Yes, just months after writing my post on torture porn video games, there’s news that a Saw video game is in development. Details are sketchy, but it will be interesting to see if the game lets you play against Jigsaw or as him. We’ll also see if it challenges the standard set by the Manhunt series. Let the race to the bottom begin.
The blog Bruce On Games has a recent post dealing with that perennially popular topic: violence and video games. Bruce makes the claim that “established old media have vastly more shocking content than video games. This is an irrefutable fact.” He then supports this by using an online service that lets users search for particular words in the Bible. He found that the King James version has “harlot” in it 48 times, “sodomite” 5 times, “fornicator” 5 times, “smite” 133 times, “kill” 208 times and “maim” 7 times. This proves, I suppose he’s saying, that the Bible is more violent than (or at least as violent as) any videogame. His conclusion is that all media should be age rated based on the same standards.
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Vanity Fair has an extensive article on the newest chapter of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Lucas Arts is releasing this game as an official addition to the Star Wars cannon, filling in the years between Episode III and Episode IV, much as the game Enter the Matrix did for the Matrix series. The article is written for the uninitiated, and as such it gives a brief history of videogames and explains what technical limitations are currently hindering video game realism. The article claims that new technology, however, may soon dramatically improve videogame realism and perhaps topple the barriers to “greater public interest in the medium.”
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Though I know we’ve said it before, I don’t think it can be said enough: the Values at Play project is NOT about creating boring goodie-two-shoes games. We talk a lot about social values, and appealing to diverse communities, and promoting a more just, equitable society, but that doesn’t mean we’re condemming violent videogames or controversy. I’m actually quite fond of controversy and enjoy well done violent games.
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