Games News

There is a little hype brewing for a new shooter game suggesting that it be heavily censored for younger players on the grounds that it is simply too realistic and also glorifies police brutality.

French game developer Studio Drama has unveiled the first trailer for its latest body-camera shooter game, Unrecord . The game is a single-player first person shooter that tells the story of a tactical police officer from the perspective of his body camera.

In the newly-released footage, we see the officer heading towards an abandoned building covered in graffiti, before checking his weapon and inspecting the scene. As the officer walks around the vacated lot, he hears commotion from the other side, leading them to kill seven armed suspects roaming the building.

The graphics on display in the trailer proved so realistic that it left gamers doing a double-take, but while the visuals are being widely praised, the game is also being met with criticism. Twitch streamer Trainwreck said:

 I'm going to get a lot of hate for this - but this level of realism in video games should be heavily moderated in *shooters* for anyone *under a certain age*, I hope parents do their job. This level of realism for shooting and killing makes *me* feel uncomfortable as if I'm watching a real leak from a military or police operation.

In its press deck, Studio Drama said it understands that people may feel disturbed by the game's footage:

As a French studio addressing a global audience, the game does not engage in any foreign policy and is not inspired by any real-life events. Unrecord is a single-player FPS that tells the story of a tactical police officer from the perspective of his body camera.

The game will obviously avoid any undesirable topics such as discrimination, racism, violence against women and minorities. The game will have no biased or Manichaean take on criminal acts and police violence. We also respect and understand people who may feel disturbed by the game's images. Art cannot fight against interpretation.

The public generally trusts film, series, and novel writers on the intelligence of the point of view when it comes to detective, gangster, or police stories. Why not for a video game? If the game presents political messages, they will be made consciously or in your interpretation. If the game aims to be subversive in certain countries, we will assume the label.

Studio Drama said the game is currently in pre-production and is unlikely to release this year.

An upcoming and controversial Nintendo Switch game has been officially postponed and delayed indefinitely.

The game Massage Freaks was reported by ComicBook.com as the most NSFW game released on the Switch yet. Now it looks like it is Nintendo itself that has prevented the game from releasing on Switch this week, at least in its current form.

The game developer Qureate recently announced the game had changed names from Massage Freaks to Beat Refle and is no longer Switch bound. According to developer Qureate, the delay is the result of discussions with related parties. Nintendo isn't name-dropped, but it's unclear who else this could be referencing.  Querate said in a statement:

The Nintendo Switch version of 'Massage Freaks,' which was scheduled to be released on August 4, 2022, has been postponed after discussions with related parties, We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers.

Further background from article from en.wikipedia.org :

The game received criticism for its depiction of women, which was considered discriminatory and reminiscent of real-world sexual crimes at massage parlors in Japan. It was also noted that female characters in the game shared their first names with members of the idol group Hinatazaka46. Following the criticism, qureate delayed the Switch release indefinitely, cancelled preorders, and changed the characters' names. beat refle was silently released on Steam on July 31, 2022, albeit censored.

The video game monetisation method of loot boxes will not be banned in the UK, despite a government consultation claiming evidence of an association between the features and problem gambling.

Loot boxes have attracted comparison with gambling because they allow players to spend money to unlock in-game rewards, such as special characters, weapons or outfits, without knowing exactly what they will get.

The features, popular in games such as Call of Duty and the Fifa football series, were effectively banned in Belgium in 2018, but the censorship culture minister, Nadine Dorries, said the UK would not follow suit.

Instead, after a 22-month consultation, she said the government would discuss tougher industry-led protections with the UK's gaming trade. Dorries explained the decision saying that

Legislating to impose curbs or a prohibition on loot boxes as part of an expected overhaul of the UK's gambling laws could have unintended consequences.

For example, legislation to introduce an outright ban on children purchasing loot boxes could have the unintended effect of more children using adult accounts, and thus having more limited parental oversight of their play and spending, the government said, in a response to the consultation published in the early hours of Sunday morning.

While the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) stopped short of proposing legislation, Dorries said:

Children and young people should not be able to purchase loot boxes without parental approval.

RimWorld is a 2018 Canadian building simulation game by Ludeon Studios.

It was banned by the Australian 'Classification' Board on 28th February 2022. It has now been unbanned and passed R18+ after a successful appeal to the Classification Review Board on 20th April 2022. The appeal board explains:

A four-member panel of the Classification Renew Board has unanimously determined that the computer game, RimWorld is classified R (Reseicted) with Ihe consumer advice: High impact themes and drug use.

In the Classification Renew Board's opinion RimWorld warrants an R18+ classification because the themes and drug use have a high impact The overall impact of the classifiable elements in the game was high. The Review Board also considered the appeal of the game to be skewed to an adult audience

The game includes fantasy drug use, but in the Renew Board's opinion, the game mechanic ultimately provides disincentives related to drug taking behaviour, to the point where regular drug use leads to negative consequences such as overdose, addiction, and withdrawal. Players may choose for colonist pawns to consume drugs in certain scenarios, but this greatly hinders player progress, as characters succumb to addiction and must deal with long-term negative impacts of their drug use The drug use is depicted at a distance through a top-down perspective, in a highly stylised simplified, form The game also contains high impact themes that are Justified by context of surviving in an inhospitable fantasy world.