An EA producer has said that Rockstar "spazzed out like little babies" in reaction to the GTA parody in the new 'The Simpsons' game.
The comedy spoof level, titled Grand Theft Scratchy, didn't go down too well with GTA publisher Rockstar, who forced EA to rename the level; now called the not-so-clever 'Mob Rules' stage.
Speaking on GameTrailer's Game Head program, Simpsons executive producer Matt Selman explained where the controversy began.
"The game begins with Bart wanting to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy. Of course this is a parody of Grand Theft Auto. And Marge immediately takes it away from him. She tries to clean up the town and stop the game from being distributed in Springfield because Marge is against video game violence. She uses horrific violence to stop video game violence... in a video game."
He then added: "That's called irony. The people who make Grand Theft Auto - they spazzed out like little babies."
Senior producer Matt Warburton then stepped in to say: "They're supposed to be rockstars; that's not a big Rockstar move - to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game," reports GamePolitics.
The Simpsons lead designer Greg Rizzer previously told CVG: "I was always under the impression that when you do parody, it's a sign of respect... If we make fun of Grand Theft Auto, we're not going to hurt the sales of Grand Theft Auto..."
The thing is in the movie Homer was playing Grand theft walrus. The movie is gonna be seen by a lot more people than the game when totalled up so why didn't they complain then?
if grand theft scratchy is an adult 17+ video game then why's bart got it in the first place? if marge brought it for him then she should be fined, and not protesting against violent adult video games. bart is about 8 years old. with the current government and media attitude towards violence in adult games, i can understand why rockstar didn't like the link to them, especially after losing the right to sell an adult game like manhunt 2 in some countries. maybe EA shouldn't make such a close parody, in such an unstable time for adult video games. i'm sure gta 5 is gonna get a hard enough time as it is!
Everyone needs to get over it. Rockstar's lawyers need to chill about the name, EA need to stop reacting like spoiled little brats who didn't get their own way.
I also still think Mice Kitty Stories would've been a better alternative name
if grand theft scratchy is an adult 17+ video game then why's bart got it in the first place?
I've seen the bit where he buys the game, he bribes the guy in the store to sell it to him.
Oh and in this same interview they pretty much say that EA's lawyers weren't happy for them to advertise the game with the Grand Theft Scratcy posters after Rockstar complained. But it'll still be called Grand Theft Scratchy in the actual game, so I guess it's not all bad.
Apparently Rockstar were worried that some people might mistake it for the actual GTA sequel or some other stupid crap...
Now THIS is the kind of behaviour I like to see from Big Name companies. I expect Rockstar to come back with "Yeah? Well you're nothing but a bunch of mentalist bennies! This is you: muuww muwww muwww"
Senior producer Matt Warburton then stepped in t say: "They're supposed to be rockstars; that's not a big Rockstar move - to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game,"
if grand theft scratchy is an adult 17+ video game then why's bart got it in the first place? if marge brought it for him then she should be fined, and not protesting against violent adult video games. bart is about 8 years old. with the current government and media attitude towards violence in adult games, i can understand why rockstar didn't like the link to them, especially after losing the right to sell an adult game like manhunt 2 in some countries. maybe EA shouldn't make such a close parody, in such an unstable time for adult video games. i'm sure gta 5 is gonna get a hard enough time as it is!
I think you are missing the point of the Simpsons game it's meant to be a joke...
As for Rockstar not liking the link for that reason, don't make me laugh Rockstar probably make half their money off sales to under-age gamers and they know it. Manhunt will sell huge amounts because of the controversy surrounding it. Rockstar are one of the worst culprits for giving the industry a bad name in this respect, not EA.
Also Rockstar make tons of parodies and digs at popular culture in their games so they are massive hypocrites to complain when the Simpsons team have done it to them.
Fair comment from EA, but their company has it's fair share of "Spazzies" too i think!
Yeah...like taking Ultima developers Origin to court so many times for pathetic little things and driving them to bankruptcy because they couldn't afford to keep paying the legal defence costs...all planned out by EA so they could drive a successful rival out of business. EA's whingeing gets zero sympathy from me!
It was actually one of the current members of the team that writes the Simpsons that said the spazzed out like babies comment. It was all very tongue in cheek, so to be honest these quotes don't really tell the whole story..
if grand theft scratchy is an adult 17+ video game then why's bart got it in the first place? if marge brought it for him then she should be fined, and not protesting against violent adult video games. bart is about 8 years old. with the current government and media attitude towards violence in adult games, i can understand why rockstar didn't like the link to them, especially after losing the right to sell an adult game like manhunt 2 in some countries. maybe EA shouldn't make such a close parody, in such an unstable time for adult video games. i'm sure gta 5 is gonna get a hard enough time as it is!
I do hope this is a sarcastic message! If not, maybe somebody should explain the concept of 'it's just a cartoon/game'!!
I used to have a lot of respect for Rock*, but this sucks, GTA is full of parodies, it's one of the things that makes it stand head and sholders above it's competition. I bet it was some suit that objected, someone without any sense of humour or an ounce of artistic talent.
Firstly, didn't Nintendo get a wrap on the knuckles for using the word "Spaz"? I would find it ridiculous if EA got away with it.
Secondly, Parodies or no, it's all marketing guff for what is really a very poorly designed and awful game. I played the demo and heard the same lines about 10 times each in a 20 minute play session. It's not going to change a thing in that parents are going to buy it for their kids who know no better.
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