Outrage! UK media up in arms over DS games

It's rare to see DS titles being held responsible by the mainstream media for society's ills. Usually, such treatment is reserved for home console releases, but in the last 24 hours two DS games have triggered a bout of misguided bleatings, both from British papers that amazingly aren't the Daily Mail. That's right, readers: two titles. Welcome to a special, double edition "Outrage!" post. Double the horror! Double the controversy! Double the irrational fear!

We'll start with the obvious one, then. We sensed there'd be a backlash against Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars as soon as we saw these shots, but even we were impressed by the speediness of The Sun's error-strewn report. Next to an incorrectly captioned picture of Grand Theft Auto III, the paper reveals how a game about selling drugs will soon be playable on the "family-friendly" Nintendo DS, and remarks that, "Experts predict the final edition is unlikely to feature explicit criminality." They're in for a surprise, then.

Next up in the stocks is a far more surprising scapegoat: the rather innocent Advance Wars. According to the Daily Telegraph, police investigating the stabbing of a 20-year-old who was also a massive fan of the game (to the extent that he ran an Advance Wars fansite) are now investigating whether the killer was a fellow "internet gamer." Of course, that's just one of several potential links being examined by the authorities, but the newspaper still leads with the Advance Wars angle. Why? OUTRAGE!

Source: Grand Theft your child's INNOCENCE [Via Game Politics]
Source: Advance Wars: Murder Weapon [Via Game Politics]

Reader Comments (22)

Ugh, Idiocy like this makes me want to stab a hippo. I can see that they may be worried about the use of drugs in games that children could play, despite this happening every time a game comes out with drug references. But seriously, I guy who GOT stabbed happened to play the game advance wars, how is that relevant at all, media just finds it too easy to use gaming as a scapegoat for everything on a slow news day.

>stab a hippo.

Another young person's mind poisoned by violent video games. Won't someone think of the hippos?

Advance Wars?

*Price is Right fail noise*

I wouldn't have said the Telegraph was too outlandish. There was certainly no unnecessary hyperbole that I could see. It's just a shame that a life was lost over, what seems to be, a trivial forum war.

As for the Sun: fuck them. With their sordid background they have no moral foundation to get all fussed up. They've documented Winehouse's druggy fall with intricate glee. To then complain about the same drugs seems a little like feigned rage, something we're all well too accustomed to in this country.

Let's hope this version of GTA allows the player to shoot up H with the stylus and snort charlie from the mic. Then we'd see some real rage.

Harumph! Harumph!

I didn't get a harumph outta that guy. Give the British Press a harumph.

You better watch your ass.

We can be thankful that he used a knife and not a Neotank.

Okay, I've avoided it up till now, but I have to say it: what is the big fuss about this drug-dealing aspect of GTA:CW? All they've done is blatantly ripped off the free and available-on-nearly-every-platform Dope Wars.

I was selling drugs on my PDA over a decade ago. GTA:CW's drug-dealing is not innovative.

I was playing that on my calculator in high school during class ten years ago. (And I still have never even smoked.)

I think "Outrage!" should be the name of a new weekly column for the Fanboy sites. You'd probably have enough source material to write at least a brief post about "Outrage!" against video games in popular news media.

Although with Jack Thompson's recent disbarment, you might have to make it a monthly column.

If nothing else, it could be a new category of posts across all Fanboy sites. Every time one of the readers sees an "Outrage!" prefix for a post title, we know we're in for yet more news about the mass media promoting righteous anger against those evil, evil video games (even though the games are clearly marked with ESRB descriptors in the US and equivalent descriptors in other countries).

My only recommendation is that you type "outrage" in all caps and throw four or five more exclamation points behind it.

Well that murder does have a lot to do with an Advance Wars community.

Yeah, I live down the street from the Advance Wars guy. Police didn't bring the game connection except after examining all the other possibilites.

Which Advance Wars fansite was this?

I am honestly offended by the inclusion of the drug selling mini-game in GTADS. Specifically the hard ones. Adding something like that isn't mature, it's irresponsible and tasteless IMO. Especially on a "mostly" family friendly system like the nds. Although, if it had just a weed selling mini game, I would be all over that though.

You do know that this game is not intended for minors right? like how there are family friendly movies and the ummmm..... not so family friendly ones.

I wonder what The Sun will say about Mad World for the Wii. And they thought the DS was family friendly.

Effin' a, I know the guy who got stabbed and it makes me sick to see them blame it on stuff like this.

Have to agree with Nigeria on both points.
You guys at DS Fanboy do seem to love to jump on any mention of the word Nintendo in the wider media. What's weird is that you don't see the irony - you've taken a shot at the Telegraph for supposedly "scapegoating" Advance Wars when the article clearly DOES NOT do this; it's you providing the sensationalism about this, not the Telegraph.

It doesn't matter how much an Advance Wars fansite/community was involved in a stabbing, that doesn't draw any kind of causation between the content of the game and the incident.

Almost every stabbing that isn't accidental or done by a loon is the result of "someone got angry or upset enough about something to stab another person" - The something is largely irrelevantly. I expect the large majority of stabbings are about relationships or work, but we don't view those things are evil corrupting forces...

(that wasn't in response to the article, just media scapegoating in general)

As for the GTA drug selling minigame... Knowing Rockstar and the media, it does seem like something they've put in mainly for the free press coverage - it would have been just as "fun" and "mature" from a player perspective to include something not as extreme, such as suggested by Goshogun.

I mean in the end, anyone who wants the game more just because of this minigame would strike me as immature, rather than mature.

I wonder if they ever 'investigate' violent acts committed by people that read their newspaper. There must be a link...

I bet the killer was a fan of eating and breathing. Let's ban eating and breathing!

I really hate stupid people.

Honestly, it would be dumb not to expect some controversy over GTA coming to DS. GTA and controversy go hand-in-hand.

But, Advance Wars? Really? Maybe they should investigate Chess while they're at in.

Do you think I could go on a rampage after reading the Daily Mail? How would they report that?

Daily Mail causes young man to go on rampage?

Not likely, that'd be nonsense...

Outrage! UK media up in arms over DS games

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: Sep 26th 2008 11:47AM (Unverified) said

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Posted: Sep 26th 2008 12:19PM Stop said

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Posted: Sep 27th 2008 5:45PM Professor Lario said

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