Last month, Fox News asked if Bulletstorm was "the worst video game in the world". Now it looks like it's found a new contender: Duke Nukem Forever.
The US media outlet has taken Gearbox to task over its controversial 'Capture The Babe' multiplayer mode.
OXM US last month revealed that the online challenge sees players grabbing a 'babe', then carrying her off in a rescue attempt. However, it added than when the woman struggles, players have to give her a "smack" to "calm her down"; qualifying that this was more "goofy than offensive".
But that didn't stop Fox News from unleashing editorial Hades.
"Video Game's 'Capture the Babe' Mode Has Players Slapping Women" screamed the outlet's news website. Reporters Jeremy A. Kaplan & Patrick Manning then continued:
"A new videogame that requires you to abduct women and give them a 'reassuring slap' if they freak out has gamers and women's rights-groups crying foul."
Fox, which called the game "awfully sexist", quoted Jamia Wilson, vice president of the Women's Media Center, who said: "It was offensive [when it was Duke Nukem 3D] and it's even more offensive now. These depictions of women are extremely harmful, especially to young women."
Gearbox announced last week that the release date of Duke Nukem Forever had been delayed one more time - until mid-June.
The studio hasn't explicitly released a statement distancing the postponement from the Capture the Babe controversy, but Pitchford has Tweeted: "Nothing is getting cut because of the delay. Some things are getting better, though."
So, is a slap on the buttocks to calm a woman down "awfully sexist" - even if it is a "love pat"? Or is OTT objectification of women folk all part and parcel of the Duke Nukem world? Let us know your thoughts below...
Comments
28 comments so far...
martinawatson on 28 Mar '11 said:
Some woman want it, some woman need it......err....can i just clarify at this point its someone else using mawatsons profile and i really must change my profile name.....his profile name
mkwuk on 28 Mar '11 said:
A good slap usually calms my missus down when she's getting rowdy and needs to tidy her hormones. It's perfectly acceptable, and they thank you for it afterwards.
StokedUp on 28 Mar '11 said:
f*ck me sideways! the world takes things far to serious man! its a goddamn videogame.
McCloudUK on 28 Mar '11 said:
How could anybody trust the same company that dropped Futurama? These people shouldn't be reporting news! Thats for sensible big boy networks.
twistedfiend on 28 Mar '11 said:
Course it's sexist but come on, this is DUKE NUKEM! It's Carry On sexist. Fox should be more worried about real news, you know, people dying and s**t. Stupid Fox News.
only_777 on 28 Mar '11 said:
Yes! This is just what Gearbox want, free advertising. Fox news never learns...
CrispyLog on 28 Mar '11 said:
The babe doesn't even die though, she is getting rescued by the Duke. Surely that's better than the millions of men who are shot/chainsawed/exploded/decapitated in most other games?
gmcb007 on 28 Mar '11 said:
Ahh Fox News. If your not a Pure white red blooded American Christian then your a terrorist. The only games they think are suitable are games like Bible quiz. Christ knows why anyone still watches their biased propaganda.
hitmanfan on 28 Mar '11 said:
lol, just lol
k-mysta on 28 Mar '11 said:
isn't fox news a satirical look on american culture?i thought it was written by comedy writers.never to be taken seriously
Balladeer on 28 Mar '11 said:
I'm not so fond of Duke, but when it comes to him or Fox I'm behind him all the way.
In a non-homosexual manner.
splitter on 28 Mar '11 said:
Well done, Rob Fahey.
delmariachi on 28 Mar '11 said:
Funy how (in the most part) Fox cover games with guns and how "bad" they are, when they are, on the other side of the coin constantly banging on about terrorism and the right to own a gun to "defend the Homeland" - Ohhh funny how Homefront didn't get mentioned.... oh wait thats American's taking back America from the dreaded North Koreans... Thats fine then...
Only time i can be arsed with Fox News is when Charlie Brooker's ripping the p**s out of it...
Imaduck on 28 Mar '11 said:
Fox .... Seriously, these guys are detested the world over, nobody gives a rat's ass what they think, mainly because they don't think - they just talk (s**t). Well, no doubt some people will pay for Fox's usual bs in the form of bans etc. So as ever, f**k Fox for everything they are and "stand" for
The Bossman on 28 Mar '11 said:
Fox News = room full of monkeys with a typewriter.
Noobsaibot on 28 Mar '11 said:
Well, they've just helped the game storm the top of the charts. And I love puerile fun so I hope to see more of it. Thanks, Fox.
alan666 on 28 Mar '11 said:
Fox is the worst media outlet in the world #'fact !
DubLBareL on 28 Mar '11 said:
Are you joking? Funny you would think that. LOL Truth is stranger than fiction. Nope, that's the conservative news outlet in the U.S. for realz. I know, it's hard to believe anything so stupid could be real. They could save money by just using puppets. I don't watch Fox for fear of subliminal messages. Ever see the movie "They Live"? lol
flickenmaste on 28 Mar '11 said:
Postal 2s MP had capture the babe and no one cried about it then...well maybe cause they were crying about everything else in postal lol.
Postals CTB mode was great, running around with a girl on tour back and having a censored sign over your pants was the funniest thing ever.
AegisK on 28 Mar '11 said:
They shouldn't complain. Without Duke, there'd be no women.
Moribundman on 29 Mar '11 said:
Yeah go Fox. Lets track down all the sexist racist homophobic intolerant f**kers. I'll kick off with two blokes I've come across:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5pMvCVxcoc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbg604XqPY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E14ZPdkBtQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7AmCtX-k-8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veMJYEUi4tk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tgvWxC_6A
And especially
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3AFMe2OQY
jtthegame on 29 Mar '11 said:
fox news are idoits. the only way you will watch them is if you like listening to propergander
EddieNES on 29 Mar '11 said:
Am i the only person kinda upset that we wont get to in fact slap a girl? Gearbox deff made it sound like that. And now that Fox got involved, the truth comes out about a pat on the butt. What else can we expect to be disapointed with? I have high hopes for this game. The butt pat seems like a let down.
Yellow6 on 29 Mar '11 said:
I want to know what Duke slaps her with?
r0zm4n on 29 Mar '11 said:
"It was offensive and it's even more offensive now."
Yes. Yes it is. And we love it
chronicwombat on 29 Mar '11 said:
@Moribundman - haha loving watching o'reilly get truly owned in that last one.
its such a shame that more of the liberal guests dont hold their own against this bullying idiot like that guy does.
Masterspy on 29 Mar '11 said:
Another slow news day at Fox, would try and tell them about Libya but that's somewhere else in the world so it doesn't matter to them. Does anyone actually watch Fox news anymore? Surely most americans can now grasp how ridiculous they are
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/networks/f ... xnews.html
slothfull9 on 29 Mar '11 said:
I assume they haven't seen one of the newspapers published by their boss, Rupert Murdoch, known over here as The Sun.