BERJAYA

Children

From David N:

Greetings IGN PC,

I'd like to bring your attention to a small trend I have noticed in two recently released games; the use of children as characters. These titles include "Prey" and the upcoming "BioShock". I, along with gaming friend, feel some what uncomfortable when I see a small child being impaled on a large spike and then taken over by a demon of some sort, I'm sure you are aware of the scene in question.

In Bioshock the character "little sister" who seems to inhabit a vent system throughout the underwater city of Rapture, and who, once finding "Adam" uses a tool to ingest and vomit it out; these scenes revolve around the eventual killing of children whether it is by the player or AI. During these scenes Ken Levine narrates that the player will have to decide whether to exploit this little girl, and that the player will have a "moral choice" of future actions, this proves that they are aware of the sensitivity of the use of children.

I am not aware of any other titles, that use children in this way, and is it just a conscience that the two games mentioned are from Take-Two Interactive; 2k games and Irrational which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Take-Two Interactive, do Take-Two Interactive have a fetish for child killing, if they are somehow involved with the developing company, why do they insist on using them in this way.

While I know that some graphic titles do have an 18 certificate, is the use of child killing really necessary, I ask for your opinion please.

Thank you for reading; I look forward to hearing from you, please could the respondent provide their position at IGN.

Amazingly, Take-Two didn't respond when we asked in our most serious voice "do you guys have a fetish for killing children?"

I don't think it's the killing part that the devs are focusing on, but rather the scare factor of seeing some freaked out, spectral child wreaking havoc. Just look at F.E.A.R. Look at the flims The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby (although you never see the baby, it's still scary), The Ring, The Grudge, the trailer for The Grudge 2, Child's Play, Problem Child (that movie was horrifying), etc. etc. This list could go on forever. It's clear that if history proves anything, which it never does, it's that children ramp up fear factor. Even if it's a Lifetime Original Movie (shudder).

If you're concerned about the violence, you should probably play Postal 2. I seem to remember that game was full of fluffy bunnies and magic carpets.

-Charles, IGN PC

Has it made you any less... polite?

From Kurashi:

Speaking for myself, (although some would doubt that it's only one personality that speaks for me), after 5 + years in computers and dealing with those who choose not to take a basic understanding in the technology they so firmly believe they need. I have found that my usually cheery attitude has taken a downward spiral into nothingness. I don't put the blame on them (out loud), but I certainly feel robbed of my "basic love and understanding for my fellow human beings" because of them.

Do you find this to be true for yourself as well? I ask this because what group of people out there belong to the "brain trust" that think you wonderful, sarcastic souls over at IGN produce games? Further to the point, why do they feel they need to take the time out of what they consider to be their "busy" schedule to write into you guys/gals to argue with you over a review which you painstakingly craft and put out there (for free, mostly) for a reason that I can only assume is to give those clueless people some ammo before blindly walking into a store and purchasing a game like "deer hunter" (nothing against it, just not my style).

Anyways, I guess I just wanted to thank you kindred souls over at IGN for telling people off, I mean responding to people with such kid gloves to such thoughtless questions and comments.

No Kurashi! Don't descend into the abyss of depression and multiple personality disorder! We like your garbled, rambling letter!

We thank you for your words, although the only thing a lot of people do around this office to a painstaking degree involves sucking up the crumbs from the bottom of a Doritos bag.

Still, we think posting your letter might help educate the community. Let's check out the letter below to see what other people are saying.

-Charles, IGN PC

IMPORTAN

From rajashahid

please make wrestling games for PC i love wrestling games i play cricket its very interasting and so great game but now in thease days i like wrestling games specail request to u byee respect games officers

Good point, well thought out. We'll have it on your desk by Monday.

-Charles, IGN PC

Arnold Schwarzennegar in Far Cry 2!!

From Vince:

I just wanted to know; Japan does it, so why doesn't America? I'm talking about letting real-life actors portray game characters. The most famous examples are Onimusha and Lost Planet's heroes, but US Hollywood Stars would ROCK as certain game characters. Specifically, I was thinking about Ubi Soft's Far Cry 2 (which we all know is coming thanks to that leak a few weeks ago). Since the original Far Cry was an ode to the greatest film ever made, "Commando", and the subsequent Xbox and Wii versions owe more than few passing nods to Arnold's "Predator", why not go all the way? I say, screw Jack Carver - Far Cry 2 should star Arnold Schwarzennegar, reprising his role as John Matrix in Commando!! How sweet would THAT be? C'mon IGN, you should post this and bring it to Ubi's attention. I'm the kid who wrote in about not wanting Tingle in Twilight Princess a few years back, and started that whole movement. And whose not gonna be in Twilight Princess...?

I'm just saying:)

Hold on, hold on. A Commando game starring John Matrix himself would be the ultimate. The opening eating / chopping wood scene with Alyssa Milano would be playable, possibly some kind of reaction / response type game where you have to hit LMB to tussle Milano's hair or something. Then there's the chopper attack sequence, the mall fight which uses Max Payne style controls (including parking garage escape sequence), and then of course the massive loadup sequence / island assault / woodshed saw blade toss / final battle.

There'll be no bullet time in this game. Instead, the entire game is in slow motion. Also, you can't go more than three steps without a triple replay / ultra close up. For instance, Matrix takes one step forward - triple replay, super zoom on eyeball to show murderous intent hidden behind fatherly exterior. Brilliant.

Also, the final battle with Bennett wouldn't end at the steam pipe through the chest. Instead of dying, Bennett would laugh and reveal his true form. This would likely be some sort of Nazi/zombie/guitar/demon/lawyer/doctor/ancient-power-from-a-distant-time-long-forgotten-type of super-soldier conglomerate.

Sorry for putting everyone through that.

-Charles, IGN PC

Resident Evil 4 for PC???

From Jason

Hi Charles,

I'm hoping you can answer my questions.

On Feb 1, 2006 in this article below
http://pc.ign.com/articles/684/684955p1.html

Can you tell me anymore details about RE4 on PC?

When is it coming to PC?

I have been totally excited hearing this news and have heard nothing.

I don't have PS2 or Gamecube and don't have the money for either.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately we haven't heard anything either. Similar to the dearth of new information on RE 5. We'll be sure to update as soon as we hear anything.

-Charles, IGN PC

2142 Garbage

From Tony:

Why do editors not stike back at EA for releasing the garbage game of 2142? They won't start making products that are better unless you start telling them that you're sick of the same crap being rehashed over and over. What do subscibers pay you for? All EA/Dice doing in making a stupid mod for Bf2 and trying to take 50 dollars more of our money. Its bad enough we had to put down 20 bucks for both Euro Forces and Armored Fury, and now this. It's disgraceful. And its not even much fun either, I played both versions of the beta, and let me tell you... its quite bad. And thats comming from me, a long time BF fan thats been playing since 1942 and all the junk inbetween. When vietnam came out, yea, its wasn't much different than 42, but the graphics were better. Can't say the same about the comparison of 2142 to 2. And titan mode is flawed as hell to boot. So lets see, we got year old graphics, poorly implemented new game mode and all the problems inherited from BF2. EA's no t getting my money this time, maybe Bf3 will be a leap, but 2142 just plain sucks.

We're still waiting on the full game to be released before we pass judgment. However, we'll say that EA is definitely out of control in some respect. Just check out this infuriating article. I threw up at least eight times after reading that. Mostly it's because I downed a bottle of ipecac, but at least a few hurls were for that marketing blabber. Is anyone really clamoring to spend more money on content that should have been included with the original release?

-Charles, IGN PC

RE: Some IPs should not change

From Terence:

This is in response to your claim that it's ok for all IPs to go into different genres.

For the most part, I can agree, and if a good game came out of it, then great. However, there are some IPs that simply should not deviate from its current genre.

The best example I can give is The Legend of Zelda. Would you support the next Zelda game if it was an FPS? There would be riots around Nintendo HQ if that happened, and I would be one of the rioters. It wouldn't even matter if a solid FPS came out of Zelda. Some gameplay will be lost in translation, and the feeling players had when they played the other Zeldas will be lost.

Would you have no problem if the next Mario was an RTS? Perhaps if Half Life 3 became a 3rd person action game? I realize that I'm talking about sequels here and not spin-offs, but you mention Shadowrun in that context, because well, there is no other Shadowrun game.

I said before that some IPs can succesfully change to different genres. Metroid Prime being a good example. But some IPs should just be left alone.

Terence, you make a good point. If Zelda suddenly switched genres, people would go ballistic.

Here's the difference. Zelda is a long running series dating back to the NES. Adventure and RPG elements are something fans have come to expect with numerous and frequent releases across home consoles and handhels.

Shadowrun hasn't existed in game form for over 10 years. That's a long freaking time, and certainly time enough for a development team to make a decision to alter the genre. I'm not saying fans of the fiction have to be happy about it, far from it. But what if A Boy and His Blob got remade today and turned into a card battle game? Granted there isn't a wealth of fiction behind that one, but putting that aside and focusing strictly on game genre evolution, is that so wrong?

As a side note, I would totally hate to see A Boy and His Blob as a card battle game.

-Charles, IGN PC

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