If you frequent Penny Arcade, I’m sure you’ve seen the link to this outrageous piece of false journalism about videogames by some conservative nutjob.
I sure would like to get [their] individual takes on the new video game that one company is marketing to fifteen year old boys.
It’s called “Mass Effect” and it allows its players – universally male no doubt – to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images they wish to “engage” and then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD clarity as the video game “persons” hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of.
The objections to such filth should be simple to understand.
His article is an amalgam of poorly made-up facts and a no doubt deep-rooted hate against the medium.
PA effectively parodied the situation in their comic, which is an eerily accurate depiction considering his retort the following day.
Jerry:
On Monday, I mentioned an article by the irrelevant Kevin McCullough entitled “The ‘Sex-Box’ Race For President,” a poorly titled, poorly sourced, and generally just poor piece of journalism.
His recent post responding to enraged gamers is absolute literary wreckage, and it might take you weeks to find your way out. He has modified the particulars of his original argument so that the most egregious lies are smoothed away. He retreats at full speed from the items that can’t be supported, while simultaneously claiming that his argument hasn’t changed. Then, apparently fill the space left by the original falsehoods, he suggests that the game is actually worse than he originally claimed, but won’t say how. This is Calvinball of the worst sort, and we need not play.
It really is incredible: this is a man whose job is lying to people who want to believe him. We suggested as a joke that he would attempt to manipulate the community, and he has done so – we have allowed it to the extent that we thought it would entertain you. I urge you not to encourage any further outbursts on his part: the man is strictly small-time, and you have the power keep it that way.
Jerry has a point, these things often go from bad to worse because the entire gaming community responds angrily, often not shy of the occasional curseword. If we would all just ignore these idiots (remember Jack Thompson, currently warring against educational games?), they couldn’t say “see, told you so, Gamer-Nerds(an actual term coined by McCullough) are crazy”.
But it is still hard to resist reprimanding such terrible propaganda.
[EDIT]
We won.
