us. As such, they have increased in complexity over the years even as they have become more and more adult-oriented. While there may have been some games, like the aforementioned Custer's revenge, that could never have been considered to be a kid's game the amount of adult-oriented subject matter in today's games has increased exponentially as the same kids who used to thrive off Super Mario Bros. now find more pleasure in killing aliens (Halo 3) or in killing prostitutes (Grand Theft Auto). Since this is what the general populace seems to want, can you really blame the companies making the games for making what their audiences want?

I guess my point is this: with so much crap going on in the world why are people so worried about this entertainment industry that has done more than any other entertainment industry to try and regulate what is being produced. With the ratings boards, and the family-settings on many of the xbox games presently available, they are making a valid attempt to keep games that have to much violence or sexuality from out of the hands of those who are not mature enough to handle the subject material. How can it possibly be their fault when there are parents out there who would readily hand over any games their children want regardless of the rating simply to placate them or get them out of their hair. The problem is with the individuals and should not be laid at the feet of the companies' making all the games and the video game systems.

Price drop on Xbox 360

I have just been informed, via IGN, that Microsoft has finally lowered the price of their XBOX 360 hardware. The Premium Unit, which had previously retailed for $399.99, will be lowered by $50 dollars in anticipation of Halo 3 in September. I suppose the thought is that more people would pick up systems and the game for the same price as they would have paid for the system alone. While I appreciate the gesture, it seems a bit condescending for the average gamer out there to say that this will really even matter for a system known to appease hard-core gamers.

Now if the Wii, a system not appealing strictly to the hard-core gamer, were to do something like this I would say it was a great idea and just might sway an otherwise stubborn parent to budge and purchase the system. But for Microsoft to do it, I would say they would have to make it more worth our while than a $50 dollar price drop. Add in another wireless controller and we would have a bundle worth purchasing, because who is going to want to play Halo by themselves. The vast majority of gamers who buy this game will be doing it for the sole purpose of playing via xbox live and showing the world just how superior they really are (or aren't).

To reiterate, I feel the price drop is a nice sentiment, but when you are paying over 300 dollars for a system alone (without the benefit of either two controllers or a game!!) is 50 dollars really gonna make a huge difference? However, with games coming out such as Mass Effect and Too Human (of which I am eagerly awaiting), I do enjoy the fact that the system is less money because I will then feel better about the possibility of purchasing just one more game.


Update: Mere moments after I post this last news article, IGN has just announced that Microsoft has cut the price of the xbox 360 by $100 dollars in Canada! If this would have been the cut here in the states I might have hummed a different tune, because 100 is certainly more desirable than a cut of 50. With that much of a cut, buying a second controller to play Halo would not be a problem. Why, O mighty Bill Gates, is Canada being treated thusly? Are we richer in general, or just already suckered in by his charms and guile? I don't know, but I just hope that this reaches this land of freedom that we live in!