Gaming Controversies In Brief (Gaming Hunters Post 9)

Gamingwolfs tells us about the 10 Top Controversies of Video Games :

1. Death Race (1976)

At this point, it's downright quaint.

But when it hit arcades more than three decades ago, "Death Race" (based on the cult movie "Death Race 2000")  may have been the first video game to spark controversy for its violence.

In the chunky, black-and-white pixilated graphics of the time, players ran down "gremlins" in their vehicles. The targets squealed and cried, and were then replaced by tombstones on the screen. It didn't help when word leaked that the working title had been "Pedestrian."

2. Mortal Kombat (1992)

The '90s classic has spawned innumerable sequels that have found themselves pretty well in the middle of the pack in terms of fighting-game violence. But when it hit arcades in 1992 and home consoles the next year, "Mortal Kombat" jumped out because of its realistic, digitized graphics -- and the gore they depicted.

Brandishing severed heads, ripping out hearts and spines and the like helped put "Mortal Kombat" at the head of a pack of games that prompted hearings in Congress and, eventually, led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

The gore also helped it to become one of the most popular video games of all time.

                                                                                             

3. Doom (1993)

 From the same gaming class as "Mortal Kombat" came "Doom."

Gamingwolfs tells that "Doom" was the first time many people had seen a first-person shooter game. It might not have been the original first-person shooter game, but "Doom" certainly popularized the style. And there was something about seeing the violence from the viewpoint of the shooter that really got to folks.

4. Grand Theft Auto (1997)

If anyone game inherited the mantle of violent game poster child from "Mortal Kombat" and "Doom," it was "Grand Theft Auto."

The game was controversial from its very earliest incarnation because it let players do just about anything as they portrayed criminals. But it really ramped up with 2001's "Grand Theft Auto III," when improved graphics made the chaos even more realistic. Players could kill police officers, hire (and subsequently kill) prostitutes and perform any number of other unsavory acts.

                                                                                   

5. Silent Hill (1999)

When Konami released it in 1999, no one had seen anything quite like "Silent Hill." A creepy survival shooter, it took horror-movie style visuals to a new level, complete with cut scenes that included disemboweled and crucified bodies.

Gamingwolfs tells that "Silent Hill" and its sequels use music, sound, and sight for a horror-movie feel. Future installments in the series kept it up, using music, sound, and visual advances to boost the creepiness factor.

6. Postal 2 (2003)

"Postal 2" figures heavily in Monday's Supreme Court ruling.

The game, in which the player goes on a rampage as "The Postal Dude," was cited by California's lawyers as an example of why a law was needed. Since Monday, the game's creators have celebrated 

the ruling as a victory for free speech.

But while other game creators try to reflect or explain away criticism, the makers of the "Postal" 

the franchise has wallowed in it. To be honest, their offering is pretty much what the harshest critics see in their heads when they imagine violent video games.

                                                                               

7. MadWorld (2009)

Let's be honest; Nintendo's Wii didn't become the best-selling console in the world appealing to hardcore fans of hack-and-slash-and-shoot.

"MadWorld" caught flak for being on the family-friendly Wii console. But "MadWorld" was an effort to reach out to those folks and break away from the Wii's largely family-friendly lineup.

                                                                                 

8. Bioshock (2007)

"Bioshock" was a massive hit with gaming critics, and for good reason. It is visually sumptuous, thought-provoking and puts the player in a mind-bending, futuristic world that has gone very, very wrong. None of that kept the complaints from coming, though, when word got out that the game gives players the chance to kill little girls for in-game rewards.

9. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Gamingwolfs tells - The level of violence in the massively popular "Call of Duty" title is probably what any experienced gamer would expect from a combat title. But it was the nature of that violence that turned heads. Set in the "near future," the shooter puts the player in firefights in Afghanistan and, at least once, lets them join forces with terrorists. One scene puts the player in the position of deciding whether to join in as an ally gun down innocent civilians in an airport.

10. Bulletstorm (2011)

This one created a bit of a row earlier this year and may speak, in its own way, to what the dialogue on violent video games can devolve into. Before it was even released, the website for a certain cable news channel (hint: not this one) ran a story under the headline "Is 'Bulletstorm' the worst video game in the world?"

"The damage could be significant," if a child plays the game, one psychiatrist said in the article

 (which does not say whether the psychiatrist had seen the game).

                                                                                                   #gamingwolfs#gaminghunterspost9

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