Ouch, I played that scene, I think it can be considered 'artistic' in its own way, and it definitely contributes to the story, besides since when is it marketed to minors? do they say "OOH KIDS! BUY THIS!!" or is it marketed as an RPG game which contains scenes of graphic violence and semi graphic nudity?

what rating is this game? its an M by ESRB, and an 18 by PEGI.
i think that this article is irrelevant. this game isn't marketed at minors, and any responsible parent would consider carefully before letting a child play this game.

Oh great. Another moron who fails to read the ESRB rating. Mass Effect is rated M, and any parent who buys this for their under 17 kid is clearly fucked in the head, same as if they bought GTA, Halo, Gears of War, Bioshock, etc.

I can't even consider that partial nudity! You can't even tell what you're supposed to be seeing here.

You want gratuitous sex in a video game? Play your cards right in Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecies for you Yanks) and you get two or three sex scenes, including one that you use the controller in. Of course, I think it was cut in the American version but still, this is like the foreplay to that scene.

I was waiting for the sex to start. There was no real nudity!

*what was going through the mind of the author of this misinformed article at the time*

"this game is bad, I can't play it right, I must be doing something wrong OHMYGODBLUEBOOBIES! I can get them in trouble for this, that will show bioware for making games that I suck on!"

or not...

I can see plenty of "implied", but no explicit there.

That was explicitly unsexy. Every movement just looked awkward, and it looks like careful pains were taken to make it as demure as possible for such a scene.

Clearly marketed to minors?
1) ESRB rating
2) The word "game" does not exclusively mean "for children". You wouldn't get that stupid over the use of the word in reference to gambling, nor if "drinking games" were mentioned, so why here? Grow up.

Blood, Language,
Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes,
Violence

" The game is “clearly marketed to minors,” Cathy Ruse, a lawyer and senior fellow for legal studies at the Family Research Council, told Cybercast News Service.

“There are cultural implications for feeding porn to kids in this way,” …Ruse said."

Its being marketed to minors? Oh yeah, every video is marketed to minors because video games are for kids. Duhhh. *Rolls eyes*

"Most states have what’s called ‘Harmful to Minors’ laws on the books that say that selling sexual material that a jury would deem ‘patently offensive to minors, which lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific value.’ … might be prosecutable."

I don't think a minor can buy Mass Effect.


And yeah, that video clip is something that should be expected from a game that is rated "M". Sorry, but when I hear\see "Rated M for mature" how is it marketed towards minors? If the parents are going to let a game like this into their house, that's their own problem. End of story.

It's just too bad that almost everything they said is a complete lie. There is no "full digital nudity". The most you see is a bare ass and that's it. It shows nothing else at all, no breasts or genitalia. So they're lying out of their asses.

Also "clearly marketed to children"? What the hell? The person make these claims seriously needs a punch in the mouth for just being lying piece of garbage.

It would be nice if these assholes with the word "research" in their group's name would actually do, you know, research.

@Ken

I let my 13-year-old play *selected* M-rated games. I'm fucked in the head? I've raised the kid, I know the kid, and I understand what he can handle and what he can't (we've watched films like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" together). The rating system by the ESRB is a *guideline* and particularly useful for non-gaming parents. For those of us who DO game, however, it's just a starting point. Why is the game rated M? For shooting zombies in the head or electrocuting genetically mutated crazies? Since there are no zombies, and he's never likely to be able to electrocute anyone (crazy or not) by merely pointing his hand at them, and he realizes this, I don't think I've got a whole lot to worry about. Perhaps I should make him drop his marital arts class as well? This is a kid who let himself get get "shot" during a game of laser tag so he could go help a 6-year-old pick up a handful of tokens he'd dropped and reads to his baby brother every day.

I'm not being defensive, just making a point. Because my young son plays the occasional M-rated game doesn't make me a bad parent any more than it turns him into a violence-prone degenerate.

Oh, and as for the clip - the damn thing is so dark you can barely see what's going on. Of course, this is out of context too - I'm sure if you know the story, you know what's going on. Would I let him play Mass Effect? No, if for no other reason than we don't have a 360. If we did, though, I'd ask his 25-year-old brother if HE thought it was appropriate (and he's often more strict than I am about these things - he advised me to wait till the kid is at least 14 before I let him watch "Akira.").

Meh.

Bob Waliszewki is a reviewer from PluggedInOnline, which GP does report as a media branch of Focus On the Family, which is an -extremely- right wing political/religious organization that frequently attacks homosexuals and whatever political opponents they have. James Dobson (the head of Focus) makes Rupert Murdoch seem progressive.

The fact this article quotes him shows how off base or fanatical he is. Just look at www.pluggedinonline.com and see how they review movies, music, and games. They even had an article once that was titled "Halo 2: Save the world; lose your soul." The actual article wasn't as crazy as the title implies, but that's the public base they appeal to. Also, their music reviews can be borderline racist when they review rap (in the fact it seems the reviewer is more vitriolic than when he reviews Manson), and in movies anything morally short of veggietales is deemed unacceptable.

Sorry, I'll stop ranting about this particular organization. It just incensed me when I read the name as some sort of moral authority. I'll just end with this: Post-9/11, they still have more anti homosexual articles than terrorist ones.

These morons are being led by Brent Bozell, a man who feels the need to lie and spread FUD to push his social/religious views on us. We all know the PTC is like this, as are any other organization he runs.

And I've seen worse in a Bond movie. But right, Bond blasts those evil atheist commies. My mistake.

wow. lie after lie after lie after lie, mixed in with a good dose of over-exaggeration, of course. when are these idiots going to start following the values they preach at the top of their lungs so very often and actually start telling the TRUTH?

How I wish I lived in a state so I could email this poory informed indivdual of ALL of his errors and to tell him to check his "experts" carefully since anyone who's seen the preview knows its choice-based and NOT SUITED FOR KIDS ("oh please anybody save us", "ignore it") even never playing Mass effect I can tell in the case of this clip only, there's no "explict" nudity "strongly implied" yes, but not explict its not even there for longer than second. Also where does this go get off saying that homosexuality is bad or you have to be married for sex I don't care if your the most chrsitain person on the planet in an article keep your damn opinions to yourself I accept heteros have sex before marriage and if acceptance or tolerance of "evil" is "evil" god is "evil" because of Job "god" sat back and watched the devil toutre his most devote worshipper and DID NOTHING thats tolerance, therefore "evil". Well at least I got a good humor piece and if this goes anywhere, and it likely won't" the ESRB and company did what they had to its the retailers who chose to sell it to a minor, assuming there was such a case, in the first place making the burden of blame fall on that retailer rather than the game company.

I will be satified if:

a) Bioware sue them for libel

b) they sure bioware for the nudity, which is practically an unwinable case (the scene can easily be seen as artistic)

"As part of that story, the playable character can become romantically involved with a woman, if playing as the default male character; a man, if playing as a woman; and an alien that looks and talks like a woman, for any play-through."

They should spend less time watching FULL DIGITAL PORN and more time learning to write properly.

M rated game... marketed towards children. What's next, shit you see on prime-time TV will be considered porn when it's in a Video Game? Shit...

This reminds me of a book I read called 'The rise of political lying' which deals with the "exponential rise of political falsehood during the Major and Blair governments".
In one chapter he talks about the christian right and it's unlikely marriage with postmodernism; the emphasis on creating a 'narrative' than actual truth.

Really, anyone here who is arguing that the facts are wrong is missing the point...
It's not about the truth, it's about the story. It could be an innocent disney game that supposedly had full-frontal nudity, it doesn't matter. It's all about constructing the reality they want to construct.

It reminds me of that famous quote from one of Bush's aides:
"[you're] in what we call the reality-based community... we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

It's not even homosexual! The blue Asari are a Monogender race, and your only other option for the romantic subplot is someone of your gender.

Though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they learn that fact and try to pass it off as inter-species sex instead...

"Mass Effect teaches children to have sex with bears!"

This is rated M. M means mature. Mature means 17+ or older to buy. HOW THE HELL DOES AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD GET THIS AS A KIDS GAME? HOW. THE. HELL!!!

How is that graphic there wasn't even any side-boob.

Don't let this fool you, guys. This is just a part of the Religious Right (I include Focus on the Family in that group) playbook. First movement is to make a sensationalistic story, such as "sex" in video games. Second movement is to declare it a threat to our children, such as "marketed at children." Third is to invite people to sign up for their web feeds, e-mail newsletters, etc. to keep informed on this and other topics. Fourth is to spam their e-mail address asking for donations over and over and over again "to protect America and children everywhere."

Seriously, this is the exact same thing that the Religious Right did with homosexuality. It's different, thus is must be wrong, cherry pick six verses from scripture that might refer to homosexuality, ignoring the rest, and declare homosexuality a threat and if you really want to stop it you'll tithe half your income to our organization.

Because James Dobson really needs a new boat. That's what I got out of the article. You guys?

at the end of the day, people lose count of how many stories they hear about morally-corrupt games. and they also lose count of how many proved to be storms-in-a-teacup. and that means their winning (lies or otherwise)

you can't fight that by arguing over the details.
the industry needs to come up with it's own stories to feed the public :)

Another losing battle has begun.

@steven
"the industry needs to come up with it’s own stories to feed the public "

You mean retort from the industry bigwigs, preferably with cold, hard facts?

Somehow, I think the best way to damage their case is to expose the other controversies people like these have probably earned outside their misguided critique of gaming.

Mudslinging, if you will.

@twin-skies
i dunno.
i don't have the answers.
People need to be made more media- and techno-literate

short of some sort of 'super-size me' about claims against videogames and their truth i can't see how to really convince public opinion, such is the power of the whole moral-decline 'narrative'. especially when the right controls a majority of the "authoritative" channels.
i don't think mudslinging is the answer.

maybe we should just take up arms. :)

(i mean we've all had enough training for it by playing doom haven't we? JT says so.)

"Unfortunately, Mass Effect… even goes so far as to allow homosexuality to be on par with heterosexuality and heterosexuality outside of its proper context of marriage."

Nothing illegal about that. I can see why people would be upset about this, but I don't see it holding any water in court.

“Unfortunately, Mass Effect… even goes so far as to allow homosexuality to be on par with heterosexuality and heterosexuality outside of its proper context of marriage.”

They forgot to mention that by allowing you to play as a character of the opposite sex the game is promoting transexuality, possibly the ultimate perversion of the human form :) and what about the whole inter-species alien sex? there's whole new levels of untapped moral outrage right there...

You know I'm quite sick of people stating "Clearly marketed to children" without even attempting to back it up with any evidence. I suppose they are just banking on the fact that soccer moms don't want to be informed, but frightened.

@Bill

Oh, my bad I missed that last part. :P

You'll see racier on TV-14 shows and PG-13 movies.

"Clearly marketed to minors?"
"Full digital nudity?"

Um.... no??

@Bill, great letter, well spoken!

They have to be crazy. This is the love scene from Top Gun practically, and I saw that when I was ten for goodness sake.

Problem is that these ignorant fools still see video games as the Atari machines in the local pizza shop, or worse yet that they are all just Super Mario Brothers on the NES.

As for being marketed to children... Let's see, the commercial that they ran before the release had Commander Shepard deciding whether or not to help the planet under attack from the Geth, but ended up denying the help request and doing a hard drop onto a hot LZ on another planet invaded by the Geth.

Ok, saying that is marketed to children is like saying the beach landings on Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan is marketed to children, or like saying the scenes of combat from Blackhawk Down is marketed to kids. Almost all of us are smart enough to say "You're kidding right?", but some of these people refuse to actually think for themselves and not look past the 'good-facts' they are given instead of the [b]real facts[/b] of the matter.

@Cauldrath

Actually, you don't have to have relations with the Asari Consort at all. It's rather easy to, unless you play through as Renegade then your choices basically cause it to happen.

I wonder how they're going to prove all of this. I wonder what their game plan is.

1. Bioware is located in Canada. The most Cathy Ruse and her group can do is push for boycott or fight to have the game banned from the states. i may be missing something here so please feel free to correct me on this one.

2. Prove that the game has explicitly graphic sexual intercourse. Of course, they're going to have to show the judge the clip that we can all see on youtube. hm...

3. Prove that this game is being marketed towards minors.

4. Prove that the scene lacks artistic/literal/political/scientific value.

Honestly, I don't see how they're going to win this one. I don't even know why they trying to win a case as difficult as this. We can defend this game in court better than they can attack it. It's disturbing how some adults think that they know everything there is to know about a game based on that one scene...

If anything, the article should have been more clear on how Cathy Ruse came to the conclusion that this game was being marketed towards minors and whether or not if they actually played the game fully.

Acctualy, I would say that Mass Effect markets itself to minors with the Sex scene in a "forbiden fruit" effect, because if they didn't the kids might see threw all the shiny things and bloom and see how meh the actual gameplay is.

Letter to the Editor _ Sex in Video Game Makes Waves Through Industry
-------------------
Dear Sirs,

Let me preface this by saying that I am 37, a parent, hold a full-time job and play video games when I have spare time.

While I have not yet played Mass Effect, I did watch the video of the supposed "graphic sex" and I honestly have to wonder if any of you have.
There was no "full digital nudity". I didn't see anything in that scene that I haven't seen on television on, say, Law & Order. The scene lasts under a minute, no frontal nudity was shown and it's so dark you can hardly see anything anyway.

More importantly- the game is rated M and is clearly labeled on the box as "Mature" and "17+". I, as a tax-paying, voting adult, would like to express how tired I am of politicians and watchdog agencies screaming about M rated games being marketed to kids without a shred of evidence or a single example given to back up that claim. How is it being marketed expressly to children? Where? When? How? Or do all anti-game activists assume that video games are only played by children and therefore are all automatically being marketed to children?

You may not have noticed- there's a war going on out there. People are starving. Children die because of lack of medical care. The welfare system is a mess, social security is in trouble... there is hardly a lack of real issues to focus on. Can we possibly turn our attention to some of those actual issues rather than inventing new ones?

*signed my real name to the letter, but I'm not copying it here because it pisses J.T. off*

Well... to be fair... this is the same country that blew their tops over Janet Jackson's nipple.

I love it when idiots try to trump up a non-existent issue.
It's so cute.

you guys are dumb, homosexuals are here to stay.

to be fair, this isn't a grossly anti video game comment from these people, in other words they would be just as appalled at the scene in a movie as well (as is evident if you look at some of their movie reviews in the link that Myrpok provided)

they are just a strongly Christian group that objects to pretty much every thing (their comments that Spirited Away is inappropriate due to it's strong ties in eastern spirituality had me chuckling)

in otherwords, while the article is filled with lies and gross exaggerations the group is not really anti video game, they are anti all media, you have to at least give them credit for consistency

"(their comments that Spirited Away is inappropriate due to it’s strong ties in eastern spirituality had me chuckling)"

Can you link this story? I tried searching their site, but it is a total cluster bomb of misorganization and I couldn't find it. Thanks.

You're... you're kidding right? Fumbling around in the dark is hardcore pornography?

The sex scene in Golgo 13 (NES) was more explicit than this.

I guess people assume Rated M means minors now.......

Dear Conservative Liar

Thanks for the free marketing pamphlet for our M rated game.

While you're at it, please also make advertisements Jade Empire and Knights of the Old republic, which also featured same sex relationships - a human rights achievement we in Canada are very proud of.

BioWare.

Apparently Ruse has never seen a Bond film. The nudity in that clip is the same as the kind you see in a PG-13 film. I guess Ruse thought PG stood for 'Possible genetalia' and 13 meant the size of the woman's- GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY!

1. How is this game clearly marketed to minors? It has an M rating (15 in the UK).

2. How can that be even considered porn, let alone explicitly graphic?

3. How is homosexual sex worse than heterosexual sex? sounds a bit homophobic to me.

are you dumb or you don't understand the RATINGS of the game?!?!?! If your 11 kid buys this game, who's fault is it?!?!? Ever asked why the game has ever been sold to a kid, even its strictly says that are only M rated?. Ask the person which sold it to.


It'i you parents who produce next-gen of terrorist kids, because you don't fuc**** know how to properly raise them. You leave them be so, you buy them guns or even beat them at home. And when they get laid at their age of 13 you cry like a baby, because they didn't use condom? When did you sit down with kids and talk to them about sex, how its important in our life and how the fu** you don't blame TV programs , that have 5000x times more violence and sex.

Clearly your religious ideas are acts of terrorism, so don't blame others for your actions!

If that's his idea of “explicitly graphic sexual intercourse", I'd really, really hate to have his kind of love life...

(although any kind of love life would be an improvement for me...*ahem*)

Dear Cathy Ruse:

For your complete and utterly ridiculous ignorance, I suggest you be quiet, take a look at the facts, and go back to whatever decrepit hole you came out of.


1. This game is rated MATURE. not TEEN, not EVERYONE, MATURE. that means if your not 17 your NOT getting this game.

2. The scene in question is not pornography to such a point it makes me wonder do you get off when a gentleman asks you to dance or something of that level.

3. How can it be marketed to kids when the commercials only come on at night.

4. How can you say this lacks artistic value when it`s obvious just how much work went into it. you can`t

Ugh, my head hurts...

Uggghhhhh... *moans* I slammed my head on the desk every time I came across bullshit in this article.

1. The game is “clearly marketed to minors”

Ah yes, the first *facedesk* moment. I wonder where people get this idea from, that games like this is marketed towards children. Maybe it's the fact that these people are still in the 80's where the majority of gamers were probably around 10 years old. Ah, too bad times have changed and the average gamer is much...much older now...

Nevertheless, I have never seen a freakin' ad directed towards children. Y'know like marketing strategies used by tobacco companies to attract children...

“There are cultural implications for feeding porn to kids in this way”

The second facedesk. Psh, The bloody internet feeds porn to children much easier than a game.

...And that's for parents who doesn't use any sort of filtering system on their computer.

"This storyline culminates in a cutscene in which the characters copulate in full digital nudity"

Third facedesk moment. It's funny when they say it, they almost make it sound like a porno flick when the most graphic thing seen was an ass... [Personal opinion warning] Seriously, what is up with people worrying about nudity anyway, it IS our natural bodies after all, I see no big deal. Almost like the same thing with the word "fuck" why is that word really bad? But I digress...

"Unfortunately, Mass Effect… even goes so far as to allow homosexuality to be on par with heterosexuality and heterosexuality outside of its proper context of marriage."

A really hard, fourth facedesk...

What the hell? This sounds so anti-gay right here. I'm personally 98% straight (Hm? The other two percent? Well, everyone has a bit of gay in them, don't deny it) but I am honestly of people who directly/indirectly bash on people just because they like those of the same gender. Grow up...

"Most states have ... ‘Harmful to Minors’ laws ... that say that selling sexual material that a jury would deem ‘patently offensive to minors, which lacks literary, artistic, political or scientific value.’ … might be prosecutable."

"We need state and local prosecutors with spines and backbones to prosecute some of these companies that are violating the law."

Oh my head hurts...

Honestly...I would love to know what do snotty little kids have to do with this. Mass Effect is not being marketed towards children, it's a game for people who are 17+... people like ME. Prosecute who? Bioware? Retailers? Psh, piss off... There's no marketing campaings going around telling children to buy the game. It's not like the world is going to end because 12 year old Timmy saw some digital ass for 2 seconds.

Hell, it's not even hardcore sex. Some "porn" that was. I wasn't the least bit aroused. Come back to me when some porn company is going around selling their wares to children.






*blood trickles down forehead*

Oh shit...

Full graphic nudity? I just got this game, I'm glad I have something rewarding to work towards.

Also, I'm glad my work blocked the movie, I'm trying to avoid spoilers. Going Infiltrator/Paragon for my first play through.

I would like to question the "clearly marketted towards minors." It's all well and good to make that claim... but can he back it up with anything. Why does he feel that the game was marketted to minors?

If you look at it one way, you could say the magazine Jugs is clearly marketted to hungry toddlers.

wow...everyone's trying to make a name against video games these days. well i'm of the opinion, that your opinion just doesn't matter. Mass Effect ftw! lol

Anybody want me to mock them to their face (or over the phone) on a nationally syndicated radio show for a bit? They seem desperate for attention (judging by their PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MEDIA OH GOD CLICK HERE PLEASE link at the bottom of the article), and I'll make sure to not give them the benefit of ID'ing their group.

Why did they lie? I wanted to see the pussy!

@Gryphon
Proves them right how? This isn't about being right or wrong, this is about making a big enough ass of myself to drag them down to my level. You lead them in to make the most insane anti-whatever comments or otherwise make them look even more like the clowns they are then they can by their own hand.
They won't succeed or lose because of my existence, but those who know better can still laugh at them more. And we all win for that.

This is just another case of people with way too much time on their hands. Why don't we try and feed the hungry? Or try ending wars or heck even stop polluting our planet. If the game says rated "M" for mature, that doesn't mean for minors. Get a life!!

It is a shame to see someone try to ruin the image of Mass Effect. It is truly an amazing game.

dude, most games are rated m for what you CAN do, but in the truth most people who play those games don't actually do that kind of thing. in gta you can kill pedestrians, but its not required.

secondly, how the hell do we know if that alien is female?

Heres the thing, fantastical anti-video game lawyers. Mass Effect was rated by this little board call the ESRB. They generally rate and rank and give an age label to every commercial video game released. Now, this board happened to give Mass Effect an M rating; for ages 17 and up.

Now to say that the game is marketed to minors is stupid. I've seen the ads, and they are genralized and toned-back, but clearly not for any specific age-range. You can't complain in any fashon about this game's single sex scene, be it hetero or homosexual, because the game is clearly rated for the mature crowd, and therefore should not be in the hands of minors in the first place.

And why focus on Mass Effect in the first place? Plenty of M or even less rated games have had sexual content, even going as far as to have a "graphic" sex scene. The game Mafia comes to mind, with a sex scene almost exactly like that of Mass Effect. There is some nudity, yes, and a bed; but the actual intercourse is only implied, or at most subtly touched upon.

If we aren't allowed to have any sex in any video game, even if the game is rated appropriately, then why not just go ahead and mandate some law to prevent it? Oh wait, I know! Because that would make no sense. Books, TV shows, and Movies are allowed sexual content; so why not video games? The scene in question takes place in a cutscene only; it isn't as if you control the character during the process, so how is it any different from a movie? Leave games alone, FFS...

i have nothing against sexuality. without it, none of us would be here.

Bear in mind that "nudity" pretty much means anything less than a burqa to the loony Family Research Council types. As such, a blue, alien butt cheek kind of is "full digital nudity" to them.

own , not won srry

I've seen more explicit sexual content in Disney films.