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I was looking through my copy of PCZone today, when i saw this:
"I should explain why we haven't run a demo of Undying, despite the fac that it is freely available over the internet. Over the past couple of months you might have noticed a tiny ELSPA certificate on the cover of your CDs. We've been told if we don't use these voluntary ratings we run the risk of being sued for any obscene material that might appear. Like Undying. Having raved about the the atmosphere and playability we were desperate for you to get the chance to play it for yourselves, but then the bad news came. "It's an 18 certificate." So if we run with an 18 certificate you'd find us on the top shelf in between Fiesta and Escort."
So what does this mean for us games players then?
Well, having managed to download the demo, 96.8Mb, and just finished playing it i can safely say that it is quite scary and i agree with the 18 certificate. I'm 20, and if a game can make me jump and shock me, then i can understand why people don't want 14 year olds who buy games magazines to play it as well.
The thing is, as hardware increases and games become more realistic, we will probably see more and more games have ratings. It was quite obvious in the original Doom that things weren't real, when you shot something the blood was a big, square, pixellated mass. Games are now coming along like Duke Nukem, which will almost certainly be an 18, others will be released as well that may be too realistically gory for some, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, the new Doom game as well. Both of these may have some shock tactics in, and certainly have a fiar amount of blood. So more games will get the rating and have demos we can't play.
Or will they? How many people buy computer games without playing a demo first? Reviews are good and can be informative, but i personally prefer to play the game myself as only i know what game i will be prepared to spend £30 on. I suspect the majority of people also like to play the game themselves. If they can't get the demo from a magzine, or spend 3 1/2 months downloading it over their 33.6K modem (after all, not everyone has broadband net access, something developers would be wise to remember), will they still go out and buy the game?
So what is the answer? Tone down the demo so it is acceptable to the magazine publishers? But that will have it's own problems, people may complain when they get the game and find out it is more scary/gory/rude than the demo indicates. Imagine it, you play a demo of "Violent and Rude Game 3", which has been toned down, so all you do is walk around. You enjoy this, for some reason, so you buy the game. When you load the game up, oh no! There's lots of swearing and violence and blood, cue a law suit against the magazine and the games publishers. So maybe that's not an answer.
Another option would be to keep the gore/rude bits/scary bits in the demo so only a few people can get their hands on it, and hope word of mouth does the trick. Nothing sells ssomething better than rumour and expectation, look at the GBA, there has been so much on the 'net recently, only a handful of people have played one and yet that doesn't seem to be doing the sales any harm.
The third way would be for a special 18-rated magzine to come out. This magzine could deal primarily with 18 rated games, have all the disturbing demos on the one magazine. However, i feel that this option would cement gaming even further into the "geeky" section of some peoples minds if they saw a games magazine on the same shelf as Mayfair etc.
The answer that i'm hoping won't happen is for games developers to tone down the actual games themselves. We may see more FPS going along the same route as Nerf:Arena Blast. Oh god, please no!
All in all it's an interesting problem. Please discuss.
"I should explain why we haven't run a demo of Undying, despite the fac that it is freely available over the internet. Over the past couple of months you might have noticed a tiny ELSPA certificate on the cover of your CDs. We've been told if we don't use these voluntary ratings we run the risk of being sued for any obscene material that might appear. Like Undying. Having raved about the the atmosphere and playability we were desperate for you to get the chance to play it for yourselves, but then the bad news came. "It's an 18 certificate." So if we run with an 18 certificate you'd find us on the top shelf in between Fiesta and Escort."
So what does this mean for us games players then?
Well, having managed to download the demo, 96.8Mb, and just finished playing it i can safely say that it is quite scary and i agree with the 18 certificate. I'm 20, and if a game can make me jump and shock me, then i can understand why people don't want 14 year olds who buy games magazines to play it as well.
The thing is, as hardware increases and games become more realistic, we will probably see more and more games have ratings. It was quite obvious in the original Doom that things weren't real, when you shot something the blood was a big, square, pixellated mass. Games are now coming along like Duke Nukem, which will almost certainly be an 18, others will be released as well that may be too realistically gory for some, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, the new Doom game as well. Both of these may have some shock tactics in, and certainly have a fiar amount of blood. So more games will get the rating and have demos we can't play.
Or will they? How many people buy computer games without playing a demo first? Reviews are good and can be informative, but i personally prefer to play the game myself as only i know what game i will be prepared to spend £30 on. I suspect the majority of people also like to play the game themselves. If they can't get the demo from a magzine, or spend 3 1/2 months downloading it over their 33.6K modem (after all, not everyone has broadband net access, something developers would be wise to remember), will they still go out and buy the game?
So what is the answer? Tone down the demo so it is acceptable to the magazine publishers? But that will have it's own problems, people may complain when they get the game and find out it is more scary/gory/rude than the demo indicates. Imagine it, you play a demo of "Violent and Rude Game 3", which has been toned down, so all you do is walk around. You enjoy this, for some reason, so you buy the game. When you load the game up, oh no! There's lots of swearing and violence and blood, cue a law suit against the magazine and the games publishers. So maybe that's not an answer.
Another option would be to keep the gore/rude bits/scary bits in the demo so only a few people can get their hands on it, and hope word of mouth does the trick. Nothing sells ssomething better than rumour and expectation, look at the GBA, there has been so much on the 'net recently, only a handful of people have played one and yet that doesn't seem to be doing the sales any harm.
The third way would be for a special 18-rated magzine to come out. This magzine could deal primarily with 18 rated games, have all the disturbing demos on the one magazine. However, i feel that this option would cement gaming even further into the "geeky" section of some peoples minds if they saw a games magazine on the same shelf as Mayfair etc.
The answer that i'm hoping won't happen is for games developers to tone down the actual games themselves. We may see more FPS going along the same route as Nerf:Arena Blast. Oh god, please no!
All in all it's an interesting problem. Please discuss.
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He's won already?
SR have done Fridays winner?
Mr Snuggly has been working on a Saturday?
Are you sure?
SR have done Fridays winner?
Mr Snuggly has been working on a Saturday?
Are you sure?
Silent Hill? Oh yeah my mate showed me that demo it truly was scary. I take it back I have been scared by a game before. Silent Hill GBA OH YES.
Blair Witch Project is one of my favourite films. The film has practically no gore or blood it is all in your head. The "Shaky Cam" makes it feel even more real.
Blair Witch Project is one of my favourite films. The film has practically no gore or blood it is all in your head. The "Shaky Cam" makes it feel even more real.
The thing is, a game doesn't have to have lots of blood and gore to be scary. It's all about suspense and anticipation. Like the jaws films.
When you heard the music, you know something was going to happen, you weren't sure what, but something was going to. It's the same with this demo, the music has the same effect. Then suddenly they'll be some lightning which makes you jump. You then smile to yourself for being so easily scared.
I then wandered over to a mirror, there was some one standing next to me, with a little sound effect. I quickly turned around, but they had gone.
It's all a matter of suspense and surprise. The best horror films have hardly any blood in them, they rely on other aspects instead.
When you heard the music, you know something was going to happen, you weren't sure what, but something was going to. It's the same with this demo, the music has the same effect. Then suddenly they'll be some lightning which makes you jump. You then smile to yourself for being so easily scared.
I then wandered over to a mirror, there was some one standing next to me, with a little sound effect. I quickly turned around, but they had gone.
It's all a matter of suspense and surprise. The best horror films have hardly any blood in them, they rely on other aspects instead.
Never been scared eh? Well, when I first played on Silent Hill on a demo, ny heart just couldn't stop beating!
Especially the bit where you went 'round the back-alleys of houses in pitch-black. My god it scared the crap outta me!
If that scared me, then what'll Silent hill 2 on PS2 do to me?
Especially the bit where you went 'round the back-alleys of houses in pitch-black. My god it scared the crap outta me!
If that scared me, then what'll Silent hill 2 on PS2 do to me?
Dan uk wrote:
> I think that this is probably gameaday material.
So much for my
> short story then :-)
_________
Your talking about the original message aren't you Dan?....thught so.
(;o|
> I think that this is probably gameaday material.
So much for my
> short story then :-)
_________
Your talking about the original message aren't you Dan?....thught so.
(;o|
I think that this is probably gameaday material.
So much for my short story then :-)
So much for my short story then :-)
§Hø®†¥ ßL!†Z, Undying is quite scary. Well, perhaps scary is the wrong word. It's atmospheric. The sounds and the music all add to give a horror film type effect.
Whatever, the game is rated an 18, so any demo is also rated an 18, unless it's toned down, so magazines can't go with it unless they can guaruntee that no under 18's can play it. Which they can;t, unless it goes top shelf.
I'd recommend it though. I've olny played the demo so far and it is really good. As i already mentioed, it seems to be an experience rather than a game. My PC has crap specs, i can only just run it, but it still made me jump and shock me in places. It's all to do with the sound and music.
Whatever, the game is rated an 18, so any demo is also rated an 18, unless it's toned down, so magazines can't go with it unless they can guaruntee that no under 18's can play it. Which they can;t, unless it goes top shelf.
I'd recommend it though. I've olny played the demo so far and it is really good. As i already mentioed, it seems to be an experience rather than a game. My PC has crap specs, i can only just run it, but it still made me jump and shock me in places. It's all to do with the sound and music.
ops they said there was an error, i figued 'grabbing may' be seen as offensize or something so I changed it:S
Thats one way of getting peoples attention!
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