Opinion: Why E3's constant stream of identikit brutality saw me embarrassed by this industry for the first time

Alright, Dave. This was your best work yet. Spot on with all points. I have noticed the "Everyone is Marcus Phoenix" problem in games for years now. It's so sad. Look at 1313. I was totally digging the demo, until that explosion shat out perfectly placed waist-high walls and it turned into yet another cover shooter. I was really hoping they would take more of an Arkham Asylum approach to the bounty hunter, sneaking around and setting traps, using your jetpack to navigate the environment as Batman uses his grapple. As for the violence itself, I think it works fine in The Last of Us, for the reasons that you said. It's a horribly bleak world, where if you had better be willing to kill someone to survive, because you can bet someone is willing to kill you. It's also great to have Ellie there to add some outside perspective to how awful it is to burn someone alive. Where it doesn't work, however, is in that Tomb Raider demo. Did I really just see Lara Croft rip some dude's throat out with her bare hands? What in the actual fuck? As for the bro whoops in the crowd, that's typical at any large gathering. You can't go anywhere these days, be it the movies, or a sporting event, and not see some group of bros determined to be the loudest people there, so they can get all the attention. If these bros were watching E3 at home, you know they wouldn't get the least bit excited over what they were seeing, but because they are in a crowd, they want to show off by shouting at every pair of tits and every execution they see. "LOOK AT ME, FELLOW DUDE-BROS. SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE TITS AND VIOLENCE?! SHOWER ME WITH YOUR ATTENTION." As for this bit: "...and also detailed open laughter during a behind-closed-doors demo of Ubisoft’s gorgeous-looking Watch Dogs. It wasn’t violence that elicited the reaction that time. Stunningly, it was the revelation that an NPC was HIV positive." I hope that's not true, but I know it is. That is just fucking disgusting. Just based on statistics alone, someone in that room knew someone who was HIV positive, if not themselves. I wonder how that made them feel? Anyhow, great article Dave. Everyone in the industry should be forced to read this.

"Did I really just see Lara Croft rip some dude's throat out with her bare hands?" No, she used an arrow and shoved it into his neck with her hand just. I agree that the people cheering is just something that happens at large gatherings. I don't think it means anything at all. The issue I have with most of the games on show is that they are all becoming cover shooters. Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and Splinter Cell used to be completely different genres and now they all seem to be turning into one. I don't see why the cover mechanic is becoming such a popular thing in gaming. I mean what is honestly so great about it? It restricts your movement and what you can do and saps the daring and in many cases challenge from a game. And everything simply has to be a shooter. That's what pisses me off.

Ahh ok, I couldn't see the arrow due to low video quality. That's still pretty ridiculous though. Why is the cover mechanic so popular? Because devs are targeting casual gamers. A cover mechanic with a regenerating health bar is the same as making the player invincible. You got shot? No biggie. Just crouch behind this wall for 5 seconds and try again. Even the actual gameplay is mind-numbingly easy. All you have to do is aim above whatever cover the enemy is using, and he will stick his head up in the same spot over and over, like he wants to get shot. It's like playing whack-a-mole. Mass Effect 3's combat just about put me to sleep. If I ever play through that game again, you can bet I will select the "I don't care about the combat, just give me the story" option at the start.

Hmmm, I am playing ME3 at the moment and I think that the challenge are actually quite good with flanking techniques, shielded enemies, ranged enemies, charging enemies etc. Maybe this is because I am playing it on the hardest difficulty? But I have to agree with your point that cover mechanics and regenerating health appeal to casual gamers, to be honest I'm surprised CoD doesn't have some form of cover mechanics yet but then again it is a twitch-reaction shooter.

It's not the lack of challenge that was the problem. It was just boring. It seemed like there were only 8 enemy types in the whole game, and most of them behaved largely the same way. First time through the game though, huh? A word of advice: Look up Marauder Shields on Youtube, and once you reach him, save your game and don't go any further until Bioware releases that update.

Yeah I see your point regarding enemy types. I do tend to overuse the pull and shockwave powers. This Marauder Shields isn't anything to do with the ending is it? I have taken a strict approach to knowing absolutely nothing regarding the ending of this game so that I can make up my own mind regarding the conclusion. Am I good to look this up without the fear of spoilers? Really don't want it to be ruined as I have played all the way from ME1.

I'm not going to spoil anything for you. I just really wish I could help you. I was once just like you. Played through all three games on the same imported character. I couldn't wait to see how this whole story ended. How foolish I was. What you are trying to do in going into the ending completely blind to form your own opinion is very admirable. However, you cannot possibly understand just how bad the ending is. Take a minute to think of the worst possible way you could imagine the game ending. Then multiply that by about 10. That might give you some idea. All I can tell you is this. The whole time I was playing through ME 3, all I could think was how I couldn't wait to start a new character in ME 1 and bring him through all the games again, making totally different choices to see how everything turned out. Then I got to the end of 3, and it completely killed my enthusiasm for the entire series. I haven't played any of the games again since the credits rolled. It was that bad. Sometimes we need to make our own mistakes though. As for the Marauder Shields video, here is the link. It won't spoil anything for you, other than one small part of one late game environment. I know I'm just some random guy on the internet, so my word is only going to go so far. But as someone who shares a kindred love of video games, I IMPLORE you to not go past the part in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467pmIX-oZo

Don't quite understand the significance of this moment (watched the vid) however I will follow your advice somewhat. Once I get to this part I will save and then carry on using a separate save. That way if the ending makes me want to profusely projectile vomit, I can always return to that point for an updated ending. Btw, I am feeling right now as how you described yourself in the last reply. I really just want to finish ME3 and then replay the whole series again. Thanks for your support however I must see the ending, I am just way too interested and involved with the series not to see it all the way through. At least I'll leave myself that backdoor way out as it seems more and more likely that I will be disappointed. The scenarios for every possible ending are running through my mind with incredible twists and what not; I should be finished in a few days, wish me well fellow video game connoisseur.

"The scenarios for every possible ending are running through my mind with incredible twists and what not" LOL. Sorry. Once you finish the game, come back to this thread, and then you will understand why I laughed. I honestly feel bad for you. I wish someone had stopped me. The joke in that video is that Marauder Shields is the last enemy you kill in the game, therefore he is the final boss. It is said that he died trying to save players from the ending.

I shall indeed return to this very thread when I am finished and let you know what I think of the ending.

I look forward to hearing your report. I still hold onto a shred of hope that upon your encounter with Marauder Shields you will think back on my warning and allow him to kill you. It will save you so much pain. By the way, just out of curiosity, what's your favorite color?

Just finished the game yesterday and went all the way to the final ending. I am conflicted after thinking about it a bit more. Either it is an extremely intelligent trippy ending which is not actually an ending and leads into the actual ending which will appear as DLC. Or it was complete balls, a mess with dozens of plot holes, poor writing and no weight placed upon my actions. While I can hope it was the former, I shamefully know it is most likely the latter... All I can hope is that the Indoctrination theory and others are true and there is still hope for the end of the saga. If not it is a shame that a fantastic game and series fell short in the last 10 mins. In fact, looking back I feel like crying if there is no twist waiting for me in the future. I should have taken your warning, stopped, and watched this video instead as it is a vastly superior ending compared to what happened if that is the true conclusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtRVonWAV1s BTW, my favourite colour is blue, green took my fancy at the time and from what it seems, I probably should have chose neither. Not that there would have been any difference anyway...

I'm seriously sorry for you dude. I can't even take any joy in saying "I told you so." I did my best to try to stop you, but there's just no way to convince a fan of the series how truly terrible the ending could be. You're absolutely right though. It's either a genius indoctrination sequence, and they held back the real ending for future DLC, or it's complete bullshit and one of the worst endings ever conceived. Either way, it's unacceptable. Marauder Shields knew the truth, and died trying to save you. I chose green too, btw.

While I think the ending is bad, I don't think it's *that* bad. I find that people blow it well out of proportion and think it's stupid how so many people demand a better ending from Bioware. I have played a number of games with worse endings and they don't come under anywhere near the same hate. Velvet Assassin's ending is much worse. The ending to Lost is also much worse. People should just get the fuck over it.

Wow man you are overreacting. You should think of what was going on in the situations you were refering to in your article. E3- You have a bunch of people who WANT to be excited, it should not be that much of a surprise when it happens. People tend to laugh/cheer along with others espeacially in crowds when they are not sure how to react. The context of the game you kept referring to "Last of Us" is a world where you can DIE if you don't do what needs to be done, and guess what Suzie, sometimes it aint pretty. Thats the point, the fact you are reacting to it in the way you are is most likely the intention of the Devs. Its NOT pretty, its NOT glamorus to have to kill someone, the medium is becoming more realistic so you are seeing it better than before. These games are becoming more emersive, they are conveying the fact of the in game story that certain things need to be done, and this is what it might be like..can you handle it? As far as a large percentage of the games doing similar things? Is that NOT always the case? I mean you want to compare the medium to movies, but movies aren't the same mostly violent, sex pushing flashy events? Your article asks a question which people SHOULD be asking themselves, but it hardly calls the integrity of the industry into question man. You yourself have admited buying horror flicks in mass quantities, is this different? Maybe people WANT to see what the most EXTREME situations would be like? Isn't THAT what they are selling? An Experience? Because the devs think the most sellable experiences are very similar across the board just shows us that people want it...and nothing else.

I don't think he's complaining about people having a giggle over violent images (I roared with laughter at the recent Mortal Kombat) but those who seem to get their jollies off to violence. The violence in The Last Of Us is meant to convey a cruel world where "survival of the fittest" is the mantra by which people live. A world where killing a man over a can of beans is longer classed as Murder One. Whooping and hollering was not the intended reaction and I would be creeped out if I was in the same audience too.

Thus my comments about crowds and how people behave in them. This is human evolution, its the way people react. It doesnt mean the gaming industry is full of knuckle draggers man, common. And make NO mistake here people, it WAS the intended reaction. Do you think your game will be talked about if people were REAL excited when they saw it, or NOT excited when they saw it? DUH. They WANT them to have a big reaction so they will talk about/promote their game. Also, do you guys know what society was like 500 years ago? You think some video game killing is "ohhhh mygosh thats sooo gross!!!" People would be killed in the streets where they stood for doing almost nothing and guess what? Before there were guns to make a mostly clean kill, it was done with Swords and your head or other body parts were simply HACKED off. It's interesting now that I think of it, the video gaming industry almost tries to keep us all in touch with that reality, that life really aint always so civilized. And since we know what sells, we can also infer that people WANT that. What are your thoughts on that David?

I'll admit that the developers wanted people to talk about the violence, but as to how it reflects the social order of the game's world. Not talking about how cool it was. This is what Mr. Houghton was referring to. I'm not going to piss and moan about violence in Tomb Raider either. I don't even mind people cheering to it either. It's an action adventure game. Yes, the gore is gratutious but who really cares? Complaining about violence in an action game is like whinging about Arnie chopping a guy's arm off in Commando. But people should understand the difference between "fun" violence and "serious" violence. Clap all you want to God Of War and Saints Row all you want (it is visceral fun) but games like The Last Of Us and Kane & Lynch don't exactly scream violence for shits and giggles.

@bass88 I completely agree about the point of Last of Us, I am sorry if I was ever coming across any different than that. I appreciate the ugliness of it, it IS ugly and THATS what they wanted us to see man. The game is trying to let everyone know it ain't a very nice situation to be in and we should contrast our own lives with the lives of these characters. Im just saying that people need to show these things off to get a very excited response from people ESPEACIALLY at a industry show, so people will talk about it and be excited (notice im not saying happy about it) but excited and when people are in crowds and are excited, thats what they do, they cheer and hoop and hollar. Also I bet ALOT of the people even the ones cheering etc when they went back to thier rooms or whatever later in the day and were going to TALK to someone about what they saw during Last of US they were not so "cheery" about it, but guess what man? They remembered it didn't they? David Houghton obviously did. You have simply fallen prey to marketing my friend.

I don't think the reason people were joyous was because of the head-shot and killing, I think it was because you have that choice of life or death. It makes the game more immersible. Survival and "what would you do?" situations are whats now trending in games and movies, the idea that you control what your character does. If he did not shoot him, would the guy have pulled out a knife? A gun? Were not sure, but what exactly would you guys do if he pleaded for his life? Perhaps there was a shout of joy in the game, but its hard to tell what they were joyous about. It could have been the killing, or the choice of life and death. I tend to think the better of people, makes life seem much less messed up and bearable.

No need to apologise for anything. This is a forum for debate. I guess my problem is that the crowd reaction to The Last Of Us is further proof that there is little room for intelligent discussion within the gaming community. If people waited until the end of the video and gave a standing ovation, then it would indicate that the audience were impressed with the mature presentation of the game. But since it was during moments of violence, it came across as "Whoa, she just totally stoned that guy! Fist-bump, bro!". I had the same problem with the reaction to the Hitman and nuns trailer. I didn't find it misogynist as it didn't present a hateful portrayal of women. It was sexist, but I found it to be too silly (a la Sin City) to take seriously. However, I did think it allowed for a debate to be made about the fetishisation of women in video-games (is it just a laugh or should there be more done to improve the perception of women in games). Sadly, both sides of the argument came out as idiots. You were either a man-hating dyke or a rapist in waiting. Even Graham Linehan and Charlie Brooker came out looking like dicks, insulting any that didn't think like them (Brooker engaged in a childish tit-for-tat with someone who pointed out the difference between misogyny and sexism as well as bullying by openly mocking somebody who asked how is it misogyist). If these are supposed to be the intelligent voices of our hobby, we are completely fucked.

Interesting article, and definitely a great read. However, I believe there is one major oversight: these reactions are typical in almost all forms of entertainment (and, in rare cases, news stories). It's not your esteemed colleagues you should be worried about, it's our evolving society. Scenarios like the ones you experienced at E3 just happen to be further exacerbated because of the overwhelming amount of men present. While we try not to stereotype, it's difficult not to in this case. Society is growing more and more numb to violence, murder, and sex, and it seems that men are at the forefront of it all. It's disheartening, and I do agree with many of your points. Here's to hoping we will see changes in the future.

Indeed, desensitisation is an issue. But for me, the kind of affecting contextual differences The Last of Us seems to be bringing to its violence are a step in the right direction. Which is why it's really frustrating to see them celebrated for simple visceral thrill value.

i think the real reason why people cheered so much is because violence is taken in the right direction in the game everybody i talked with about this game always told me how tensionful and "shocking" the game was its gruesome, horrible and mercyless, but who isnt in that game? its kill or be killed

"Of course a consistent percentage of the world’s population is always going to be made up of idiots. Organise a big enough event with a big enough attendance, and that percentage will take effect as the microcosm forms. And the idiots are of course always the noisy ones, the vocal minority who make the rest of us look bad by the distorted impression they give. But again, that’s a problem." I suppose this type of view, opposed to them, is more professional? Anyway, I think that games are getting more violent, but there are different reasons people are "whooping and hollerin'". You can't take a general view and simply infer certain generalizations. Yeah, people are becoming more numb to violence, its a fact, there's research about it, and yes, an obviously biased "professional" whistling is not making this industries image any better, but sadly violence has always sold. Your right about the context of violence and how it should be used to push the story and backdrop of the game forward I think, but it's pretty opinionated. The industry is getting more violent, fast paced, and sexual year by year, but that's what the majority wants obviously from sales. In summary again, people are becoming desensitized, but I don't think any one of us should act like were above it. Especially when calling out others then inferring an angel like status. Gaming is not the only front to these problems.

Great job on that vid there Dave. Snorted on my cheese on toast. You're absolutely right. There seems to be a resurgence of glee with the up-close and personal executions at the moment. As a mechanic it can be incredibly rewarding though as it makes you feel like you're playing the game really well. Problem is one of desensitisation now with players requiring new kill anims for their jollies. Feels pretty awkward mainly because of the realism. Maybe it should be mandatory for gamers to play through Manhunt for grubby context. As you say Naughty Dog did seem to be pretty self aware. Reminded me a lot of that knife kill in Saving Private Ryan which still grates on me.