"Controversy" over Portal 2 quote (SPOILERS)

[k-ossuburb]

Oh, American news channels, always taking things out of context, cherry picking and never remaining unbiased in the slightest because it assumes its audience cannot make up their own minds.

Honestly, are they all like this or just the really stupid ones? Personally, I'd be offended that they present the news this way, they're pretty much insulting your intelligence. Don't watch this garbage, always research things for yourself from as many sources as possible and make your mind up as to whether or not you agree with the story when you've got more than one source of information.

 

[Redingold]

...

"They still like this game, it is this part that is unexceptable"...

Wait, WHAT? I know that this video was starting to go on the mind****ed realm after the first 30 second, but ehi, are you kidding me? They really make an argument with one of the most epic game ever for this? I mean... it's english! They are english! can't they understand EVEN A LITTLE the joke when they hear it?

It... Ok, yahtzee, I forgive you to have spoke badly about portal. Just for this time. You even said you was sorry. That guy, on the other hand...

And the girl itself don't give a f*** about it! Come on, this is more childish than duke nukem! [No offence to the duke nukem fan]

They aren't English, they're from North Carolina.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

Portal doesn't build itself as educational. Just because it's stimulating doesn't mean it's edu- no you know what, I've got more to say.

Who fucking cares? Seriously?

A guy somewhere was offended by a joke. That's it. What do the media hope to achieve from this? Basically all we say when we see something like this is go 'Hah, what a douche' or simply respond with 'Ok. *shrug*' This is barely different to somebody being offended by a stand-up comic's routine and then crying about it.
This just in: with the good chance that absurd, derivative humour is bound to offend somebody, there's an even better chance it'll be you. When it is you, suck it the fuck up and laugh it off.

 

[Kapol]

A few things:

1. The father says this is the worst thing that could have happened to an adoptive parent (notice how he says parent, making it clear that HE was offended, not her). Really? A JOKE is the worst thing that could have happened? So that's better then if she, say, got killed somehow? I know that's obviously much worse, but seriously, he acts like one little thing will make the sky fall.

2. The reporters talking sounded stupid. I mean, with such quotes as "He was shocked and really surprised!" I don't think I really need to clarify that much. >_<

3. I don't remember the game ever being said to be educational. Rated E does not mean the same as having educational values, it just means anyone is allowed to play it. Plus, if I remember, this is E10+. By that age, I'd think the child would be mature enough to handle a tiny line in a video game.

4. I do understand how this could make her feel bad. It is an insult, and as a FPS, she was likely projecting herself onto the character, which could make the line 'fatty-fatty-no parents' make her feel bad. But then I think she'd realize it's just a game anyways and it meant nothing. Of course this stops mattering once you realize she said she didn't even hear the line. I'm sure all this attention is really helping the entire issue. Thanks unnamed father for throwing your daughter in the spotlight for being adopted when you were the only one offended.

 

[William MacKay]

well, that's my faith in mankind ruined

you still have faith in a race which has predicted two apocalypses (apocali?) in the space of a year, as well as countless others?
This is taken way out of context and blown out of proportion. Also, who describes Portal 2 as educational? all it would teach is robots are assholes and science isnt always fun (for whoevers bein experimented on).

 

[CLEVERSLEAZOID]

I laughed my ass off when they said

"We tried to contact Sony, the distributers of the game, but they told us to speak to Valve, the actual creators of the game, and we havent heard from them, THEY ARE JUST PASSING THE BUCK"

Plus, trying to make her avoid that section with the insult? They are constantly ragging on you for being adopted hahaha, they aren't going to avoid it!

 

[Yoh3333]

They even contacted Sony who have almost no affiliation with the games creation. It's on their platform but it's not Sony who publishes it.
Seems like they just found a minor news story that they feel like blowing up without actually doing any research. Saying the game is educational aswell? Well... the only thing one could learn from this is that in a fictional world you have a fictional gun that lets you do fictional things. It's a brain teaser sure but not educational.

 

[Yopaz]

And?

You want every character in fiction to be like yourself?

How boring.

[Aimed at the father]

It is a character aimed for his daughter though so he should be overjoyed. An adopted girl who doesn't want to talk about it.
I have problems seeing how this is news. The game's smart talking character even states there's nothing wrong with being adopted... Well, everyone wants their 5 minutes of fame I guess. And making a big deal out of it is probably worse for the daughter than letting it pass silently.
Also shouldn't he have known there was some dark humour after

Spoiler

GlaDOS told them they would get to meet her parents then saying that was a joke. Also when she said that the reason she was adopted was that no-one was able to love her.

If you want to get offended, at least get offended at the right place.

 

[willofbob]

well, that's my faith in mankind ruined

you still have faith in a race which has predicted two apocalypses (apocali?) in the space of a year, as well as countless others?
This is taken way out of context and blown out of proportion. Also, who describes Portal 2 as educational? all it would teach is robots are assholes and science isnt always fun (for whoevers bein experimented on).

no, actually. I'm sorta like the 10th Doctor Who in that I think mankind has great potential, but they blow by being...well, THAT!

 

[Adultism]

Oh man, This is why we can't have nice things. Its obvious the father just wanted to get on TV and said to himself. OH I HAVE AN ADOPTED CHILD I BET I CAN USE THIS TO GET ON THE TELEVISION.

Nobody gives a shit about that, its not a big fricken deal, so I don't know why the news casters are making it out to be the worst thing ever..

There is NO controversy to this, it was a joke, A JOKE. You know? Haha. If someone can't get that then they don't deserve to play a game with such amazing humor.

I hope valve gives a cynical and sarcastic reply.

 

[Captain Pancake]

On one hand, I can see why he would be shocked, his daughter being adopted and all. I would be upset if a similar thing happened to my kids if I had any. However, he obviously didn't quite understand that Portal isn't, as they say, a popular 'kids' game, as shown by the dark and rather mature nature of the story and humour. If he wanted to play a game with his kids, there are better options. Like Minecraft!

 

[Tanis]

This report is about as 'fair and balanced' as a Fox News report on Obama.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Here's an explanation for you, mister: ...[sub]It's a joke![/sub]

 

[Zhukov]

This frightens me. In fact, this terrifies me.

Why?

Well, not because of Portal 2 or anything. Some guy got offended over a joke in a video game. Who gives a flying fuck? Move on.

No, it terrifies me because there are a large number of people out there who watch these American news programs as their primary source of information on things outside their own lives.

Just dwell on that thought for a moment.

 

[TheBadGamer]

Some people just don't get it.

 

[PureChaos]

yet no-one cares about them saying 'fatty' 4 times

 

[Karilas]

Hang on... They're getting all worked up because the villain of a game insulted the main character? And there I was thinking that the whole point of an antagonist was to antagonise the protagonist. Silly me. Well, at least I know better now.

This. There is nothing so unreasonable on this Earth as an Irate Parent?. There is no reasoning with them.

 

[Davey Woo]

I think it's funny that they all missed the adoption quote in the first game.
Granted it wasn't quite so insensitive but still.
Also, this game is not "for children" neither has it ever been "sold as an educational product"

I love how news teams always make stuff up to make things sound worse than they are, and only end up looking stupid.

 

[Aurgelmir]

So of all the violent video games games out there that certain news agencies could rouse a controversy with, one news channel picked Portal 2.

<youtube=UUQYrdgIJuI&feature=player_embedded#at=68>

We have quite some amazing people living on this planet.

Oh I love how they are making sony and valve out to be some big monsters not wanting to take the blame.

As I stated before with regards to this case:

I find this guy overly sensitive, it's not his kid who got shocked and angry about this, it is him.

His kid said she didn't hear it, you can read that as "She isn't ready to talk about it" as the father claims, OR you can interpret it as "I don't really care".

In my mind this is a father over reacting on a none issue. And believe it or not the ESBR rating doesn't cover every insensitivity in games, its mainly there for sex and gore.

I will also state what I said in my other post about the rating:
ESBR places the ratings NOT Valve or Sony, ESBR. So if anyone should be contacted it is them.

PS: Portal an educational game? Bull... The TV channel is just trying to make it sound more evil than it really is.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

I love how the kid's response resembled "wtf dad, bugger off, I wanna shoot some more portals."

Dad's too sensitive.