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Gaming is in the mainstream. Even Nintendo are having TV adverts. The Playstation 2 is the height of pop culture. Microsoft has spent millions in an attempt to seize a slice of the market. Nokia want to get in on the handheld act as Ninty are forced into making a new version to try and pre-empt any Sony mini-console. But is it taken seriously? No.
Gaming is still for geeks. And the big companies aren't helping. A recent American Xbox advert for Dead or Alive: Xtreme Volleyball shows a group of teenage boys covering their crotches with pillows after playing the game. We've had BMX XXX, a title that relies on your need for soft-soft-porn to make you complete it. The three most marketable characters of the sector are a blue cartoon hedgehog, a portly Italian plumber with a bushy moustache and a woman with the disproportionate hourglass figure that should have gone out with the Victorians, and a bust so overgrown it's a wonder she can run with them strapped to her front.
Despite the colossal amount of sales generated, the fact that total revenue is taking over video rentals and getting ready to take on cinema ticket takings, and the rush of film conversions getting mediocre success at the box office (like Resident Evil), gaming is still seen as something for kids and nerds. The average gamer age has risen to around the late twenties, but nobody really seems to recognize it. Non-gamers look down on it, scoffing at monkeys in balls and Disney characters fighting with keys and swords.
They have a point, really. The Sims is basically a game where you control a person. Rather than anything interesting like in Civilization where you have to take over the world, here you just make sure they wash their hands after going to the toilet, and don't miss too many meals. We hanker after perfect recreations of the likes of football, when we could just as easily go outside. But this isn't a rant against gaming, or for it. It's about what restraints are imposed upon it.
Videogames take the rap for an awful lot of bad stuff. After Columbine, angry parents took the makers of Doom and Half-Life to court. Thanks to the self-modding capabilities of these games, you can actually play digital recreations of the atrocious school shooting, or pretend to be a member of the KKK and kill Jewish and black people, amongst other races and religions.
Maybe it was a step too far when, following the World Trade Centre attacks, the finger was pointed at Microsoft Flight Simulator. Due to its realistic co-ordinates people believed that this game could have trained terrorists. Now that a worldwide terrorist ring has been 'exposed' by various tapes found by CNN reporters and released from bin Laden himself, this claim probably holds even less validity...but it was enough for MS to remove the Twin Towers not only from their future games (for historical accuracy as much as anything) but from new release batches of the older ones.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the more controversial games around. It's received more media attention than any of the current crop of releases. Why? Adult themes. Excessive violence. Is it ever mentioned that the entire game holds a rather jokey, tongue-in-cheek tone? That the violence is in a comic style, with slapstick action as your stab victim runs, arms flailing, before falling to the ground either to be quickly chalk-outlined or magically resuscitated by medics. And then, of course, there's the fact that the game is based on, and does send ups of almost every mafia film in existence. There are various homages scattered across the game, including a recreation of the scene of the chainsaw shower bit in Scarface. These films all cover explicit language, explicit violence and often explicit sexual topics. But no, a videogame can't do that. Even if it's rated 18 just like the movies.
And don't even think about releasing a game about current affairs. Conflict Desert Storm was based on the Gulf War, and is available on all three major consoles. Now it's looking increasingly likely that we'll see a sequel to the war, complete with a President Bush. There's also a sequel to CDS planned. Expect to see it in the newspapers. It's fine and dandy tackling subjects years after they happened - see the recent crop of World War II games for proof. But try a sore spot and don't get your hopes up. Vietcong is the only game I know of ever being based on Vietnam, and it's not finished yet. Not something America would like to be reminded of, and it's not a surprise it's taken this long for someone to have the testicular fortitude to try to make a videogame about it.
Gaming hasn't grown up yet; despite all the numbers and figures pointing towards adulthood, our consoles are still in nappies, scribbling on the walls with a crayon and spouting gibberish. With a little co-operation from both the games makers and the rest of the world, perhaps it will get taken a little more seriously. It's just another media outlet, even an art-form for some people. We can swear on CDs. Talk about religion freely on TV dramas. Have huge amounts of gore in slasher flicks. Why not give gaming the same set of rules as the others?
Thanks for reading, thoughts appreciated.
-El
Gaming is still for geeks. And the big companies aren't helping. A recent American Xbox advert for Dead or Alive: Xtreme Volleyball shows a group of teenage boys covering their crotches with pillows after playing the game. We've had BMX XXX, a title that relies on your need for soft-soft-porn to make you complete it. The three most marketable characters of the sector are a blue cartoon hedgehog, a portly Italian plumber with a bushy moustache and a woman with the disproportionate hourglass figure that should have gone out with the Victorians, and a bust so overgrown it's a wonder she can run with them strapped to her front.
Despite the colossal amount of sales generated, the fact that total revenue is taking over video rentals and getting ready to take on cinema ticket takings, and the rush of film conversions getting mediocre success at the box office (like Resident Evil), gaming is still seen as something for kids and nerds. The average gamer age has risen to around the late twenties, but nobody really seems to recognize it. Non-gamers look down on it, scoffing at monkeys in balls and Disney characters fighting with keys and swords.
They have a point, really. The Sims is basically a game where you control a person. Rather than anything interesting like in Civilization where you have to take over the world, here you just make sure they wash their hands after going to the toilet, and don't miss too many meals. We hanker after perfect recreations of the likes of football, when we could just as easily go outside. But this isn't a rant against gaming, or for it. It's about what restraints are imposed upon it.
Videogames take the rap for an awful lot of bad stuff. After Columbine, angry parents took the makers of Doom and Half-Life to court. Thanks to the self-modding capabilities of these games, you can actually play digital recreations of the atrocious school shooting, or pretend to be a member of the KKK and kill Jewish and black people, amongst other races and religions.
Maybe it was a step too far when, following the World Trade Centre attacks, the finger was pointed at Microsoft Flight Simulator. Due to its realistic co-ordinates people believed that this game could have trained terrorists. Now that a worldwide terrorist ring has been 'exposed' by various tapes found by CNN reporters and released from bin Laden himself, this claim probably holds even less validity...but it was enough for MS to remove the Twin Towers not only from their future games (for historical accuracy as much as anything) but from new release batches of the older ones.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the more controversial games around. It's received more media attention than any of the current crop of releases. Why? Adult themes. Excessive violence. Is it ever mentioned that the entire game holds a rather jokey, tongue-in-cheek tone? That the violence is in a comic style, with slapstick action as your stab victim runs, arms flailing, before falling to the ground either to be quickly chalk-outlined or magically resuscitated by medics. And then, of course, there's the fact that the game is based on, and does send ups of almost every mafia film in existence. There are various homages scattered across the game, including a recreation of the scene of the chainsaw shower bit in Scarface. These films all cover explicit language, explicit violence and often explicit sexual topics. But no, a videogame can't do that. Even if it's rated 18 just like the movies.
And don't even think about releasing a game about current affairs. Conflict Desert Storm was based on the Gulf War, and is available on all three major consoles. Now it's looking increasingly likely that we'll see a sequel to the war, complete with a President Bush. There's also a sequel to CDS planned. Expect to see it in the newspapers. It's fine and dandy tackling subjects years after they happened - see the recent crop of World War II games for proof. But try a sore spot and don't get your hopes up. Vietcong is the only game I know of ever being based on Vietnam, and it's not finished yet. Not something America would like to be reminded of, and it's not a surprise it's taken this long for someone to have the testicular fortitude to try to make a videogame about it.
Gaming hasn't grown up yet; despite all the numbers and figures pointing towards adulthood, our consoles are still in nappies, scribbling on the walls with a crayon and spouting gibberish. With a little co-operation from both the games makers and the rest of the world, perhaps it will get taken a little more seriously. It's just another media outlet, even an art-form for some people. We can swear on CDs. Talk about religion freely on TV dramas. Have huge amounts of gore in slasher flicks. Why not give gaming the same set of rules as the others?
Thanks for reading, thoughts appreciated.
-El
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Gaming is in the mainstream. Even Nintendo are having TV adverts. The Playstation 2 is the height of pop culture. Microsoft has spent millions in an attempt to seize a slice of the market. Nokia want to get in on the handheld act as Ninty are forced into making a new version to try and pre-empt any Sony mini-console. But is it taken seriously? No.
Gaming is still for geeks. And the big companies aren't helping. A recent American Xbox advert for Dead or Alive: Xtreme Volleyball shows a group of teenage boys covering their crotches with pillows after playing the game. We've had BMX XXX, a title that relies on your need for soft-soft-porn to make you complete it. The three most marketable characters of the sector are a blue cartoon hedgehog, a portly Italian plumber with a bushy moustache and a woman with the disproportionate hourglass figure that should have gone out with the Victorians, and a bust so overgrown it's a wonder she can run with them strapped to her front.
Despite the colossal amount of sales generated, the fact that total revenue is taking over video rentals and getting ready to take on cinema ticket takings, and the rush of film conversions getting mediocre success at the box office (like Resident Evil), gaming is still seen as something for kids and nerds. The average gamer age has risen to around the late twenties, but nobody really seems to recognize it. Non-gamers look down on it, scoffing at monkeys in balls and Disney characters fighting with keys and swords.
They have a point, really. The Sims is basically a game where you control a person. Rather than anything interesting like in Civilization where you have to take over the world, here you just make sure they wash their hands after going to the toilet, and don't miss too many meals. We hanker after perfect recreations of the likes of football, when we could just as easily go outside. But this isn't a rant against gaming, or for it. It's about what restraints are imposed upon it.
Videogames take the rap for an awful lot of bad stuff. After Columbine, angry parents took the makers of Doom and Half-Life to court. Thanks to the self-modding capabilities of these games, you can actually play digital recreations of the atrocious school shooting, or pretend to be a member of the KKK and kill Jewish and black people, amongst other races and religions.
Maybe it was a step too far when, following the World Trade Centre attacks, the finger was pointed at Microsoft Flight Simulator. Due to its realistic co-ordinates people believed that this game could have trained terrorists. Now that a worldwide terrorist ring has been 'exposed' by various tapes found by CNN reporters and released from bin Laden himself, this claim probably holds even less validity...but it was enough for MS to remove the Twin Towers not only from their future games (for historical accuracy as much as anything) but from new release batches of the older ones.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the more controversial games around. It's received more media attention than any of the current crop of releases. Why? Adult themes. Excessive violence. Is it ever mentioned that the entire game holds a rather jokey, tongue-in-cheek tone? That the violence is in a comic style, with slapstick action as your stab victim runs, arms flailing, before falling to the ground either to be quickly chalk-outlined or magically resuscitated by medics. And then, of course, there's the fact that the game is based on, and does send ups of almost every mafia film in existence. There are various homages scattered across the game, including a recreation of the scene of the chainsaw shower bit in Scarface. These films all cover explicit language, explicit violence and often explicit sexual topics. But no, a videogame can't do that. Even if it's rated 18 just like the movies.
And don't even think about releasing a game about current affairs. Conflict Desert Storm was based on the Gulf War, and is available on all three major consoles. Now it's looking increasingly likely that we'll see a sequel to the war, complete with a President Bush. There's also a sequel to CDS planned. Expect to see it in the newspapers. It's fine and dandy tackling subjects years after they happened - see the recent crop of World War II games for proof. But try a sore spot and don't get your hopes up. Vietcong is the only game I know of ever being based on Vietnam, and it's not finished yet. Not something America would like to be reminded of, and it's not a surprise it's taken this long for someone to have the testicular fortitude to try to make a videogame about it.
Gaming hasn't grown up yet; despite all the numbers and figures pointing towards adulthood, our consoles are still in nappies, scribbling on the walls with a crayon and spouting gibberish. With a little co-operation from both the games makers and the rest of the world, perhaps it will get taken a little more seriously. It's just another media outlet, even an art-form for some people. We can swear on CDs. Talk about religion freely on TV dramas. Have huge amounts of gore in slasher flicks. Why not give gaming the same set of rules as the others?
Thanks for reading, thoughts appreciated.
-El
Gaming is still for geeks. And the big companies aren't helping. A recent American Xbox advert for Dead or Alive: Xtreme Volleyball shows a group of teenage boys covering their crotches with pillows after playing the game. We've had BMX XXX, a title that relies on your need for soft-soft-porn to make you complete it. The three most marketable characters of the sector are a blue cartoon hedgehog, a portly Italian plumber with a bushy moustache and a woman with the disproportionate hourglass figure that should have gone out with the Victorians, and a bust so overgrown it's a wonder she can run with them strapped to her front.
Despite the colossal amount of sales generated, the fact that total revenue is taking over video rentals and getting ready to take on cinema ticket takings, and the rush of film conversions getting mediocre success at the box office (like Resident Evil), gaming is still seen as something for kids and nerds. The average gamer age has risen to around the late twenties, but nobody really seems to recognize it. Non-gamers look down on it, scoffing at monkeys in balls and Disney characters fighting with keys and swords.
They have a point, really. The Sims is basically a game where you control a person. Rather than anything interesting like in Civilization where you have to take over the world, here you just make sure they wash their hands after going to the toilet, and don't miss too many meals. We hanker after perfect recreations of the likes of football, when we could just as easily go outside. But this isn't a rant against gaming, or for it. It's about what restraints are imposed upon it.
Videogames take the rap for an awful lot of bad stuff. After Columbine, angry parents took the makers of Doom and Half-Life to court. Thanks to the self-modding capabilities of these games, you can actually play digital recreations of the atrocious school shooting, or pretend to be a member of the KKK and kill Jewish and black people, amongst other races and religions.
Maybe it was a step too far when, following the World Trade Centre attacks, the finger was pointed at Microsoft Flight Simulator. Due to its realistic co-ordinates people believed that this game could have trained terrorists. Now that a worldwide terrorist ring has been 'exposed' by various tapes found by CNN reporters and released from bin Laden himself, this claim probably holds even less validity...but it was enough for MS to remove the Twin Towers not only from their future games (for historical accuracy as much as anything) but from new release batches of the older ones.
Grand Theft Auto is one of the more controversial games around. It's received more media attention than any of the current crop of releases. Why? Adult themes. Excessive violence. Is it ever mentioned that the entire game holds a rather jokey, tongue-in-cheek tone? That the violence is in a comic style, with slapstick action as your stab victim runs, arms flailing, before falling to the ground either to be quickly chalk-outlined or magically resuscitated by medics. And then, of course, there's the fact that the game is based on, and does send ups of almost every mafia film in existence. There are various homages scattered across the game, including a recreation of the scene of the chainsaw shower bit in Scarface. These films all cover explicit language, explicit violence and often explicit sexual topics. But no, a videogame can't do that. Even if it's rated 18 just like the movies.
And don't even think about releasing a game about current affairs. Conflict Desert Storm was based on the Gulf War, and is available on all three major consoles. Now it's looking increasingly likely that we'll see a sequel to the war, complete with a President Bush. There's also a sequel to CDS planned. Expect to see it in the newspapers. It's fine and dandy tackling subjects years after they happened - see the recent crop of World War II games for proof. But try a sore spot and don't get your hopes up. Vietcong is the only game I know of ever being based on Vietnam, and it's not finished yet. Not something America would like to be reminded of, and it's not a surprise it's taken this long for someone to have the testicular fortitude to try to make a videogame about it.
Gaming hasn't grown up yet; despite all the numbers and figures pointing towards adulthood, our consoles are still in nappies, scribbling on the walls with a crayon and spouting gibberish. With a little co-operation from both the games makers and the rest of the world, perhaps it will get taken a little more seriously. It's just another media outlet, even an art-form for some people. We can swear on CDs. Talk about religion freely on TV dramas. Have huge amounts of gore in slasher flicks. Why not give gaming the same set of rules as the others?
Thanks for reading, thoughts appreciated.
-El