House of the Dead gore "as extreme as possible"

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House of the Dead: Overkill developer Headstrong games has said its "not at all" worried about the censorship it could face for making the gore in its Wii shooter "as extreme as possible".

Speaking to CVG in a recent interview, producer Neil McEwen said he didn't see a reason for any controversy.

"We're not brutalising any minorities. It's good fun, tongue in cheek - nothing you wouldn't see in a movie," he said. "We've really not restrained ourselves in any way. We want to go all guns blazing and make it as extreme as possible almost.

"Sometimes we've gone 'ooh, we shouldn't really do that', but then we've gone 'no, hell yes we should'. There's no reason we shouldn't do this stuff, it's not exploiting anyone."

Fellow Sega gore-fest MadWorld recently stirred up a bit of controversy in UK newspapers, and one watchdog even called for it to be banned. McEwen thinks the minor outcry was unnecessary.

"I think it's just a story for the tabloids," he said. "Nothing we're doing in our game hasn't been done in a movie before. It's undoubtedly an 18 certificate game. We've put censorship badges and warnings all over it. It's not the sort of game I'd give to my Gran..."

Look for the full House of the Dead: Overkill interview on CVG shortly.

Andy Robinson