Game Biz Guru Talks GTA IV & the Politics of Violent Games

Game Biz Guru Talks GTA IV & the Politics of Violent Games

April 25, 2008
Deadline Hollywood Daily has posted detailed comments about GTA IV from video game IP expert Keith Boesky, who sees the game as a cultural milestone:
GTA is violent, but like the movies, the violence is a reflection of our time... The game is a fantasy, it is ok to pretend...

Games are constantly being attacked for sex and violence - even though we have none of the first, and strictly control the second. Politicians, media, parents and crazy lawyers all attack the industry with a broad brush, sweeping kids together with adults... The industry is diverse enough to accommodate Mario and [Metal Gear Solid's] Snake Plisken but the media and politicians still portray our market as one for children...  

I am not delusional. I know there are ultra violent games out there. I played the snuff film called Manhunt and saw the... scene from Postal where the player lights someone on fire and pees on them, but these games just don't sell in volume... Like any other media, violence alone will not sell games. The game must be good...

Comments

Snake used Snake Plisken as a codename in Metal Gear Solid 2. The Snake character was already based off Snake Plisken from Escape from New York (Hideo Kojima said it himself). This was mostly just an added reference. As for what the guy said, I agree.
Ok, Ignoring the, heinous mistake [we never learn Snake's real name and the Snake he mentioned is in Escape from LA] I agree wholeheartedly.
"Like any other media, violence alone will not sell games. The game must be good…"

Well put.
@ kurisu7885

Yeah, but admit it, Snake Pliskin is cooler. Even when he successfully escapes from both New York and LA and pilots boats under the assumed name Captain Ron he's sweet.
Ahh, common sense... smells like... research. Oh how good research can be.
@Dick Ward

Agreed, he was still damned cool.
I'll take Snake Pliskin over MGS Snake any day. The movie producers haven't been dumb enough yet to show a geriatric Snake Pliskin killing people with old person smell.
...And now I have to watch Escape from LA again. Way to go, Keith.
I agree with kurisu7885 the writer really does not know that there is no real last name for Snake. I ignore the fact because in MGS2 he said during his first meeting with Raiden that is name was Plisken. And I agree with the writer, you can have the worst of the worst you can rape people and kill cops for points (see what I did there?) but if the game is crap no one is going to play them. For example Manhunt 2. When that game came out it was targeted by smart people acting dumb and when the reviews came in it was crap. One month later no one cared. Not even the Smart people acting dumb. The reason why people get all up in arms in GTA because they are great games. I can see that this game is going to be blame for something stupid in the next three to six months.
@jesse

They didn't even mention 25 to Life[does anyone even remember it now?], all that kept it out of the bargain bin was the controversy.
Well, Kojima actually based Solid Snake on Snake Plisken from the "Escape From" movies, so I guess it's not too big of a mistake. Especially since, as was mentioned, as a joke Kojima wrote to have Snake tell Raiden in MGS2 to call him Plisken before Raiden figured out he was Snake.
[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDeadline Hollywood Daily has detailed comments about GTA IV from video game IP expert Keith Boesky, who sees the game as a cultural milestone: GTA is violent, but like the movies, the violence is a reflection of our time… The game is a fantasy, it is ok to pretend… [...]
Ok ok, I get it. Damn, I guess I made it obvious, I never got to play the second one >.
Ok, I'm sorry but I can't help but be a geek here and point out the proper spelling of the character's name is "Snake Plissken" just so you know. Escape from New York is one of my favorite movies too and I can't help but be irked seeing the character's name mangled.
Kids make about 10% of video game players, M Rated games make up 14% of games sold. Does that even make a lick of sense that they would target their smallest demographic with their lowest selling product?
[...] GamePolitics wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDeadline Hollywood Daily has detailed comments about GTA IV from video game IP expert Keith Boesky, who sees the game as a cultural milestone: GTA is violent, but like the movies, the violence is a reflection of our time… The game is a fantasy, it is ok to pretend… [...]
Well put Mr. Boesky, well put :) .
Yes, I think everyone caught the EFNY Snake-mistake ... but also, in Postal 2, you don't light someone on fire then pee on them - first run through you just pee on them and they run away. After beating the game you pee napalm. Fun stuff.

But that aside, I agree with the basic premise - the industry is big enough for my kids to have played Jump Start games years ago and Super Smash Bros and Metroid Prime now, while I play stuff ranging from Chessmaster to Postal 2 to Blade of Darkness and more.
@ kurisu7885

Man the only thing I remember from that game is the amount of bad scores it got. Now that I think about it that was a pretty terrible looking game.
@jesse

Precisely my point, it would have just gone away had the alarmists just shut up about it.
Someone......talking sense!?
Cue R.E.M.'s"It's The End of The World As We Know It".
I hate it when people treat Grand theft auto 4 like hostel the videogame.
@ Jack Thompson is a douchbag

They are making a Saw video game. I wonder if it will get any attention?
Snake used the codename "Iroquois Pliskin" in MGS2, before Raiden found out he was Snake. Pliskin is an obvious reference to Snake Plissken, who Snake is partly based on. Iroquois was some tribal thing that related to snakes, can't remember how.
Snake's real name is David, same as his voice actor.
Thank you for the corrections. I was sloppy. I should have said Solid Snake, but as some of you pointed out, MGS is largely "inspired" by Escape from New York. I must also admit, I did not make it all the way through MGS3. I stopped in the forest because I did not pick up the infra red goggles and my opponent kept going invisible. I did play all the way through 1 and 2, hence my confusion by the Plisken reference.

GamePolitics ShoutBox

Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:05am
JDKJ: I'm no psychologist, but I'm told that crazy people have a tendency to do crazy things.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:03am
chadachada321: Whoops, was out of the convo for awhile. I do wonder what type of ammo he used etc, but the real issue is WHY he did it, not HOW
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:56am
JDKJ: But if it turns out that they actually did, they'll have Hell to pay.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:45am
JDKJ: And I'd tend to rule out the possibilty of FN Herstal supplying restricted ammunition to someone merely because they're ordering it from a military base.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:37am
JDKJ: I know you don't leave your gated community and get around much in dark alleys, so you may be surprised to learn that there's this thing called "the black market" where, if you've got enough money, ain't too much of anything which can't be bought.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:36am
Austin_Lewis: Or, maybe he or someone else at the base ordered the SS190 from FN Herstal.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:32am
Austin_Lewis: the hands of private owners. They run about 300 dollars minimum for a box of 50, and boxes of AP 5.7 are extremely scarce, mainly residing in the hands of Class III stores or individuals who for one reason or another got a demo box of it.
Posted 11/07/09 at 09:30am
Austin_Lewis: There are other firearms that fire the 5.7. However, I too would like to know where he got the ammo and what kind was used. Maybe Hasan, planning not to live through this, went out and bought one the boxes of SS190 that are floating around in
Posted 11/07/09 at 08:44am
JDKJ: And it isn't yet clear what type of ammunition Hasan used. It's strange that he purchased a gun but didn't purchase ammunition for it at the same place and time. Especially because the calibre required is peculiar to the actual gun.
Login or register to post shouts