Shut up, McDonalds and ASA

Man... I have to try me some of those McDonald's fat-filled cow vaginas some day.

Yes, but do you have girl-bi...oh. You do. It says so right over there.

Video Games are just the latest cultural scape goats. Eventually we'll replace them with something else to unfairly accuse.

hmm.. that reminds me i'm gonna have to stop there for a coffee and burrito.
But yeah seems to me we're getting a lot of story's about Macdonald's blaming video games for most things.. and speaking of which i won't to a Macdonald's and saw two TV's hooked up with Gamecubes in the kids section...IRONY

bah miss type, Went*

I little piece of my dies everytime I hear mcdonalds (*shudders*).

I agree though. life is rough though.

Unfortunately, this issue is nothing but a vicious cycle.

Nothing will ever resolve it, and no one will ever change their opinions about video games (be it die-hards or haters).

It's a terrible truth, but it's something that we as gamers have to fight through by ignoring and going about our merry gaming way.

-JD

You don't hear me complaining when McDonalds show clips of people eating their disgusting fat-filled cow vagina - something which I find offensive and harmful to society - so there.

I believe you're the only one who finds that truly offensive. I think the blatant racism is somewhat offensive, but as for the cow vaginas, I personally enjoy a number 2 meal every other week immediately after I get payed.

I just ate it today, so I'm in the McDonald's mood. In about 6 hours, I'll surely hate them for what they've done to my body, but then again the choice to eat it was mine. It's just food.

As for banning the commercial, kind of weak but WTF, maybe my grandfather can't stand the constant reminders of World War II on his TV. Trust me, he still jumps when he hears gunshots on TV. I don't think he's scared of black people eating burgers and nuggets while trying to sell said burgers and nuggets to white kids who want to be black.

Still, in the end it's not right to ban the commercial, it's not like heads are flying off and shit, right?

Just took issue with the McDonald's comparison, which kind of made no sense. At least you gave us your opinion along with a nice line of comedic gold. Cow Vaginas FTW

I think part of the problem is that the mainstream media still thinks of games like it was the 80's and fail to recognize that, oh the shock, games have grown up with the gamers! Just as movies have developed in depth / complexity and subject matter so have games.

Worst thing is, you're preaching to the choir, but I have the same frustrations :S

BTW, a question: Do you think in all honesty that McDonald's commercials or even resteraunts should be banned?

I never understood why people liked McDonald's hamburgers, they're horrible. Everything else on the menu is good though (except the McRib ugh).

My problem isn't so much with games and ads being banned, but it's the hypocrisy of it. TV shows and movies go virtually untouched, yet games -- clearly marketed to adults -- get bitch-smacked. It's obnoxious.

You lost me on the cow vagina thing.

I only used McDonalds as an example because of their recent blamage that videogames are making kids fat (and also because I self-admittedly am not a huge fan of their food nor work ethics). I do agree with the whole anit-war thing though. I don't get why anyone would want to play those WWI/II games, they seem a bit wrong to me, War is horrible. Anyway that is just my girly opinion.

what? I was just saying that the commercial could be seen as disturbing to some, and that opinion has for more merit than saying your disturbed or offended by McDonalds, which really has no merit. They only make food and commercials, you have the choice in the end. Nobody should go round banning commericals for any product, it's not right.

McDonald's and games don't make people fat, eating too much and sitting on your ass makes you fat.

But again, you didn't answer my quesion. Would you support the banning of McDonalds or at the very least, McDonalds marketing?

I wouldn't support the banning of McDonalds at all. Despite my personal dislike, they give people jobs and they are a huge part of the economy. I'm merely saying that I personally don't like them. I suppose it is a 'personal' merit that I am offended by their adverts. It might not be guns and bad memories, but to me it reflects corporate power, something I'm not too keen on.

It's fun blowing up bad people. Basically.

Thank God, I was hoping for an answer like that. I was afraid you would say yes, you do support it. Like some PETA maniac or something. Corporate Power can be a good thing you know. And of course you're not to keen on it, you don't have the power, they do! I can't say I blame any company for being a conglomerate and dominating a market, it's only business. If you're the best at what you do or the best at peddling what you sell, then by default you should be above the rest of the crowd.

This is why I love Microsoft. Fuck that haters, they're just jealous cause they're poor.

No offense meant towards you though, I just get a bit ruffled when people speak out against big corporations simply because they are big.

Capitalism wins.

Sharpless wins. Yes, yes it is. Blowing people up feels wonderful, especially when it's online and you can hear the opposing guy cursing you out. It's a feeling like no other, rivaled by few. I'd rather stick a knife in someones back online then have sex, but that's of course only because I don't want more kids.

No offense taken, it's simply your opinion. I don't dislike them for their power alone, that would be silly. I dislike the vast amounts of money that get thrown around though, when the people at the bottom of the chains - the sales assistants included - get minimum wages, when if it weren't for them, there would be no sales. Then again I say that because I am a sales assistant.

Lol! Of course, you're a sales assistant. But you must understand, that's how it works! And you of course took the job knowing full well what it payed, correct? Who do you work for? GameStop? I could see how that would sour your opinion of any company. They fail, miserably. I'll take my money to Best Buy or even fucking Wal Mart over them any day of the week.

And to be honest, most game store employees in my neck of the wood suck balls. Here in Jersey, they don't even care if you're a gamer. The one near my job is terrible, the girl is fucking hot as fuck but doesn't play games except for the occassional DS game. What the fuck is she good for then at a Game store? I ask them if they have a copy of LocoRoco for my wife for the PSP, and even the guys are like "WTF is that? Never heard of it dude."

They didn't even look for it, they seemed convinced it wasn't real. I just left and went to Toys R' Us. They had it and they even knew what it was!

As if all games have to be a giant hype behemoth for me to want it.

"I dislike the vast amounts of money that get thrown around though" on a silly note, learn to catch to be honest.
On a more sensible tone, i can agree with most of your message

Wow, that's some terrible customer service. I'm from the UK, and I have been in to games shops where they are unhelpful, it's not nice. Saying that I don't buy games from high street stores, mostly because they're driving stores like the one I work for out of business by selling games far cheaper than they buy them for. Saying that, they can do one thing we can't; they can make up their profit by selling baked beans.

@ Zenith
thank you. and yes, i should learn to catch money. life is like The Crystal Maze (or so i like to think)

It's a good business plan though, selling things for an unbeatable price just to get people in your store. Then hopefully they will buy something else thinking it's also the cheapest price around.

Not exactly honest in principle, but any smart shopper would realize they are being duped and just buy the game. This is why music stores have gone out of business (most anyway). Best Buy sells all their new CDs for like $13 and under, hoping you'll want a new CD or DVD player to go along with it, or even a fucking washer machine.

It's simply good business. This is why a lot of mom and pop stores are going out of business, and while it's a shame, I can't find any fault with the big corporations at this point.

They're just trying to make a dollar, and to do that they need people to go to them and not the small shops. The town I work in has a lot of small stores, people still use them. We even have TV and Radio stores, no Best Buy or Circuit City for miles. But Best Buy is coming here within 2 years according to the mayor, and it's going to absolutely crush the competition.

Again, good business.

As a side note again, just having a friendly debate with you, no hard feelings.

Also, in a store like GameStop or even McDonalds, half the work is done for you. They certainly don't try to hard to sell you actual games, they just whore their shit preorder service. Why would I preorder from them? Their games always arrive the next day, on Wednesday instead of Tuesday like everyone else. Fuck them.

I guess the difference is towns like mine have a declining number of small shops, which is a shame because it has a huge impact far beyond business. And god yes, we hardly ever take pre-orders...except from those who desperately want a game, and presumably have a very well-paid job which allows them to spend cash without watching the purse strings (their job I assume is not sales-assistant).

lol. Well, GameStop is nuts! Normally you have to put $5 down on a preorder and then you can either pay towards the end price whenever you want or pay it all off when you pick the game up. But if you've got, say $2.50 in store credit, you can use it to preorder something!

Everytime you buy a game, they always ask if you'd like to preorder a game. If my change is more than 5 bucks, they ask if I'd like to put it towards a preorder. It's annoying as fuck but I don't get too pissed, they're only doing what their superiors tell them to do. It's their job, not their perogative.

Its crazy the amount of negative attention games get. Maybe its just part of games growing up. I personally don't think there should be any issue with the a trailer or the guide lines as long as it plays by the same rules as movies etc. And In the cases of games like Stranglehold I don't think we should consider it tamer just cause its animated it is a M rated game after all(At least on this side of the pond). I saw the trailer that has Tequilla spinning around he is roughed up and a little bloody and personally didn't have issues with it but the way I see it is if it would be ok for the new Action movie it should be ok for a game lets not make exceptions. But we also have to be careful not to fight pointless fights if this was outside the acceptable guidelines for all media. I'm in the US though so I not sure what the strictness is for violence on TV and commercials in the UK.

Parents buy 18 rated games and give it to their children. The media rant that these games are sick and disturbing and it is based on an opinion of what the parents think of the game when their kids play it and they see it.

Needless to say, tis illegal for the parents to pass on the games to their weans. Any argument to ban the games on the basis that is influences and corrupts children should be based on proper research and not by the Daily Mail giving it large. Children, and i say children, are impressionable and of course games will influence them. Hence the rating system.

Just to jump into this liberal ass discussion going on, but my problem isn't with the corporations paying their worker's shit, it's with not offering any benefits. If GameStop wants to pay their workers ass, whatever, that's why I went to school. But I firmly believe that even the people selling me my games or making my godddamn burgers have a right to quality health care. Fuck corporations.

That's a good point, as a UK citizen I wouldn't have thought of that. I never knew they did not receive health benefits.

I don't think your system is perfect, but it's certainly a step above ours. I work for a non-profit reproductive health clinic (the most famous one) and I see first hand on a daily basis the kind of destructive effects that are the result of our society treating preventative health care like it's not a basic human right.