February 14, 2008
There are a couple of rather bizarre retailer stories floating around the web.Neither is true.
Next Generation has already debunked a story (we saw it at dbtechno, but it may have originated elsewhere) which maintained that Target was pulling Mass Effect over last month's ridiculous porn allegations.
There's also a story out there claiming that Wal-Mart will be shrouding M-rated games in a black cover. The original story is from Scrape TV, a faux news site. However, it's been repeated in some legit sites and a GP reader even mentioned it in our forums.
GP heard from a game-savvy Wal-Mart exec Tuesday night who denied any knowledge of such a plan.
Comments
Screw Wal Mart
if he has not heard of such a plan it must not be true then.
Mass Effect was not and only Fox News and other idiots thought it was.
The Wal-mart thing sounded fishy from the start. What is there to cover up? They put covers on porn because the covers are erotic. There is not a single game cover that any reasonable person would find erotic or offensive (those are subjective of course. A good graphics designer may find some to be extremely offensive. But that certainly is not the norm.)
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
Do you mean this pic for resistance - http://uk.gizmodo.com/resistance-fall-of-man1.jpg?
If so you probably have a more active imagination than your kid! I seem to recall a PG rated star wars film having a similar scene...
I would take a step back and relax for a minute.
I can clearly remember when I was a really young kid wandering around the video rental store after carefully choosing my own nintendo selection, just waiting for my parents to decide what they wanted. I distinctly remember getting the willies whenever I perused the horror movie section and saw all the covers with zombies and axe wielding psychos. I also remember the strange feelings I would get when I would see the teen comedy movie covers with the bikini girls on them.
I assure you, I wasn't scarred for life. Now I'm not saying that you should go out and buy your kid an unrated copy of saw and a porno. Far from it--kids being exposed to such content in small doses in a safe environment is a healthy way for them to learn on their own and develop as a person. Its certainly better than living under a delusion that sex and violence don't exist until they turn 18.
I'm really getting tired of the "how am I supposed to protect my children / what am I supposed to tell my children?" argument. They're 4, you're 40, figure it out.
You mena this cover of Kane and Lynch. I don't see a woman anywhere on this thing. If you could point it out I would be much abliged.
That's because those legit sites picked up the story from the faux site and started repeating it without bothering to verify the authenticity of the story. Gee, weren't gamers the world over raking Cooper Lawrence over the coals for doing basically the same thing a few weeks back? Pot, meet kettle, anyone?
Of course let's be really honest. No unions means no massive amount (by number of employees who would be affected) of dues being skimmed off workers' income and going into PAC funds that typically only go to support political points of view like those held by Tye the Czar.
As far as the rumor goes, it's ridculious anyway, Wal-mart stand on the video games is rather clear: Don't sell AO-Rated Games, don't sell M-rated games to people under 17. And it does happen that way because I've done it at work many times before and denied sales for the same reason. The thing is changes like covering in the rumor would take so much time and money to begin doing in all stores, the funny thing is Wal-mart won't change alot of things unless there is a huge reason for doing so.
"All Rights Reserved. All images Copyright © original owners. If you are reading this you probably have too much time on your hands. Go outside, get some exercise. Surely you have better things to do with your life."
Oh and they also have news coverage of a Readers Strike.
Good to know Wal-Mart hasn't gone completely crazy yet, although they are still completely evil.
My issue is that a parent who is very protective of their child can't bring their kid in without exposing them to things that, if in a game, would recieve an M rating. So, if the image in a game can recieve a higher rating, then how can a parent feel secure bringing their child into the store if the advertising is as graphic as some of the games they would not let their child play. I hope this is more clear than my statement earlier.
I'll try to find a photo example. Thanks