A timeline of the controverial events that shaped the video games of today.
Created by strummerdood on Mar 31, 2010
Last updated: 04/16/10 at 02:48 PM
Tags: video game controversy new orleans grand theft auto san andreas bully racism mass effect fox news scandal controversy guitar hero 5 rolling stones bon jovi kurt cobain courtney love twitter dave grohl doom starcraft video game addiction everquest counter-strike half-life gta3 grand theft auto iii dead or alive xtreme beach volleyball paradise first person shooters esrb jack thompson gtaiv gta death race resident evil 5 re5 left 4 dead 2 l4d2 elder scrolls iv oblivion custer's revenge playstation playstion 2 arcade xbox 360 pc gaming games mature adult-only bioshock call of duty modern warfare 2 airport no russian hot coffee wolfenstein 3d columbine shootings school violence sexuality virtual nes mortal kombat cbs nbc cnn glenn beck adam sessler attack of the show olivia munn kevin pereira xplay
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Left 4 Dead 2 was marred with controversy upon its release. From its violence to its setting in New Orleans, the development team behind the game Valve could not catch a break. The game’s box art had to be changed as the badly severed hand on the front of it was too graphic. The game was called racist and unsavory by the Houston Chronicle because of its setting in New Orleans and the fact that some of the zombies' skin color was black. And most notably, the game had to be heavily censored if it was allowed to be sold in Australia. One of the more fun aspects of zombie flicks is the violence and the same goes for zombie games. It’s too bad that Australian gamers won’t get the full experience.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/left-4-dead-2-modified-to-get-ma15-rating/story-e6frfro0-1225784371388
Modern Warfare 2 is not only known for being the best entertainment launch in history but also for its now infamous "No Russian" mission. Early in the game, players go deep undercover into a Russian terrorist cell where they are forced to participate in the massacre of innocents through a Russian airport. The game prompts the player twice if they want to skip the disturbing level, though many of the games events stem off that single scene. The level quickly made the news and the debate if this material was art or simple vulgarity was began.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-11-10-callofdutyinside_ST_N.htm
In one of the odder video game controversies recently, Courtney Love, the widow of the late, great Kurt Cobain, threatened to pursue a law suit against the publisher of the Guitar Hero franchise, Activision, for allowing her husband's avatar in Guitar Hero 5 to be used as a puppet to sing and play songs not just by Nirvana but by Bon Jovi and Elton John as well. Though Activision stated that Love signed off on the contract allowing them free access to the avatar, she denies ever agreeing to it and blames ex-Nirvana member Dave Grohl for the incident. Grohl and former band mate Krist Novoselic said that they have control of the music rights but not the rights to Cobain's image.
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/09/10/grohl-novoselic-didnt-approve-cobains-guitar-hero-avatar/
The ever popular survival-horror franchise Resident Evil is used to controversy, being one of the gorier games on the market but when the trailer for the fifth iteration was released, the game received some unwanted press when it was accused of being racist. Each game's story is based around viruses or parasites which create blood-thirsty creatures. In the fifth installment, the zombie outbreak happened to occur in Africa. The imagery of a white man shooting Africans cause a Newsweek editor to deem the game racist. Others followed in the accusations throughout the game's development and release. The franchise has been set in various locations over the years. In Resident Evil 4, it was a small village in Spain but that wasn't deemed racist.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2009-03-09-resident-evil-racism-question_N.htm
Grand Theft Auto IV didn't need to do much of anything to cause a ruckus. The name alone put critics in a tizzy. The game was still ultra-violent and vulgar but at this point, those are to be expected in a GTA title. Critics praised the narrative of the title, the New York Times calling it "violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun." The violence had reason and weight like a work of art such as The Godfather or The Sopranos. However, it is a video game and the game was criticized based on its name alone. It continued to be a scapegoat for under-age crimes.
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/entertainment/March-April-08/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Released-Amidst-Controversy.html
Mass Effect aimed to push storytelling in video games further than anyone could imagine. It was deep, serious, and mature. Unfortunetly, it happened to be a little too mature for some. At the heart of the story was the relationships you the protagonist made with your crew. Some of these relationships could be taken a step further (i.e., your bed). What followed was one the most unintentionally hilarious reports by Fox News involving some alarmingly bad journalistc integrity. This controversy, like many, ask the question: Can video games seriously be considered an art form and how far can they go with it?
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/01/24/mass-effect-sexbox-controversy/
Bioshock was similar to another game released in 2007, Mass Effect. It set out to to push the limits of video games and attempted to tread into a more artistic realm if at all possible. And like Mass Effect, that meant doing something a little more mature and harder to swallow for many. Morality and choice are key factors in the game's narrative and to immerse the gamer farther into the story, a disturbing gameplay feature was introduced. At points in the game, gamers could find small children known as Little Sisters who carried around the games main source of power-up currency known as ADAM. The player could choose to get lots of ADAM by "harvesting" the Little Sisters which would in turn, kill them or they could "save" them but receive less ADAM. The player's choices shaped the games ending and though game critics praised this feature, many were disgusted by it.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/23/bioshocks-little-sister-killing-gets-mainstream-attention/
Rockstar, the maker of the highly successful and highly controversial Grand Theft Auto series, made the news once more when they premiered the trailer to the Teen Rated Bully. By the name itself, parents, protest groups, and lawyers (namely Jack Thompson) were outraged at the very thought of a game based on a bully. Even before the game shipped, there was protest to get the game removed from stores. Many people believed that the game would influence children to bully one another in school. The game ended up allowing you to defend the geeks and fight bullies.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15379992/
The original rating for the highly-successful fourth installment in the Elder Scrolls series was Teen (+13) but when hidden game content brought about by an unauthorized third-party tool was found in the PC version of the game, Oblivion was re-rated to Mature (+17), even after the eradication of the original content. The ESRB rates games based on the content the developers of the titles deliver to the organization. Like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, forbidden code in the game was discovered with mods and the developers and the ESRB were blamed, not the person tampering with the game’s code. The mod allowed players to make their female characters topless. The ESRB re-rated the game to Mature even though a patch eliminated the content in contention and the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions couldn’t receive mods.
http://gamepolitics.livejournal.com/278668.html
Video game addiction had been hinted at in the past but people really believed there was a problem once World of Warcraft was released. Like EverQuest, World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) where players inhabit a huge world together to finish quests and level their characters up. There is no ending to the game, players are meant to just keep on playing. The game costs $15 a month to play and many believe the game is just as addictive as cigarettes or alcohol. A rehab center was even opened recently on account of video game addiction. Whether it is real or not, World of Warcraft will be consistently pointed at as a sure sign of it.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/456551/world_of_warcraft_addiction_fact_or.html
Controversy? Surrounding a GTA game? No, really!? Yep, more controversy followed the second sequel to the highly-publicized Grand Theft Auto III, especially when hackers found blocked off code for a sex mini-game. In the game, your character can go on dates with women and Rockstar, the developers of the game, originally had a rhythm mini-game where you had sex with your partner. The code was blocked off in the original game but hackers got a hold of it and the infamous "Hot Coffee" scandal began. As soon as the ESRB got word of the mini-game, they replacecd the game's already heavy M-Rating with the death knell of video games, the Adults-Only Rating. The game was removed from shelves until an updated version without the code was released with its former M-Rating. The scandal drew the likes of anti-video game lawyer Jack Thompson who said that Rockstar wouldn't live through the scandal to Senator Hilary Clinton who presented a law charging $5,000 for selling M-Rated and AO-Rated games to minors as well as suggesting the government get involved in the ESRB. But really, the game was already M-Rated for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs as well as holding the heavy moniker of Grand Theft Auto. Having a thirty second sex scene shouldn't affect the rating much further. There have been much more revealing and risqué sex sequences in games (or prime-time television for that matter). It's not like the sex scene was hidden in a Teen-rated game where minors could actually get a hold of it. The only way a kid could have GTA: SA is if their parents bought it for them. By the end of the day, hackers who tampered with coding weren't the ones in trouble; they were apparently the heroes. This scandal also angered gamers like myself when they found out from GameStop employees that our 50 dollar game could only be sold for a penny now because it was a "tainted" disc. Great...
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/07/17/gta-hot-coffee-controversy-summary/
The Dead or Alive fighting franchise has been receiving flak for its overly-busty women since its creation but developer Tecmo got lots of attention when they released a girls-only version... but without any fighting... and they were in bikinis... and they were playing volleyball... and by God did their breasts defy every physical property known to man. Obviously, many thought the game was objectifying women, especially since it wasn't really a game at all. Releasing a handheld version for the PSP didn't help Tecmo much either, being called "creepy" and "voyeuristic" by the ESRB.
http://www.gamepolitics.com/2010/03/01/dead-or-alive-paradise-director-fires-back-critics
The most controversial game of all time as well as one of the most revolutionary. After two underground hits, Rockstar dropped a bomb not only on the video gaming public but on everyone else in between. If someone has never heard the three words "Grand Theft Auto" before, then it's a safe bet that they've been living under a rock on Mars for the past decade. Grand Theft Auto III introduced open-ended gameplay to video games. Gamers had a huge, breathing, brilliantly realized world to explore and do missions at their own accord. You played a small time criminal making his way up the food chain with a little revenge mixed in. The controversy came from the ability to wreck criminal havoc in the game's city. Though you would be pursued by police, FBI, and army, you had the option to steal and kill at your own will. You could kill the police men and soldiers who pursued you as well. Something that was mentioned often on the news, you could hire a prostitute, have implied sex in your car, then kill her and get your money back. Of course, this was all optional but anyone who tried the game out more often than not went on a killing spree through the city to see how long they could last and how many Wanted stars they could receive. The level of violence and disregard for authority is what caught the attention of the media. The fact that it was incredibly fun and new is why gamers and essentially anyone who tried the game loved it. Murders have been blamed on the game, as well as the desensitization of today’s youth. It’s been banned, protested against, and most likely burned over a large bonfire. It has also sold extremely well and the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the most critically praised franchises in gaming.
http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/04/24/a_decade_of_controversy_a_grand_theft_au
Counter-Strike was a multiplayer mod for the popular PC shooter Half-Life and quickly became one of the most played online shooters ever. The game’s realistic graphics and the fact that you had to portray both a terrorist and counter-terrorist ruffled a few feathers off the bat. But the game received some bad press when news organizations attempted to link the Virginia Tech shootings to the game, even though the shooter didn't play games in his dorm. Recently, a player stabbed another in an internet cafe because the opponent was allegedly cheating at the game.
http://kotaku.com/5499061/accused-game-cheater-gets-knife-through-head-and-survives
EverQuest was the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games in the world until the release of World of Warcraft. It also began the theories behind game addiction. The event that sparked this controversy was the suicide of gamer Shawn Wooley in front of his computer which was running EverQuest. His mother blamed the game and the developers of it for not warning parents how addictive the games were. Wooley stopped taking his medication, quit his job, and severed all connections he had with the outside world prior to his death. His mother founded Online Gamers Anonymous and other organizations including GamerWidow for gamers who left their significant others to games were formed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/17/48hours/main525965.shtml
StarCraft showed early on how obsessed some people could become with games. The computer game StarCraft is a widely played multiplayer strategy game and was one of the top professionally played games in Korea. During a 50 hour game session with little breaks, a 28 year-old Korean man collapsed in an internet cafe and soon after died of exhaustion. The man sat at his computer playing the popular game with little to eat and short bursts of sleep. He had already lost his job for too often skipping it to play the computer game.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4137782.stm
DOOM was a landmark title when released in 1993. It popularized the first-person shooter, showed off unique 3D graphics, was actually quite scary, included massive multiplayer, and allowed for mods. Unfortuntely, the general public was not as psyched as gamers were at its release. Though no one was excited when they found out that the Columbine shooters were big fans of the games, saying their actions at the school would be "like fucking DOOM!" The game was labeled a "murder simulator" as well as satanic due to its demonic imagery. The debate still rages if video games cause violent behavior.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1295920.stm
Mortal Kombat was released to a hot bed of controversy. Blood and gore was the center piece to the one-on-one fighting game. Each strike of the fist created copious amounts of blood and the games infamous fatalities spawned even more gore. On top of all that, the graphics were very realistic at the time, using "digitized graphics" to give it a more life-like feel. Soon after the release of the game, Senator Joseph Lieberman and Herb Kohl held hearings for video game violence and corruption on society. The result of the hearings was the ratings board for video games, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). If not for the ESRB, the federal government would have intervened and made its own system.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6090892/p-5.html
Wolfenstein 3D is often credited as the pioneer of first-person shooters. The game was set in World War 2 and the player controlled an Allied spy trying to escape Castle Wolfenstein. The game was bloody and violent but that isn't what got it into trouble. The game was full of Nazi imagery, including a fight against Adolf Hitler himself. Swastikas were everywhere and the soldiers yelled in German when shot. Because of this, the game was banned in Germany. In 2001, the sequel to the game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was released and subsequently banned in Germany.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6090892/p-3.html
Custer's Revenge was a pornographic video game for the Atari 2600. The game focused on General George Custer and his apparent rape (can't really tell due to the LEGO graphics) of a Native American girl named "Revenge." I mean really, are you all that surprised this game is featured on a list of video game controversies? The game obviously met harsh criticism from woman's rights groups as well as Native American groups. Activists protested the game and actually succeeded in getting it outlawed in places such as Oklahoma City as well as ceasing its circulation all together. Custer's Revenge has been voted by many publications as one of the worst games ever released. Still, the game sold 80,000 copies to freaky gamers who may or may not dig pixilated rape.
Death Race is attributed as being the first controversial game released. Hitting arcades in 1976 and later on the NES, the object of Death Race was to run over gremlins with your car in order to receive points. The gremlins, however, were stick figures so the correlation between human pedestrians was made rather quickly. The game spawned controversy, protest, and even got its own slot on 60 Minutes.
http://kotaku.com/5032378/death-race-remake-recalls-first-violent-game-controversy
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