This relates to the whole Mass Effect sex article thing, but it's so damned stupid...

[Blitz]

That it deserves it's own thread.

A Fox News report on the situation.

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This level of idiocy is nothing short of astonishing.

[.44 Magdalene]

To be fair, I did post that exact video in the original thread.

[.44 Magdalene]

Of course, it's much better when you post it, Johnny McHasAlotofDotsington.

[Blitz]

Now how the fuck did I miss that.

[Kris P Lettus]

lol

[Kris P Lettus]

I like the fact that the dude actually says "alien side boob" or something..

[Mr Regal]

Oh god i hate stupid uninformed people, who act like they know what the fuck they are talking about. Fucking ridiculous.

[Extreme Angle]

Which part of the game is the nude bit lol

[Kane Knight]

Oh god i hate stupid uninformed people, who act like they know what the fuck they are talking about. Fucking ridiculous.
http://gaming.monstersandcritics.com/xbox360/news/article_1388213.php/Amazon_intervenes_as_Mass_Effect_critic_suffers_review_backlash

[Requiem]

That ^ article makes me smile.

[Kane Knight]

What they did was stupid and childish, and yet still on the same level as Fox's original report.

[DAMN iNATOR]

The only person who actually knew his shit and made sense was the guy from the Spike TV video game show, and considering this was FOX News doing this feature, I’m not at all surprised at the stupid crap everyone was saying (with the exception of the aforementioned Spike TV video game show host guy, of course.)

[Gonzo]

The last guy on the panel had the most brilliant idea I've ever heard: Actively exercise some parental supervision! Holy shit!

[BigDaddyCool]

Do they show alien nudity in the clip?

[Kane Knight]

The only person who actually knew his shit and made sense was the guy from the Spike TV video game show, and considering this was FOX News doing this feature, I’m not at all surprised at the stupid crap everyone was saying (with the exception of the aforementioned Spike TV video game show host guy, of course.)

You note how quickly they cut him off, too.

[DAMN iNATOR]

You note how quickly they cut him off, too.

Yeah, because why listen to the one guy who’s ever been around and PLAYED a fucking video game in his life, who just might have a little more knowledge of Mass Effect than those boneheads?


*SIGH*...:nono:

[Kane Knight]

LOL yeah. I'm always amused at how CNN's supposed to be as bad as these wankers, yet you don't see CNN pull something like that. Even with the wrestling scandal, where all the little smarks were wetting themselves over how unfair they were being, they didn't do that.

[Kris P Lettus]

I like how they try to say that video games are misleading to parent and shit when there is a rating system that has been in effect for YEARS just the same as with movies and with parental advisary stickers on cd's.. The only difference is on video games the "rating" is big as hell and on the FRONT of the case

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3245/masseffectboxni1.jpg

while DVD's the "rating" is tiny and on the BACK

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/278/tcm2blfd4.jpg

Parenting is the key..

[Kane Knight]

A tangential point, the FTC does indicate that M rated games are both still marketed to and purchasable by kids.

[alvarado52]

i dont recall you being able to choose what you wanna do to the chick. And i recall only seeing as ass...maybe i missed something.

[Kris P Lettus]

A tangential point, the FTC does indicate that M rated games are both still marketed to and purchasable by kids.

And movies/music isn't??

Solja Boy or whatever is like 16 and his number 1 hit single is about cumming on a females back.. I bet it was played at hundreds (or thousands) high school pep rallies in the past year..

[alvarado52]

And movies/music isn't??

Solja Boy or whatever is like 16 and his number 1 hit single is about cumming on a females back.. I bet it was played at hundreds (or thousands) high school pep rallies in the past year..

not to mention for a long while, before all the white reps of radio realized what lil Jon was referencing, he was allowed to scream 'SKEET SKEET SKEET' on the radio.

My stance will always be the same: if the kid cant tell shooting someone in a game from shooting someone in real life, then the kid has problems from the get go that dont relate to gaming.

If you want to see graphic nudity, your kids can log onto the internet or watch some cable TV

and if your kid wants some graphic violence, they can tune into CNN.

[Kane Knight]

And movies/music isn't??

Solja Boy or whatever is like 16 and his number 1 hit single is about cumming on a females back.. I bet it was played at hundreds (or thousands) high school pep rallies in the past year..

I think you're confusing "kids like it" and "marketed to kids."

Kids still smoke; doesn't mean that tobacco is still marketed to them.

[alvarado52]

I like how they try to say that video games are misleading to parent and shit when there is a rating system that has been in effect for YEARS just the same as with movies and with parental advisary stickers on cd's.. The only difference is on video games the "rating" is big as hell and on the FRONT of the case

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3245/masseffectboxni1.jpg

while DVD's the "rating" is tiny and on the BACK

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/278/tcm2blfd4.jpg

Parenting is the key..

yea, and notice how the stupid host continues to claim that the rating is on the BACK in small print. These dipshits dont know what they are talking about.

[Mr Regal]

People on news panels rarely know what they are talking about...they love the camera time.

Sad thing is 90% of the people watching do not realise this FACT.

Actually maybe 99%

[Kris P Lettus]

I think you're confusing "kids like it" and "marketed to kids."

Kids still smoke; doesn't mean that tobacco is still marketed to them.

How is it marketed to kids??

I see alot of ads for shoot em up games but they come on during UFC or some other tv that is geared towards 18-35 year old males.. I don't really know if they come on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon or some shit because I don't watch that.. If they do, then you have a point but you need to show me where games like this are marketed at "kids" for me to completely agree..

[Mr Regal]

Krispy over here ALL games are marketed from 4 or 5 pm onwards, be it via adverts or sponserships.

However they do target thur audience. not very clearly though.

btw, i have yet to see mass effect advertised in anyway.

[Kris P Lettus]

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've seen it advertised on tv..

[Mr Regal]

funny that....must have been in magazines aimed at twelve to fifteen year olds like...............err............................

[Kris P Lettus]

I'm guessing that you mean "gamer" magazines..

And how would you know this?? Did you see them in a "gamer" magazine??

It's funny, you looked much older than 12 to 15 in all your pics..

[Kris P Lettus]

The point I'm trying to make is, video games are made for all ages.. So, the magazines about games are also for everyone.. A 5 year old could see a poster for the new Rambo movie at the theater, because all ages go to the movies because there are movies geared for everyone, doesn't mean the parent would take them to see it.. With that being said, why would a parent take their CHILD to Best Buy and prolly even pay for a game that is unsuitable for CHILDREN??

Because they are bad parents..

p.s. If there are ads for it in say, Highlights Magazine, then they'd be wrong, the same way movie execs would be wrong to show a Rambo trailer before a Disney movie..

[Kane Knight]

LOL

[D Mac]

Must...get...alien...sex

[DAMN iNATOR]

I like how they try to say that video games are misleading to parent and shit when there is a rating system that has been in effect for YEARS just the same as with movies and with parental advisary stickers on cd's.. The only difference is on video games the "rating" is big as hell and on the FRONT of the case

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3245/masseffectboxni1.jpg

while DVD's the "rating" is tiny and on the BACK

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/278/tcm2blfd4.jpg

Parenting is the key..

Parent: Oh, no, I actually have to pick up the case of this disgusting perverted game to see how it's rated!

C’Mon, FFS. All you have to have done is seen a commercial showing the rating, and then if you don't know what the rating means, look it up on the ESRB website, and if you don't like the fact that your kid is playing a “controversial” or “offensive” game (although I don't see how a brief, and OPTIONAL racy scene in Mass Effect could possibly make it fit either definition), the 360's all have a little thing called Parental Controls...put in a 4-digit code that they won't be able to figure out (at least not without a bit of trial and error, in which case if they go through 200 different button combinations in an hour it probably won't do much good to stop them from playing what they want anyway...), and be sure to set the level at T or below. It's so damn simple! Jeez.

[Mr Regal]

You see more controversial things on day time soaps ffs.

[darkpower]

Okay, let's be realistic here.

This is FOX News...the same people who let Jack Thompson call in and, before the bodies grew cold in the VT massacre, that the killer HAD to have Counterstrike on his computer (nearly guaranteeing it if he didn't outright do so), and they took him seriously without any opposition (even calling HIM a "video game expert").

Hell, this is the same network that will let Bill O'Reilly get away with saying ANYTHING, yet go "OH MY GOD, HOW COULD THEY LET HIM DO THAT" the second Olbermann says anything about them or calls them on their bullshit.

This is one of the many reasons why I don't watch Fox Noise.

[darkpower]

Oh, by the way, if you REALLY want to try to link this to something peculiar:

Microsoft published this game for THEIR 360 system.

Now, what certain news channel have they held a stock in for the longest time (not sure if they still do or how much of one)?

Yep, MSNBC! And what channel is Olbermann on? Uh huh.

Yeah, this could be TOO much of a stretch, but conspiracy theorists, start your minds up. I think FOX Noise wants to go after the OTHER half of MSNBC any way they can.

[Mr Regal]

I doubt FOX to be that clever.

[Kane Knight]

Oh, by the way, if you REALLY want to try to link this to something peculiar:

Microsoft published this game for THEIR 360 system.

Now, what certain news channel have they held a stock in for the longest time (not sure if they still do or how much of one)?

Yep, MSNBC! And what channel is Olbermann on? Uh huh.

Yeah, this could be TOO much of a stretch, but conspiracy theorists, start your minds up. I think FOX Noise wants to go after the OTHER half of MSNBC any way they can.Get out your tinfoil hats, everyone!

[darkpower]

Looks like gamers got some revenge. This is from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin&oref=slogin:

<nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0"> Author Faults a Game, and Gamers Flame Back </nyt_headline>

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/26/arts/massspan.jpg A scene from Mass Effect.

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<nyt_byline type=" " version="1.0"> </nyt_byline>By SETH SCHIESEL (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/seth_schiesel/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: January 26, 2008
<nyt_text> </nyt_text>The Internet hath no fury like a gamer scorned.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/01/26/arts/mass190.jpg (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin&oref=slogin#secondParagraph)Fox News (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin&oref=slogin#secondParagraph)
The author Cooper Lawrence, who criticized Mass Effect on a Fox News program. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin&oref=slogin#secondParagraph)



That’s the lesson Fox News and a self-help author learned this week after a program on that channel featured a discussion of the sexual content of the hit video game Mass Effect.
Bound by global message boards, blogs, chat rooms and of course the games themselves, gamers are perhaps the single most intense subculture on the Internet — fiercely protective of their pastime and at ease with the byways of cyberspace.
So the game world has been ablaze with indignation since the Fox News program “The Live Desk With Martha MacCallum” said on Monday that Mass Effect, one of the most critically praised games of 2007, contains frontal nudity and explicit depictions of sexual activity. The assertions of virtual lasciviousness first appeared earlier this month among conservative bloggers incensed by brief YouTube clips excerpted from the 30- to 40-hour game.
Mass Effect, a science fiction game, includes a complicated romantic subplot that is no more risqué in its plot or graphic in its depiction than evening network television.
To exact their revenge, gamers have turned their vitriol on Cooper Lawrence, an author who appeared to mischaracterize the game when she said: “Here’s how they’re seeing women: They’re seeing them as these objects of desire, as these, you know, hot bodies. They don’t show women as being valued for anything other than their sexuality. And it’s a man in this game deciding how many women he wants to be with.”
In fact Mass Effect allows users to play as either a man or a woman, and the few suggestions of intimate contact occur in the context of a detailed interpersonal story line. Asked on the air by Geoff Keighley of Spike TV whether she had ever played the game, Ms. Lawrence laughed and said, “No.”
Irate gamers have flooded the page on Amazon.com selling Ms. Lawrence’s most recent book, “The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever,” sending its user-generated rating into oblivion.
By Friday afternoon 412 of the book’s 472 user reviews were the lowest possible rating, one star. Another 48 ratings were for two stars. Only 12 of the ratings were for three stars or higher. In addition, 929 Amazon users had tagged the book with the keyword “ignorant.” Tied for second place with 744 tags were “garbage” and “hypocrisy,” while “hack” and “hypocrite” tied for fourth place with 710 votes. Gamers have also attacked the book on the Barnes & Noble Web site.
Many of the reviewers admit that they have not read Ms. Lawrence’s book.
As one Amazon user put it: “I know all about this book but have never fully read it. Why? Due to the overwhelming backlash, I have no choice but to agree with the 1 star ratings. The rumors are rampant that this book was poorly written and poorly researched. So without verifying the contents myself — I give it a 1 star. Good thing video games aren’t judged in this manner — whew!!!”
On Friday “The Cult of Perfection” was ranked the 346,106th best-selling book on Amazon. Mass Effect, by contrast, has been a hit, selling more than 1.6 million copies since November. An Amazon spokeswoman said the site would soon begin to remove reviews written by users who had clearly not read the book.
In an interview on Friday, Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. “I recognize that I misspoke,” she said. “I really regret saying that, and now that I’ve seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke.
“Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it’s like pornography,” she added. “But it’s not like pornography. I’ve seen episodes of ‘Lost’ that are more sexually explicit.”
Electronic Arts, the giant publisher that owns Mass Effect, has asked Fox News for a correction. A Fox News spokesman would say only that Electronic Arts had been offered a chance to appear on the channel. An Electronic Arts spokesman said the company had not yet decided whether to accept the offer.
By telephone from Edmonton, Alberta, Ray Muzyka, the medical doctor who is chief executive of BioWare, the Electronic Arts studio that made Mass Effect, said: “We’re hurt. We believe in video games as an art form, and on behalf of the 120 people who poured their blood and tears into this game over three years, we’re just really hurt that someone would misrepresent the game without even playing it. All we can hope for is that people who actually play our games will see the truth.”

[Mr Regal]

ha, that'll learn fox and their cronies....until GTA4 anyway.

[Kane Knight]

Fox hasn't even retracted their comments, still.

[Mr Regal]

Bioware should sue FOX for slander and misrepresentaion....or some such thing.

[Mr Regal]

Legal action rules \m/

[Kane Knight]

I doubt any court would be willing to rule in favor f a video game company.

[Requiem]

I dunno.. considering the fact that the financial backing behind such a lawsuit would likely be Microsoft (not that Bioware isn't a very wealthy company these days, but the license to publish the game is MS's through all the sequels so it's in their best interest) I'd say it would be a very possible lawsuit. Not that it would ever get to that point, but I actually think there could be a real chance considering how much money is involved in the creation process and marketing of these major titles.

[Mr Regal]

Yeah I think Microsoft would carry more weight than FOX.

[Kane Knight]

Assuming that Microsoft really gets involved, something that's really not a given.

That would probably end up benefiting Fox by the way.