Ah, The Daily Mail, that bastion of great British journalism, and a reminder that the Hitler Youth campaign never ended with Nazi Germany. With yesterday's Byron Report finally released, it was going to shock nobody that the dishrag tabloids of Britain would smack their hyena lips and start tearing videogames apart again, and The Daily Mail does not disappoint -- enlisting some "celebrity" I've never heard of to provide a "chilling verdict" on games. You can search their site for the article, because frankly, I refuse to link those right wing vultures.
After claiming that Byron's report says children can be desensitized to violence (it doesn't), the wannabe newspaper then asks some bint called Anne Diamond to be all shocked and horrified at a number of games including Resident Evil 4, Dead or Alive and, hilariously, Scarface: The World Is Yours, which of course is based on a bloody movie.
"Dead bodies are everywhere," warbles Diamond when reviewing Scarface. "... It's disturbing to think that so many teenagers presumably have access to this mindless garbage over and over again." Thanks for that Anne, I'll let Mr. Pacino know what you think about one of the most widely acclaimed cult movies of all time, since that's the source material. Idiot.
Diamond had to stop playing Jericho when she was set on fire and got blood on her visor (not IRL), but her sons reckon that Halo 3 is fairly non-threatening and there's not too much bad language, so apparently that gets a bit of a pass! Hurrah for Bungie, you wholesome chaps!
Of Resident Evil 4, however, Diamond is of the opinion that it shouldn't be allowed sale, even to adults -- because of course if you disagree with something, the only sensible action is to ban it. "It wallows in violence for violence's sake," she insists. According to her, Resi 4 is about a cataclysmic chemical attack that makes zombies appear, zombies that won't stop until you shoot them in the face. Yeah, I think we were playing a completely different game there, Ms. Diamond.
And this is why I am paid to write videogame reviews, and Anne Diamond is paid to take part in stupid televised human donkey shows about washed up has-beens. GTFO, Daily Mail, your neverending anti-game campaign is clinging and desperate, and it shows.
Contest:
7:34 AM on 03.28.2008
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I also thought the itv news report about this was specially hilarious.
A step in the right direction. I applaud you for it, Mr. Sterling.
of fuck, I feel like shit, I know I was trying to make a joke, but just typing that makes me unhappy.
Good job not linking :)
Anyway, the Gaming World suffers more unjustified attacks by the media. I wish that you guys would completely stop linking to these articles. You could go as far as not reporting on them, but that is probably asking for too much.
Good job, Jim.
Eight?
Handed their asses to'em.
Is Anne Diamond Mike Diamond's mum?
Tanya Byron makes a some sense in her suggestions, but naturally the scaremoners out there feel justified to say 'see, we told you they were evil'.
With such biase from them, is it any wonder many gamers don't tune into their bs.
"You're kicked in the face and then shot -dead- and it feels pretty real."
I guess there is respawn in IRL since these people know what it's like to be shot and die.
You just get these annoying r-tards who have never picked a game up before, are berating them as if 5 year olds play them day in day out. God forbid we go to the source and blame parenting. ¬_¬
lets blame art, music, nazi's,movies, america, iraq, video games, ex presidents and ministers but not parenting , could never be that one.
I wouldnt care IN THE SLIGHTEST DEGREE so long as us adult, and mature gamers werent effected in anyway shape or form, but because of these murderous 15 year olds... its usually always a 15 year old, thats the reason behind a ban, a cut, or something.
Anyway, if the gaming industry ever reaches a point where the Daily Mail doesn't attack it the industry is in trouble. Because everyone who reads it is a scumbag.
SHE'S RUINED THE ENDING FOR ME! CURSE YOU DIAMOND!
and he's not the only one left. do your research you knee-jerk jerk jerk jerk.
"i watched and played this one and thought it was pretty mindless and stupid" - this woman's writing style is around the level of a 12 year old. exasperating.
"when i played, i was stabbed to death with pitchforks amid fountains of my own blood" - if only.....
lololol roflmao!
Also, why does RE get this much shit but derivative crap like Hostel go completely unnoticed?
How out of touch can you get, they might as well get an OAP to give their view on the latest dance tracks.
"the girl characters are overtly sexy, half naked, with gravity-defying breasts and unbelievably long legs"
the problem?
Call of Duty 4
"the fight scenes include exploding bombs, splattering blood and dogs having their neck wrung."
everything a growing boy needs ^^
maybe some games are violent, but she doesnt see the biggest point of all that she missed - none of it is real, its a game. maybe she should lay off the mushrooms before reviewing like a five year old.
Well I guess she'll be on fox news next XD.
Did she get a different version of the game or mixed it up with Naruto: Ninja Destiny? Because the Dead or Alive 4 I played was a difficult fast-paced fighting game.
Someone better call social services and get those poor abused kids out of the Diamond household.
Tragic, yes.
But should a woman who's child died mysteriously (Cot death is still a vague C.O.D.), really be telling us how to look after our own?
*purchases 360 with 10 copies of the game*
"the girl characters are overtly sexy, half naked, with gravity-defying breasts and unbelievably long legs"
oooh she sounds mad jealous.
also, welcome to fighting games.
"MY younger sons say all of their age group (12 and 14) play this game, and their parents allow that."
Those horrible parents! They should all have their children taken away for letting them play such terrible things!
But wait a second, later she says her sons play it since it came with their 360. Does that make her a shitty parent too?
It didn't.
However, while he goes about making the best of a bad result for himself by trying to enforce ideas based on opinion which have, funnily enough, been put forward for years now by many different people, the great British tabloids get to spew their ill informed diatribe and begin scare mongering to sell more copies of their rags to the moronic adults that make up a large portion of our population.
God i love my country.
"...you are kicked in the face and then shot - dead - and it feels pretty real..."
FOR JESUS FUCKING CHRIST DOES THIS PEOPLE WATCH TV!?!?!
I cant have a logic opinion in the face of so much stupidity.
I have a feeling that Anne Diamond's books may see a dip in the ol' reviews and ratings on Amazon soon.
Unless she can adequately describe her feelings in pictographic form...
If she hadn't gone all ruthless dictator with "Adults shouldn't even be allowed to buy this" on RE4 I wouldn't see anything to get too bent out of shape about, really.
She completely misses the mark time and time again; how in the hell can she claim to have any authority on this issue?
Point in case Call of Duty 4 is an antiwar game, yet she portrays it as glorifying conflict.
Come on, a quick wiki-search could have cleared up most of these plots errors!
Also most people who have seen her description of these games have probably been enlightened with the details she has used to describe these games... So the jokes on her.. these people will buy these games...