Does That 'Mercinary' Video Game Commerical Offend Anyone But Me?

You know, the one where all the characters are like 'I don't know which building to blow up, this one or that one?'

'I'll shoot first and ask questions later.'

I'm thinking pretty soon they'll be coming out with video games geared toward raping women.

'I don't know who to rape first, the blonde or the brunette?'

'American Rapist' coming soon to Playstation.

I don't blame you. This video game craze is designed to turn American children into murder machines in the future. If the Bush administration can so blithely condone torture to the point that we TOLERATE it,as they have done, then the future is truly bleak.

...it bothers me as well, more so because it is targeted to an age group that is YOUNGER than the label rating.

War is not a video game. The whole concept is dispicable.

would get along just fine.

I have a problem with the content AND the marketing. I haven't said I want it banned, I just don't think they should show the ad during cartoons for kids. Any idiot who wants to buy the thing, and is old enough, let them have at it, the fools. I wouldn't buy it for myself or any loved one.

I'm not on the same page with Joe Lieberman on many issues. If he agrees with my perspective WRT the game, then he's wiser than I've credited him.

nt

...who WANTED it. He ain't getting it from me.

The late night showcase for adults.

:eyes:

Not 18 and over. Yet they advertise games that a good percentage of the viewing audience is too young to buy. The cartoons, such as Futurama, Aqua Teen and Sealab and whatnot, appeal to 14 and 15 year old kids as well as adults. Hell, Futurama was once a prime time program. They can put a caveat at the start of the show, but when the show is rated for 14 year olds, that is just a CYA move. It sure won't foil any safeguards that parents may put on the TV, if PG and TV-14 material is allowed.

Regardless of the rating of the game, I just rather effectively blew a hole in your argument that "they're advertising it during childrens cartoons." That other poster was right, you are like Joe Leiberman.

I never said YOU shouldn't play the foolish game, knock yourself out. I just don't like that crap being marketed to impressionable youngsters.

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Where have I lied, where have I exaggerated? And why, because I do not want an impressionable youngster exposed to gratuitous violence for profit, have I engaged in ridiculous defenses?

One more time, as you appear to be sorely challenged to understand me: I don't like the way they advertise the game on a PG show. That's MY opinion, that's how I feel. I have a right to this opinion, and if you don't like it, then you have the option to disagree. I'd prefer that you be civil, but that's your choice.

I have not tried to wrest your games from your sweaty palms, I certainly do not want to deny you the thrill of playing the bloody game. Have at it.

My outrage is not phony, it's real. I ask you not to make characterizations about my motivations, because they have no basis in fact, as you do not know me.

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Futurama, rated PG. Futurama, a FOX PRIMETIME SHOW in its first iteration. Futurama, Al Gore's daughter writes for the show. FUTURAMA. One shouldn't need to sweat that program.

Please don't accuse me of lying. I don't appreciate it.

A show for an adult audience in an adult audience.

Children's cartoons implies Dora the Explorer, or Blue's Clues. And you know it full well.

You might as well be talking about how Spongebob is corrupting impressionabl youngsters.

The rating was appropriate to the age of the child.

How many 14 year olds do you know, of age-appropriate intelligence, who watch BLUE's CLUES?

Please read the whole thread. You're being purposefully argumentative without actually reading what I have written.

If you seek a fight, sorry. I can't oblige you.

and not a whole lot else. I think you're just making the assumption that it must be advertised during kid's shows.

I've bought the game, it's actually pretty fun to play. I guess I must be a warmongering fool, eh?

on commercial television hourly. Given that the rating for that game is Mature I'd figure that would be generating more outrage than Mercenaries which is rated Teen.

I've yet to see Mercenaries advertised anywhere where people under the target market could be watching.

UPN and Fox during the simpsons, looks like a fun game

And you aren't my kid.

In which case, have at it.

If not then we have a problem.

administration's version excepted.

Edit: (itchy posting finger)

I suppose when the Mercs in the game are hit that big repuke ugly-ass skank from the repugnican national convention comes out and "awards" them a purple-heart bandaid too.

If it were trying to be one of these obscene "Gulf War II" games, and being a "let's blow some shit up" game, you'd definitely have a point.

But it's much sillier than that, as evidenced from the goofy costumes.

This looks more like a bomberman time game. Blow shit up for the sake of blowing shit up.

I mean, the WWII and Gulf War video games are just blatantly offensive. I can't imagine my grandfather wanting to play a video game about the battle he fought in. He spent the last 45 years of his life trying to forget that time.

I don't know, this game just rubs me the wrong way. And I'm not a prude, by any stretch.

except that some of them aren't very well designed.

I don't see how they're any different than playing with miniatures, or watching WWII movies for example.

Mindless killers are going to be in high demand in the near future, I think.

In Grand Teft Auto you can 'beat on' hookers for extra health points. We are ALREADY there... And I have friends who buy this crap for their 11 year old kids!!! :grr:

Mugging them just gets back your money.

In fact, from playing Vice City, I've found that I've had better luck getting lots of money by wasting groups of gang members on the sidewalk en masse via a good tought car rather than going after hookers. One of them is carrying a lot of dough.

Those always come in handy in a violent town like Vice City.

...and the player has a choice not to be violent...most of the time is about just explore las vegas,los angeles,san francisco and have fun racing the cars..

acts of violence against cops, reporters, rival toystore owners, citizens, etc.

There isn't much reason to buy GTA exclusively to just drive around town and explore although that's the only way you get the vaunted "100's of hours of game time".

:P

Because, that's what Mercenaries is for all intents and purposes except in a military setting. Based on the comments here it appears that most of you aren't even familiar with the actual game concept behind Mercenaries.

You're sent to North Korea after a military coup took place against a NK leader who wanted to unify the two Koreas peacefully.

Your purpose is to help eliminate the head honcho and his associates and working with 4 different factions (including a UN based group)you take on various missions in order to obtain tips as to where the bad guys are.

It's no more violent and actually less bloody than GTA. And you actually suffer negative consequences for attacking non-combatants. Yeah, you can blow stuff up just for the sake of blowing stuff up. But that's different than GTA how?

You all just have your shorts in a knot because it deals with the military.

Bullshit.

It's the comments the players make that bother me.

Blowing crap up is part of the game so what responses would you expect from the players in the commerical?

They've found a niche and are exploiting it. Good for them.

As for me having problems with the military, someone should have told me that before I joined, I guess....!

If I do have any issues with these so-called "military" games, it's because they don't portray a realistic picture of the pant-pissing, frightening, bloody, smelly, sickening reality that combat entails. It's all booming voices, rat-a-tat, and take that hill.

Bullshit, all of it. There's no glory in war, and even less in unnecessary wars.

Yes, I suppose it is hard for gamers to understand anything about the reality of war, hence the moranic comments.

I think that it's parents' responsibility to teach their kids the difference between real war and a stupid "blow shit up" video game. Making the leap from this game to raping women is ludacris.

Yeah, it is fun blowing crap up but you actually need to use a certain amount of strategy to balance out the competing faction interests in order to complete all of the games objectives. It's not educational by any means but rampant indiscriminate destruction actually works against you.

Honestly, you'd think people would be more bent out of shape over a game like "Full Spectrum Warrior" which is actually a simplified version of a real urban combat simulator that the Army uses in training.

You can play the real version.

But in Bush land, it is an ideal to be strived for...

SICK AND WRONG

I just don't think they should advertise it on PG and TV-14 programming. What good are these so-called guidelines about content and ratings that the GOP is so hyped up about, when the almighty advertising dollars encourage the underaged to persuade their parents to purchase toys that exceed their level of maturity and understanding? Can't let morals get in the way of profit, now!

I guess when it comes to selling kids shit, all bets are off. Don't look at that Jackson teat, buy the kids an 18 year old blow-em-up game instead!

So most likely the targeted audience is old enough to be playing the game.

What kinds of games *should* be legal, then?

nt

I've expressed dislike at the marketing and content, but I have not suggested that the games be banned. In fact, I have expressly stated that I do NOT think they should be banned. I am challenged by the eagerness of some of these manufacturers to sell violent content to youngsters; they push the envelope and in the end, they probably WILL end up being restricted--but not by me--by BushCo's fundie base. And why? Because the manufacturers and promoters are greedy, marketing beyond the target audience.

It's like a beer machine in the middle school--one of these things doesn't go with the other, see if you can guess which one...!

Good grief. Read what people actually post, please.

The one I responded to clearly said "IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL." No equivocation, just "IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL." Maybe you should try reading it as well.

to me, the ads are written almost like a BFEE recruitment ad for "civilian contractors". I think its a concerning trend to observe, but its just a computer game.

More like "hmmm..here's an indication of way the country is heading, what can we glean from this" rather than "OMG, that's Horrible! ban the game!"

you probably do not want to know much more about that then. though let's just say rape games have already been done (in full graphic animated detail) and gained enough popularity to become a running theme. very much alive and well.

Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction

Some things just go too far. IMO, this is one of those things.

for the new army.

Funny thing is, in the game, you work for the U.N., China, and South Korea. Not the U.S. And your enemy is a country that ACTUALLY MIGHT USE WMD's sometime, since their leader IRL is batshit crazy.

that the speech of the characters sounded like they were recruiting for Rummy's civilian contractor corps.

The reviews are solid, and it looks like fun. I know as much as anyone that war is a terrible thing and I'd do anything I could to stop one, but that doesn't mean I can't buy a game about it and enjoy myself. I disagree with your slippery slope argument as well. There is a clear difference between a game simulating rape and one where you kill pixel-based bad guys. Crimes of a sexual nature are too heinous to make fun of. It would be like making a game based on the holocaust, with the objective of seeing how efficiently you could make a death camp run. On the other hand, human beings have been killing each other since the first Neanderthal smashed in the skull of another one with a rock. I'm a completely non-violent person, but I grew up playing games like this and it's never done me any harm.

Edit: Oh yeah, calm down people, it's just a game.

the voice of the announcer let you know it was in good fun, not to be taken seriously..

"blow stuff up!!"

(cuts to a scene of a building being blown up)

"then blow it up some more!!"

(building gets hit again)

"then blow it up again!"

(they hit it till it collapses)

I was cracking up...I want the game.

You are a mercenaries.

In a playground of destruction.

Blow up anything.

Blow it up again.

Blow it up some more.

Keep blowing stuff up

Blow the crap out of it.

Blow the living crap out of it again.

"I will flip a coin to decide which building to destroy
Then blow them both up anyway."

The programs are okay, it's the damn commercial that I have to protect my child from.

Since I've read the pther posts, let me add this: he watches with mom and dad. Dad loves Futurama, and while a lot of the humor goes over the 7 year old's head, it isn't offensive to the point he can't watch it.

But the damn commercials can be..

And I also think there's a big difference between war games and rape games.

hearing military and police people say that they are very (very) similar to the games they use for training new recruits to get them over their hesitation to fire at people.

If the police and military admit using them to teach people not to hesitate to kill in NECESSARY situations, what can they do to kids who are not getting the rest of the training in discrimination and control?

not of video games - if they're not teaching restraint to new recruits, then that's a problem in and of itself.

You don't always have to kill in this game - in fact, the rewards are higher if you bring in the main baddies in alive, which can be difficult (but satisfying) at times.

And, also, if the military is using fucking video games to train people - we have a serious problem on our hands.

training is a hell of a lot more balanced than some idiot teenager gets alone in his room blasting the hell out things and thinking it's cool. And I have to wonder if you deliberately misread what I said...that kids playing these games don't get the training in discrimination and control that the military and police do.

And yes, both military and police are using what they call 'computer graphic training aids' that they admit look like these games.

You see a lot of them during sporting events. They all seem uniformly stupid and violent.

but with real Blackwater Mercs taking center stage in Iraq, it just isn't a laughing matter anymore

Actually, If she would make me her slave I would blow up anything for her...

as just another violent video game.

I find the timing of this title's release suspicious.

But to make it fair and realistic, should the merc be caught, he or she should be executed.

I think that they've already released such games in Japan

My kids have seen the commercial and they know it's "over the top".

That reminds me. Where's my crowbar?