A New Milestone for Video Games?

October 14, 2002 5:00 PM

A New Milestone for Video Games? "Three of the nation's top retailers, including Wal Mart, on Monday said they had refused to carry a new video game billed as the first major release to feature full-action nudity and with prostitutes and pimps as major characters." I enjoyed their "banned ads" myself.
posted by owillis (35 comments total)

what is full action nudity?
posted by birdherder at 5:12 PM on October 14, 2002

It "..features copulating pink poodles.." .. maybe that's it?
posted by stbalbach at 5:12 PM on October 14, 2002

But are they nude pink poodles?
posted by dg at 5:15 PM on October 14, 2002

Is the game on WinMx already?
posted by matteo at 5:22 PM on October 14, 2002

Random factual corrections:
1. While "GTA 3" was exclusive to Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s PlayStation 2
It was PC too. Malphigian 1, Reuters 0.

2. "What we're doing here is funny," Fischbach said. "The people that we're selling to are the people who bought 'Grand Theft Auto."'
Except, Mr. Fischback, GTA3 was a brilliant work of game design, and... [looking into my crystal ball]... your game is complete shit using a shock-sales gimmick.
posted by malphigian at 5:26 PM on October 14, 2002

The fact is, is that the game will probably won't be that great. The predecessors in the series just weren't all that great, with Activision O2 producting much better quality games. Once again Acclaim goes for shock effect and trend, rather than quality games. These are the same people that offered to pay people to change their name to Turok. Thanks, but I'll play a game with substance rather than their glossy cover and crappy gameplay.
posted by benjh at 5:28 PM on October 14, 2002

what is full action nudity?

The boobs bounce in a most pleasing way. The balls also bounce, but it is not pleasing.
posted by Ty Webb at 5:28 PM on October 14, 2002

1. Write game with lots of nudity, sex & violence.
2. Make sure it is banned.
3. Get statements from shocked and offended authority figures.
4. ????
5. Profit!
posted by spazzm at 5:29 PM on October 14, 2002

They are doing BMX Bike tricks with no clothing on? All I can say is ouch!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 5:33 PM on October 14, 2002

GTA3 was a brilliant work of game design, and... [looking into my crystal ball]... your game is complete shit using a shock-sales gimmick.

Agreed, malphigian. This game smells a lot like the next Postal: plenty of shock value, but no substance. What sets GTA3 apart is not so much the content, but the amazingly open-ended gameplay.
posted by Galvatron at 5:36 PM on October 14, 2002

ah yes, walmart... just doing their part to protect the children don't ya know
posted by victors at 5:44 PM on October 14, 2002

Man. And we still havn't come anywhere near the offensive fun that is Japanese H-Games. Try Biko 2: Reversable Face sometime.

Nothing like a good stalking and rape simulator to make US games see a bit less harsh. :)

Then there's Battle Raper, the fighting game the special moves involve raping your opponent. Street Fighter it is not. :)

So, once again, the Japanese are light years ahead of us. ;)
posted by qDot at 5:55 PM on October 14, 2002

Geez. "The point in this realtime molestation? Its to do 'damage' and to make them 'weak' and 'tired' enough for the male character to rape them. It's all very funny and i think that many people will enjoy this."

Yeah, Battle Raper definitely beats BMXXX on the sick scale.
posted by jragon at 6:03 PM on October 14, 2002

But are they nude pink poodles?

But are they live nude pink poodles? And do they ... let me get this straight ... vibrate?!
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:08 PM on October 14, 2002

"Mafia" was the first game I've played that had a 'sex scene', and that tiny part of the game didn't make any news at all. Why? Because it tastefully done, and completely appropriate to the story. The game was rated M, and deservedly so - but it's marketing wasn't desperately trying to get 14 year olds to run out and buy it for the cool violence and hot sex. This reeks of Acclaim trying to out-GTA3 GTA3, and is just kinda sad.
posted by GriffX at 6:11 PM on October 14, 2002

Following up, these games are nothing new, and they never made news the first time a series like this hit the mainstream, i.e. the Metrotech series. Like GriffX said, it's the advertising methods more than it is the game itself are what is causing this.

Metrotech put out Cobra Mission (crime sim thingy), Knights of Xentar (RPG), and Metal and Lace (fighting) in the early to mid-90's. They were hentai based games, actually sold in many regular software stores. Of course, they sucked, and that could've been part of the reason why they wern't really picked out of the masses, but still, stuff like this can exist without the hype. The hype is now bigger than the game itself.
posted by qDot at 6:18 PM on October 14, 2002

I'm remembering ads for the Neo-Geo, Leisure Suit Larry, and a couple of other game-related things from the late 80s, early 90s, in AmigaWorld. They were easily as lascivious as any of the banned ads on that site, but there was pretty much zero reaction. Of course, the average AmigWorld reader probably wasn't 14.

So, as usual, we can blame this squarely on those goddam kids. Offa my lawn, youse!
posted by cortex at 6:22 PM on October 14, 2002

Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat, I believe, are quite rare in their combination of shock value and success. Witness the following "be successful and fail financially" titles

Custer's Revenge - 2600 (you could rape an Indian, I kid you not)
The 3 Panesian games for NES
Thrill Kill for PSX (wasn't even released)
Various Sega CD games which incited Congressional rage and still led their system to fail
Postal for PC

I don't know anyone who wants to play BMX XXX. It's going to fail. All us nuts are gonna be too busy with GTA: Vice City.
posted by Kevs at 6:47 PM on October 14, 2002

I miss Leisure Suit Larry. I liked those games, shame Sierra stopped making them (or any adventure game for that matter.)
posted by benjh at 7:03 PM on October 14, 2002

Man, Atari had some *WACKY* stuff out for it. Beat'em and Eat'em, X Man, and I'm still inclined to believe E.T. was a porno game. Then again, you can pretty much say anything about the 2600 E.T. game and no one can prove you wrong.

I miss the days of dada games.

Christ, 3 posts on the same vid game thread. I'm a geek.
posted by qDot at 7:26 PM on October 14, 2002

i work at a game store and there really hasn't been very many people asking us about it at all. of course, all of us who live and breathe video games (since we work there and all) are terribly amused by BMX XXX. i downloaded the trailer and laughed my ass off. it's not a game i'd buy, but i'd totally play it
posted by mabelcolby at 7:51 PM on October 14, 2002

I've been riding most of my life, and the weird thing is that womanizing isn't much of a part of bmx. I would say skateboarders might rank slightly higher on the "women = objects" scale, and the people involved with other sports like freestyle motocross are all about the womanizing. To attach that to a bmx game is just odd, it'd be like making a football game that lets players rob stores and shoot people in between plays, you know, for the fun of it.

The game engine actually looks great, based on the Dave Mirra series, which I've always felt was infinitely more playable than Activision's tony hawk/mat hoffman engine. While the textures and physics may not be as realistic, it's just more fun to play.

I've heard a rumor that accliam pitched this idea to Dave Mirra and the rest of the riders as "dave mirra's xxx bmx", but everyone refused to put their names on it (a good career choice when you're trying to milk the wholesome teen sports figure angle).

The trailer is hilarious, though the game concept is incredibly dumb.
posted by mathowie at 8:18 PM on October 14, 2002

I'm still waiting for Chess XXX. More porn board games, please.
posted by D at 8:37 PM on October 14, 2002

"Then again, you can pretty much say anything about the 2600 E.T. game and no one can prove you wrong."

"Yeah, that was a great game!"

"Wrong!"
posted by WolfDaddy at 11:21 PM on October 14, 2002

benjh: i guess it's sort of off topic, but i agree with you on the adventure games. not only do sierra not make adventure games anymore, but it seems that there's a real shortage of good adventure games all round (that is, in the tradition of lucas arts and sierra classics). although lucas arts did announce the sequel to full throttle, i still yearn for the days of games like sam and max hit the road, or the more recent (and fantastic) grim fandango. alas.

more on the topic: yes, this gimmicky bmxxx will fail. oh well.
posted by teem at 11:44 PM on October 14, 2002

this just smacks of games company execs sitting around a table brainstorming what the "kids" like. "So, they like extreme sports and porn. I know what we can do....".

Pathetic.
posted by jontyjago at 1:00 AM on October 15, 2002

Lucasarts announced a sequal to Sam and Max too.
posted by qDot at 1:47 AM on October 15, 2002

mathowie: it'd be like making a football game that lets players rob stores and shoot people in between plays, you know, for the fun of it.

I'd play that. They'd also have to beat up their girlfriends, and shoot people at nightclubs. You could call it "The National Football League™ of Terror."
posted by internook at 2:34 AM on October 15, 2002

mathowie: it'd be like making a football game that lets players rob stores and shoot people in between plays, you know, for the fun of it.

Sadly enough, that sort of makes sense when you don't live in the US and therefore interpret football as soccer.
posted by rainking at 3:18 AM on October 15, 2002

I've heard a rumor that accliam pitched this idea to Dave Mirra and the rest of the riders as "dave mirra's xxx bmx"

It was called "Dave Mirra XXX" up until a month ago or so. I can't see it working just because the emphasis is so firmly on the boobs that no one will notice if the game plays as well as the Dave Mirra series. Even if it does play well, people may stay away because, well . . . GTA: Vice comes out in two weeks. Now I just need to catch a cold.
posted by yerfatma at 4:55 AM on October 15, 2002

qDot: the reviews of those Japanese games are even worse than the games. Where the hell'd you find those?


I'm still waiting for Chess XXX. More porn board games, please.

Already been done ("Knight jumps queen! Everybody jumps queen!")
posted by gottabefunky at 6:46 AM on October 15, 2002

I'm almost afraid of the answer, but... what's an H-game?
posted by mkultra at 7:29 AM on October 15, 2002

H=hentai. Hentai=japanese cartoon pr0n.

Kick me for knowing.
posted by britain at 9:17 AM on October 15, 2002

All this talk of gratuitous nudity and crappy Atari games puts me in mind of the hidden gem Porky's for the 2600.

Hot sexy pink squiggles (scroll down to the third screenshot; safe for work I think) and a fishing hole that was as hard to escape as those pits in E.T.

A bonafide classic.
posted by gompa at 10:17 AM on October 15, 2002

question:
can h-games be played with one hand?
just wondering what the interface is like.

splash-proof, i imagine.
posted by asok at 1:50 PM on October 17, 2002