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This Week in Games: March 24, 2012

John Davison
By: John Davison, Vice President, Programming

Congressmen suggested silly things, Ken Levine weighed in on the Mass Effect drama, Notch said he wants to remake Elite but make it like Firefly, and wait...what? Prey 2 was canceled?

The Mass Effect 3 ending debate showed no sign of losing any of its ferocity this week, but closure is now in sight. Let's hope when we all look back on this six months from now that the whole thing doesn't end up looking like it was contrived from the beginning to make us all want to buy DLC. In other news, there was other news but we should get this part out of the way first…

BioWare Breaks Its Silence on the Mass Effect 3 Ending

Many that have played through BioWare's epic conclusion to Mass Effect 3 have been a little disappointed by the, um epic conclusion part. Thousands of players from around the world have expressed their displeasure with the choices that the studio made, and many feel that the original promise of the game was not met. Regardless of your feelings, it's hard not to notice the lack of closure that the ending(s) provide. On Wednesday this week, BioWare broke its silence on the subject, and in a statement released on its website, co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka said the development team is working on "game content initiatives" to answer lingering questions and provide fans with more closure. Specifics about those initiatives are expected next month. "We're working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we've received," Muzyka said. "This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue." Muzyka stressed that BioWare is listening to all of the feedback it has received, provided it is constructive instead of destructive.

Whether you feel strongly about the game's ending or not, the fact that a game is able to elicit such a strong reaction from fans at all is deeply significant. Very few games have ever flared passions to this degree.

Whether you feel strongly about the game's ending or not, the fact that it is able to elicit such a strong reaction from fans at all is deeply significant to video games in general. Very few titles have ever flared passions to this degree, so this is an important part of the growth of the medium. Fans aren't the only people with concerns about the issue though; other game developers have started to express themselves on the topic too. BioShock creator and Irrational Games founder Ken Levine said that he is saddened by the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy. Speaking at the Smithsonian's "Art of Video Games" exhibit last weekend, the longtime designer called the situation "an important moment" for the industry. Levine said fans will be let down if BioWare decides to craft a different ending to Mass Effect 3. He added that if the studio does design an alternate ending, neither BioWare nor fans will be satisfied. "I think if those people got what they wanted and [BioWare] wrote their ending they would be very disappointed in the emotional feeling they got because…they didn't really create it," he said. "I think this whole thing is making me a little bit sad because I don't think anyone would get what they wanted if that happened."

The week ended with more drama; The Retake Mass Effect ChipIn charity drive ended Thursday after the charity for which it raised $80,000--Penny Arcade's Child's Play--asked it to pull the plug. Penny Arcade writer Jerry Holkins addressed the issue in a post on the web comic's main site last night, saying there was a good amount of confusion among those who were donating to the cause. "Apparently some of the people giving to the cause seemed to think that they were paying for a new ending to Mass Effect," Holkins said. "[Child's Play's project manager has] been asked what the goal is, and how much they need to raise in order to get the ending produced. We've also been contacted by PayPal due to a high number of people asking for their donations back. This is in addition to readers who simply couldn’t understand how this was connected to Child's Play's mission. We were dealing with a lot of very confused people, more every day, and that told us we had a problem."

In a post on the Retake Mass Effect page, the ChipIn fund's organizer (who goes by Robb on the site) explained why he chose to comply with the request. He also anticipated the reaction of the fund's supporters, saying, "There will be conspiracy theories regarding this. Many of the public statements by Penny Arcade have been dismissive or outright derogatory of our effort. I believe this is a failure on their part to understand our issues, but they are entitled to their opinion. Regardless, I want to stress that I do not believe for one second that this is an attempt by anyone at Penny Arcade to silence this movement."

If you're just sick of hearing about the whole thing, or you're so distraught by the news that you can't face playing the game any more, take some pleasure from the unusual news that you will soon be able to wear N7 armor in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Yeah. Weird huh? Kinda cool though.

Prey 2 Canceled? Plus, Skyrim DLC Name?

Technically this is still a rumor, but we're bummed-out by it regardless, because the game looked pretty awesome. Based on information from "multiple reliable sources" Dutch games site PS Focus is reporting that Bethesda has canceled the sequel to Prey. A trio of Prey 2 presentations had been scheduled for this month's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, but those were canceled by Bethesda prior to the event. This led to concerned speculation about the title, and it now seems likely that something unfortunate is affecting the title. As is typical in these scenarios, no one is talking, but we'll no doubt see some confirmation in the very near future.

In other Bethesda-related news, the company has filed for a trademark recently that hints at the name of a possible DLC pack for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. All that was learned from the filing was the name "Dawnguard," but it has sparked plenty of speculation. Here at GameSpot we've been bugging the guys at Bethesda for ages about DLC info, and so far they're not saying anything; but this may be the first tangible hint at something to come.

"I want the space game that's more like Firefly. I want to run around on my ship and have to put out a fire. Like, oh crap, the cooling system failed, I have to put out the fire here." - Markus "Notch" Persson

Notch to Make Elite-type Game with Firefly Influences? We're Sold

Anyone remember Elite? If you’re over the age of…ooh, 35-ish you’ll no doubt be aware of it. It helps if you’re European too. Even more if you’re English. But anyway, Elite was a fantastic space combat and trading game that was originally released for the BBC Micro in 1984. It was phenomenally influential, and helped shape the way that sprawling space adventures were designed for years after. Elite creator David Braben has for years been planning to get back to the space trading genre he pioneered, but it looks like Minecraft maestro Markus "Notch" Persson may beat him to it. Speaking with PC Gamer, Persson said he'd like to start work this summer on an Elite-like sandbox space trading game. But where Braben's original computer game had players in control of a simple 3D ship, Persson wants to give the genre a more personal touch. "I want the space game that's more like Firefly," Persson told PC Gamer. "I want to run around on my ship and have to put out a fire. Like, oh crap, the cooling system failed, I have to put out the fire here."

Weekly Baldur's Gate News: It's Now Coming to iPad

Seems we're saying something about Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition pretty much every week lately, but this one's kinda cool. Developer Overhaul Games has announced that the new version of the 1998 role-playing game will be available for the iPad. Due this summer, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition runs on an updated version of the Infinity Engine and will include the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack. In addition, Overhaul Games is promising "never-before-seen" content to the game, including a "new adventure" and party member.

Minecraft, Trials Evolution, Fable Heroes, Bloodforge = Arcade Next

Minecraft will finally arrive on the Xbox 360 May 9. Microsoft confirmed this week that the huge indie hit will headline its next Xbox Live Arcade seasonal promotion. The clumsily-titled Arcade Next spring downloadable game drive will kick off April 18 with the release of Trials Evolution (yes, the sequel to the original which was a guilty pleasure for many of us) for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15). Climax's gore-drenched Bloodforge is the second game, set for an April 25 debut for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15). Fable Heroes, the four-player action hack-and-slasher (and the first Lionhead Studios release since Peter Molyneux's departure) is scheduled for a May 2 launch for 800 Microsoft points ($10). Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition will anchor the lineup debuting May 9 with a fairly substantial 1,600 Microsoft point ($20) price attached. Already a phenomenal success, Mojang's open-world construction game will apparently add Kinect support at some point in the near future through a patch. Development of the port is being handled by 4J Studios, the outfit behind the Xbox 360 versions of the original Perfect Dark and the Banjo-Kazooie games.

A Mixed-Bag of a Week for Releases

Some big name games, some beloved franchises, and some real crap was released this week. Which is which? You decide.

Kid Icarus: Uprising was very good, and got an 8.0.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is not very good. It got a 5.5.

Angry Birds Space is an enjoyable an 8.0.

Armored Core V received a disappointing 6.0.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City lumbered it's way to a 4.5.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations has a very long name, and got a 7.0.

Shoot Many Robots is a cheap and cheerful XBLA/PSN game worthy of a 7.5.

Another Day, Another Silly Video Games Bill

After trying and failing to legislate against the content of video games, Congress' latest frivolous, time-wasting nonsense concerns the labelling of all games as violent. The snappily titled "Violence in Video Games Labelling Act" was introduced by Congressmen Joe Baca (D-Calif.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.) on Monday and if passed would require video games to carry a special warning label similar to the kind found on cigarettes. That warning would be: "WARNING: Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior."

They want this label to appear on all games…So yes, whatever game you're currently thinking of will require it. Mario Galaxy? Yep. Mario Party 9? Oh yes. Paws & Claws Pampered Pet Resort 3D? You betcha.

"The video game industry has a responsibility to parents, families and to consumers — to inform them of the potentially damaging content that is often found in their products," Baca puffed, presmably completely disregarding the ESRB ratings that appear on the front and the back of all retail games. "They have repeatedly failed to live up to this responsibility."

"Just as we warn smokers of the health consequences of tobacco, we should warn parents — and children — about the growing scientific evidence demonstrating a relationship between violent video games and violent behavior," Wolf said. "As a parent and grandparent, I think it is important people know everything they can about the extremely violent nature of some of these games."

Just to be clear, this isn't something that they want to appear just on violent games. They want this label to appear on all games. Well, except games rated "EC" for "Early Childhood". So yes, whatever game you're currently thinking of will require it. Super Mario Galaxy? Yep. Mario Party 9? Oh yes. Paws & Claws: Pampered Pets Resort 3D? You betcha. Here's the text from the bill…

a) REGULATION.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Consumer Product Safety Commission shall promulgate regulations to require the warning label described in subsection (b) to be placed on the packaging of any video game that is rated "E" (Everyone), "Everyone 10+" (Everyone 10 and older), "T" (Teen), "M" (Mature), or "A" (Adult) by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board."

Aaaaaaaand, we'll take your responses in the comments.

John Davison
By: John Davison, Vice President, Programming

John Davison is the enigmatic and tyrannical head of content for GameSpot. He's a father of two, English, hairy, and an avid beard-wearer. He has been writing about video games since the early 90s and loves racing games, nonsensical sci-fi, asynchronous multiplayer, and mobile games.

70 Comments

  • OldKye

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 12:37 pm GMT

    @BYOBando123 and @wavelength121 there are two problems with the base statement and study's first off "a correlation" a correlation of 0.25 or 0.50 means something my breath has somewhere in the realm of a 0.00000000000001 correlation on the strength of the wind due to random chance if i breathe in a direction sometimes the wind blows in that direction does my breath cause the wind? further more statistics can say whatever you want them too "video games don't have an statistically significant effect on violent behavior if you account for past violent behavior? what if we drop the past violent behavior variable? there we ago accounts for 0.5 correlation" jump to headline "video games explain 50% of violence in kids based on new study!" if it doesn't even give you the coefficient the margin for error and a explanation of why variables weren't included it's hardly a "study"

  • electronic_eye

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 12:19 pm GMT

    No Way!! No way Prey 2 could be cancelled!! That is my most anticipated game of the whole freaking year!! It's one thing to not be ready to show something for a trade/convention show but it's a whole different matter to be dropping the game altogether. For that reason, I am thinking that it's still in dev., well, def. at least hoping!

  • BYOBando123

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 12:09 pm GMT

    @wavelength121 While almost every study on the subject does find a correlation. The important fact that no one mentions very much is that the rises in aggressive behavior are always short term and confined to in the lab. Every study that has tried to look for long term impacts has found no correlation and one or two oddballs found negative ones. Lastly, the typical correlation does not imply causation point can be re-stated. But really the above argument is much more relevant.

  • wavelength121

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 11:40 am GMT

    Bunch of whiny self-entitled fanboys telling people how they should make their art. "What the company promised" is relative. Grow up.

    Also, there are plenty of studies that link violent video games to violent behavior. Plenty. As in, direct, disprovable correlations. It's been pretty obvious for a while, no matter how much you try to deny it.

    Good for this congressman for trying to take some initiative.

  • FlawlessGoBot

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 11:06 am GMT

    They says its the games that cause violent behavior? Please! Its just like with guns, Games don't make people, society and other mediums do it too! I mean seriously, have you seem some of the things on TV and in movies or listed to "Music" these days? Its just like it was with comics, they didn't understand it and they didn't like them, therefore they must be a pandemic that is ruining this country's youth that must be stopped. That is the flawed logic behind bills like this, they based on biased studies done by biased people and come out with bogus figures that everyone accepts as fact. Because its not like scientists and shrinks can be bought off or out right biased right?

  • hellpolice

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:36 am GMT

    "game content initiatives" desperation is at hand.

  • OmegaSabre

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:32 am GMT

    "Exposure to violent video games has been linked to aggressive behavior."
    Deeerp it's actually more the other way around in most percent. What morons XD

  • Taegre

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:27 am GMT

    Prey 2 better not be cancelled. I don't see another game coming out with that style of gameplay for some time, not to mention the sci-fi plot sounded really awesome!

  • TonyKoeffler

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:25 am GMT

    Keep in mind this class was only one semester.

  • TonyKoeffler

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:23 am GMT

    @dysguised22 Fun fact. After finishing my high school American Government class, I officially know about as much about the constitution as every United States Senator. So yes, that is pretty much all it takes to be in the senate.

  • TonyKoeffler

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 10:20 am GMT

    Never mind the fact that there have been a slew of studies that disprove any more connection to violence in video games than violence in TV shows and movies, and that the fact that you're performing the act makes little, if no, difference whatsoever, and the fact that most kids attributing their acts to video games was simply an excuse, and in fact the real problem is they're nuts.

    United States Congressmen. Skewing the facts and wasting time since 1787.

  • SipahSalar

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 9:19 am GMT

    So to fix ME3 ending they are going to sell us more crappy stuff when it should have been good enough at first go.

  • wasakawaka

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 9:13 am GMT

    I don't really care if they label the packaging with a notice that warns people like they do with tobacco as long as they stop short of putting pictures with children being violent after playing video games.

  • Master_Hav0c

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 9:07 am GMT

    I've played video games (both violent and non) my entire life (I'm 19). When I was little, I stabbed Octorocks in Legend of Zelda (and many others in the series) and beat up my brother in Mortal Kombat. I sent waves of my men to their deaths in Starcraft and Warcraft and blew off limbs in Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. I've shot my way through hordes of aliens in Halo and sprayed ghosts with root beer in the Secret of Monkey Island. I've leveled city blocks with air strikes in Mercenaries and split an entire sidewalk of people in half in Prototype. I've killed everybody in every major city several times over in Fallout 3 (along with setting up their corpses into macabre tableaus around their houses) and beaten the insane homeless in Condemned.

    But I am a life-long pacifist and would never do a thing to hurt anybody. I'm a kind and generous person who just wants to blow off some steam in the virtual realm. If somebody plays video games and gets violent, it's probably because they're already a violent person. Video games have nothing to do with the violence, they just re-direct it from the real world to a virtual one. If somebody has difficulty discerning the real world from the virtual one, then they're the one with a problem, not the games.

  • abbasreza

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 8:56 am GMT

    Honestly, the studies that say video games cause violence are mostly based on correlation, which doesn't neccessarily prove causation. If they pass this bill based on 'scientific evidence' its gonna be total BS

  • dysguised22

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 8:37 am GMT

    It's true. I heard Dahmer and Manson played the sh** out of gta 0.2 back in the day. *rolls eyes*. Is this seriously all it takes to be in Congress? Cuz if so, I could easily make up pointless bills to pass time, take awesome kickbacks and never pay taxes too. Seriously...stop worrying about digital blood and pixelated boobs and work on real issues congress. Sincerely, those of us who still buy into the "American Dream". Thanks. (morons).

    -Dys

  • abcdefgabcdefgz

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 8:04 am GMT

    Not to mention there are so many laws some dating back hundreds of years that every person has probably broken the law many times its just whether they want to enforce it or not. The whole system is a joke.

  • Chrypt22

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 7:50 am GMT

    Its also been proven that electing 'officials' wastes taxpayers money and sends this country deeper into debt. I think there are more pressing problems in the country, and world than putting a stupid label on a box that has little to no basis.

  • kingofmetal16

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 6:54 am GMT

    I'm sorry but that act is completely unfair. Violence connected to game has had a bit of evidence but in my opinion its only wit5h people who have anger issues. I mean, you don't see me running around in blue overalls and a red cap, firing turtle shells at little tiny mushroom looking men, do you? Well, only on weekends when I have nothing better to do :p.

    Seriously though, maybe the US needs to take a look at other things that are happening in their country. Poverty, unemployment, gang violence, drugs... INSTEAD OF WASTING THEIR TIME ON WARNING PARENTS THAT A GAME LIKE SUPER MARIO GALAXY COULD MESS UP YOUR KIDS BIG TIME!!!! WHAT A ******** JOKE!

  • Antatious

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 6:40 am GMT

    This just in, folks. Exposure to sex has been linked with nuclear war, famine, gluttony, and overpopulation. Do not have sex if you wish to stay away from these types of events.

    Thank GOD congress is devoting the TIME for things that are of such IMPORTANCE... geez lol. What a joke.

  • Madball357

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 5:50 am GMT

    That bill is ridiculous, as it is the tobacco one. Next thing, you go buy a car and there's a huge sticker across the windshield saying ''CARS KILL PEOPLE IF YOU RUN A RED LIGHT''.

  • Freboy

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 4:19 am GMT

    The US is a strange country. Congress want to have labels about violent behavior on video games, but still allow people to carry firearms.
    Say what you want about gun control, but the disparity between these laws is staggering.

  • needtraining

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 4:04 am GMT

    I loved Elite.
    Spent hours and hours playing
    Mining asteroids, fueling up in the sun and trading on communist planets
    Hurray

  • Klokateer

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 3:17 am GMT

    a link is not a cause. video games overall are no more violent than reality. That's why the more realistic ones tend to be more violent. Are we gonna put a warning label on life somehow? Maybe a little sign implanted in pregnant women that the baby can see (and somehow read) in the womb near the 'exit' that says "WARNING: being born has been shown to lead to death. Personally, violent video games have kept me from doing violent things many times. I start feeling like I wanna hurt something or destroy something, I'll go on a bloody rampage in a video game instead of looking for someone to punch in the head or something to set on fire. It's therapeutic violence, at least for me.

  • rat-fish

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 2:46 am GMT

    My grandpa doesn't like violent video games either.

  • forest4

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 2:33 am GMT

    What a great read! John Davison, did you used to write for the Official PlayStation Magazine? I think I remember you now...I love to read whatever you write! I used to buy OPM from news-stands every month, or at least when there was an interesting cover, which was usually. I have a huge stack of OPM issues from the early 2000s. Do you still talk to Joe Rybiki?

    But in regards to the article itself, I agree that the aforementioned bill is just plain dumb, I thought Elite was referring to the COD subscription service until I read the article, and I now feel like I played through Mass Effect 3 even though I have never played it or plan to. Too bad about the charity getting caught in the crossfire.

  • topeira

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 1:02 am GMT

    no prey 2?!? the last time i was this heart broken over a game was when true crime: hong kong was cancelled, but now it has reesurfaced back from oblivion and looking pretty cool. Prey 2 looked (as unrelated to prey 1 as it did) might impressive and was my most looked for FPS of the year (after FC3) and it's a shock that it too was cancelled. i really hope the news are wrong. bethesda, we want that game. please publish it.

  • Techmaster666

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 12:30 am GMT

    LOL @ the silly bill. It will never pass and those congressmen most likely know it.
    So I'm wondering why wasting time with something like that? Self advertising? A favour to TV networks? Nerdrage cause they failed to finish Super Mario 3DS Land? Their brand new Ipad self-ignite while they were playing solitaire?
    TV, books... even life can be violent. "Exposure to violent reality"? Too bad they didn't think about "WARNING: Exposure to congressmen stupidity has been linked to stupidity".
    I'm imagining the scene... the mum tells her kid "don't watch or you'll get dumb like him!" and the kid runs away terrified.

  • camverge

    Posted Mar 25, 2012 12:22 am GMT

    In the state this nation is in right now, I'd think politicians could spend time and money much more wisely. Find a real problem and solve that; how about this one: "Exposure to idiotic politicians is directly linked to agressive behavior"!

  • TomJimJack

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 11:16 pm GMT

    This compulsive behaviour to constantly seek something to blame other than financial and social problems weighing over shoulders of the people is typical for politicians. Once they burned books, than they blamed music, banned movies and now is the turn of video games to take the blame. There are other urgent issues waiting to be solved congress, there is a financial world crisis still at large!

  • halestrom88

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 8:52 pm GMT

    im so tired of i pads or any kind of pad its as annoying as all those movies that came out last year in 3d i hope the fab ends quickly but thats just my opinion

  • Michael83917

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 8:28 pm GMT

    Hurray for scoring political points over the dead bodies of honesty and science. Notice how the wording of the bill uses the term "linked." Linked translates (from science-speak) into English as "wow, gee, these things sometimes appear in the same sentence together, I wonder why?" There are thus many things you could say are "linked." I could link being a politician to being corrupt and not knowing very much about the subjects you legislate. But there is no proof that becoming a politician automatically makes you stupid and corrupt. Thus we cannot say there is a causal relationship. For example, the linkage could also be cause by the fact that people who are already corrupt and superficial are more likely to become politicians. Or in the case of violent video games, people who are in real life willing to commit violent acts are just as likely to own and play violent video games as everyone else. If on the other hand there was a causal role between violent games and real violence, considering the sheer amount of exposure at a societal level, there would be a measurable and ever growing increase in recorded incidence of violent crime between the mid 90's (advent of realistic graphics) and today (saturation point). In fact, the opposite has happened - violent crime has gone down steadily (based on FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, available here: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr).

  • Mr_Gusington

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 8:01 pm GMT

    @Defianc4 - I'm not saying I agree with congress at all (because I don't), but for you to flat out say there is no link because it's "based on junk science and psychology" is ignorant. I doubt you've read the scientific articles to judge whether or not they're "junk". I have read the scientific articles and the link is clearly there, but the difference, at least in what I've read, is watching anything violent causes more aggressive behavior not just video games. So, here is where I agree with you, if this ridiculous law passes then why should movies or any other form of violent entertainment be exempt?

  • hammertime1080

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:57 pm GMT

    @---Cipher--- I don't think they meant that 6 is a generally disappointing rating. It seems that they were referring to the fact that Armored core was extremely hyped up and most people were expecting (well more so just hoping) that it would be around at least the high 7 or 8 range making it "great" instead of just another "good" installment which they all have been recently.

  • ---Cipher---

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:44 pm GMT

    I find it odd that, if memory serves me well, a few months back gamespot defended games getting 6-7 ratings as good, just not great, and here they classify a 6 as disappointing and completely ignore the 7 with a descriptor. Also, 6 is disappointing, but 5.5 is just not good. Maybe I remember incorrectly.

  • OurSin-360

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:34 pm GMT

    wow @ canceling prey 2, that was the best looking game at e3. Can't be true, they can't just funnel some of that skyrim money over and help out?

  • rlacerdacf

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:26 pm GMT

    Religions are more harmful to the weak minds than the virtual violence of the games. History is the witness is not even Muslims, European Catholics and Protestants of USA.
    Gandhi himself once wrote: “A society organized and run on the basis of complete non-violence would be the purest anarchy.�[

  • nparks

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:09 pm GMT

    So, if the regulation actually passed as worded above, could the ESRB dodge it by just changing their rating letters?

  • MichaeltheCM

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 7:07 pm GMT

    no!!!! please dont cancel Prey 2. i've been waiting on that game for so long and have wanted to play it since i saw the teaser trailer

  • mastermune89

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 4:28 pm GMT

    What it all comes down to is people needing big brother to hold there hand. I don't have kids, but when I do, I will be sure to make sure any games they play will be appropriate for them, thanks to the ESRB. We don't need the government to step in and tell us what to do, or help us raise our kids. At least we shouldn't.

  • Xenrathe

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 4:23 pm GMT

    I'd also like to point out that those of us who have yet to reach ME3's ending really only stand to benefit from having a new one crafted. If it sucks, it probably won't get adopted (or at least we'll see both). If it's great, then it'll feel like the real ending to us.

    So... yeah. In other news, wait six months after a new release, get the game 20-70% off and with all the bugs (&ending;?) fixed. Patience IS a virtue in gaming.

  • hemoleech

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 4:21 pm GMT

    Solitaire? Tetris? Bejeweled? Omg, so violent.

  • jwhdavison GameSpot staff member

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 3:49 pm GMT

    @AncientDozer Well said

  • AncientDozer

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 3:44 pm GMT

    As with regards to the politicking? It will lose. As all others have lost before. We have better things to worry about than video games.

    The only thing setting a bad example for our youth are the politicians fighting bitterly to spite each other.

  • AncientDozer

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 3:43 pm GMT

    "Whether you feel strongly about the game's ending or not, the fact that a game is able to illicit such a strong reaction from fans at all is deeply significant. Very few games have ever flared passions to this degree."

    I know there's no such thing as bad publicity, but still. If your thing is invoking negative feelings and that was not your desire (or expected it to)? You got a serious problem on your hands.

    I think we're giving Bioware TOO MUCH credit with this "just as planned" nonsense. I honestly feel they intended what they had to be the final ending and would tack on DLC. This uproar is just as much a surprise to them as it is to us but it is an uproar that is wholly justified. The ball was dropped and they decided to try and fix it.

    So, with all do respect Levine, hush. Yes, we might be disappointed if they do a bad job with it but whatever they do will likely be better than what we have now.

  • pccraine343

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 3:12 pm GMT

    Let's just forget about the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy for a few minutes so we can start kicking Congress' @ss again! Those IDIOTS are doing EVERYTHING they can to screw with our lives, let's screw with theirs! Their last bill never made it out the door, neither will this one.

  • Defianc4

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 2:51 pm GMT

    It is morally wrong for the feds to impose such disgusting labels onto pieces of art based off of junk science and psychology.

    They cannot objectively link playing video games with violence: it's an ad hoc fallacy all around (video games aren't violent, though they may DEPICT it), and it's not the government's place to shove a gun against the heads of every person in the games industry like a street thug.

    I love it when both parties reach across the aisle and screw us simultaneously. And once they start specifically regulating video games, then they will never stop. Big Brother is watching us, enjoy the games industry before the government regulates, legislates, and taxes it into oblivion.

  • sonicare

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 2:16 pm GMT

    I dont have a problem with them labelling violent games as violent, but indiscriminately labelling all games with this tag is counterproductive. It just reaffirms the belief that many gamers have about congress - they are out of touch.

  • JACOBDRAGON666

    Posted Mar 24, 2012 1:35 pm GMT

    really all this masseffect drama is geting annoying its bioware they always have a plan for the game stop freaking out like a child geesh.

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