Politics & Video Games; MTV has sunk a new low [Firestar

[DeviFoxx]

Look at me, everyone! I'm just like Yanzi! I'm starting fire on the flame board!

(Which is kinda redundant, because I'm doing what I'm supposed to do in a place like this.)

Anyway...

Looking at all this political shit... Campaigning and everything... Bush Vs. Kerry... As if things couldn't get any more hectic (From my standpoint anyway.)

As if MTV couldn't get any lower...

I was watching "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"... And Jon's talking about MTV's whole "Choose or Lose" thing... And how MTV's hired "a dozen video game developers" to make a music video to encourage young people to vote...

Here's the music video... Known as "Stand and Choose".

...*Sigh*...

My respect for Sonic Team and Sonic The Hedgehog has dwindled even more... Sonic Team used to be cool, and shit...

But with recent titles like Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg... And to a lesser extent, the crap-tastic Astro Boy for Playstation 2, Sonic Team has become increasingly crappier ever since they announced independence from SEGA.

(A little off-topic, but you have to admit, it's true.)

Anyway... Check out the video. Give me your feed-back on this junk...

My question:

Video Games & Politics... Do they mix?

 

[Sinhard]

Yep.. that's seriously a POS pure and simple... games and politics don't mix.

 

[Rones]

If you haven't been following the views behind each canidate, do us all a favor and do not vote. :x I hate all these encouragements by groups like MTV to get the uninformed masses to vote who are making their decision based off whatever propaganda they heard last.

Not sure why you are Singling Sonic Team out for that video. They had characters from nearly every major gaming company featured (missing Nintendo I believe). From what I read in a mag article, the companies pay MTV to make the videos featuring their characters as a sort of advertisement.

 

[DeviFoxx]

Well, I guess what you're saying makes sense, yeah.

Nintendo? I didn't see. But I saw plenty of others.

I singled out Sonic Team because I really didn't feel like naming and criticizing all the others...

I saw characters from Mortal Kombat... Crash Bandicoot... Spongebob Squarepants... Tomb Raider... Leisure Suit Larry...

This is somewhat why I thought that:

1. I didn't see any Nintendo-based characters.
2. I didn't see any characters from Japanese-originating video games / developers... Excluding Sonic the Hedgehog who originated in Japan, but became severely Americanized (If you look into the history, you'll see what I mean).

...This is also another reason why I hated Spike TV's First Annual Video Game Awards... They had predominantly American-made games, or games targeted towards Americans instead of covering it on an international level...

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT playing favorites towards Japanese developers... Nor am I saying "America Sucks". I'm just saying that when it comes to things like this, the media has a tendency to be biased.

I mean, c'mon... At the awards "Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball" won for...

Best Animation...

Ugghhh.... I'll bet you they weren't even looking at anything OTHER than Kasumi's titties. They were probably like "God... Look at the amazing detail and accuracy the graphic developers at TECMO did! You can even see beads of dew running and dripping off the smooth and supple texture of her nipple... I'd be even FURTHER impressed if they implimented a 'Lactation' function!"...

To rant even further, I really don't understand how DOA:XBV won "Best Animation"... And they tried to justify it by slapping "Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" in there.

But then again, that's my opinion. And I'm positive there are those of you who beg to differ.

(On a side note: "Final Fantasy XI" won for best online game... Rightly so. But... They stacked it up against "Everquest" and "Half-Life: Counter Strike"... How can you even put two different genres against each other, and just vaguely catagorize them under "Online Game".)

...

But yeah... My original point is I think that really the media's trying to see how dumb we really are.

You're exactly right, Rones. I agree with you.

Yes... I think I'll vote Kerry because Lara Croft's titties told me to! Bloodrayne told me she'd suck something other than my blood if I voted!

(Hahahaha, I'm playing with fire right now... Discussing Politics [or sometimes, Religion] over the internet? A timebomb just WAITING to explode, no doubt.)

 

[Tyrion]

Re: Politics & Video Games; MTV has sunk a new low [Fire

But with recent titles like Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg...

I haven't played it, but everything I heard about it called it a "Good platformer." I'm just not much into platformers outside of the prerequisite Mario.

Video Games & Politics... Do they mix?

Nope.

 

[Lecan]

Video games and politics certainly do not mix, and for video game companies to have pitched in to create this is a bastardization of everything they stand for, then again...maybe it isnt..im sure there was a nice hefty payoff. What i find to be the bigger issue is that videogames are finally being recognized as a major form of media and entertainment, not just some geeky obsession. Who knows, maybe in time we will see a top ten video game list in the new york times. Maybe we will start to see things turn around for how society views us gamers, just maybe we will no longer be the geeky bastards who sit in their rooms 24/7 and perfect our SC2 games and maybe it will be realized we do in fact have lives, and that video games arent just "a waste of time". at any rate.....this advertisement is pure blasphemy, and should never have been created. Video games and politics just do not mix.

 

[Farys]

I think you all live in a happy wonderful land of dreams (I live there too sometimes, it's always the right place to go when you hope for the best out of ppl ).

VG are infused by politics only you do not always see it. When you play something like MGS or Splinter Cell, you play the vision of some game creators about the foreign politicies of the greater nations of this planet.
I am aware it is not always the case, you'll have a hard time to find politics in Mario but look at every game with a little of background story, look at RPG and anticipation scenarii, you will find opinions, views of the producer/scenario writer on our world and on our hypothetical future.

You're the first to pity the galkas for being used as slaves, you're the first to lift the fist against the elvaan monarchy and the plots of those two brothers for power and supremacy or you're the first to ditch the tarutarus for their sell-sufficience, their know-it-all behavior...

Those are political subjects and everyone of us has his/her own opinions of the ruler of our virtual world.


What is ridiculous however is the way this ad has been done and thought :
"see! your virtual friends do it, you should do the same!" :roll:
I find it always funny to see most of the US citizens yell "it's all entertainment!" when speaking about music, art, films or games (especially in music I must say). Are you really living in another world to hope that creators won't push forward one way or another their views on human kind, on love, on politics, on ppl through their media of choice?

 

[Mistaya]

Actually isnt mario about a monarchy ('princess' toadstool and the mushroom 'kingdom') being overrun by a brutal dictatorship?(king koopa and company).

there is politics 'in' games because games reflect the realworld to a degree, and of course there are politics in the realworld. But i do NOT think realworld politics belong in games. the whole premise behind a game is to get out of the realworld isnt it?

Or perhaps we do have realworld politics in games already (any military historical game has politics behind it) but the difference is those are historical. They don't affect politics here and now.

i hate politics :evil:

meh current politics+video games = teh suck.

 

[Halifirien]

Anyone who has watched Sen. Joseph Lieberman holding up a light gun and copy of "Night Trap" and preparing to bring down the full weight of government regulation on the video game industry should have a difficult time saying video games and politics do not mix.

Video games are not considered a protected form of speech in enough quarters for me to feel completely comfortable. Politics matter, even where video games are concerned; don't dismiss them out of hand.

 

[Farys]

Well said Halifirien!

Mistaya, the whole premise behind a game is not only to get you out of the real world. Ppl might enjoy games for their fun, the work out (DDR fans ) or their (very scarcely I have to admit) philosophy.

In fact, the whole ad thing is not about politics but about your right and duty as a citizen.

 

[Firestreak]

You're not seeing the big picture here about getting more people to vote. You have to ask why they are so uninformed. The easy answer is "they're lazy punks". The solution is... if they vote, politicians will start paying attention to them. Plain and simple. We have had elections based on medicare because the elderly vote in such high numbers. So people who feel unaffected by this, don't vote. But believe me, if the youth had voter turnout like the elderly, topics that mattered to us would become more at the forefront and we would be more interested in politics.

 

[Marajade]

Correction, they do mix.

Much in the same way a pile of gunpowder and a burning match mix. You dont like what comes out of it.

 

[xKronox]

I blame xbox ruining console gaming as we know it.
With fag on fag action games like nfl fever and halo those jocks you knew at your old high school can now still be cool and play video games.
That's why i will ALWAYS stick to my PC. ( But i am kinda being hypcritacal i still own a ps2, but i'm only awaiting ffxii and tekken 5, next year. )

I mean first we had games like mario. Were the cool guys in the 80's laughed their asses off, then we had games like mortal kombat and the newer marios, these were most popular in the earlier 90's. During this time politicians have started noticing this increase in video games, but they fail to notice that mario is a violent mother fucker by killing animals by crushing their skulls with his feet....

They became consoles systems like psx and dreamcast... n64 where games are becoming more popular, but still the jocks where giving me wedies for playing them....

Then grand theft auto 3 came out.... Ruined video gaming as we know it...
"Dude i can shoot stuff and shit" Havent you played GTA1 or 2 this is nothing new... "I heard those have shit graphics..."

Now days video games are all about graphics to apeel to the new wave of popularity amogst video games. I've been playing iveo games since 1989 when i was just 3 years old. (even though i must've sucked at duck hunt ^_~)

But anyhow, this is my main point. Since video games have become popular amogst teenagers and shit, it has become a politcal target. Who is their audience though? And what drives them? I tell you what it is....

Every form of power is driven by fear, to strike this fear into the hearts of christian-like mothers who worry about nothing but there children and god, causing them to over-react and vote for the ban of video games, becuase they fear their kids will turn into a fucking rampaging demon killer because some video game told them to...

So fuck anything polictal-gaming, fuck mtv, fuck george w. bush, fuck kerry, fuck my goverment, and fuck my country.

This is not the land of the free, slowly and slowly our government is turning into a socialism...

these are my two cents, im shure i made no sense to anyone... /sigh ^_~

 

[DeviFoxx]

During this time politicians have started noticing this increase in video games, but they fail to notice that mario is a violent mother fucker by killing animals by crushing their skulls with his feet....

...

Every form of power is driven by fear, to strike this fear into the hearts of christian-like mothers who worry about nothing but there children and god, causing them to over-react and vote for the ban of video games, becuase they fear their kids will turn into a fucking rampaging demon killer because some video game told them to...

<Mario> Mama-Mia! It'sa me! Mario! That-a bastard, Bowser called me a frickin' wop, then he ran off-a with my girl, Peach! I'ma bettin' that slimey grease-a-ball is trying to get Peach to slurp his spaghetti! ...Ohhhhhh... that Mama-ma, son of a bitcha fu#@%!#@%!#@%!#@%!#@%!#@%!!!!

*Packs his Flame Thrower Flowers...*

I'mma gonna toast his cojones off! Let'se go, Luigi!

<Luigi> *Joe Pesci type voice* Yea... Let's go bust this guy's frickin' head open, eh brotha? That bastid was lookin' at meh funny and he was talkin' shit about us. Tell ya what I'm gonna do... See this baseball bat? I'mma plant it in the back of his fat, spiky head!

And remember, kids. Mario and Luigi proove that if you squash enough Walking Mushrooms with eyes and teeth, and Turtle Heads, Burn up a few Venus Fly Traps that pop out of sewer pipes, hop across a large chasm by jumping off of someone known as "Bullet Bill", don't get your butt cheeks bitten off by a nasty rabid dog known as "Chain Chomp", collect magical falling stars that make you invincible, and make it in time to save a blonde bombshell of a princess from being sexually assaulted by a giant turtle, then you too can do the same thing to all the kids when you go to school tomorrow, and no one can stop you as long as you hit that question box and get a star!

 

[Ecks]

Wow.. that music video is pure garbage. Infact I actually got a little laugh out of a few parts. I can't really blame those companies that let MTV have use of their characters.. I'm sure they were doing it "to do the right thing". But damn.. it came off really retarded. That song is crap first off, and the video really wasn't much better. Meh, all the MK characters should have been killing eveyone. ^^ That would have been better.

 

[DeviFoxx]

I showed that video to my friend, and I kept annoying him and made him wanna punch me by just out of the blue, saying:

STAND... AND CHOOSE!

Then he started running from me to escape me and decided he'd rest by sitting underneath a telephone pole... until a raven took a shit on him, and he got mad and I started laughing.

 

[Tyrion]

So he zoned you but then got aggro from a Raven?

 

[DeviFoxx]

If you wanna phrase it like that, yeah.

Too bad the raven only took a dump on his shoulder. He had looked up to see what dripped on him... If only the raven shitted again and crapped in his mouth... Like Kenny on South Park.

 

[Mr.Wonko]

Wow.. that music video is pure garbage. Infact I actually got a little laugh out of a few parts. I can't really blame those companies that let MTV have use of their characters.. I'm sure they were doing it "to do the right thing". But damn.. it came off really retarded. That song is crap first off, and the video really wasn't much better. Meh, all the MK characters should have been killing eveyone. ^^ That would have been better.

That wookie would have kicked all their asses.