Saving the princess? War games? Medieval fantasy worlds? They’re all classic video game archetypes. And studio Titan Games is about to bring them all together, in an upcoming multiplayer game for the Playstation 3.
In Fat Princess, the game starts with two opposing teams (up to 16 per side), each with the other’s princess held captive. The object is to reach the other castle and retrieve the princess, in a ‘capture the flag’ style face-off. But there’s a twist, which lends the game its title. In order to make the captured damsel-in-distress more difficult to carry, she must be fed cake until she’s morbidly obese.
Combat will figure into the game as well. Team members consist of classic fantasy characters such as swordsmen, archers, priests and wizards, clashing with the other side’s units in bloody battles. But fighting has to be balanced with feeding the princess, because she will lose weight if she isn’t stuffed regularly.
A game such as this one has naturally caught the attention of many people, and some are not pleased. Over at the blog Feminist Gamers, a scathing observation of the game’s core mechanic was posted. Contributor Mighty Ponygirl had this to say:
Instead of running out into the forest to find cake to fatten up the princess with, why not go out and find gold (which is a lot heavier than cake) to stuff into a treasure chest. The more gold in the chest, the heavier it would be, and the harder it would be to carry.
Oh, but that’s not as “cute” as cake and fat chicks. Right.
The game will be available on Sony’s Playstation Store service and is expected to be released sometime in 2009. The question of whether some details will be tweaked before then is yet to be answered.
Quad Says: Hey, I’m all for new and innovative ideas. It’s one of the strongest legs the video game industry has to stand on. That said, blatantly making fun of obesity is rather childish. And as far as the question of sexism is concerned, I am feeling some of the same vibes I did when this game came out.
This in from Gamepolitics. The bad boys at Rockstar have crafted a product sure to turn a few heads, particularly of those in the anti-game league. It’s not a sequel to Bully or another hidden sex minigame, but it is a bloodstained baseball bat. With the Grand Theft Auto IV logo on it.
Honestly, I’m not sure what to think of this, whether to call it a glorification of baseball bat murderers, or say it’s a sick (but kind of cute) joke. All I know is that a bloodstained GTAIV bat now exists… and I kind of want one.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words are just funny.
So when Glenn Beck, a conservative talking head on CNN Headline News, called video game bloggers “losers” because they had the gall (the gall I say!) to write mean things about him, I could only chuckle. Then I ran to my blog like the shut-in moron I am to write up a post. Shame on me! How lame can you get?
“Whatever happened to Pong?” Mr. Beck asked last week, as he was discussing the newly-released Grand Theft Auto IV. He expressed concern over the game’s violent nature. He talked about the possibility of your 12-year-old picking up a hooker, having sex with her, and then beating her to death with a baseball bat; yes, he commented on the hooker thing, because no one else ever has. Then he had the president of the Parent’s Television Council show up to discuss the moral implications.
Gaming wastoids were naturally incensed by Mr. Beck’s one-sided piece, and took to their blogs in protest. Mr. Beck apparently read some of these responses and was not pleased. So in the middle of an interview with Dr. Cheryl Olson, (co-author of the book Grand Theft Childhood) he casually slipped in “I could care less” and that “video game bloggers, they’re losers.”
Now that’s just being unfair, Mr. Beck. I consider myself a video game blogger (on occasions when I update with something video-game related) and I’ve never said anything mean about you. In fact, I’d never even heard of you or your show until your GTAIV rant last week. I must’ve been busy trying to steal the train in San Andreas or kill the pig in Manhunt during your career. Oh, and graduating from college, can’t forget that.
I’ve always been taught that when someone calls you names, the natural thing to do is turn the other cheek and move on with your life. Mr. Beck’s retort here harkens back to the days of kindergarten verbal exchanges. Doesn’t he realize that by insulting gamers, he’s only encouraging more posts about him in the future? Maybe a comment like this will become a weekly feature on his show now. But unless Gamepolitics reports on it, I likely won’t see it. I’ll be too preoccupied with driving Madd Dogg’s manager into the ocean. Because I’m a loser, you see.
It seems like only last week that the hotly anticipated Bully finally arrived, easily alluding attempts to get it banned or declared a ‘public nuisance’. Review scores were positive, and gamers the world over couldn’t get enough of rough (but likable) Jimmy Hopkins and his schoolyard misadventures. Although the game was shorter and easier compared to the series that popularized its engine, it was a wonderful and nostalgic experience.
Today, Rockstar released a revised version for the Xbox 360 and Wii consoles. Bully: Scholarship Edition features four new classes, eight more missions, extra items, two player mini-games, and online multiplayer. For those who bought the original PS2 edition, that’s more than enough bonus content to justify repurchase.
Unfortunately, history repeats itself with the frequency that the years pass. Once again, Bully’s release was followed by controversy. According to The Globe and Mail, a coalition known as the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (representing eight teachers unions in several countries) is calling for the game to be banned.
“We’re asking retailers to be responsible,” Emily Noble, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, said Monday. “Yes, they can sell it and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?”
[...]
“What it does is it encourages kids to target other kids, to be a bully with other kids. This doesn’t help us as teachers in the work that we’re doing at school. It also targets teachers at the school as well,” Ms. Noble said.
You’d think that the amount of time since Bully was released would’ve been long enough for the CTF to, you know, actually play the game. The counterargument– that you really assume the role of an underdog who brings down cliques that are dominating the weaker students– has been established hundreds of times by now. Bully’s content is on par with a PG-13 movie, and its violence as brutal as River City Ransom.
If Sierra’s entire AGI library is re-released, maybe the CTF can rail against Leisure Suit Larry. Or hey, I hear Golgo 13 on the NES is pretty racy.
Like a minor fender-bender acknowledged as we pass on the highway, ‘Manhunt 2′ is a issue that should have exited our minds a quarter mile down the road. The debate is too old to be worth continuing. Most critics agree that it’s pretty ‘meh’ as far as game quality is concerned, and it hasn’t brought anything particularly innovative or inspiring to the table (other than slaughtering people with your Wiimote.)
Ironically, the only reason it remains in the public eye is because of the politicians, angry media watchdog groups, and washed-up moral crusaders–the same people who are trying like mad to remove it from store shelves. By continuing to cry “for the CHILDREN!”, throw tantrums, and issue press releases, they’re generating more curiosity in the game. Curiosity that leads to sales.
Take this story for instance. Gamepolitics reported this morning that Ted Baehr, a Christian media critic, recently told the Washington Times that ‘Manhunt 2′ should have its ‘AO’ rating restored. Calling it a first-person shooter(!) where the goal is to kill innocent victims(!?), he claimed that “it teaches susceptible children to commit sadistic violence.” Because video games are solely for children. Right.
Never mind that he got all his facts from his paranoid next door neighbor, or that nobody cares about online petitions. Isn’t it a little late to be crying foul about ‘Manhunt 2′? The game came out half a month ago, and has been quickly fading into obscurity ever since. Like others, Mr. Baehr continues to promote and advertise it. It’s a done deal. Just let it go.
Actually, you know what? I’m going to do these watchdog groups a favor now, by offering a (very small) contribution to their anti-’Manhunt 2′ campaign. I won’t talk about the game anymore. That’s all I have to do. By not posting anything ‘Manhunt 2′ related after this, I will be putting a tiny offering in their nanny-state-media-control-goal collection plate. And since I don’t update much, the front page was cluttered with news about it anyway.
Learn from my example, Christian Film & Television Commission. If you and the other watchdog groups would shut up about ‘Manhunt 2′, you’d actually be getting exactly what you wanted.
If you’ve been following the “Manhunt 2″ saga since the beginning, you know that the road to the game’s release has been considerably less than smooth.
Back in June, Rockstar’s controversial stealth/horror sequel got its kneecaps broken and its face pushed into a hot stove, when the ESRB rated it ‘Adults Only’ and the British Board of Film Classification refused to rate it. An AO rating in the United States means no major retailer will carry the game, and The Big Three (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) won’t license it for play on their systems. In the UK, if the BBFC refuses to rate a game it’s effectively banned, since authorities have control over what gets released and rely on the board’s advice.
In response to this brutal stabbing, Rockstar edited “Manhunt 2″ and the ESRB re-rated it “M”. The editing consisted of blurring out or darkening the worst executions, and outright removing a castration sequence. Although it was now cleared for release in retail stores, a lot of gamers were not happy with the censoring. A poll on Gamepolitics showed that respondents weren’t going to buy the new version. Obviously the setback was considerable, but whether “MH2″ would escape Leatherface’s chainsaw in the UK was, at that point, undetermined.
Even with all the crazy censoring that effectively shoved a handful of broken glass into “Manhunt 2’s” festering wounds, it will still be illegal in the UK. Why? Here’s the official statement:
“We recognise that the distributor has made changes to the game, but we do not consider that these go far enough to address our concerns about the original version. The impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the gameplay, is clearly insufficient. There has been a reduction in the visual detail in some of the ‘execution kills’, but in others they retain their original visceral and casually sadistic nature.”
Rockstar responded with a statement shortly after the announcement, stating that it would also be appealing this decision, and that the extra changes it was requested to make were “unacceptable.” The statement is as follows, “We are continuing to appeal the BBFC’s decision to deny the edited version of Manhunt 2 an 18 certificate and thereby ban its release in the United Kingdom.”
The M rated version of “Manhunt 2″ hits US shelves on October 31st, the perfect Halloween gift for the insane asylum escapee in your family.
After only two months of controversy and uncertainty over its fate, “Manhunt 2″ has been reevaluated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and given a new “Mature” (M) rating. If you’ll recall, the game faced a firing squad and was thought to have had its corpse devoured by cannibals back in June, when the ESRB slapped it with a garroting “Adults Only” (AO) marker. That rating meant all major retailers would refuse to carry it and The Big Three wouldn’t license it for play on their consoles. The release date was pushed back to sometime in 2008.
With the new rating, “Manhunt 2″ is now set for release on October 31, 2007. That’s Halloween, for those of you who didn’t know. Although it’s cleared for distribution in the US, there’s still no word on whether it will escape the breaking wheel in the UK. Take-Two Interactive is currently appealing the BBFC’s decision not to rate the game.
There’s one question I’ve been turning over in my mind since this story broke: is the objectionable content truly gone? Or did Take-Two/Rockstar simply stow it away inside the code? We all know their track record of not being honest about these things, and it certainly didn’t take them long to do that trimming.
Last December, things were relatively quiet here at Quad’s Corner (then called “World 7″). I had just set up the blog a couple of months earlier, and wasn’t really sure what to do with it. On a whim, 
Well. That didn’t take long.