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

Dave, It's just what happens when large groups of Americans get together. The response would have been the same if Jack Tretton came out holding a Rustler burger.

I don't think it's just American's, think it's more of a global thing.

Companies shows what sells, so it's all of us at fault here. I do disagree on the obvious inferring that Dave and his colleagues are "above" this sort of thing. If that's not what was meant, a little re-wording on the last three paragraphs would tremendously help. No one is not guilty of these things, some of it is subconscious and we don't even notice it, but I'd rather not think myself perfect and believe were the angels here. This needs to be a thing that changes in our community as a whole, not as a stupid immature war of "Idiots" vs. "us". Were all gamers, we all are guilty of this, so we should all accept it and help brake the mold together instead of blaming others.

+1. Good reply.

Yes it is. You'll find that kind of attitude everywhere. Trust me, Mexicans are as idiotic about stuff like this.

Maybe so, and sure I don't think swooning over the guys head exploding is the appropriate response, not exactly. Personally, I had no problem with his head exploding, it didn't make me cheer, it did make me react with a simple "aw" but I was impressed by it from a technical standpoint. But, I also don't condemn those who reacted with cheers, because I've played my share of video games where getting up in the face of an enemy that has caused me problems and pump a shot into their heads, or saw them in half with an extreme sense of satisfaction because they had caused me turmoil, and I have enacted just consequence, and I can imagine that if I where playing that demo, and was greeted with the same enemy begging for mercy, I'd have done the same and felt quite good about it.

Really? What about Exploration?

I've been thinking about violence in games a bit recently. I'm a fairly prolific gamer and manage to play a lot of games from right across the spectrum; from the big budget releases to smaller more obscure titles. It struck me recently that the gaming experiences that have stuck with me much more vividly in recent times have all been fairly non-violent ones. I've barely thought twice about Arkham City, Uncharted 3 and the likes since completion. However, Games like Journey, Botanicula, Windosil (even though an hour long game at the most), Fez and Swords & Sworcery (to name a few) have all left a lasting and haunting impression far beyond their finish. Why? It's hard to say precisely. The superb art directions help, but that's only part of it. They feel more like games than the other games. I mean real Video games; not playable films. Not like they're taking their core direction directly from other mediums. They felt more like unique experiences that could only really have been delivered via this medium. They also put a wonderful sense of exploration and the discovery of the New right at the forefront. They let you enjoy that discovery as the main course instead of shaping it around ever rearranging set-piece violence. There's also a pleasant sense of humour; pure humour, weird and wonderfull humour, not just shooting someone in the face and laughing (a little too loudly) because we really 'don't understand death and deep down it makes us uncomfortable' humour. The proliferation of ever more realistic and intensifying violence and the ultimate inevitable apathy it will create will have the opposite reaction somewhere else. Bands of creatives, from indies to the experimental and progressive mainstream will all distance themselves from the sausage party and more than likely be the ones to keep gaming fresh, creative and vital. With that in mind, bring on the violence. *As a final note it's interesting to see that the most interesting FPS in a long time, unfinished swan, completely strips the genre down to the bone. It's not about what's added or tacked on, it's about restraint and what's been taken away. Google it if you're unfamiliar.

I find how quickly you aim to blame Americans for this sort of behavior insulting. Yes, America is a pretty desensitized nation, but there are plenty of peoples foreign to America that attend E3, both fans and industry alike. Using the "Americans are just big dumb brutes" is like saying the "Irish are nothing but drunks." Or, "All British people have bad teeth." We don't need more people to perpetuate the stereotypes.

Well, I thinks it's important to note, as Dave did in his piece, that context is everything. I'd wager that the new Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider games have a larger focus on the action and killing, but The Last of Us? I disagree. Some journalists were given a different demo of the game where he went through the same section, but only used stealth. He knocked one man unconscious, then went on his way. I have a feeling Last of Us is more about choice and consequence, more than most games out today, giving the violence they dish out real weight, to almost make you think twice, whereas in these other new games, it seems all we see is a "Press button to stealth kill."

I was just being facetious mate, didn't mean to insult you. I wasn't saying Americans are 'brutes', I was saying large groups of Americans will cheer at anything.

I think you may be reading a bit too much into the crowd's apparent overreaction to the visceral violence they were seeing . If you think about it , when you get a (presumably) predominantly male crowd altogether in one place (say at a football match or even in the pub) , they do tend to act in a way that the wouldn't necessarily act if they were on their own or in a smaller group. Large groups of males have a tendency to be more misogynistic and boisterous . It's a pack mentality thing. I think the developers realise that and tap into it for the most reaction. Interesting article as always

Totally aggree! Seeing Sam Fisher...too violent. Bring back the old retro games like Disney is doing with Wreking Ralph and its playable 8 bit Donkey Kong alike game!!Oh and ehh Free Xbox Live, the other way around of course:)

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.

Splendid article, I completely agree with you. It is the glamorisation of violence that really causes me to lose faith in gaming. Censorship is awful and I personally think that anything other than complete artistic freedom is a violation of our freedom of speech. It does not mean however that we should be so immature, violence is a deep subject that needs to be handled delicately. This is something that the game in question seems to have utilised remarkably well, the begging man at the end really resonated with me, I actually think I wouldn't have shot him, although his killing seemed one of practicality rather than sadism. The uproar at his death really disappointed me, it seems that the gaming community has attracted members we really don't want or there were people there who wanted to be a part of the community who simply followed the crowd and cheered. The gaming community needs to be stronger, it needs to compromise less and stop catering to the wants of idiots who only like Call of Duty and Halo. To be respected as an art form it needs to advocate the art that games designers have created and put them in the spot light, it needs to find new ways to entertain people rather than shooting people in the face from behind a wall for 8 hours (or a year depending on on-line) Keep up the good work Mr. Houghton

What about that moment in the Watch Dogs demo where Aiden causes a massive multi-car pile up? You can see how brutally injured the individual drivers are and there seems to be a man calling out for his dead wife. The player caused this, just to get one man, and it didn't seem like that had any effect on anyone watching. I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but I completely agree that games (and possibly gamers) have become (at least partially) desensitised to violence lately.

This article explains a huge chunk of the reason as to why I love Nintendo and their constant innovation. I'm about to save this article because it's so damn beautiful. Unfortunately, it's the unnecessary, dehumanizing violence that sells today... I'm so ready for Project Happiness.