Stolen Pixels #111: The Lesser of Two Evils
The Overlord and Gnarl are bested by litigation.
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The Overlord and Gnarl are bested by litigation.
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Stolen Pixels #111: The Lesser of Two Evils
- Thread starter Shamus Young
- Start date
Yes, they do seem to be quickly dispelling all the feelings of goodwill that existed towards them for "not being EA."
Out all the comics you have done so far this has to be the funniest.
Great job !
I can`t stop laughing.
Great job !
I can`t stop laughing.
Hate all of them. they are all going to turn into dickheads and asswhipes eventually, so its good to prepare now and not be surprised when they try to whipe thier balls in your face.Markness said:
Oh, and overlord guy, you could start up some sort of commentary based purely around shock factor from two seconds of otherwise just fine gameplay and demeaning the the intelagence and stability of an entire sub... culture... DAMM IT!
Shamus, I demand ask nicely that you slam Tim Langdell some more in this comic at some point. It WILL be hilarious.
Dear Stolen Pixels (if you read your comments)
I would point out that there is a connection that some people seem to be missing in Activision's desician. Or rather a pattern.
Aside from Ghostbusters (which involves some adult humor) pretty much every title on that list is a dark, fairly adult oriented title with lots of blood, action, and violence and/or involves contreversial people and subject matter. Brutal Legend for example features a lot of apperances by guys from bands like Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, which of course have reputations for being hated by the establishment. During last year's video game awards the front man from Black Sabbath (if I recall) did a thing with Jack Black, joking that they were going to sacrifice Tim Schaefer in a satanic ritual to ensure the success of the game (a parody of heavy metal fears from back in the day). 50 Cent is anything but family friendly and immune to criticism, and Riddick is about bad people doing bad things to even worse people in a penal colony (and yes it's a remake, but times are differant than when the first game was made. We have more people in power who lined up against things like Hot Coffee than ever before).
We're at a time where the gaming industry simply lacks the guts to stand up for it's right to free expression and produce the games it wants to. When you have Bethesda freaking out briefly over fan-made nudity patches, Hot Coffee, the censorship of Manhunt 2, and the removal of animations a guy giving himself bloody injections in Fallout 3 (among other things), you begin to see a pattern.
The games they kept are all "family friendly" franchises that are more or less immune to persecution and contreversy.
I've had various theories over a period of time, but I think Activision sort of expected the titles they cut loose to die. Out of them Brutal Legend is the one with the most potential to be a competitive threat/franchise because of all the names involved. People are going to buy that game just because people like Ozzy Osbourne are in it, even if they have bit parts. Yet at the same time, they wanted to avoid it because of all the black metal demon stuff, AND the fact that guys like Ozzy Osbourne were going to be in it.
As things stand now we have yet to see what is going to happen with the final game and what kind of criticism it generates. It's also unknown what was removed from the game (if anything) since the time Activision last saw it, and EA picked it up (and EA is not known for battling Censors on the big issues).
Such are my current thoughts, and think about it. Does it not show a pattern?
Right now I think fans and the industry, mostly the latter, need to rally against censorship much like the movie and music industries have done in the past. Otherwise I suspect we're going to see more of the above and an less sex, violence, and intensity in our "M" rated video games than us, the jaded gaming populance demand.
At any rate, if things do improve, I recommend looking back at Activision now and forever as the company that ran like a little girl from important issues like censorship, and even felt that Ghostbusters was "too intense" for their lineup.
Rant complete.
I would point out that there is a connection that some people seem to be missing in Activision's desician. Or rather a pattern.
Aside from Ghostbusters (which involves some adult humor) pretty much every title on that list is a dark, fairly adult oriented title with lots of blood, action, and violence and/or involves contreversial people and subject matter. Brutal Legend for example features a lot of apperances by guys from bands like Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, which of course have reputations for being hated by the establishment. During last year's video game awards the front man from Black Sabbath (if I recall) did a thing with Jack Black, joking that they were going to sacrifice Tim Schaefer in a satanic ritual to ensure the success of the game (a parody of heavy metal fears from back in the day). 50 Cent is anything but family friendly and immune to criticism, and Riddick is about bad people doing bad things to even worse people in a penal colony (and yes it's a remake, but times are differant than when the first game was made. We have more people in power who lined up against things like Hot Coffee than ever before).
We're at a time where the gaming industry simply lacks the guts to stand up for it's right to free expression and produce the games it wants to. When you have Bethesda freaking out briefly over fan-made nudity patches, Hot Coffee, the censorship of Manhunt 2, and the removal of animations a guy giving himself bloody injections in Fallout 3 (among other things), you begin to see a pattern.
The games they kept are all "family friendly" franchises that are more or less immune to persecution and contreversy.
I've had various theories over a period of time, but I think Activision sort of expected the titles they cut loose to die. Out of them Brutal Legend is the one with the most potential to be a competitive threat/franchise because of all the names involved. People are going to buy that game just because people like Ozzy Osbourne are in it, even if they have bit parts. Yet at the same time, they wanted to avoid it because of all the black metal demon stuff, AND the fact that guys like Ozzy Osbourne were going to be in it.
As things stand now we have yet to see what is going to happen with the final game and what kind of criticism it generates. It's also unknown what was removed from the game (if anything) since the time Activision last saw it, and EA picked it up (and EA is not known for battling Censors on the big issues).
Such are my current thoughts, and think about it. Does it not show a pattern?
Right now I think fans and the industry, mostly the latter, need to rally against censorship much like the movie and music industries have done in the past. Otherwise I suspect we're going to see more of the above and an less sex, violence, and intensity in our "M" rated video games than us, the jaded gaming populance demand.
At any rate, if things do improve, I recommend looking back at Activision now and forever as the company that ran like a little girl from important issues like censorship, and even felt that Ghostbusters was "too intense" for their lineup.
Rant complete.
Banal, now there's a word I don't see used often.
...
And here I thought the current ordeal was over publishing rights. I completely overlooked how censorship played any part in it.Therumancer said:
...
The intelligence of the subculture doesn't need any deameaning from outside sources when it can't even spell "intelligence" intelligently.GamerLuck said:
DeadlyYellow said:
Well as I said at the very beginning it seems to be a pattern more than something that I can say "I know this for sure".
Consider that Activision let the property go, they obviously had a reason. To begin with I thought it might be because the game was turning out to be of sub-par quality or something. Then as I said I noticed what other games they were letting go, most of which turned out to be at least decent. For example while I would expect 50 Cent to be a disaster, apparently it was a pretty good game for those who like that kind of thing/subculture.
Now all of a sudden Activision is concerned about publishing rights, why? Could be it be what seems to be at least a dozen "names" in Heavy Metal being attached to the project? Could it be that there was no major outcry over the other games they let go? Or maybe they made concessions later on about content that they wouldn't make for Activision (I hope not).
This is simply my opinion and observations. It seems to me like they cut all their M rated titles due to fear of censorship, and then decided they at least didn't want to compete with what is arguably the biggest one. 50 Cent and Vin Diesel don't have the pull of the combined cast of Brutal Legend.
why is it everytime something great and funny happens i am also reminded that brutal legend is being delayed... thats the third time in a month... damnit!
long story short, so long as i get brutal legends come rocktober activision can have all the iceages and magic flying purple dragons they want. my theory is alot more simplistic and crude then the well structured argument above.
seems like all this stuff came about at E3 when brutal legend gameplay was shown, as were new cast members/bit parts etc. i'm guessing the A-team saw a game they let go become one of the most anticiapiated of 2009, gathering a cult following and more fans every time a new video came out, can't really blame them for being a little bitter...
seems like all this stuff came about at E3 when brutal legend gameplay was shown, as were new cast members/bit parts etc. i'm guessing the A-team saw a game they let go become one of the most anticiapiated of 2009, gathering a cult following and more fans every time a new video came out, can't really blame them for being a little bitter...
Interesting theory Therumancer but the last two Call of Duty games were M-Rated and Modern Warfare 2 will most likely be as well. I believe this, as always, comes down to money. The rumour is Atari payed-off Activision and when EA refused to do the same, lawsuit happened.
