The Scapegoating Continues

[Ajay1986]

This thread is in relation to this article from Eurogamer featuring comments from the West Yorkshire police.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=66383

It is centered around the Reservoir Dogs game which as you have guessed is gonna be pretty violent.

"It sends out the message that the police and authority figures are there to be targeted and dispatched, desensitises people to the idea of killing and undermines normal moral values," Willis added. He also suggested that those playing Reservoir Dogs would be encouraged to behave in the same way as those who murdered PCs Sharon Beshenivsky and Ian Broadhurst."

Comments such as those really do anger me, oh yes im playing a violent game well now i feel like going out a murdering a police officer. Its like the manhunt stuff again i just find it crazy, i think its mad that police officers would relate the game directly to the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky and Ian Broadhurst.

Clearly they cant come out and blame the goverment for the increasing crime rates so i guess they see Video games as the easy target, yeah it must be those videogames that are causing all this crime.

[jimmbob]

The game will be **** anyway. To be fair that's more likely to drive someone to violent murder than anything else, once they realise they've paid ?30 for this garbage.

[spagmasterswift]

Is it coming out on the Wii? Stuck-in-the-middle-with-you Ear Slicing with Wiimote FTW!

[AllYourBase]

Is it coming out on the Wii? Stuck-in-the-middle-with-you Ear Slicing with Wiimote FTW!

That's one way to shake off the kiddie image, miyamoto virtually knifing kutagi for great damage! aceness!!

[AdamJW]

I used to live in Leeds and Keith Hellawell was the head of west yorkhire police at the time. I'm just wondering if he is still connected to them because he is/was one of the countries biggest moral campaigners, so I wouldnt be at all surprised if this is connected to him in some way. He's a bit of a delusionist to say the least.

Do any of you Leeds people know if he's still around?

[charlesr]

Hang on... Surely, the film sends out the same message?

[Concept]

The difference is film is a respected cultural medium. Gaming is still seen as for kids (even after all these years) by the establishment and the mass media.

[spagmasterswift]

Hang on... Surely, the film sends out the same message?

Yep, I've got boxes of ears lying around my place from just watching the movie. Aww man! Somebody ban this ASAP!!

[Ajay1986]

lol the game has been banned in Australia. Its all madness its PC gone to far its time people stopped trying to blame videogames. The game looks crap anyway but id like to play it now just to see what the fuss is all about.

[PhilG]

Hang on... Surely, the film sends out the same message?

I think the issue is that as a game you are taking the part of Mr Blonde et al and are therefore encouraged to participate in torture etc. Not that I remember much moral hoo-haa about The Punisher last year, and that had torture, except I suppose that was directed against criminals.

As a viewer of a movie you are a passive observer. You don't get rewarded for carrying out unpleasant acts to others.

Personally, whilst I don't agree with censorship (other than on grounds of [sensible] law - animal/people abuse etc), I do question WHY anyone really wants to make, or indeed play games like Reservoir Dogs. Personally, I play games to have fun and torturing people (or a bundle of pixels) seems like a strange way to get entertained. Did anyone here *enjoy* Mr Blonde torturing the cop?

[MikeRox]

That's one way to shake off the kiddie image, miyamoto flipping kutagi on his back and virtually knifing the weakspot for MASSIVE DAMAGE! aceness!!

Corrected 8)

[Spatial]

I think the issue is that as a game you are taking the part of Mr Blonde et al and are therefore encouraged to participate in torture etc.

I don't think you actually get to do that in the game, it's just a cutscene.

The game just fills in the blanks between the film's story - so you get to see what happened in the store robbery and how Mr Blond escaped the cops etc.

It's just your typical third person shooter with Driver sections in between. So you're ultimate point is quite right - why would anyone want to make it in the first place? (unless they thought the success of The Warriors was the start of a profitable `cash in on cult movies` trend).

[Salsa Party Animal]

IS this Reservoir Dogs game released ? as I never seen it.

[Ajay1986]

Just seen a rather large piece on C4 news about Saints Row. Suprise suprise there was some goverment guy spouting on about how the game is encouraging drug dealing, gang crime, muggings and prostitution then said it should be banned.

If i recall the article ended with something like "in real life street crime is up 10% should we be blaming videogames" what a load of nonsense.

[Concept]

http://ntsc-uk.domino.org/showthread.php?t=63526