It's not even out for another few months but anti-violence pressure groups have already sharpened the knives for Sega's ultra-violent action romp MadWorld, as a worrying trend for mainstream coverage of the gaming industry continues.
In MadWorld, set to be released in 2009, you can dismember your enemies with a chainsaw and impale them with road signs, but all in highly stylised graphics. A dramatic new direction for the “family friendly” Wii console, as one newspaper put it.
Games have always had a struggle to be accepted as a legitimate form of entertainment through the press, although the idea it is a hobby for geeks sitting alone in a bedroom seemed to pass with the advent of Sony's assault on bringing games to a mainstream audience in the 1990s.
With an aggressive marketing approach and the decision to release the Playstation as a CD format, developers could build games around flash CGI cut-scenes in attempts to attract new players with cinematic experiences.
Not that it has been a total success in terms of quality storytelling, with some franchises attracting a lot of criticism from within its own media for being too far removed from a game and trying too hard to be a feature length film. Mostly with poorly acted voiceovers and scripts.
But imaginative titles such as Ico, Prince of Persia and Shadow of the Colossus successfully merged gameplay and storytelling, proving that games were evolving into an art form.
Despite its higher standing in modern culture, gaming is still regarded as a relatively young medium as more games aimed at older audiences are being released.
Even the most morbid of games, like the original Manhunt, went off the radar until it was blamed for the murder of a Leicestershire schoolboy by the victim's parents, with major newspapers supporting the theory. Subsequently, the sequel to Manhunt was refused a classification only to have its ban overturned, but at the cost of having the majority of its content, which was unlikely to be worse than watching women being tortured in Hostel, being edited out of the final version.
It is inconclusive whether or not there is a link between violent games and violent crime, but at the heart of the problem is the refusal for scaremongering politicians and some quarters of the press to accept that gaming is part of modern culture. Just like films and books, there are genres aimed at different markets that include adults and children.
With the runaway success of the Wii and the largely positive news coverage it's received, perhaps there are those who do not want to see it tarnished by something that could corrupt a vulnerable mind, like MadWorld.
According to some, to say the Wii is “child friendly” and should not play host to these type of games, is like saying a dvd player should not be used to watch violent films.
But those against these type of games insist youngsters will still get hold of them, despite the recent decision for games to be regulated by a self-regulatory body and the BBFC, while retailers face stiffer penalties if they sell such products to underage customers..
Violent games exist, just like films and books. Yet it appears that games are being demonised and are taking the place of the video nasties in the 1970s when they fell foul of the censors as a relatively young medium. Something that isn't understood is usually feared, and therefore an easy scapegoat when something goes bad. It truly is a world gone mad.
