Follow Up Piece to Original Video Game Article
The original video game article garnered a lot of feedback. Here is an ignorant response to my original article that was posted on wrestlingobserver.com and my response. This is what convinced Dave Meltzer that sending me to E3 was a good idea:
VIDEOGAMES
First off the claims this man makes are ridiculous in every aspect. The
game already has a certain age level which it can be bought. People buy
these games because they enjoy playing them as I do myself. This is
another case of somebody nitpicking about any little thing to blame
WWE. If you wanna blame something, blame the T.V. Shows at time but
video games? The WWE doesn't have that much input in these games beside
the Roster and copyright issues. Also may I add quickly that Men vs
Women in video games has been done for about a decade.
This is all THQ or for that matter yukes who developed this games. Last
years game had a scenario where Eddie Guerrero winds up getting buried
in a casket by The Undertaker. Should we be offended by this? No. Its a
game and nobody had intentions to purposely put these things in it. Once
again as I stated, just another attempt at nitpicking about the WWE. If
you wanna nitpick, I would nitpick at the gameplay or repetitive player
models they use every year. Oh wait he played a PSP version of this
game, not even one of the major consoles this we designed for. Don't
tell people not to buy this game because of someones ridiculous moral
claims, which I'm sure this man still views the product albeit being
"offended"
Thanks Dave.
--Frankie "asia" Correa
First off the claims this man makes are ridiculous in every aspect. The
game already has a certain age level which it can be bought. People buy
these games because they enjoy playing them as I do myself. This is
another case of somebody nitpicking about any little thing to blame
WWE. If you wanna blame something, blame the T.V. Shows at time but
video games? The WWE doesn't have that much input in these games beside
the Roster and copyright issues. Also may I add quickly that Men vs
Women in video games has been done for about a decade.
This is all THQ or for that matter yukes who developed this games. Last
years game had a scenario where Eddie Guerrero winds up getting buried
in a casket by The Undertaker. Should we be offended by this? No. Its a
game and nobody had intentions to purposely put these things in it. Once
again as I stated, just another attempt at nitpicking about the WWE. If
you wanna nitpick, I would nitpick at the gameplay or repetitive player
models they use every year. Oh wait he played a PSP version of this
game, not even one of the major consoles this we designed for. Don't
tell people not to buy this game because of someones ridiculous moral
claims, which I'm sure this man still views the product albeit being
"offended"
Thanks Dave.
--Frankie "asia" Correa
This response is to clarify some of the assertions put forward in my commentary on SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 and refute incorrect statements regarding my work.
The fact is the entire ESRB rating system is a joke and non-legally binding. It has never held up to legal standards in any court. The ESRB exists largely as a means for the video game industry to avoid federal oversight. The ratings system appears at times arbitrary. Under the first amendment in the United States any person of any age can buy any game they want. The game industry, however does not choose to press that issue to protect its own image.
My point was that the content of the game was manipulated to receive a T for Teen rating so anyone could buy it, because many retailers will not sell M rated games to children and some parents will not give an M rated game to their child. However, based on precedent the T rating the games received is accurate.
Though, to claim that WWE is not responsible for a product with their name on it is ludicrous. If the company did not choose to oversee the game carefully, and was asleep at the switch while it was made, doing no quality control or oversight. that makes WWE irresponsible. Not free from responsibiliy.for a product that bares their brand name.
Intergender matches have been a part of wrestling games for decades, but in light of recent circumstances the choice to continue to include them in this year's version of the game was tacky at best.
To claim that the offensive angles in this game were put there accidentally is naive. There is voice acting to go along with the distasteful angles by the broadcasters, and talent involved. Show a concerted effort was made to put them in the game. Major storylines do not end up in games accidentally.
I spent the majority of my time playing the game for this review on the XBOX 360. I used the PSP to check for consistency purposes between versions. I also, used multiple sources including the WWE sanctioned strategy guide for many of the other details I could not uncover in my time playing the game.
The goal of my article was not to comment on gameplay. There are far more qualified people to do that at many very good gaming websites. The goal of my article was to look at the game in regards to the Chris Benoit tragedy and how the company's claimed changed attitudes on steroids reflected in the game. In those aspects the game was a disgrace.
Multiple ways to contact me are at the bottom of this response. Feel free to contact me to double check my facts, and methodology or for any other comments.
Sincerely,
Jereme Warneck
Syndicated Boxing Correspondent for wrestlingobserver.com
Hidden Valley Lake, CA
I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.
Syndicated Boxing Correspondent for wrestlingobserver.com
Hidden Valley Lake, CA
I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.
Jereme
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Reader Comments (1)
Well said, IMO, I think WWE gets away with a lot of aspects in their games mainly because the average gamer, or person for that matter, looks at the WWE product, goes "meh, it's pro wrestling, that fake fighting crap" and looks for another game.
If you question some of their tasteless story lines, all you have left to argue with is the WWE fans. Which because of their blind loyalty to the product, you will never win the arguement you might have with story lines or what is represented in a game.
I could myself, nit pick on how many acts of man on woman violence is purpetrated in the GM mode by the CPU general manager alone in SvR 2008, but what's the use, as long as kids and pre-teens are buying the WWE video games, THQ and WWE make a profit, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters to them.
Think of it this way, if large groups of parents didn't complain about it, do you think the NFL would have regulated their games for a younger and family friendly audience? Probably not, and the current Madden games would look more like NFL Blitz, but they knew their audience, and made changes to keep making money.
You will hate me for saying this, but pro wrestling is a form of entertainment the average (probably sane) person looks down on. Hence forth, you can get away with things in that form of entertainment you can't get away with in other entertainment platforms. As long as the wrestlers in the video game are not maiming and killing each other, everything else is fair game. Why else do you think pro wrestling video games are made to appeal to your average 15 year-old? :D.