The ever insightful Brandon Sheffield has recently posted an interview with David Cage, the director Quantic Dream and the mind behind modern adventure games Nomad Soul, Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain. Toward the end of the interview the pair get to talking about the cencorship of mature games and Cage brings up the example of Rule of Rose – a game, made by ex-Lovedelic folks Punchline, that was withdrawn from sale in the UK due to unwarranted presssure from the popular press.
Here’s what David had to say. I found it quite interesting.
It was a big thing in France. French deputies and Italians and whatever… in every country in Europe, someone came out and said, “It’s a scandal! Look at this game! We should ban games! Blah blah blah.” We heard that. It was in headlines and all the news in France and probably all through Europe.
But in fact, when people and journalists really played the game, it was like, “I don’t understand where the problem is. There’s nothing here.” So the deputies had to make excuses, but this was not the top of the headlines. It was very small, two lines at the end of the newspaper. This is what we got.
So what remains in the mind of people who don’t understand video games is always the bad thing. So we should really fight and promote a vision of video games that are not for teenagers, and we should stop the Hot Coffee thing. All of this is ridiculous.
Have any of you played Rule of Rose? I keep meaning to pick up an EU copy at some point as it sounds pretty interesting. Oh and I also recommened that you play Quantic Dreams’ Fahrenheit. The first hour, at least, is very good and points to a future for games that is totally unlike what we have today. Check it out.
UPDATE: Here‘s Sheffield’s previous interview with the creators of Rule Of Rose. It’s essential reading for everyone who visits this site, in my opinion.
What an unfair quarrel this was: the game ended up not being released in some significant European markets. It turns out that the controversy was based upon a series of misconceptions promoted by a group of ministers, educators, prosecutors and journalists, originating from the highly deceptive presentation of the game. I did play Rule of Rose and I warned my friends at the time that there was, indeed, a sense of brutality flowing around, along with a number of scenes pervaded with hints of infantile sexuality. But the press wouldn’t let this issue go away so they published a series of uninformed and unverified articles concerning the disturbing nature of the game which posed a serious threat to children. Truth be told, do they ever publish anything about videogames that doesn’t concern violent contents in a way or another?
But the question at hand is, I think, much deeper. It’s more than just the “parents” pointing their finger towards violent games and or their irrational fear that their children are becoming possessed by the ‘evils’ of videogame playing. From Exidy’s Death Race to Rockstar’s Manhunt, the discussion about the legitimacy of violent contents in videogames is as old as the industry itself. I’m sure that the people who started the controversy surrounding Punchline’s title ignore the fact that videogame audience is no longer narrowed to the average 1989 Nintendo Club member, between 6 and 14 years of age. Videogames, before that, were already a product that was meant to be played by people of any age, let alone today, when the market has become so vast.
Theere is no doubt that Rule of Rose is a violent game, but not in the same way other games like Manhunt 2, whose depiction of violence is shallow. Rule of Rose is disturbing because it is a display how of mature this medium can be, questioning the generally accepted notions of what an electronic game should be like. Mature content, I underline, doesn’t necessarily mean “bloog and guts” violence, even if many interpret it that way. The game in question is no more violent than Resident Evil or Haunting Ground (where there’s a lot of masked sexuality as well). Yet, its unique and unwholesome environment, planned with expertise and precision, makes the disconcerting imagery escalate to another level of communication between creators and receptors (players). Perhaps that is what non-videogame players, or those who oppose this industry for some illogical reason, fear the most – that videogames become like other expressions of art where violence isn’t just a mindless entertainment, but something sustained by powerful, intelligent and thought-provoking concepts or narratives.
As for Fahrenheit, I also recommend it. But I think that it should be from beginning to end: even if the quality of the Cage’s game decreases from the thrilling first episodes to the final ones, we must know what went wrong in order to understand how it could have been improved. I agree that it’s a mature game, even if punctuated by the occasional ingenuity from the creators at Quantic Dreams – much like Omikron was in its time.
I loved most of Fahrenheit but that last couple of hours – endless QTEs and virtual necrophilia – really ruined it for me. Still, the first few hours were so far ahead of everything else at the time that my anticipation for Heavy Rain is sky high as a result.
I just bought Fahrenheit on Ebay, as I never owned an original Xbox but failry recently got a 360. I’ll get back to you on that.
Indeed, Imash, I thought so too. The game was building all that tension and all of a sudden they made it a festival of air battles, with an insipid conclusion to all those unparalleled first hours. But I think the game should always be seen as a whole, so it’s important people play it through in order to find out what went wrong. I also hope Cage can deliver something extra with this new project, but let us keep our expectations low: they’re a small studio dealing with very complex stuff here. Stuff which even the major studios are scared to death of dealing with.
Nice purchase Captain! Let us know what you think of it later!
By the way, ripten has posted new pictures of Heavy Rain:
http://www.ripten.com/2008/08/06/new-heavy-rain-images-pour-in/
They look stunning to say the least.