160: Tap X for pleasure

[unangbangkay]

It's the same as the fear-mongering that came out when Mass Effect deigned to show some bare ass in its romance-subplot climax. Fox News brought an expert in, one who had never actually seen or played the game, and basically assigned to comment based on her being told that Mass Effect featured graphic rape and pornographic intercourse as a major portion of gameplay and that (of course) was marketed to children.

It's sad to say that gaming is still a largely juvenile medium, but there simply aren't very many games with the kind of complexity that makes graphic or even implied sex truly appropriate. God of War made it ancillary and tacked-on, Fahrenheit and Omikron (remember that one?) were cinematic enough to practically warrant it, and most other RPGs such as Baldur's Gate 2 and Neverwinter Nights prefer a fade-out following flirting.

It's worth noting that Obsidian Entertainment, developers of the (in my estimation) truly excellent Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 (and its expansions) has stated that for their upcoming superspy title Alpha Protocol would have sex "with consequences", wherein who the character "chooses" would have an effect on the game's progression as well as on the approach to certain objectives. It's a step, I suppose.

 

[Cowtippers]

The thing with Mass Effect was that they lied on public and even worldwide television. They said that it featured full on-screen sex and/or nudity, while the "worst" thing you saw was an ass and half of a breast, and Fox News even bothered to censor THAT!

Of course that was only done so that whoever saw that wouldn´t think "oh well, good thing that theres only 0.3 seconds left of that clip in the scene", but more likely "Oh my god no! Little Timmy is playing that game right now! I´d better stop him and make him do 50 billion ave Marias!" I obviously have no idea what the media is thinking other than "*****! Whine! Annoy! Lie!" but it seems to me that they will do anything if it means that they will create a scandal that about 75% of the population will forget as soon as the next Oprah show comes on.

I have no problem with sex in videogames as long as it doesn´t go over the border and becomes pornographic. Hot Coffee is okay, since it´s with clothes on and since it required a mod in order to view it. The Mass Effect scene is fine because it´s not something you have to do in order to complete the game plus it´s also very careful of what it shows... A butt and half a tit... Not anything extreme XXX hardcore as the media seemed to believe.

And also The Witcher... I wonder why they never EVER saw all those cards as something against women being treated like a collectable cardgame.

 

[mooncalf]

1992; Star Control 2 implemented an interactive sex scene with an ostensibly female alien space station commander by blanking out the screen and requiring the player to navigate through dialogue choices alone. The 'pillow-talk' was chaste, playfully tongue-in-cheek (no pun in... Okay yeah I intended it) and the scene's placement near the endgame along with the respectful buildup of the relationship over the course of the game defused any negative connotation one could have ascribed to it's inclusion. It slipped by as innocuous and charming.

 

[clericsdaughter]

I can see why they didn't talk about Mass Effect: This article was about playable sex

Funnily enough, the sex in Mass Effect isn't even playable. Fox News got their panties in a twist over a couple seconds of cutscene, that showed nothing more graphic than a nude profile. That said, their approach to the sex was quite adult, I feel--you had to spend the entire game building up a relationship with the NPC before you could have sex with them, and there were two romance options for either gender of main character.

 

[RedPanda]

To be honest...I think most games like God of War that has sex in it is just a humorious joke they put in to ethier be randomly out there or just to make you sidetracted from the game's purpose. Then again, yeah most games now contain some sexuality obviously appeared but not to mature or it's just not rekoned with *shrug*

 

[theultimateend]

I think that everyone over reacted to the Hot Coffee mod. t wasn't that big of a deal to me. I mean, if you have been around on the internet, you know things like this always end up happening. Not being discovered and pushed in the light, mind you, but found nonetheless. I don't know if the sex minigames are an integral part of the God of War franchise nor should they be openly announcing they want to expand on them. That's like putting a big target on your chest to politicians and lawyers saying "hey! I'm going to make my game have vulgar content! Ban me!", but then again, it would more than likely increase sales. All I have to say is keep up the good story work with the God Of War series and I might just buy a Playstation 3 to play the exclusive.

It was mostly Fox News going batshit on it and reporting on it for something like 10 hours straight (well ok they had stories in between but they brought it up all day).

As I said in another topic, I bet NATAL will end up used on a sexy game ;D

 

[chinangel]

you know, I realize this isn't entirely on topic but...

why do games with sex keep getting spotlighted, especially games with extremely tame sex (mass effect 1) when there are games out there with far more "shocking" imagery. some of it genuinely shocking and disturbing.

Silent Hill for example. This is a game that deals with cults for god sakes (pun intended), so why didn't anyone give it a second look?

It just makes gaming critics appear that much more ignorant.

 

[Naheal]

Americans are prudes. Pretty much all there is to it.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Americans are prudes. Pretty much all there is to it.

I believe you mean our culture, since labeling every American as prudes certainly is generalizing beyond any logical scope.

I'm not saying our society's culture is right, no, it's fucking stupid. But to call every American a robot against sex? That's even more idiotic.

Thats obviously what he ment, why would anyone think EVERY American is cockblock-o-tron2000?