Just when we thought
Gamers For Gaming didn't have enough to do, we hear word of yet more inanity regarding the censorship of videogames. According to the guys at
Gaming Today, they've recently had to remove two trailers for
Dark Sector because, many months after their official releases, the ESRB has suddenly decided it didn't like the "excessive or offensive content" found within.
At the request of the developers, Gaming Today has pulled the trailers, but is understandably confused as to why the ESRB has put the squeeze on this great looking game. As far as I'm aware, this is the first time a trailer has essentially been censored from the Internet in such a strange fashion, at least this long after they were cleared for release. The two trailers have been out since December 2006 and March 2007! Talk about an epic backpeddle and possible indication that something very screwed up is happening.
Hey, do you remember what we've been saying about slippery slopes? It's time to grab something to hold onto, folks, because it's sliding time. You can be sure that we here at Destructoid, like with the censorship trendsetter Manhunt 2, will keep our teeth sunk into this story and any stories regarding further censorship and outright hysteria over games. Right now I worry my fears are coming true that a disappointing new precedent may have been set.
[Thanks Burling, you 'da' man]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
2:55 PM on 06.25.2007
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I can see videos of a cruel, evil dictator being hung to death, and that's okay too.
But a video of a VIDEO GAME, is too much for me to handle?
This is ridiculous, and I for one am not for it.
Precedent Evil, guys. Precedent Evil.
Am i the only one who is confused by Jack Thompson not making any appearences recently?
All this BBFC and ESRB stuff would have had him jumping for joy on all the news channels i'd have thought.
i dont like where this is going at all...
This nonsense with the ESRB has to stop and people just need to lock their children away from the internet until their 18 if this and any other group out there has a problem with what's on it.
"So, I can find hardcore horse pornography, and that's okay."
Somebody digg this, quick! Tazar loves hardcore horse porn!
(buried as old news)
@Tazar, please quit clogging up my gmail with horse porn!!
My wait is over, apparently. THAT was quick...
My family never censored me, or told me that I couldn't see this or that.
I'm a model citizen, I work hard, pay bills and taxes. Hell I've never even had a speeding ticket in my life before. I and only I should be able to decide what is right for me.
This is just the beginning. Wait till they decide that Counter-Strike is not too violent, but offensive to those nationalities with the reputation for harboring terrorists! First step: violence censorship Second Step: Political Censorship. I'm curious what authority the ESRB has to tell a gaming site to pull a trailer. They're a bunch of fucking game raters, not the surpeme gaming gurus. It's like telling a movie studio two months after their trailer was released to pull it off the airwaves and movie reels.
Your saying that the devs found this trailer to be offensive 6 months -1 year after making it???
As soon as the ESRB is found to be incompetent you can bet that some politicians/lobby groups will make a push for a tax-funded, government board to regulate our hobby.
I'm not saying I agree with what's going on with Manhunt 2 and now with game trailers, because I don't.
In fact, I'm very opposed to the idea.
But at the same time, it's not that hard to picture the even MORE evil alternative.
And I don't like it one fucking bit.
What we need to do is form an Illumnati/Masonry secret society bent on destroying all censorship of video games.
You know Mark Rein from Epic?
Secret Brotherhood member.
Will Wright?
Same.
David Jaffe?
Yup.
Wolf: I've been worried about Bioshock for a while. I will be crushed, seriously crushed, if a game as complex and dark and deep as Bioshock appears to be gets banned. It will set back the evolution of gaming as a storytelling medium back at LEAST five years.
The thing that concerns me about the situation is the slippery slope that you mention. I've always thought that the idea of trailers was to give a good idea of the game content, and given that the ESRB may or may not have rated Dark Sector already (most sites are still listing it as RP), I'm curious as to what their take on the game as a whole is.
If they've rated the game already , and it's not AO, what's the issue with the trailers? Are they more graphic than the game? Or is it just a case of stimulus = response in the wake of the Manhunt 2 craziness?
Nowdays we got people sueing over anything under the sun, kids feeling (and almost knowing) they got more power than parents, and things on the internet (what many say is our last "freedom of speech") being banned by something not even remotely as bad as a majority of things on there.
When you really look at the past compared to now, at least with the simple thing as music, games, and movies, it's amazing how much some simple things have changed... for the worse. Now we get trailers banned from EVERYBODY, including adults... sad... really sad.
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/channel/Trailers
This is something you pull from a site.
I think a bigger problem is the fact that in overstepping there bounds they are in turn bringing themselves into a direct collision course with the entire community, but they are more like a canoe vs. an aircraft carrier. When the eventual conflict comes and they are abolished or completely de-ligitimized, we loose a good check against the people that complain about gaming corrupting the youth.
I'm more than a little pissed at Rockstar on top of all this. It looks like Manhunt 2 is going to be another shallow game that is violent for the sake of being violent (Like the first). And its entire press campaign is based around creating insane amounts of negative press. They seem to have done a great job, at the expense of the entire industry. Its almost like Rockstar picked a fight with a cop over something that was so ridiculous that even the people that backed them couldn't agree with what they did.
Its as if they gave the Jack Thompsons of the world the reason they needed
http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/9703