Just a week after its first press showing, Gears of War 2 is already receiving flack from the mainstream press for its "level of gore and detail".
AZfamily.com reports that the Epic sequel is already "raising eyebrows" after its visceral combat and even gorier melee moves were shown off in San Francisco last week. Most notably, it doesn't seem to be happy with the new 'meat shield' move, which its flagged up in this news piece.
"[Gears of War 2] certainly attracted attention for its realistic visuals and battle scenes, but caused some pause when game designers showed off a new attack players can use in the game," the article reads.
"In the demo, the player can use the chainsaw to cut a person in half, starting at the groin and moving upwards. Also, players can pick up the corpses of fallen enemies and use them as a 'meat shield' to protect themself from enemy fire as they engage in battle from behind the corpse."
That's a "corpse" that you can clearly see Marcus snapping the neck of, even in the Xbox Live video, yes? (Though we suppose Azfamily isn't going to be much happier knowing the poor 'meat shield' is alive...)
The site hardly lays into Gears 2, but to be honest the sequel didn't look that much more shocking than the first when we saw it. But a chainsaw to the crouch - ouch.
If the press think thats grusome they should try watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That would give them nightmares for weeks! Oh, but thats right, I don't see them ripping into any of the 10000's of extreamly violent/disturbing films out there. I guess they're all ok then? Must just be the games industry thats evil then.
This site is actually quite well informed they are just protecting the interests of parents.
However they seem to have missed the fact that the enemies are alien, or at least non-human and that it is a live alien you use as cover, not a dead human.
Which seems unlikely if they had seen the video beforehand.
Leading me to believe they haven't seen the video.
Gears of War was an 18. Gears of War 2 will be an 18. Clearly parents still haven't learnt that the ratings are there for a reason.
Its nice to see all that positive press following the Byron Report has evaporated and gaming is back in its spot as the media's usual target of blame for all of society's ills.
It will be rated on release so that helps, but the kids will get hold of it anyway.
If the press think thats grusome they should try watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That would give them nightmares for weeks! Oh, but thats right, I don't see them ripping into any of the 10000's of extreamly violent/disturbing films out there. I guess they're all ok then? Must just be the games industry thats evil then.
With regards to the movies ala Hostel etc, go back a few of decades ago and horror fans in this country had to put up with a hell of a lot of crap due to the video nastys act.
Games are just the new media that is an easy target and is a damn site easier to blame than the lousy parents that dont have a clue what their little retards are doing.
Saw a mother getting her kid a copy of GTA4 the other day in a shop, he must have been about twelve and what she said summed it all up "this will keep him quiet for a while".
I know its not the point of the topic but i thought i would share
Jesus people stop comparing games with films.. Films are passive. In texas chainsaw you dont actually control the violence. you are supposed to be repulsed by it. Wanting to commit those acts yourself is something very different. I personally know that i am of a sane mind and can play games safe in the knowledge that they are merely a form of entertainment and dont take it all too seriously. But if you cant see how these people could find these games offensive or how they are completely different from films then youre deluded and are just doing your argument more harm than good by continuously comparing the two mediums.
This a joke Gears of war 2 aint for kids anyway so why all the outcry. What kind of games do you want people to play. The same outcry was said about gta 4. We aint going to go out and chainsaw somebody. The press must have nothing to do if they are complaining about games. Why dont they have a look whats going on in iraq.
Jesus people stop comparing games with films.. Films are passive. In texas chainsaw you dont actually control the violence. you are supposed to be repulsed by it. Wanting to commit those acts yourself is something very different. I personally know that i am of a sane mind and can play games safe in the knowledge that they are merely a form of entertainment and dont take it all too seriously. But if you cant see how these people could find these games offensive or how they are completely different from films then youre deluded and are just doing your argument more harm than good by continuously comparing the two mediums.
But the point you're missing is that in films these are real onscreen people so therefore the violence is committed against real living people (at least in the sense of the plot of the film, not people actually being killed or violated in reality). Whereas in video games these clearly aren't real people, like mentioned earlier here the graphics in GOW2 are excellent but far from realistic add to that the fact that its aliens that are being targeted and the argument realy does fall apart.
Are you saying that as soon as graphics become more realistic then it ceases to become ok? At what point does it stop being fine to portray this level of violence. What would be your ceiling in this case?
It's a good job this "human shield" gameplay device has never been used in a videogame before...
Yep, in Gears 1 you could saw people in half and stomp their heads into bloody pulp. In Gears 2 you can still do both of these things, but you can also.....use someone/something as a 'MEAT' shield! OH MY GOD! Someone think of the children!....
No wait, that happens in pretty much every low rent action movie ever released (many of which aren't 18-rated). Even James Bond is partial to a human shield and a neck twist every now and again. Why the fuss for Gears 2 instead of Gears 1? - that's what's confusing me.
Did anyone else actually laugh out loud at the level of gore in Gears 1? (and not in a sinister way before you ask)
Are you saying that as soon as graphics become more realistic then it ceases to become ok? At what point does it stop being fine to portray this level of violence. What would be your ceiling in this case?
But since active media that contain violent imagery are 18-rated anyway, isn't this a moot point?
I see what you're saying, but I think it's over-simplistic to write off film as a solely passive medium. There are no doubt plenty of people who engage with their films to a far greater extent then you or I. Psychology isn't as simple as active and passive. The person/controller/TV interface doesn't automatically make this a different kettle of fish?
Yes i agree. I think it should be a moot point. Parents are ultimately responsible for the games their kids play. And i appreciate that its perhaps over simplifying the matter to label films as passive and games as active. I still maintain that the ability to control the environment the player is in changes the medium and that is why people are so highly strung over the issue and i think its a bit easy for people to keep on comparing films with games. Everyday people come on these forums talkin about how hostel was a violent as manhunt but it still got released. To me there is a difference.
Yes i agree. I think it should be a moot point. Parents are ultimately responsible for the games their kids play. And i appreciate that its perhaps over simplifying the matter to label films as passive and games as active. I still maintain that the ability to control the environment the player is in changes the medium and that is why people are so highly strung over the issue and i think its a bit easy for people to keep on comparing films with games. Everyday people come on these forums talkin about how hostel was a violent as manhunt but it still got released. To me there is a difference.
You've got a point, but violent media for adults only should ALL be regarded as such (hence the endless comparisons with films) while games always get boxed up as 'kids stuff' by the general media. The problem is that we're the first generation to grow up with games proper and they are no longer 'just for kids', but many people who make up today's parents/journalists have missed that boat and don't see the difference between the present day and the 1990's.
For now, the best we can do is to slap an 18-rated sticker on all 'questionable' media and hope that parents aren't idiot enough to buy it for their kids.
Of course, unless the ratings board decides to give it an AO, or the gov't decides to outright ban it. We all know games have been banned for trivial things. Imagine wasting all that money to make the game only to have it banned in the major territories? That'd suck a LOT.
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, so what's the issue.
