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.
