List of controversial video games
Encyclopedia
This is a list of video games described explicitly as "controversial" in secondary sources. Some of the video games on this list have been banned or censored.
Table of controversial games
| Release date | Title | Platform | Manufacturer | Reason(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 1973 in video gaming -Events:* On 19 March, Kagemasa Kozuki establishes Konami Industry Co., Ltd. Formerly the owner of a jukebox repair/rental business in Osaka, Japan, Kozuki launches Konami to manufacture amusement machines for video arcades.* In May, Hudson Soft Ltd... |
Gotcha Gotcha (arcade game) Gotcha is a 1973 arcade game manufactured by Atari Inc.. It was Atari's fourth game after Pong, Space Race, and Pong Doubles. This was the first maze arcade game, as well as the very first video game to cause a considerable amount of controversy, predating other early examples such as Death Race... |
Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
Atari Atari Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in... |
It was controversial due to the controls being perceived as pink rubber bulges that were meant to represent breasts and were squeezed in order to control the action. |
| 1976 1976 in video gaming -Events:* In October, Warner Communications acquires Atari from Nolan Bushnell for $28 million USD. Bushnell stays on as chairman.-Notable releases:* Atari releases F-1 and Night Driver... |
Death Race Death Race (1976 game) Death Race is a controversial arcade game, released by Exidy in 1976. While not the first violent video game to appear, it was the first video game to inspire a great deal of protest and controversy in the United States.-Overview:... |
Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
Exidy Exidy Exidy was one of the largest creators of arcade video games during the early period of video games, from 1974 until at least 1986 . The company was founded by H.R."Pete" Kauffman... |
Violence (running over stickmen Stick figure A stick figure is a very simple type of drawing made of lines and dots, often of the human form or other animals. In a stick figure, the head is represented by a circle, sometimes embellished with details such as eyes, mouth or crudely scratched-out hair. The arms, legs and torso are all... "gremlins", who then scream) |
| 1982 1982 in video gaming -Events:* December 27 - Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.-Notable releases:*October 13 - Mystique releases the Custer's Revenge adult video game for the Atari 2600 home console.... |
Custer's Revenge Custer's Revenge Custer's Revenge is a controversial video game made for the Atari 2600 by Mystique, a company that produced a number of adult video game titles for the system... |
Atari 2600 Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in... |
Mystique Mystique (company) Mystique was the name of a company that produced a number of pornographic video games for the Atari 2600, such as Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em, Bachelor Party and Custer's Revenge. It was one of several video game companies that tried to use sex to sell its games... |
Nudity, rape, and racism |
| 1986 1986 in video gaming -Events:-Notable releases:*Namco releases Sky Kid Deluxe, Hopping Mappy, Toy Pop, The Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel to Tower of Druaga, Genpei Tōma Den, and Rolling Thunder.... |
177 | NEC PC-8801 NEC PC-8801 The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88".... |
dB-soft | A bishoujo game revolving around rape, it ignited a public furor that reached the National Diet of Japan Diet of Japan The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally... . |
| 1986 1986 in video gaming -Events:-Notable releases:*Namco releases Sky Kid Deluxe, Hopping Mappy, Toy Pop, The Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel to Tower of Druaga, Genpei Tōma Den, and Rolling Thunder.... |
Chiller Chiller (video game) Chiller is an Exidy light gun arcade game released in 1986. An unlicensed port was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990 by American Game Cartridges, with the option of using either the standard controller or the NES Zapper. The player takes on the role of an unseen torturer who... |
Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
Exidy Exidy Exidy was one of the largest creators of arcade video games during the early period of video games, from 1974 until at least 1986 . The company was founded by H.R."Pete" Kauffman... |
Violence and gore. This game was permanently banned (and so far the only game to do so) in the UK. |
| 1989 1989 in video gaming -Notable releases:* October 3, Brøderbund releases the Prince of Persia game, the first in a series of games, noted for its advancements in animation.... |
Kira Hara | C64, Atari 7800, ZX Spectrum | unknown | Banned in Japan, China and South Korea for "Various sensitive materials". Was never released in other countries. |
| 1991 1991 in video gaming -Notable releases:*Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game .*Electronic Arts releases James Pond 2 and Road Rash for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s.... |
J.B. Harold Murder Club J.B. Harold Murder Club J.B. Harold Murder Club, known as J.B. Harold no Jikenbo #1: Murder Club in Japan, is a 1986 murder mystery adventure game, developed by Riverhillsoft and released for the NEC PC-98, MSX, MS-DOS, NEC TurboGrafx-CD and Nintendo DS platforms... |
TurboGrafx-16 TurboGrafx-16 TurboGrafx-16, fully titled as TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem and known in Japan as the , is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, released in Japan on October 30, 1987, and in North America on August 29, 1989.... |
NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... |
Sexual themes, including reference to an unsolved rape. [(Video Games and Computer Entertainment. July 1991. Pg. 44] |
| 1992 1992 in video gaming -Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe.... –present |
Mortal Kombat series | Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
Midway Midway Games Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the... (later Warner Bros. Interactive) |
Blood Blood Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.... , violence and gore. First fighter to introduce "Fatalities" to finish off opponents |
| 1992 1992 in video gaming -Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe.... |
Lethal Enforcers Lethal Enforcers Lethal Enforcers is a 1992 shooting game released for the arcades by Konami. It is best known for its revolver-shaped light gun known as the Konami Justifier, its digitized graphics, and the controversy over its content.Home versions were released for the Super NES, Sega Genesis and Sega CD during... |
Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
Konami Konami is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games... |
Blood Blood Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.... , violence Violence Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g... |
| 1992 1992 in video gaming -Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe.... |
Night Trap Night Trap Night Trap is a video game that was released in North America on October 15, 1992 originally for the Sega Mega-CD. It was filmed over a three week period in 1987 for an unreleased game entitled "Scene of the Crime"... |
Sega CD | Digital Pictures Digital Pictures Digital Pictures was a worldwide American video game developer, founded in 1991 by Ken Melville and Tom Zito.On the Sega CD versions of certain games, if they are played on the systems "audio CD" mode, there is a short track of a phone ringing with a male voice answering "Good afternoon, Digital... |
Violence, child abuse and sexual themes. |
| 1992 1993 in video gaming -Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993.... |
Wolfenstein 3D Wolfenstein 3D Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and... |
PC Personal computer A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator... |
id Software Id Software Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack... |
Heavy amount of references to Nazism Nazism Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany... , such as high usages of the swastika Swastika The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient... in its levels and the Nazi Party anthem and "Horst-Wessel-Lied Horst-Wessel-Lied The Horst-Wessel-Lied , also known as Die Fahne hoch from its opening line, was the anthem of the Nazi Party from 1930 to 1945... " as theme music, which caused the PC version to be banned in Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... in 1994. |
| 1993 1993 in video gaming -Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993.... |
Doom | PC | id Software Id Software Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack... |
Violence, gore, and Satanic Satanism Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and... themes |
| 1995 1995 in video gaming -Events:*May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek *May 11-16 — The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is held in Los Angeles, California... |
Phantasmagoria | PC | Sierra Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams... |
Violence, gore, sexuality, and a rape scene. Originally banned in Australia and was eventually released heavily censored. |
| 1996 1996 in video gaming -Notable releases:*January 29 — Duke Nukem 3D, successor to the simple side-scrolling originals, and a genre-redefining title for first person shooters.... |
SimCopter SimCopter SimCopter is a 1996 computer game from Maxis. This game is a 3D offshoot from Maxis's normal fare, putting the player into a 3D city. Like Streets of SimCity, SimCopter lets the user import SimCity 2000 maps into the game.- Objective :... |
PC | Maxis Maxis Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2... |
A programmer named Jacques Servin introduced unauthorized "bimbo Bimbo Bimbo, in its popular English language usage, describes a woman who is physically attractive but is perceived to have a low intelligence or poor education. The term can also be used to describe a woman who acts in a sexually promiscuous manner... " characters into the game, who would appear on certain dates and kiss. |
| 1996 1996 in video gaming -Notable releases:*January 29 — Duke Nukem 3D, successor to the simple side-scrolling originals, and a genre-redefining title for first person shooters.... |
Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, also known as Phantasmagoria 2 and released as Phantasmagoria II: Fatal Obsessions in some European countries, is a full motion video based game released in 1996 by Sierra Entertainment... |
PC | Sierra Sierra Entertainment Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams... |
Violence, sexual themes (including sadomasochism), nudity, multiple sex scenes, and language. Heavily censored in the UK and Australia. |
| 1996 1996 in video gaming -Notable releases:*January 29 — Duke Nukem 3D, successor to the simple side-scrolling originals, and a genre-redefining title for first person shooters.... |
Duke Nukem 3D Duke Nukem 3D Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee... |
PC, Sega Saturn, Playstation | 3D Realms 3D Realms 3D Realms is a current video game publisher and former video game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States, established in 1987... |
Violence, sexual themes, nudity. |
| 1996 | Tomb Raider Tomb Raider Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. It was originally released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn, with MS-DOS and PlayStation versions following shortly thereafter... |
PC, PlayStation, Sega Saturn | Eidos Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... |
An unauthorized software patch nicknamed 'Nude Raider' was created which allowed players to play as a nude version of Lara Croft Lara Croft Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world... . |
| 1997 1997 in video gaming -Events:*October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi dies after a double car accident.*November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association launched.*3rd annual E3... |
Carmageddon Carmageddon Carmageddon is the first of a series of graphically violent vehicular combat video games produced by Stainless Games, published by Interplay and SCi... |
PC, Mac Macintosh The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a... , N64, PS1 PlayStation The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000... |
SCi SCi Square Enix Limited, doing business as Square Enix Europe, is a British publisher of video game software wholly owned by Square Enix. Square Enix Europe has its head office in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... , Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed... |
Violence against pedestrians |
| 1997 | Postal | PC | Ripcord Games Ripcord Games Ripcord Games was a video game publisher and an entertainment software label of Panasonic Interactive Media based in Santa Clara, California.-Games published by Ripcord Games:*Armor Command*Enemy Infestation*Forced Alliance*Gorkamorka... |
Violence |
| 1997–present | Grand Theft Auto Grand Theft Auto (series) Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games... series |
PC Personal computer A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator... , PS1 PlayStation The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000... , PS2, PS3, Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... , Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... |
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A... |
Sexual themes, drug use, racism, nudity, language, drink driving, violence (against civilians and law enforcement officers; in Grand Theft Auto 3, there is also a cheat called 'Extra Gore Mode' in which, if you shoot at someone you can blow off their limbs), criminal behavior. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall... was originally rated "Mature" in the US, but was re-rated "Adults Only" after controversy surrounding a fanmade "hot coffee mod Hot Coffee mod The Hot Coffee mod is a normally inaccessible minigame in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, developed by Rockstar North. Public awareness of the existence of the minigame arrived with the release of the Hot Coffee mod, created for the version released in 2005 for Microsoft Windows... " which unlocked a hidden sex scene (which was in the game's code, but left out of the final version). It was re-rated "Mature" after Rockstar Games removed this scene from the game's code. Grand Theft Auto IV Grand Theft Auto IV Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system... was referred to as a "terrorist simulator" due to the fact that the city was loosely based on New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... . |
| 1998 1998 in video gaming -Events:*Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 1st Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo to the AIAS Hall of Fame*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 1st annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards... |
Thrill Kill Thrill Kill Thrill Kill is a cancelled and unpublished 1998 fighting video game for the Sony PlayStation. While the technical feat of allowing four players to fight simultaneously in the same room was to be a major selling point, this was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the game's depictions of... |
PlayStation | Virgin Interactive Virgin Interactive Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group... |
Violence and sexuality. Was never released. |
| 1999 1999 in video gaming -Events:*British Academy of Film and Television Arts hosts the 2nd annual BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards*March – Game Over republished as “Game Over: Press Start to Continue”... |
Kingpin: Life of Crime Kingpin: Life of Crime Kingpin: Life of Crime is a first-person shooter developed by Xatrix Entertainment and published by Interplay Entertainment in June 1999. The game begins with the player character wounded and beaten up by the Kingpin's henchmen, and the story follows his thirst for revenge... |
PC | Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed... |
Violence |
| 2000 2000 in video gaming -Events:* May 11–13 — 6th annual Electronic Entertainment Expo ; the 3rd annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³* June 26 — International Game Developers Association renamed from Computer Game Developers Association... |
Daikatana Daikatana John Romero's Daikatana, or simply Daikatana, is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. Released on May 23, 2000 for Windows, it was led by John Romero. The game is known as one of the major commercial failures of the computer game industry.... |
Windows, Nintendo 64 Nintendo 64 The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil... , Game Boy Color Game Boy Color The is Nintendo's successor to the 8-bit Game Boy handheld game console, and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27, 1998 in the United Kingdom. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than... |
Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton.... , Kemco KEMCO , sometimes referred to as Kotobuki System Co., Ltd., is a Japanese video game developer and publisher established in 1984 as a subsidiary of Kotobuki Engineering & Manufacturing Co., Ltd, located in: Seika, Japan.... |
Profanity in advertising. |
| 2001 2001 in video gaming -Events:* Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts John Carmack of id Software to the AIAS Hall of Fame... |
Conker's Bad Fur Day Conker's Bad Fur Day Conker's Bad Fur Day is an action-platform video game developed and published by Rare. It was released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001 and was Rare's last game published for the console. The game was in development for four years; it was originally intended for a young audience, but was redesigned and... |
Nintendo 64 | Rareware | Excessive use of swearing, violence, and an off-camera sex scene. |
| 2002 | Ethnic Cleansing Ethnic Cleansing (video game) Ethnic Cleansing is a computer game developed by Resistance Records, an underground music label owned by the National Alliance specializing in Neo-Nazi and white supremacist bands... |
PC | Resistance Records | Racially-motivated violence, white supremacist themes |
| 2002 | State of Emergency State of Emergency (video game) State of Emergency is a controversial 2002 action-adventure video game released by Rockstar Games. It was developed by Scottish firm VIS Entertainment for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows.- Reception :... |
PC, PS2, Xbox | Rockstar Games Rockstar Games Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A... |
Contains military-style violence, including political assassinations and coup d'etat Coup d'état A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either... s. Additionally, the game caused controversy in Washington due to the game's similarities to the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle. |
| 2002 2002 in video gaming The year 2002 in video gaming saw the release of many games to sixth-generation video game consoles, predominately, the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.-Events:... |
BMX XXX BMX XXX BMX XXX is a video game published by Acclaim Entertainment for the Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and PlayStation 2 and developed by Z-Axis. While primarily a BMX-based action sports title, it earned most of its notoriety for containing nudity, foul language and adult humor... |
Xbox, PS2, GCN | Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo... |
Nudity (censored in the PS2 version) and sexuality. |
| 2003 2003 in video gaming -Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame.... |
Postal II | PC | Running with Scissors Running With Scissors, Inc. Running with Scissors, Inc. is an American computer game developer based in Arizona. Their best-known title, Postal, was publicly decried by Senator Joe Lieberman and other critics due to its extreme violence.... |
Violence against civilians (including LGBT and police officers), sexual themes, drug use, racism, language, animal abuse, and references to past and current events of terrorist attacks. Banned in New Zealand, Sweden and Australia. |
| 2003 2003 in video gaming -Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame.... , 2007 |
Manhunt Manhunt (video game) Manhunt is a stealth game developed by Rockstar Games. It was released to the public on November 18, 2003 for the PlayStation 2 console, and on April 20, 2004 for Xbox and PC. Although it was generally well-received by critics, Manhunt created a controversy due to the graphic violence the player... and Manhunt 2 Manhunt 2 Manhunt 2 is an action/adventure video game developed by Rockstar Games and the sequel to 2003's Manhunt. The game was released in North America for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii on October 29, 2007.... |
PS2 | Rockstar Games Rockstar Games Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A... |
Violence (allowed player to take the role of a serial killer). Gained significant controversy after it was alleged that the game inspired a teenager to commit a murder. Banned in Australia. |
| 2003 | Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball is a beach volleyball game by Tecmo released in 2003 exclusively for the Xbox. The game is a departure from the rest of the Dead or Alive series which otherwise consists of fighting games and marks the first game in the series to have a Mature rating due to the very revealing swimsuits featured in... |
Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... |
Tecmo | Nudity and sexuality |
| 2004 2004 in video gaming -Events:*January 20 — Wireds Vaporware Awards gives its first "Lifetime Achievement Award" to recurring winner Duke Nukem Forever.*March 4 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Peter Molyneux into the AIAS Hall of Fame*March 22-26 — Game... |
The Guy Game The Guy Game The Guy Game is an adult video game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC platforms published in 2004 by Gathering of Developers and developed by now-defunct Top Heavy Studios . Presented in a trivia gameshow style supporting up to four players, it consists of about 1,000 questions spread out over 20... |
PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... , Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... |
Top Heavy Studios | Showing nude footage of an underage Minor (law) In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18... woman. |
| 2004 | The Sims 2 The Sims 2 The Sims 2 is a strategic life simulation computer game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to the best-selling computer game, The Sims, which debuted on February 4, 2000. It was first released on September 14, 2004 for Microsoft Windows. A port to Apple Mac OS X... |
PC | EA Games | A cheat allows for the blur effect Fogging (censorship) Fogging is a type of visual censorship. An area for a picture or movie is blurred to obscure it from sight. This form of censorship is used for sexually related images/scenes, hiding genitals, pubic hair, or sexual penetration of any sort. Pixelization is a form of fogging... that appears when a character is nude to be removed. |
| 2004 | JFK: Reloaded | PC | Traffic Software | Recreating the John F. Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy assassination John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas... |
| 2004 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 open world action video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall... |
PC, PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... , Xbox Xbox The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console... |
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A... |
An unauthorized "Hot Coffee" mod unlocked a hidden sex scene left out of the game's final version. Was briefly re-rated "Adults Only" by the ESRB, but had a "Mature" rating reinstated after Rockstar Games removed this scene from the game's code in a different version. |
| 2005 2005 in video gaming -Events:*March 6 — The television show 60 Minutes tackles issues within video game controversy. This segment of 60 Minutes has been criticized by video game players for encouraging video game censorship.... |
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! Super Columbine Massacre RPG! Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, abbreviated SCMRPG!, is a role-playing video game created by Danny Ledonne and released in April 2005. The game recreates the 1999 Columbine High School shootings near Littleton, Colorado... |
PC | Danny Ledonne Danny Ledonne Danny Ledonne is an American film director. He is a 2004 graduate of Emerson College's film program in Boston, Massachusetts. He is known for creating the controversial video game Super Columbine Massacre RPG! that replayed the events of the Columbine High School massacre... |
The game simulated the events of the Columbine High School shootings Columbine High School massacre The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12... . |
| 2006 2006 in video gaming -Events:* January 26, 2006 -- Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite. The new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved user interface.* January 26, 2006 -- Konami Corp... |
Bully Bully (video game) Bully, also known as Canis Canem Edit for the PAL PlayStation 2 version, is an open world video game released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on 17 October 2006 in North America, and 25 October 2006 in the United Kingdom... |
PlayStation 2 PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan... , Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... |
Rockstar Games Rockstar Games Rockstar Games is a major video game developer and publisher based in New York City, owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK video game publisher BMG Interactive. The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A... |
Violence Violence Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g... in a school setting |
| 2006 | Gears of War Gears of War Gears of War is a military science fiction third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , PC Personal computer A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator... |
Epic Games Epic Games Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of... |
Violence, resulting in being unreleased in Germany. |
| 2006 | Under Defeat Under Defeat Under Defeat is a shoot 'em up arcade game by G.rev. It was released for the Sega Dreamcast in March 2006. The game takes place in an alternate reality based on World War II, and, in a controversial twist, players control German-speaking characters with uniforms that resemble those of the Nazi SS,... |
Dreamcast, Arcade Arcade game An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers... |
G. Reev | Nazism (players take on the role of Nazi Waffen SS members). |
| 2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a single-player action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks and the Take-Two Interactive subsidiary 2K Games... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , PC |
Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks, LLC, is an American video game company. A subsidiary of ZeniMax Media, the company was originally based in Bethesda, Maryland and eventually moved to their current location in Rockville, Maryland... |
Re-rated by the ESRB after a third-party mod revealed a nude topless graphic hidden in the game's data files. While the graphic did not warrant a re-rating of the game in and of itself, upon review, the ESRB noted that the game contained much more explicit violence than had been submitted to them in the original rating submission. |
| 2006 | Hitman: Blood Money Hitman: Blood Money Hitman: Blood Money is a stealth game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive. It is the fourth entry in the Hitman game series.... |
PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360 | IO Interactive | Violence and assassinations; magazine ads for the game featured pictures depicting murder victims. |
| 2006 | Mind Quiz Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach Mind Quiz: Your Brain Coach, known as Nounenrei: Nou Stress Kei Atama Scan in Japan, is a mental training game for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable... |
Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable | Ubisoft | Recalled in the United Kingdom due to use of the word "spastic", which is considered highly offensive in the UK. |
| 2006 | Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christian real-time strategy game developed and published by Inspired Media Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released on November 7, 2006... |
PC | Left Behind Games | Accusations that the game promoted religious "convert or kill" violence, sexism and racism. Some reviewers denied that the game contained any truly controversial gameplay. |
| 2006 | Resistance: Fall of Man Resistance: Fall of Man Resistance: Fall of Man is a first-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 3. It was developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game is set in an alternate history 1951, and follows Sgt... |
PS3 | Insomniac Games Insomniac Games Insomniac Games, Inc. is an American video game developer headquartered in Burbank, California. Founded in 1994, Insomniac has released titles for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. It created Disruptor, the first three Spyro the Dragon games, and the Ratchet &... |
The Church of England Church of England The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St... objected to the game's use of Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral is a medieval church on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester... 's interior as a backdrop during a gun battle, and called for the game to be withdrawn or for the cathedral to be removed from the game. |
| 2006 | RapeLay RapeLay is a 3D eroge video game made by Illusion, released on April 21, 2006 in Japan. Compared to Illusion's previous games, the main story is shorter, it features an improved 3D engine, and is mainly played through mouse control. The game centers on a male character who stalks and rapes a mother and her... |
PC | Illusion Soft Illusion Soft is a company from Yokohama, Japan famous for developing 3D eroge such as the Biko series, Battle Raper, Des Blood series, Artificial Girl and Sexy Beach.... |
Rape forms a core part of the gameplay leading to controversy raised in the UK Parliament and elsewhere. |
| 2006 | Rule of Rose Rule of Rose is a survival horror video game for the PlayStation 2. The game was developed by Punchline and released in 2006.Set in 1930 England, the plot revolves around a nineteen-year-old girl named Jennifer, who becomes trapped in a world ruled by young girls who have established a class hierarchy called... |
PS2 | Punchline Punchline (company) Punchline is a Japanese company that develops video games. It was founded by former Love-de-Lic employee Yoshiro Kimura. The company currently has around 25 employees. Kimura currently works for Marvelous Interactive, leaving Punchline's current status in question.-Games:*Chulip - *Rule of Rose -... |
The mayor of Rome Rome Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half... called for the game to be banned from Italy, saying children "have the right to be shielded from violence". The then European Union European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958... justice and security commissioner wrote an open letter condemning the game for "obscene cruelty and brutality". An Italian magazine, Panorama Panorama (Italian magazine) Panorama is a right-wing Italian-language news magazine.-Ownership:The magazine is published by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, the largest Italian publishing house... , claimed that in order to win the game players must bury a girl alive which the game's European publisher disputed. On the UK release day, the publisher announced that Rule of Rose would not be published in the UK, despite the game being approved for release by the Pan European Game Information Pan European Game Information Pan European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European parents make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games boxes. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and came into use in April 2003; it... (PEGI) and Video Standards Council regulatory bodies. |
| 2007 2007 in video gaming -Events:*March 14: Microsoft announces Games for Windows - Live, a version of Xbox Live for the Windows platform. The service launched on May 8.*March 27: Microsoft announces the new "Xbox 360 Elite" stock-keeping unit . The revision comes with a bigger hard drive and the ability to output HDMI... |
BioShock Bioshock BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , PC, PS3 |
2K Games 2K Games 2K is a global developer, marketer, distributor and publisher of interactive entertainment software games. 2K Games is a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, which also owns Rockstar Games notable for the Grand Theft Auto series... |
An article in The Patriot Ledger The Patriot Ledger The Patriot Ledger is a daily afternoon newspaper published in Quincy, Massachusetts and serving the South Shore. Its circulation is 55,000 on weekdays and 63,000 for its Weekend edition which is published on Saturday mornings.... , the local paper of developer Irrational Games Irrational Games Irrational Games is a video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier as Irrational Games... , argued that the game is "testing the limits of the ultraviolent gaming genre with a strategy that enables players to kill characters resembling young girls." The game presents an ethical choice to players, whether to kill 'Little Sisters' for extra abilities or save them and receive less. 2K president Ken Levine defended the game as a piece of art, stating "we want to deal with challenging moral issues and if you want to do that, you have to go to some dark places". Jack Thompson took issue with advertisements for the game appearing during WWE SmackDown's airtime, writing to the Federal Trade Commission Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act... and stating that M-rated games should not be advertised when large numbers of under-17s are watching. |
| 2007 2007 in video gaming -Events:*March 14: Microsoft announces Games for Windows - Live, a version of Xbox Live for the Windows platform. The service launched on May 8.*March 27: Microsoft announces the new "Xbox 360 Elite" stock-keeping unit . The revision comes with a bigger hard drive and the ability to output HDMI... |
V-Tech Rampage V-Tech Rampage V-Tech Rampage is a controversial amateur action computer game that re-creates the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. The game was created by 21-year-old Ryan Lambourn from Australia... |
PC | The game simulated events from the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings Virginia Tech massacre The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people... and has music targeting the RIAA Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... . |
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| 2007 | Mass Effect Mass Effect Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , PC |
BioWare BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts... |
Falsely accused by evangelical blogger Kevin McCullough of containing "rape Rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The... and sodomy Sodomy Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"... ", which later led to the removal of McCullough's blog entry on Townhall.com Townhall.com Townhall.com is a web-based publication primarily dedicated to conservative United States politics. It was previously operated by the Heritage Foundation, but is now owned and operated by Salem Communications... . The game was featured on the Fox News Channel Fox News Channel Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation... following the controversy, with Fox News host Martha MacCallum Martha MacCallum Martha MacCallum is an American news anchor on the Fox News Channel. She joined the network in 2004, and is based in the New York City bureau. She previously hosted The Live Desk with Trace Gallagher at 1:00 p.m. ET. Currently, she co-hosts with Bill Hemmer America's Newsroom at 9:00 a.m... , which included the headline Headline The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a... "full graphic sex". In actuality, the game's most explicit content is an indirect "sideboob" shot of a humanoid Humanoid A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it... alien breast Breast The breast is the upper ventral region of the torso of a primate, in left and right sides, which in a female contains the mammary gland that secretes milk used to feed infants.Both men and women develop breasts from the same embryological tissues... . |
| 2007 | Scrabble 2007 Edition Scrabble 2007 Edition Scrabble 2007 Edition is a puzzle video game for the Nintendo DS and PC. It was published by Ubisoft and developed by WIZARBOX. It was released on September 7, 2007. The rules are the same as the board game of the same name; please see the article for information about the game... |
Nintendo DS Nintendo DS The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP... , PC Personal computer A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator... |
Ubisoft Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries.... |
Language; this led to a re-rating of the game. The original rating was PEGI's 3+; it is now rated 12+. |
| 2007 | Mario Party 8 Mario Party 8 is a party video game, the eighth installment in the Mario Party series, and is the first title in the series to be released for the Nintendo Wii. It is also the first Mario Party title to have the ability to use Mii characters. It was released in North America on May 29, 2007, in Europe on June... |
Wii | Nintendo Nintendo is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel.... |
Use of the phrase "Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" by the character Kamek caused controversy in the United Kingdom, where the word spastic is considered offensive. This led to a recall of the game; it was later re-released with the word changed to erratic. |
| 2007 | Left Behind: Tribulation Forces | PC | Left Behind Games | The first sequel to Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christian real-time strategy game developed and published by Inspired Media Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released on November 7, 2006... . |
| 2008 2008 in video gaming Notable events of 2008 in video gaming. See also history of video games. The release dates listed in this article are the games' original release dates.-Events:... |
Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide is a controversial 2008 amateur computer game by Something Awful forum member Eric Vaughn under the screen name "Sigvatr". It is a top-down shoot 'em up video game. The aim of the game is to kill all Muslims that appear on the... |
PC | Eric 'Sigvatr' Vaughn | The game's contents and subject have been the subject of strong negative response; a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain Muslim Council of Britain The Muslim Council of Britain is a self-appointed umbrella body for national, regional, local and specialist organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within British Islamic society. It was established in 1997 to help Muslims, to increase education about the... , said "The makers of this 'game' and the ISPs [Internet service providers] who are hosting it should be quite ashamed of themselves. Anti-Muslim prejudice is already on the increase and needs to be challenged and not reinforced through tasteless and offensive stunts like this." |
| 2008 | LittleBigPlanet LittleBigPlanet LittleBigPlanet, commonly abbreviated LBP, is a puzzle platformer video game, based on user-generated content, for the PlayStation 3 first announced on 7 March 2007, by Phil Harrison at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California... |
PS3 | Media Molecule Media Molecule Media Molecule is a British video game developer based in Guildford in Surrey. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney... |
Lyrics from a licensed song, "Tapha Niang", were removed due to fears that Muslims would be offended. This led to controversy about the removal itself. |
| 2009 2009 in video gaming The year 2009 saw the release of many video games, including several sequels.-Events:-Scheduled releases:List of games scheduled for release in 2009 in North America.... |
MadWorld MadWorld is a video game developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega. It was released for the Wii on March 10, 2009 in North America, on March 20 in Europe, March 26 in Australia, and February 10 in Japan... |
Wii Wii The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others... |
Platinum Games | Violence. Described by the Daily Mail Daily Mail The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982... as the "most violent video game ever". |
| 2009 | Resident Evil 5 Resident Evil 5 Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as , is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe... |
PS3, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
Capcom Capcom is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its... |
For a pre-release trailer that contains scenes of racism Racism Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature... , according to Newsweek Newsweek Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence... journalist N'Gai Croal in an April 2008 interview. He also stated that organizations and retailers would object to the game and that it would cause controversy on release. |
| 2009 | Saw | PS3, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
Konami Konami is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games... |
Several news publishings stated that the game's only purpose was to torture and kill people in violent ways with no sense of restraint or morality. Some editorials called it "depraved and inhumane" and stated that "Konami Konami is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games... should be ashamed". It was also listed in the "Top ten most controversial games of 2009". |
| 2009 | Left 4 Dead 2 Left 4 Dead 2 Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter video game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation's award-winning Left 4 Dead. The game launched on November 17, 2009, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in the United States and November 20 in Europe; in 2010, Left 4 Dead 2 was made available to... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... (Steam) |
Valve Corporation Valve Corporation Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States... |
The cover art in the UK United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... had to be altered due to a potentially offensive hand gesture being depicted. The game was banned in Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... for its excessive violence and gore. The game's New Orleans setting so soon after Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall... was considered "a bad call". Finally, Left 4 Dead 2 was accused of being racist Racism Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature... after incorporating black infected into the game, Valve quickly stated this was only for population diversification purposes. |
| 2009 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game was released worldwide on... |
Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... , PlayStation 3 PlayStation 3 The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... |
Infinity Ward Infinity Ward Infinity Ward is an American video game developer. Infinity Ward is responsible for the development of the video game Call of Duty and four other installments in the Call of Duty franchise.... |
A level in the game entitled "No Russian" has the player assume control of a deep cover Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers... agent, joining a group of Russian nationalist terrorists in enacting an airport massacre. The player is given the option to skip the level at any point. The game was discussed briefly in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom after the issue was brought to the attention of MP Keith Vaz Keith Vaz Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz, known as Keith Vaz, was born 26 November 1956 in Aden, Yemen.Keith Vaz is a British Labour Party politician and a Member of Parliament for Leicester East, He is the longest serving Asian MP and has been the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee since July... , a long time opponent of violence in video games, with fellow Labour Party Labour Party (UK) The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after... politician Tom Watson Tom Watson (politician) Thomas Anthony Watson is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for West Bromwich East since 2001. Watson was a Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office from 2008 to 2009... arguing that the level was "no worse than scenes in many films and books" and criticising Vaz for "collaborating with the Daily Mail Daily Mail The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982... to create moral panic over the use of video games". The mission was removed in the Russian version of the game. |
| 2010 2010 in video gaming The year 2010 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, including several new titles.-Events:-Game releases:List of games scheduled for release in 2010 in North America.... |
Six Days in Fallujah Six Days in Fallujah Six Days in Fallujah is a third-person shooter video game described by the developer, Atomic Games, as a tactical shooter and survival horror game. It is the first game to focus directly on Operation Iraqi Freedom, mainly the Second Battle of Fallujah or Operation Phantom Fury. The game follows a... |
Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... , PlayStation 3 PlayStation 3 The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... |
Atomic Games Atomic Games Atomic Games is a video game developer, specializing mostly in wargames. The company has developed titles such as the Close Combat series, the World at War series, as well as the V for Victory series. Atomic Games was acquired by Destineer Games on May 6, 2005 while collaborating on Close Combat:... |
The game was opposed by both the public and critics alike for "glamorizing" and "glossing over" the real-life Battle of Fallujah. This caused the former publisher, Konami Konami is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games... , to oppose the game and stop publishing it. |
| 2010 2010 in video gaming The year 2010 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, including several new titles.-Events:-Game releases:List of games scheduled for release in 2010 in North America.... |
Gran Turismo 5 Gran Turismo 5 is the fifth edition of the Gran Turismo racing video game series. Developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, it was released for PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010... |
PS3 | Sony Sony , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues.... |
Had a track in Siena, Italy called "Piazza del Campo" and residents of Siena were upset when the track had a flag that was offensive in the city. |
| 2010 2010 in video gaming The year 2010 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, including several new titles.-Events:-Game releases:List of games scheduled for release in 2010 in North America.... |
Call of Duty Black Ops | PS3, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... , Wii |
Treyarch Treyarch Treyarch is an American video game developer company, founded in 1996 by Peter Akemann and Doğan Köslü , and acquired by Activision in 2001... |
Features a mission, in the single player campaign, "Operation 40 Operation 40 Operation 40 was a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored undercover operation in the early 1960s, which was active in the United States and the Caribbean , Central America, and Mexico. It was created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in March 1960, after the January 1959 Cuban Revolution, and was... ", where the player assassinates a copy Decoy A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may... of former Cuba Cuba The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city... n president Fidel Castro Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011... . The game has received high opposition from the Cuban government Politics of Cuba Cuba is constitutionally defined as a "socialist state guided by the principles of José Martí, and the political ideas of Marx, the father of communist states, Engels and Lenin." The present Constitution also ascribes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba to be the "leading force of society and... . |
| 2010 2010 in video gaming The year 2010 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, including several new titles.-Events:-Game releases:List of games scheduled for release in 2010 in North America.... |
Left Behind 3: Rise of the Antichrist | PC | Left Behind Games | Sequel to Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a Christian real-time strategy game developed and published by Inspired Media Entertainment for Microsoft Windows. It was released on November 7, 2006... and Left Behind: Tribulation Forces. |
| 2011 | Bulletstorm Bulletstorm Bulletstorm is a first-person shooter video game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games, and is published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows... |
PS3, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers... |
Fox News Channel Fox News Channel Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation... called out the title as the "Worst Video Game in the World" due to the extreme amount of violence; claims made in the original article were dispelled by video game journalists including Rock Paper Shotgun, but Fox News continues to assert the game as too violent. |
| 2011 | Call of Juarez: The Cartel Call of Juarez: The Cartel Call of Juarez: The Cartel is a first-person shooter video game developed by Techland. The game is part of the Call of Juarez western-themed video games, but is set in modern-day Los Angeles and Mexico as up to three players take the role of law enforcement agents... |
PS3, Xbox 360 Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles... , Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
Ubisoft Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries.... |
Residents of Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez , officially known today as Heroica Ciudad Juárez, but abbreviated Juárez and formerly known as El Paso del Norte, is a city and seat of the municipality of Juárez in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Juárez's estimated population is 1.5 million people. The city lies on the Rio Grande... and Mexico protested the announcement of the game, believing it to highlight the Juárez Cartel Juárez Cartel The Juárez Cartel , also known as the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization, is a Mexican drug cartel based in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas... , who are believed responsible for over 3000 homicides in the city in 2010. |
External links
- Sexual Moments in Video Game History from I-MockeryI-MockeryI-Mockery is a pop culture humor site owned and operated by Roger Barr that has existed online in various forms since 1996. Before then, it was a printed periodical called Visionary Darkness. Free copies of Visionary Darkness were distributed in local high schools and record shops...
- "The Top 7... Controversies Waiting to Happen: Sex! Murder! Godless blasphemy and animal abuse! How could the media possibly miss these button-pushing games?," GamesRadar.com (Sept 4, 2007).
- "The Top 7... Most Evil Games: See the most racist, hateful and tasteless titles you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole," GamesRadar.com (Dec 17, 2007).