Posted on 10/31/2006 9:18:44 AM PST by Snickering Hound
LOS ANGELES: The video game maker that sparked uproar over a hidden sex scene in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, is courting new controversy with its latest schoolyard title Canis Canem Edit (aka Bully) - featuring boys kissing.
That sexual twist came to light only after Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. released the Teen -rated game on October 17, having weathered protests from anti-violence advocates who tried unsuccessfully to block its sale to minors.
Bully stars 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, who must navigate cliques, fights and young love at his new boarding school, along the way winning brawls, completing missions and plying girls with candy and flowers in exchange for kisses.
But Jimmy can also use the same approach with boys. When Jimmy approaches a tall, blond boy with some flowers, the boy replies: "I'm hot. You're hot. Let's make out."
Gay video game enthusiasts have embraced Bully which was was the US's third top-selling game in the week ending October 27, according to figures from UBS.
Progress! wrote one reader of Gaygamer.net, who applauded the move by Take-Two's Rockstar Games studio.
Hot Gay Coffee, quipped another on the same site, referring to the controversial Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sex scene that was dubbed Hot Coffee.
Others, however, were not so enthusiastic.
"I can't have my kids playing this game. This is morally reprehensible. GTA (Grand Theft Auto) is a real man's game, Bully is a disgrace," wrote a poster using the handle spideRRR on GameSpot.com.
RISKY BUSINESS
The inclusion of the explicit sex scene in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas also had some parents, along with regulators and lawmakers, fuming.
Take-Two was forced to pull that game from store shelves at the cost of millions of dollars to the company because it had not disclosed the existence of the scene.
The Grand Theft Auto series has reaped revenue in excess of $US1.5 billion ($NZ2.3b), around 30 percent of Take-Two's sales in the period since the first game's debut in 2001, said Michael Pachter, a video game analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.
In Bully the controversial scene was not hidden - but it also was not advertised to consumers.
The video game industry rating board considered the boy-kissing-boy scenes in Bully before assigning it a Teen rating, spokesman Eliot Mizrachi said.
A spokesman for Rockstar declined comment.
Brenda Brathwaite, a professor at Savannah College of Art & Design and author of Sex in Video Games, said gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered characters are "more and more the norm" on television and that Rockstar is in the vanguard of game makers to include this type of content.
Most video games target a young male audience and focus on shooting, racing or sports. Same-sex displays of affection are largely unexplored, although they are possible in Electronic Arts Inc.'s popular Sims titles and in online games like Second Life.
"It's symbolic that the diversity that's appearing in broader media is making its way to games in a way that's not insulting or necessarily sensationalistic," said Brathwaite.
But Pachter, the analyst, said considering the baggage Take-Two brings to the table after San Andreas, introducing a homosexual aspect to Bully was an unnecessary risk for the company to take.
"It doesn't glorify anything ... Do I think that many parents would have a problem with their kids seeing it? Yes."
So when you get AIDS and die on the game, you die forever, right?
From what I read, some things were added into the game deliberately to piss Jack Thompson off (who may have come very close to talking himself into a jail cell after the last lawsuit he filed was thrown out).
I have a merry Wizard staff
I love it oh so well!
And anything gets in my path
I blow it straight to Hell!
I believe the term is "Rough Trade".
More evidence -- as if any were needed -- that the so-called 'entertainment' industry is dominated by demented freaks.
Next week's headline (after teens start mowing these boys down): Video Game Featuring Boys Kissing Spurs Homophobic Behavior.
Wow.
Wait'll Hollyweird gets hold of this "plot"!!
"But Jimmy can also use the same approach with boys. When Jimmy approaches a tall, blond boy with some flowers, the boy replies: 'I'm hot. You're hot. Let's make out.'"
Deep.
Hollyweird's remake of this himbo extravaganza will easily eclipse motion pictures of equal *substance* & the first to go.
...Brokeback Mountain.
Nothing like pushing the gay agenda with boys!
Never forget that Homosexuality is a LEARNED behavior. Repeat this loud and often.
Gay Video game PING!
Yep, if it's not "Hack, Slay and Leave Decay!" then its no fun for me.
Okay so we're all fine with driving a car over granny or, my favorite, crashing a helicopter into a group of pedestrians, but gay boys kissing is no good?
"Bully stars 15-year-old Jimmy Hopkins, who must navigate cliques, fights and young love at his new boarding school, along the way winning brawls, completing missions and plying girls with candy and flowers in exchange for kisses."
Just Damn...
That's pretty sad when I get beat by freakin' video game characters...8^)
Guys kiss in a hidden scene in the game and people complain...the killing of hookers and intense violence gets no mention. Sounds a bit unhinged to me.
Hell you can get a hooker at any time in that game, have sex with her in your car, let her get out, kill her and take your money back.
And they are worried about THIS?
Give me a friggin break....
I personally don't care about the game--I just figured it was an opportunity to present a wisecrack (IOW, for me to be the Thread Jester for once) 8^)
What a sick pervert! :-P
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