'Wow, they actually got away with this?' Moments

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I wasn't offended at all, but I'm surprised nobody got angry about the Evokers in Persona 3.

Basically: To cast spells, your characters (mostly teenagers) have to shoot themselves in the head. They're not really using guns, but they look exactly like guns and it's obvious they were going for that kind of symbolism.

Can't think of anything that made me feel like a game had crossed the line, though.

That part was bad enough, then Ken used a Evoker. I personally didn't have a problem with the pseudo-suicidal summonings. But how could Fox News pass that up when a 11 year old did it? They live for that kind of material.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Dead Space on the iPod Touch.

Mutilation, swearing, drop-kicking babies, TONS of gore, dismemberment, and it got a 12+ rating.

 

[saruman31]

I hate moral watchdogs

Me too and with a passion. This forum has no shortage of them.

 

[spartan1077]

Never. Because I've never given a shit about ratings.

Quoted for truth. I've never been offended by anything in a game either. Hell, I shot first in "No Russian"...it was a nice change of pace from 'run run run run, cover, shoot' to 'SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT'

 

[Starke]

Resident Evil 5.

I can understand all the zombies being black when the game is set in Africa and i think most of the racial controversy was just people being overly PC, but i cant believe Capcom got away with having zombie spear chuckers decked out in full tribal gear.

Though on that subject Far Cry 2 may have a more disturbing claim. The currency in the game is blood diamonds.

It gets worse, missions gleefully send you off to destroy stockpiles of medicine, kill UN inspectors, stage gunfights in shantytowns (though there's no visible civilian population), and so on...

 

[MikeFrost]

Modern Warfare 2 was passed for classification in Australia without the ratings board really looking into it. I imagine Activision & some major retailers had a hand in that.

I doubt Activision has a hand in any of the rating boards. They're independent rating organizations and, as you can see in other examples such as L4D, they don't really care how minimal was your bloody content.

My take on it sliding by is actually the sign of a change in the propaganda that has a view of games as "dangerous media". It's all for the best I hope, since games are as harmful to the user as comic books or movies are.

This thread nags me a bit because there really shouldn't be a moral attitude towards certain types of content, as long as they're rated properly for the apropriate audience. It's like asking "what movies get away with" moments - they get away with everything. So why shouldn't games?

 

[lacktheknack]

And no one knows what the hell happened with Rose (11).

I always took it as her starting to explore her relationship with the opposite sex.

Being at an age where boys are still seen as quite an alien thing to her. At that age you still tend to see the divide. The childish dismissal because they're different. But they also start understanding each other a bit more.

So I always took it as her wrestling with her understanding of them and her new found feelings about them. So it appears as an alien, almost ethereal and enticing apparition to her. Representing her confusion about them but also her interest in them.

If that makes any sense at all.

I can almost see that, but...

Why the boat? The lake? The hurricane? Those have to be somewhat major, I think, and they don't fit into your metaphor very well.

At least you came up with SOMEthing, though. I couldn't. :S

 

[lacktheknack]

And no one knows what the hell happened with Rose (11).

I always took it as her starting to explore her relationship with the opposite sex.

Being at an age where boys are still seen as quite an alien thing to her. At that age you still tend to see the divide. The childish dismissal because they're different. But they also start understanding each other a bit more.

So I always took it as her wrestling with her understanding of them and her new found feelings about them. So it appears as an alien, almost ethereal and enticing apparition to her. Representing her confusion about them but also her interest in them.

If that makes any sense at all.

I can almost see that, but...

Why the boat? The lake? The hurricane? Those have to be somewhat major, I think, and they don't fit into your metaphor very well.

At least you came up with SOMEthing, though. I couldn't. :S

The hurricane could easily represent the internal turmoil of the situation. The boat and the lake however.... I'm not sure.

Perhaps the lake represents the vast and unfamiliar nature of world that she's just beginning to enter. With it representing her fear of it. The whole 'what lurks beneath' thing. And the boat represents her comfort zone. Her safe place that she's been inside of all her life. That fits with the apparition of the boy, as it circles the boat before the vision ends.

That's just off the top of my head though.

I'm not entirely sure.

Again, to all bystanders who might read this, TRACK THIS GAME DOWN AND PLAY IT. You'll never play anything like it ever again.

 

[Shade184]

I don't think even the woman who wrote the game knows what Rose is about. She's done a bit of writing on all of the girls, first says that Rose is jealous of all her other sisters then says she is the most forgiving, loving girl in the world.

Rose... I don't know! Canoe? Hurricane? White man floating in the sky? Magic tornado thing?! Augh!

I found a very interesting theory. The entire Path series is worth reading, but this one entry in particular is what this guy thinks of Rose, and while I know I probably should be coming up with my own opinions, I'm inclined to agree with him.

(Huh. Only just realised that this guy writes for this site, too.)

Make of this what you will.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=4955

 

[lacktheknack]

I don't think even the woman who wrote the game knows what Rose is about. She's done a bit of writing on all of the girls, first says that Rose is jealous of all her other sisters then says she is the most forgiving, loving girl in the world.

Rose... I don't know! Canoe? Hurricane? White man floating in the sky? Magic tornado thing?! Augh!

I found a very interesting theory. The entire Path series is worth reading, but this one entry in particular is what this guy thinks of Rose, and while I know I probably should be coming up with my own opinions, I'm inclined to agree with him.

(Huh. Only just realised that this guy writes for this site, too.)

Make of this what you will.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=4955

HOLY CROW.

I have issues with that (attracted to men? At eleven? Is that really such a life-changing step?) but hey, it's also a better theory than anything I came up with.

 

[TRR]

That always did piss me off. Bayonetta, God of War, Dante's Inferno, Darksiders, THOSE were ignored by the Christian right. Mass Effect wasn't.
WHAT THE FUCK?!

Actually Dante's Inferno got a bit of heat, there should be some videos on youtube for it but I'm too lazy to find them right now.

Wasn't that a marketing stunt by EA?

Yes I guess it was, but it didn't make me want to buy it.

 

[Jonsbax]

The ending of Metal Gear Solid 4. Okay, there was little I liked about the story (or the gameplay for that matter), but the ending was so stupid and took fan-service to a whole another level that it nearly made me roll my eyes out of their sockets. It was just... No.

I know this wasn't exactly what was meant with the question, but in my eyes this just has to be mentioned.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Too me it had to be the whole 'unitologist and convergance' things in Dead Space 2. I'm surprised no Scientologist came out and were all like 'FWAAAHORRIBLEBLABLABLA'

Also in AvP the 'Predator trophy kill' even though it was friggin awesome.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Dead Space on the iPod Touch.

Mutilation, swearing, drop-kicking babies, TONS of gore, dismemberment, and it got a 12+ rating.

...and it was awesomely amazing. >_> xD

 

[Someone Depressing]

I'm not entirely sure on that one. I seriously cant think of one.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Dead Space on the iPod Touch.

Mutilation, swearing, drop-kicking babies, TONS of gore, dismemberment, and it got a 12+ rating.

...and it was awesomely amazing. >_> xD

True. That game blew my mind. Easily the best purchase on the app store in a while.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

Dead Space on the iPod Touch.

Mutilation, swearing, drop-kicking babies, TONS of gore, dismemberment, and it got a 12+ rating.

...and it was awesomely amazing. >_> xD

True. That game blew my mind. Easily the best purchase on the app store in a while.

I agree full percent