January 23rd, 2008Customizable Sex in Mass Effect‽
I was going to not mention this “controversy” at all, because it’s boring in that 90s-Tipper-Gore way. But this is too funny/sad. An actual quote from Fox’s panel regarding Mass Effect: “Luke Skywalker meets Debbie Does Dallas”.
Martha MacCallum at Fox says in this video that there’s “full digital nudity” in Mass Effect with “the ability for the players to engage in graphic sex and the person playing the game gets to decide exactly what’s going to happen between the two people, if you know what I mean.” I don’t know what you mean, and why are you being coy on a professional news show?
Marc has been attached to the Xbox since Christmas and must be playing this wrong. Either that or it’s bald-faced lies from Fox because I haven’t seen him do anything sexy except talk to that guy voiced by Seth Green.
The most interesting thing is that when the pro-game guy rebutts a claim successfully (like the “full digital nudity” which is less than I see in most beer commercials), they change the subject to violence, then let the subject slowly drift back to the sex.
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Kotaku posted a letter from EA about Fox’s coverage. They re-re-butt several points and end:
“The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.
Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?
This isn’t a legal threat; it’s an appeal to your sense of fairness. We’re asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect.”
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Mass media’s only goal is self-authentication. In pursuit of this it will attack anything that is not itself, even if that means calling Tetris violent.