1Up editor ambushed on TV about game violence

[CptStern]

you know all this media attention on violence in video games is starting to make me have violent fantasies ...it usually involves a cheese grater and an anti-game activist's genitalia

here's the latest:


"I've never walked off the set of a TV show in disgust before, but this week I did. There's a first time for everything, I guess. I was in the studio for a live-to-tape session of the Donny Deutsch show on CNBC, "The Big Idea" on Tuesday morning this week. After enduring it for about 10 or 15 minutes it was clear that the whole situation had been a set-up from outset"


"I sat down in front of the camera and soon learned that the entire show was about violence. It kicked off with Donny holding up a copy of Computer Games magazine declaring that there wasn't a single game in there that wasn't violent, and they then immediately cut to scenes of CJ stamping on a girl until she bled over the pavement in San Andreas. I was introduced as pretty much the bad guy who thinks this doesn't have an effect on kids, and...well...things just deteriorated from there. I tried to discuss the ratings system, I tried to talk about how the majority of games are sold at Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy, and how they all take the ratings system very seriously...but this isn't what the show was supposed to be about. Donny had an agenda. "All games are violent" was his proclamation, and nothing was going to sway him. We weren't here to test a hypothesis. While this was happening, the director kept nagging me through the earpiece to "jump in and talk about what you're here to talk about." I was pissed. "That's not what the show appears to be about, darling."


"As we cut to the first break in the live taping, more guests were being lined up including Columbine student Brooks Brown and his parents. The guy behind the camera just looked at me and said "dude, you got ****ED. This is ridiculous."


interesting read but sure to affect your blood pressure ...I'm so steaming mad I feel like ....hunting down a prostitute and hacking her head off with a chainsaw a la GTA ....just for kicks of course

 

[Beerdude26]

...I'm so steaming mad I feel like ....hunting down a prostitute and hacking her head off with a chainsaw a la GTA ....just for kicks of course

Lol the way you go from dead serious to hilarious

But yes, some people are brainless machines. That don't play games. Kinda the exact opposite of what they're saying =/

 

[Icarusintel]

screw Donny Douchebag and the media in general when it comes to games, them and their agenda... thankfully it hasn;t really made that much of an impact on games being made... thank god for that

thanks for continuing to bring us stories like this Stern, helps all of us see behond the media facade

 

[The Mullinator]

Still waiting for the time when a majority of politicians and members of the media are game players.

When will that day come!

 

[ríomhaire]

Thank God this madness isn't here. But Britian is getting it and Ireland often follows. I bet this sh*t will come up on the tabloids eventually.

 

[Foxtrot]

Thank God this madness isn't here. But Britian is getting it and Ireland often follows. I bet this sh*t will come up on the tabloids eventually.

Wasn't Manhunt banned in England? Or was that just Australia?

 

[ríomhaire]

Oh, just thought there. Was 2 Fast 2 Furious really banned in the US because of 2 guys getting in a street race?

 

[Foxtrot]

Oh, just thought there. Was 2 Fast 2 Furious really banned in the US because of 2 guys getting in a street race?

...no, although that movie is shit so I never saw it, so I wouldn't know if it did happen. But something like that would be pretty big news.

 

[Edcrab]

Yay, more negative media portrayal!

Just for once it'd be nice to see a TV discussion where games are fairly represented. I still get worked up about that old Richard & Judy episode- the sheer ignorance of much of the general populace (including Mr. Madeley) is simply infuriating.

Would you let your child view Sin City, for example, because what you saw of it in a trailer didn't shock or offend your sentiments? So why can idiotic parents play dumb when a "harmless cops and robbers game" turns out to be a clearly 18-rated gore fest with incredibly strong adult content? Why can we shift blame onto developers and distributers when it lies with poor parenting and violent, agressive little thugs?

The answer? They're all a bunch of idiotic hypocrites.

But perhaps one of these days we'll look back and compare these moments to the early, near-persecuting censorship of television programmes, and marvel at their stupidity.

 

[CptStern]

Yay, more negative media portrayal!

Just for once it'd be nice to see a TV discussion where games are fairly represented. I still get worked up about that old Richard & Judy episode- the sheer ignorance of much of the general populace (including Mr. Madeley) is simply infuriating.

Would you let your child view Sin City, for example, because what you saw of it in a trailer didn't shock or offend your sentiments? So why can idiotic parents play dumb when a "harmless cops and robbers game" turns out to be a clearly 18-rated gore fest with incredibly strong adult content? Why can we shift blame onto developers and distributers when it lies with poor parenting and violent, agressive little thugs?

The answer? They're all a bunch of idiotic hypocrites.

But perhaps one of these days we'll look back and compare these moments to the early, near-persecuting censorship of television programmes, and marvel at their stupidity.

stupid or not it worked ...in the 50's it was comics..in the early 60's outraged whackos burned Beatles records because Lennon said "we're bigger than jesus" ...in the 70's it was religious groups that went after career women and feminism because it interfered with family values ...the 80's brought about the witch hunts against the music industry ..etc etc ..there will ALWAYS be reactionaries, religious crazies and prudes who feel it's their right to say what the rest of can or cant see, read, think

 

[MjM]

Read some of the replies they are quite good.

Lol did you read that reply to the original article where someone said the Catholic church destroyed Pokemon merchandise. Is that true?

And one of the replies has the Tv shows ratings at some abysmally low level. i wouldn't worry about it too much, probably not many people saw it. And the ones that did probably already had their minds made up that vid games are the work of Satan.

Interesting the point he made about Halo 2 as well.

 

[Raziaar]

I'd be pissed too. Wasn't very good what they did to him.

"Video games aren't violent, but I am!" BLAM BLAM BLAM!

 

[Eg.]

Read some of the replies they are quite good.

Lol did you read that reply to the original article where someone said the Catholic church destroyed Pokemon merchandise. Is that true?

And one of the replies has the Tv shows ratings at some abysmally low level. i wouldn't worry about it too much, probably not many people saw it. And the ones that did probably already had their minds made up that vid games are the work of Satan.

Interesting the point he made about Halo 2 as well.

catholics buring pokeman, yeah that happened.

 

[Raziaar]

One of the only games i know of, which i'd destroy, is the Ouija board.

 

[Sulkdodds]

What about monopoly? Now that's a game that makes you violent.

 

[Raziaar]

What about monopoly? Now that's a game that makes you violent.

My money bitches! You landed on park place, with my Hotel! Don't have money... well... you're going to have to sell your body for sex until you can pay me back, or I can break your kneecaps now and be done with you! Muahahah.

 

[Sparta]

Fifa 2005 made me pretty violent today. I swore at the Ref more times than i have in playing any violent game. ****ing ref, what the **** kinda game was he watching, HE ****ING TRIPPED!!!!

 

[JellyWorld]

Honestly, who cares? The only people who would believe these kind of articles are those who wouldn't have bought the game anyway. Preaching to the choir.

 

[Flyingdebris]

i went and emailed donny douche about it. 1 in a million chance it will ever been seen by him, but goddammit i hate it when games get bad press at the hands of people that just want to make money off the scandal.

If i want to run over peds in carmageddon, thats MY business

if i want to blast someone's head apart in soldier of fortune 2, thats MY business

No one gives a rats ass if i say i liked the movie kill bill, but whoa, watch out if i play any of the doom games, i might "flip out" and murderize people

 

[ríomhaire]

If anything GTA stops people being violent. I occastionaly use it as stress relief.

 

[dream431ca]

People should watch more movies and blame those to. Even Lord of the rings is violent with heads being cut off horses being stomped, and not a word from those people.

If anything GTA stops people being violent. I occastionaly use it as stress relief.

Carmageddon is much better

 

[ríomhaire]

People should watch more movies and blame those to. Even Lord of the rings is violent with heads being cut off horses being stomped, and not a word from those people.



Carmageddon is much better

Good old shock car...

 

[DeusExMachina]

stupid or not it worked ...in the 50's it was comics..in the early 60's outraged whackos burned Beatles records because Lennon said "we're bigger than jesus" ...in the 70's it was religious groups that went after career women and feminism because it interfered with family values ...the 80's brought about the witch hunts against the music industry ..etc etc ..there will ALWAYS be reactionaries, religious crazies and prudes who feel it's their right to say what the rest of can or cant see, read, think

They ruined comics for about 20 years after that crap. Comics didn't get good again until like...1978. Your right though, every decade, we have to deal with so much stupid bullshit, its ridiculous. I know the movie industry's next.

 

[Raziaar]

Forza Motorsport makes me more violent than videogames with guns and other carnage in them. Its pretty funny. If I have to restart a race over to get gold, I get all angry and yell swear words at the screen. I don't really seem to do that with other games.

 

[ríomhaire]

What was the story with the comic book censoring

 

[DeusExMachina]

What was the story with the comic book censoring

Basically, everyone thought Batman and Robin were homosexual and somehow that was "implied" in the comics. They wanted comics to be good clean, fun opposed to the hard boiled pulp fiction of the 40s and 50s that was coming out. Comics were pretty bad until the late 70s. I forget his name, but he brought Batman back to its rightful roots, the way Bob Kane always wanted it. And then of course, the 80s came, a highlight in my opinion, for the comeback of comics. Alan Moore and Frank Miller paved the way for dark, serious, violent comics to this day. I think stern could explain the 50's thing better.

 

[CptStern]

huh? well no ...I'm talking about the senate hearings on juvenile delinquiants and comics back in the 50's


here's the actual senate findings:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8580/kefauver.html


here's a summary of what happened

http://www.crimeboss.com/history03-1.html


here's the guy they went after ..William Gaines of EC comics better known as the creator of Tales From the Crypt


http://www.reason.com/0506/cr.fh.the.shtml

 

[DeusExMachina]

huh? well no ...I'm talking about the senate hearings on juvenile delinquiants and comics back in the 50's


here's the actual senate findings:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8580/kefauver.html


here's a summary of what happened

http://www.crimeboss.com/history03-1.html


here's the guy they went after ..William Gaines of EC comics better known as the creator of Tales From the Crypt


http://www.reason.com/0506/cr.fh.the.shtml

...Oh. I always figured it was the whole Batman and Robin sexual realtionship thing.

 

[CptStern]

that's the first time I've heard that ..do you have a link or article?

 

[Raziaar]

that's the first time I've heard that ..do you have a link or article?

What? Didn't you know that batman and robin have been knocking boots for decades?

All right! Robin what are you looking at me for? Look at her.

 

[Sulkdodds]

What was the story with the comic book censoring

Pretty much what Deus said. Fifties comics became quite hardcore and violent, often with lots of sexual content (although not by today's standards). Politicians and the like scapegoated comics as the source of America's problems with its youth. An influential psychologist called Wertham wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent" which basically blamed all America's problems on comic books. Soon enough there was massive public outcry and the Comic Code was enforced: a ridiculous set of rules governing the censorship of comics sold on newstands. An underground comics scene quickly blossomed but it wasn't enough.

It was only in the late seventies and early eighties, with the advent of specialised geeky comic book shops, that the Comic Code became irrelevant (as it only applied to newstands and not little specialised stores). Since them comics have regained theirselves and the industry has formed the Comic Books Legal Defence (sounds like a group of super-lawyers :E) to make sure the same thing never happens again.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority

So anyway, we don't want the same thing to happen to videogames.

 

[Venmoch]

Manhunt was never banned in the UK. Some mainstream retailers chose not to stock it due to public pressure. Which only led to more people buying it.

Which is a good thing really, because Manhunt is a really really good game.

 

[G-Dub]

Man that Donny guy sounds like a prick.