OrtizGames

Hearing this is rather disheartening as a supporter of T-, M- and AO-rated games being equally promoted and acknowledged in the industry as E-rated titles are. I really like M-titles. I do. I want there to be more of them. In the same way there’s like five bajillion R and PG-13 movies out there, there needs to be more M- and T-rated games. They’re what truly define the issues our cultures have to deal with today–the ugly things, the things people try to ignore. Racism, discrimination, violence, rape, political instability, historical precedents, human error, human flaws, conflicted sexuality and more. I love talking about human problems because they’re so many and they have so many sides to them. And the less you have to worry about reaching people’s standards, the less you have to worry about interfering with the art process. And I illustrate: Games Aren’t Art and its followup blog.

I recently stumbled on an old Columbine article while searching for an old computer game I can’t seem to find anymore. The interesting thing is, I recently downloaded and played the Super Columbine Massacre RPG! game, and was planning on reviewing it. Now I think I have enough links to be able to put this all together in one massive post. Fun, eh?

So when people argue games are excessively violent, they sometimes seem to use logic that absolutely blows my mind. Yes, I am aware of the existence of these violent games (though why Gunslinger Girls was on this list is an absolute mystery to me–I wasn’t aware boys were asking for this during Christmas). I am aware kids will want to play games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo. I am aware these games are not suited for them. But are you aware, General Public, that we know this already, and despite the angry outcries that we simply want to sell more games to more children and corrupt their minds, we’re constantly trying to improve ourselves by taking a look at what you say. I’m fascinated that people actually believe we’re trying to market adult games on kids. If I had kids, trust me, I wouldn’t be giving them Halo. They’d be playing Pokemon and Harvest Moon and Super Mario Bros., like 10 year-old-kids should. I’m sorry if our “confusing advertising and [] vague and poorly promoted rating system for videogames” isn’t enough for you. We kind of thought it would be a great idea to put people dying in previews for games that had people dying in them, for the sake of being obvious, and slap big Ms and Ts and Es on the front of game boxes with a subscript that reads “For Mature” or “For Everyone”. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I’m so sorry if it just doesn’t cut it. Next time, we’ll add little talking boxes, too, so when you pick up a game, it’ll scream its rating at you like a banshee.

And, of course, this year’s list of violent no-no’s. Funny that all of these are rated M and shouldn’t be played by children. M means not for children. I need to make a shirt out of that. One side: “I’m Rated M” and on the back, “Kids Shouldn’t Play Me.”

As Brenda Brathwaite just posted, people assume games are for children, and that all these violent games are harmful to them. Well, they’re not made for children That’s why we rated them ‘M’, for Mature. That doesn’t make them bad. Crash was a violent and impacting movie about stereotypes and people fighting with each other, and that won an Oscar for best picture–runner up being Brokeback Mountain, a movie about gay cowboys. Last my Church roared at me, homosexuality was evil. Not that I’m going to take their side on that, but why then are these the movies that are being nominated for Oscars, while videogames are being raged against?

Honestly, I’ve worked in a game store, and I’ve had all kinds of horror stories of adults yelling at me because I wouldn’t sell a minor a game. I couldn’t even get a word in with the man until I finally cracked as he was pulling his wallet out to pay for Grand Theft Auto. “SIR!” I roared, and half the store stared at me for a moment. “Do you have any idea why I refused to sell the boy the game?!” The man looked somewhat lost for a moment between being yelled at and realizing he had no idea why I had refused to sell the game. “Well, no. Why?” I took the game from his hands gently and showed him the M logo, implying it was for Mature audiences only. Then I read the rating contents on the back of the game in list fashion: drug use, sexual situations, extreme violence and gore… his eyes grew progressively wider and wider as I spoke, and when I was done he turned to the boy with a wild expression. “And you were going to buy this?” The boy stood there, looking numb, and pointed next to him. “I was buying it for him.”

He was pointing at his twelve-year-old little brother.

I have a younger brother. I played GTA with him. I made sure to point out, “Look, this is real, this isn’t, and obviously this is all cartoony so I hope you can understand that the main character is a total ****head and doing any of this in real life would mean we’d kick you out of the family.” And he got it. He understood. I also have a little cousin whose father got him an Xbox. My uncle and aunt are huge about raising kids. Big God people. Their firstborn was hyperactive so they had to learn a lot about parenting very quickly. And my uncle recently asked me if I recommended Medal of Honor Airborne for his 14-year-old, since he was looking for Christmas presents. And I know he chooses Medal of Honor because it’s a historical game, filled with learning impulses, and he knows my cousin needs to stay active and is extremely adept at First Person Shooters. I would have recommended Age of Empires 2 more, if he wanted my cousin to get an educated learning experience, but weighing RTSs versus the point and click nature of FPSs made me go for MOH.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with kids playing some violent games with guidance. My folks took me to R movies sometimes and sat me down after each, explaining what we just saw. And I think that’d good. It’s part of growing up, since we don’t have kids running around the downtown streets anymore and watching their friends get killed in freak accidents (and I allude to parents and aunts and uncles I know). We need to make up for all the lost growing-up-experiences.

So parents need to have a deeper influence on what their kids are doing. That’s why the ESRB is there. I hope people understand this, because it’s really important. We didn’t put the ESRB up to help ourselves. It’s not there to promote our games. If we had our way we’d get rid of it and sell every game as E–more profit that way. I joke at work all the time about the elements we could put in that would earn us an M-rating. The ESRB is there for you, Mom and Dad. Use it. Raise your kids. They’re not going to raise themselves. But they will want to play games.

Right now, the ESRB has to go on defense to counter the statements made by the Video Game Report Card. Though the ESRB recieved a satisfactory grade (B) for the way they’ve handled ratings, people still seem displeased. One of the statements issued was that the ESRB messed up on their rating forManhunt 2, which was originally written down as AO, banning it from most consoles (which I disapprove of–I think an AO rating shouldn’t bar a game from being on a console, but there you go, I don’t run the world). Manhunt 2 was censored a great deal and given the less-stringent rating of M, but, apparently, “PSP version of Manhunt 2 still contained violent content, although it was only made accessible by users who hacked into the handheld.” Oh, wow. So, what are you suggesting? Are you worried children will hack into their PSP to unlock Adults Only content? Are you serious?

First, let’s look at the improbablility of the situation. In the circumstance that a child finds themselves with the highly advanced technological ability to hack a console (my siblings can barely connect to the Internet) and they get possession of an already M-rated game which they technically shouldn’t be playing, yes, they are in high danger of finding adult content in Manhunt 2. Of course, if my child had that technological knowledge, I’d be more worried about who they’re talking to online that’s giving them these detailed instructions. Now, in the circumstance that a 17-, 18-year old (the age you have to be to actually buy Manhunt) gets a hold of Manhunt 2 and hacks it on his PSP… WELL. Technically, at that age, you’re legal, aren’t you? You have to be 18 to purchase an AO game and, oh, that’s right, you’re just a year away now. How is that making any difference whatsoever?

I think the issue here is just that people want to get rid of violence in games absolutely. And that, to me, is mortifying. It’s like saying “Let’s get rid of violence in comic books!” So Superman… will be… diplomatically engaging people threatening to destroy the planet. Or, “Let’s get rid of violence in movies!” So… Tarantino will be making… nothing. For the rest of his life.

You know, you have every right to censor what comes into your home. It’s your home. It’s your money. Kids can scream all they want but it’s still your rules. And if you sit them down and explain in a rational manner what it is you’re thinking when you make these rules, I’m sure you can get through to them. Or maybe you won’t. But that doesn’t mean you have to cede to them. I didn’t get to watch Titanic. I don’t know if I’m a better or worse person because of it, but there you go. Everyone else watched it. So what? I was kicking and screaming, but I realize now it wasn’t even that good a movie. I watched it recently and thought, eh, I didn’t really need to watch Leo DiCaprio wading around in water at that age. Your kids will probably understand when they’re older, too. Just make sure you have a reason for what you do.

We’ve covered ratings now. Rating gets in the way of the art process, according to my thesis. So what if a game ignores rating altogether? What if they try to do something that simply is unacceptable by most people’s ideals?
With the release of Super Columbine Massacre RPG! for RPGMaker 2000 came angry mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers, friends, and that guy who just rails against anything on his blog. I was shocked when I first saw its name. I was shocked when I heard the premise. But I’ve had a lot of time to dwell on it.

I think one of the reasons people were most furious about SCMRPG! for is the fact that it’s simply a game about Columbine. They think, “How could you disrespect the deaths of so many people?” And it’s true–it’s a chin-out, bold and outrageous thing to do that hits close to home in the hearts of many. I mean, I don’t see that many games about the Holocaust, for example. It’s just not done. People won’t even make jokes. Hitler jokes are funny. But Hitler’s just one dude. The Holocaust was millions slaughtered.

Another reason why people think SCMRPG! is garbage is because it seems to be a game that makes fun of the idea that heavy metal and DOOM make people violent murderers. So it’s a game defending gaming and Marilyn Manson. By talking about murderers. In a way it’s a somewhat stomach-turning formula, but it more-or-less makes sense.

The creator, Danny Ledonne, worked with Emberwilde Productions to direct and document the production and reception of SCMRPG! called Playing Columbine, and the IGDA screened it a week ago or so. I haven’t watched it, but I’m going to look around the Net to see if I can find it. I’m not really sure how to react to the video, honestly. I don’t know if I can classify this game as art. If art is something that evokes emotion, well sure, this evokes a lot of emotion in me. Rage, pain. Then again, I felt the same way watching Schindler’s List.

The thing about SCMRPG! is that as I was playing it, I began to somewhat understand what the killers must have felt, and must have been thinking. It’s amazing. I realized that as a kid, I probably went through a lot of the same crap these kids went through. And yet I’ve grown up and found different ways to deal with my problem, whether by sarcastically critiquing the society around me or trying earnestly to help it change. I recognize, as I play the game, that these boys made the wrong decision. And I feel bad for them. That was the point of the game, I suppose, as put forth by Danny Ledonne in his artist´s statement. He wanted something more profound than just a memoir for people lost in the tragedy. He wanted people to see what the real issue was–not games and heavy metal, but neglect and loneliness, things we all suffer from. It’s all it takes to drive someone over the edge.

Something more recent to take a look at is the Virginia Tech Massacre video, done in Halo 3, sort of re-enacting Virginia Tech with as much delicacy as possible while trying to still illustrate the events. For someone like me who plays FPS all the time, it’s difficult to really think about this video in real life terms, with this actually happening to someone. But when I try to put myself in the situation of someone being shot, it’s really rather mortifying.

And that’s one of the things that really moves me about videogames–using a game, someone went ahead and made a memento for people to remember a tragic event. A game. You see a lot of games about World War II, but often they’re really all about war and how the U.S. won it. I want to see a videogame about the Holocaust. I want a Schindler’s List kind of game. Now there’s art.

Tom Brokaw recently made me shake with fury when he suggested that videogames and blogs were cancerous. Apparently, he believes that blogs and videogames move people to try and do the same the Virginia Tech Shooter did, and then he argued that showing the killer’s final note on the air wasn’t giving him victory and inviting people to emulate them, but rather putting people on guard and “show[ing] how dark he was, and what the reality is.” So… videogames and blogs promote mass-murder? And I point to SCMRPG! and the Virginia Tech Massacre video. Showing the Virginia Tech Murderer’s video was showing people his innermost, evil thoughts. And SCMRPG! wasn’t? That was the thesis of the game–looking into why those boys did what they did, and making you feel somewhat stricken because of it. These things are not promoting violence. As controversial as they may be, they are reflections of people’s reactions to the times, and show a general concensus in the population of disagreement with what we see, and a desire to change it–whether by probing into dark minds or making people have to face their emotions.

Games like Manhunt 2, people say, are filled with needless and wanton violence. What about movies like Saw? I still see Saw entering theaters. In fact, it’s thought-provoking movies like The Golden Compass that get slandered. Why is that? Why are we criticizing the wrong things?

See, the problem isn´t the fact that we give kids virtual guns. The problem is we don’t tell them what they’re for, and then we give them a reason to use them in a way they shouldn’t. Columbine, for example–nobody cared about those kids. They only had each other. They were alone. Nobody taught them what how to deal with what they were dealing with. I, on the other hand, recieved a lot of support from various teachers–and I mean real teachers: English teachers, Math teachers, History and Drama teachers. The issue is we don’t teach anymore–we let kids learn. And they will learn whatever they see, unless we learn to teach accordingly and make sure the things they see are given context.

If there really are blogs out there that promote killing and death, then move to try and stop them. Write counterposts. Link people back to you and be smart about it. Teach them. Don’t just point the finger and say “bad”. All you’re doing is giving people more traffic by leading the population with your all-accusatory finger.

And if you really think video games are about murdering and slaughtering innocents… well. I’m not sure what you’re playing.

Maybe you should be playing Super Columbine Massacre RPG.

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Enough said.

We have the advantage of textures, models, maps, engines, hi-quality renderers… why aren’t we using them? Because we want to fit COD4 on a DVD? I understand the need for multiplatform, but that’s ridiculous. We all know PS3 has more power, more capability, more space. And there’s already an extensive list of must haves for the PS3, not including the ones that haven’t been released.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Folklore

Eye of Judgment

Heavenly Sword

Rachet and Clank

Warhawk

Rock Band

Unreal Tournament 3

Assassin’s Creed

Oblivion: GOTY Edition

The Orange Box

And no, many of them are not exclusives–but UT3, for example, is coming out with exclusive content for the PS3 in the form of uploadeable user-created content–in fact, Mike Rein specifically said the game was designed for PS3.

So it’s just a matter of time before developers start really kicking into gear and adding some serious content.

That, or we run the risk of future multiplatform games looking like this.

And no, it’s not coming out for 360.

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What the hell.

Apparently, Activision has no desire to share their controllers with Rock Band. Perfectly understandable, from a business point of view. But look here, and you’ll realize how little it makes sense when compared to what’s going on on the other end of the spectrum. On Xbox 360, the Les Paul (GH3 controller) works fine with Rock Band.

Now, either Activision couldn’t kill off the compatability forthe 360 version of Rock Band, or they’re making a move that makes no sense at all. They gain nothing from angering the hundreds of thousands of PS3 users that would want to use their Les Paul on either game. They stand to lose a lot of future Guitar Hero sales and they stand to lose a lot of leeway with Sony when it comes to releasing multiplatform and exclusive games.

So… what are they thinking?

Discuss.

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Yahtzee is perhaps one of the coolest, most clever comedians on his side of the universe in my eyes, and I love listening to his rants/reviews/rampages every Wednesday.

Because this week’s video was particularly hilarious and because I think Guitar Hero 3′s sudden drop in fun compared to 1 and 2 is a hint of what’s to come and because I think Rock Band has just officially destroyed amy chance Guitar Hero has of maintaining the popular support (which is why I believe it’s practically been declared a Madden/Tony Hawkish game that just keeps coming out with sequels because they know there’s the immortal fans out there who will buy them until the end of eternity) and because Yahtzee decided to review Guitar Hero in general this week I’ve decided to share it with everyone.

It has nothing to do with all the other websites doing it.

Viewer discretion advised–mature language and content.

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Just a quick moment to talk about pretty things, like the new Naruto PS3 Project that looks absolutely incredible. But, as I mentioned to my best friend, “It’s a Naruto game,” which automatically makes me skeptic.

However, there’s plenty more that has me tense and excited, from the list of already-announced PS3 newcomers (MGS4, LittleBigPlanet, FFXIII, Killzone 2) to a few new possible exclusives such as Prototype, an amazing-looking game by Sierra (yay Sierra) which is literally every daydream fantasy I’ve ever had (minus the sex) in one; Afro Samurai, which makes me squeal with pleasure and anticipation as I watch the trailer (please come out for PS3); and, of course, the glorious new Street Fighter IV screenshots.

We’ll see some glory soon enough. 2008 is promising to be the most expensive year in a while. And I want to play all these games bad.

Oh, and Blizzard sounds like it’s up to something. A new MMO perhaps? God forbid.

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GayGamer (such an invaluable source of information) informed me of a 25-minute video of the beta functions for Home uploaded to Gametrailers, which I watched all the way through, ecstatic.

 I’m looking forward to Home like children look forward to Christmas.

 But I need a PS3 before then.

 I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been playing Rock Band, FFXII when not at work. So sue me, work is exhausting. I’ll get a vacation soon and I’ll be able to get around to it. That, and all the other little projects I’ve been asked to do–help with homework, developer commissions (I’m actually getting jobs outside my job–I feel so amazing). I have a huge update soon. And when cool things stop happening, I’ll be able to talk about M.U.L.E.

I promise.

Also, LittleBigWorld movie. I was so magically absorbed by the cuteness of this game that I looked for GDC demos part 1 and part 2 so I could see more of it. I’m enchanted by this game. I want it so bad. It looks like a wonderful, mindless waste of time.

(Why is my Youtube in Spanish? Ugh.)

I’m slowly turning into a casual gamer.

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Unfortunately, Activision Blizzard have right off announced a very EA-like move that’s left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

If this is going to be the trend in games, I think Greg Costikyan was right. I don’t want to see the same recycled garbage every year. I didn’t like COD4 because it was almost an exact carbon duplicate of COD2 dressed up in the future. We need to move away from that kind of repetitive gameplay, or else we’re going to have a Beautiful Katamari every time.

I think I’m going to stick with Rock Band now… as pained as it makes me.

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And I approve.

If you break into my house, you’re getting a face full of Japanese steel.

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The Swedish developers of Battlefield: Bad Company released a developer interview video that outlines some of the key features of the Frostbite engine they created. It’s funny, though it skips over a lot of the details. I kind of wish they would go into more depth on how the engine works.

But anyway, it’s fascinating to watch, and I’m glad to see the PS3 and 360 used to a higher potential that has been done before.

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I hope this shocking video (NSFW) on Kotaku and GayGamer didn’t escape anyone last week, because it certainly cleared up any doubts about the typical behavior displayed by trollers in online play. This is the same kind of crap a minority would have to face in any online game, whether it be World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike or City of Heroes (I was present during that one, and it wasn’t pretty). This is usually why I see a lot of homosexual players “roleplay the straight guy”, or simply avoid all possible indications of their identity in games. In a sense, they’re forced into anonymity because their self-identity isn’t really “tolerable”, according to everyone else. Which is utter bull.

In the same way, I see anyone trying to display any sort of divergence (if someone had a gamertag that pronounced them as black… somehow) being met with the same antagonism. You have to be something utterly indecipherable, or else an aggressive name like “GeekKiller”or something to that extreme. I know I don’t express my being Mexican anywhere online. My online tag is a nondescriptive name, a name composed up of text and 1337 speak, short and sweet and punchy. On WoW, I roleplay my name and character to fit the theme, and I don’t have to worry about ever being trashed because I have a generic fantasy name like “Raurke”. But imagine if I were to use a name like “MexicanTornado”. I would be flogged. I can imagine the taunts now: “Oh, why don’t you just stay on your side of the border?” “Hehehe we’re gonna catch you and deport you to Mexico.”

Funniest thing about that is that they would have no indication that I was an immigrant in the U.S. They would just assume I was because I speak English. How funny would that be, if I were playing from home here in Mexico?

Why is that enforced? It’s like everyone else seems to think their own personal identity irrelevant, so you shouldn’t have the privilege of expressing yours. Which is bull–people have every right to be themselves in any forum. They don’t have to appeal to you. They’re being themselves. And in a forum, you have to just either suck it up or call on why this doesn’t appeal to you and give a concise reason–not ad hominem. I would be ecstatic if I heard someone say, “Well, I don’t agree with homosexuality, and it makes me uncomfortable, but I don’t see that as a reason to diss someone. Maybe if it makes me very uncomfortable, I can just leave, but I’m not really there for them, so I think I’ll just play my game.” And I have. I’ve heard it from someone’s very mouth. It’s wonderful. But not from everyone’s.

This is why the new Xbox Live Dashboard is somewhat promising. If indeed there will be an ability to impose social sanctions on someone for being a troller, so much the better. A point brought across by this little article is that “Part of the fun, sometimes, in doing atrocious things in games is that it’s fiction” and “The fact that it’s fiction does not make it any less impactful to me”. It was also mentioned that “Another part of the fun for me, in video games, is that you can experiment … and if you leave a permanent mark, you can reset, try again.” The problem is resetting doesn’t work when you’re dealing with real people. Real people aren’t part of the game. They’re part of the game experience, but they’re also game players. They have just as much of a right to enjoy it as you do.

If this was meant towards Xbox now making single player game choices that screw you over socially, oh, well, screw that. Yes. I disagree with what I do in a game being a reflection of who I am in a social setting. Look at my Fable and Oblivion characters–Assassins, murderers, blood evil and violent as all Hell. That doesn’t mean I’m that way when playing Halo 3. I do not shoot my teammates. I do not assassinate everyone and taunt them for losing (well, I do assassinate everyone, if I can). However, if the Xbox Live dashboard is for a sanctions system based off your behavior, well, I think that’s perfectly useful. However, I think there needs to be a checks and balances system, or else the Mafia will show up like in The Sims Online, and everything will fall apart.

There’s plans going around somewhere or another to do something major about the code of conduct in online games, so I can expect to see something relatively soon about it. It would certainly be a good change.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

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