Slither Director Trashes Xbox Live Original Content

[Andy Chalk]

Slither Director Trashes Xbox Live Original Content

Hollywood screenwriter and producer Xbox Live [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0348181/].

Gunn, whose credits include Sparky & Mikaela [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363547/].

"As long as it was PG-13, with no sex, they said it would be all right," Gunn wrote on his blog [http://www.jamesgunn.com/my-painful-xbox-experience]. "So that's what I shot. But they saw it and, again, freaked out. Obviously they had no f**king idea what PG-13 was, as they wanted me to cut the words 'penis' and 'vagina.' They made me cut a piece of very fake poop and a bunch of other stuff." Making matters even worse, he said, after forcing him to make numerous cuts Microsoft took the final product and edited it even further before airing it.

"To sum things up, Saw [http://www.warnerbros.com/] director James Wan, who just happens to be one of my favorite people in the world) had it even worse."

Gunn is still a fan of gaming on Xbox but says the original content plans are DOA because Microsoft won't let the creators even approach the "extremity" of popular Xbox Live material like Disney Channel [http://www.rockstargames.com/iv]." As a result, Gunn believes much of the potential of Xbox Live has been squandered. "Because of the small-mindedness of the Microsoft executives, who preemptively censored a lot of our scenes for fear of freaking out stockholders, they crushed the potential for something that would have kept them relevant for a long time to come," he said.

via: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/horror-director-slams-xbox-live]


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[Onyx Oblivion]

Yep. No big company, Microsoft or any other, would ever risk anything like fake poop and the words "penis" and "vagina" be linked to them.

I know I don't want people to think of those things when they see my username.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Censoring words like penis, vagina and a fake piece of shit? Wow, that's just low.

Why would you go through the trouble of hiring these talented directors and then justr shun their work...I don't get it. I think everyone on Xbox live would whole-heartedly enjoy a bit of funny violence by looking at the most popular games.

They had a great oppertunity at getting some content and blew it.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Sorry

 

[DigitalJedl]

So, we are allowed to get hookers, get busy, then kill them? All this is done by 8 year old Timmy on XBL. Anyway, aside from the Halo & GTAIV violence (CONDEMNED FOR *insert religious figure here* SAKE!) But not even a word of penis, or vagina is allowed?

Lame.
*Moved to PSN*

 

[The Bandit]

Fake poo was edited?

Jesus Christ, this is almost funny.

While I'm totally against censorship, especially when Microsoft promised them creative freedom, I don't think anything grand was lost here. And calling Microsoft "non-talent friendly" for cutting fake poo just makes me laugh. I would be just as equally pissed, but the fact that the director of the "fabulous" Scooby-Doo movies is taking himself so seriously is funny.

 

[Kirra]

I'm ashamed that i'm using anything made my Microsoft.

 

[Yog Sothoth]

"Microsoft/XBox was by far the most dreadful, non-talent friendly company I've ever worked for."

Well then, you should've fit right in, Mr. Gunn.... Slither was a fucking horrible movie...

 

[mykalwane]

Well I would think this is mainly because of the fact that Microsoft is known as being this non family friendly place in general. So to rank in the money it will try to have things that are family friendly. This is for the sake of having a larger audience, since they would be appealing to all ages, while having something for everyone. This may be a negative thing in general, it is the same route that usually means money without losing establish audience. I know this doesn't make the best of sense, but that is Microsoft they rarely make sense. Other then the holy dollar, Microsoft doesn't usually care.

 

[The One X]

"Because of the small-mindedness of the Microsoft executives, who preemptively censored a lot of our scenes for fear of freaking out stockholders, they crushed the potential for something that would have kept them relevant for a long time to come," he said.

That is just another reason I hate publicly traded companies.

 

[ThisNewGuy]

Yep. No big company, Microsoft or any other, would ever risk anything like fake poop and the words "penis" and "vagina" be linked to them.

I know I don't want people to think of those things when they see my username.

Really?

I wouldn't mind people think of "penis" when they see my username, as long as it is preceded by "big."

Seriously though, promising creative freedom, only to edit crap out that don't need to be edited out must really suck. Besides, penis and vagina are actually the scientific terms for them, and very much PG-13.

 

[bkd69]

Failure in planning, failure in execution.

For starters, while I appreciate MS' desire to enter into original video production on the 360, why on earth would they solicit works form a bunch of horror directors for the inaugural effort? They're certainly aware that care must be taken for more family friendly fare than they would normally expect from horror directors, nevermind that the exec in question seems spectacularly unqualified to gauge the difference between PG and PG-13 and R. All that being said, why horror in the first place, and not, say, fantasy animation, or gamer related live action, like The Guild. In fact, why not commission a new season of The Guild as an Xbox 'X-Clusive(tm)' (sorry), and save the horror offerings for October.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

How much of this is Microsoft being timid about possibly-offensive content on their service, and how much of this is a director trying to cram gratuitous shock jokes into a short-short because he can't think of anything else to put in? Either way I think I'll stay away from whatever this turns out to be in the end... censor or no censor, there'll be plenty of crap in this flick.

-- Steve

 

[ccesarano]

I think it's a mixed deal. The only thing I've ever truly liked by James Gunn is The Specials, an independent film about the world's sixth or seventh "greatest" super hero team (in other words, a bunch of super hero rejects). It's a pretty good film, and a lot of the stuff in there is funny, but it is in no way great.

Everything else the guy has done is...well, not great, really. I mean, as stated, Slither was a TERRIBLE movie, with the only good thing about it being the actor who played Malcom in FireFly. His comedic timing and straight-faced delivery was just absolutely perfect, but aside from him there was nothing redeeming about it.

So, yeah, I don't feel as if much "creative" freedom was lost considering James Gunn's track record of ONE good film.

I can also see Microsoft's case, though. Yes, they offer content that is M-Rated (or TV MA), but it isn't THEIR content. However, if one of their promotional videos had a lot of questionable content, then they'd be held responsible with angry and offended parents. As for words like penis and vagina, remember, people treat video games differently than film.

That said, I think they got the wrong directors for their goals. They wanted directors that pretty much exclusively appeal to teenagers and young adults instead of ones that can appeal to a whole family.

Then again, I imagine Microsoft was hoping James Gunn's Scooby-Doo experience would prove him to be good at family friendly material...only...it was crap.

 

[Pendragon9]

Microsoft stifles creativity in a horror show?

Gee, what a surprise.