Fox News’ imaginary Bulletstorm “controversy”
Fox News published an article by some tool named John Brandon claiming Epic Games’ new release, Bulletstorm, is “the worst video game in the world.” The article begins as an exploitation of sorts to some of the more “distasteful” aspects of the game, soon thereafter spiraling into a fantastic whirlwind of suck luring the reader’s attention toward some of the harsher challenges of the entire gaming industry.
Here’s the entire article summed up in a short, ADHD adapted paragraph:
Bulletstorm is a profoundly offensive and gruesome video game. A “media-psychiatrist” says all kids play violent video games, and an increase in sexually violent crimes shows they usually act out their depictions in real life. The ESRB is useless! California does not allow minors to purchase M-rated games. Marketing for such games is clearly aimed at children. These games don’t sell very well. A bunch of companies that have nothing to do with the game won’t comment on any of this shit. 🙁
Outrageously false,
John Brandon
So here’s the scoop. The mechanics of the game are death and creative death. You kill monsters for a high score. The more creatively you pull off a kill, the more points you’re rewarded. There’s plenty of raunchy rashness and foul-mouthed folly along the way, so of course the game is likely to cross the line for a lot people. To that, I say, “Don’t play the damned game.” If you’re a parent worried about how the obscene interactive content will affect your kids’ psychology, “Don’t let your kids play the damned game.” Use common sense, will ya? When you see a movie preview for sappy little punk-ass vampires with a conscience, you don’t go straight to the theater to plant your ass in those uncomfortable chairs. When you hear some crappy band is headed to infest your town’s local venue, you don’t rape the Ticketmaster website for floor tickets so you can be right up against the stage.
There are so many things wrong with this article, the biggest thing being that it merely was written. People should not be writing articles diminishing the artistic value of an industry they clearly have no participation in. The piece is littered with unproven claims and opinionated statements that attempt to come across as fact.
What I find most ironic is that the slug for the article’s URL is listed as “/bulletstorm-worst-game-kids/” which incidentally would be a much more appropriate title, but obviously garner far less attention for being more honest. My biggest gripe with this outlet is that so many people are watching, listening, and reading this bullshit that any content that comes across the audience in a directorial fashion is likely not taken with a grain of salt. People unwilling to form their own opinions tend to take outrageous and/or false statements by alarmists as the truth. So by preparing your article with an aggressively misinformed stance, you only worsen the ignorance of an audience whose knowledge of the topic already consists primarily of falsities.
And another thing, don’t these “psychiatrists” know when to STFU? Carole Lieberman, who made the bullshit correlation between violent video games and sex crimes, just lost all hope of ever selling anything on Amazon simply by offering up her imprudent remark. As Cooper Lawrence also found out, gamers do not take kindly to misguided idiots who make unwarranted statements for a little media spotlight. The Amazon listing for Lieberman’s book “Bad Girls” has to be my favorite part of the end of her career:
This book will blow your fucking mind.
HINT: If you really want to make SpaghettiOh angry, talk to it about how parents generally fail at understanding what video game content is appropriate for their children — those little creatures they ignore while their eyes are glued to Dancing With the Stars.
Source: Fox News