Controversy and the games industry have sat hand in hand for years, the most famous and historic example being the Grand Theft Auto series. So many gameplay decisions made by GTA’s creators whether made to be satirical or not have been contested by the media. The biggest scandal surrounding the 2004 adaption Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and it ‘hot Coffee’ Feature.
Naturally when its latest instalment Grand Theft Auto 4 hit shelves April 2008, it was going to also meet the same fate at the hands of the media. However another game that shares countless similarities to the Grand Theft Auto series has emerged and has been able to avoid the controversy scapegoating by the Media, this game in question is Saints Row 2.
Through comparing the four biggest elements to Grand Theft Auto’s controversial status, Violence, Sexual Content, Drug and alcohol abuse with strong examples in Saints Row 2 to reveal in what ways volition Inc, Saints row 2 developers, tackled these highly taboo elements in the media’s eyes and were able to dispense the controversy. As well as the controversy angle both games will be summarised in their genre role to discuss which matches it the best.
There are a couple of books that you might like to get your hands on to support your essay, they are collections of essays on GTA,
ReplyDeleteGarrelts, N., (2006) The Meaning and Culture of "Grand Theft Auto": Critical Essays, McFarland & Co Inc.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meaning-Culture-Grand-Theft-Auto/dp/0786428228/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234452292&sr=8-1
There is also...
Liquido, T., (2006) GTA-ology: What I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Playing Grand Theft Auto, Booksurge Llc.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/GTA-ology-Learned-Playing-Grand-Theft/dp/9810542593/ref=pd_sim_b_1
http://www.whattheyplay.com/features/sex-violence-ratings-and-game-design/
ReplyDeleteThis is quite a good set of articles from designers perspectives that might be worth a look...
As a second game for your comparison for GTA4, you could include House Of The Dead: Overkill.
ReplyDeleteNow I know that these are two different games, but it contains all of the elements that you mentioned and creates a rearly bad 70s action film which is a great parady for it to use.
Zero Punctuation has done it as a review this week, but I havfe played it at my mates house and is worth a look
You should have a look at this from the Think Gamer Blog, it is about your 2 games of choice...
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.gamerthink.com/2009/03/when-saint-comes-marching-in.html
Sim Sin City: some thoughts about Grand Theft Auto 3
ReplyDeleteby Gonzalo Frasca
http://www.gamestudies.org/0302/frasca/
cheers for all the links, they'll be really helpful
ReplyDeleteThis is a good article from The DiGRA "Hard Core Column" on the Hot Coffee moral panic...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.digra.org/hardcore/hc9/
You should also look at Postal 2 and the upcoming Postal 3.
ReplyDeleteThese games seem to take drugs and violence to the extremes. Postal 2 was banned in several countries due to it heavy violence and "angry" gameplay but as far as the media is concerned the game doesn't seem to exist any more and has somewhat become and underground game that only people that have seen/played it before keep up with.
Gav