Gore
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The gore of 'Resident Evil 7' is heavily censored in Japan
A big part of the fun in Resident Evil 7 is the way it pays off the creeping tension with jolts of pure gore. It turns out, however, that gamers in Japan aren't getting quite the same effect. As the Censored Gaming group found out, several of the more shocking scenes of body horror have been dumbed down to TBS levels there.
The Elder Scrolls Online receives Mature rating
The Entertainment Software Rating Board has given Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating for "Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, and Violence," ZeniMax posted on its Facebook page. The studio is none too happy about the decision, stating, "The ESRB advised us that it has given The Elder Scrolls Online a Mature rating. While we may disagree with the ESRB's determination, we do not plan to challenge the rating, and we are unwilling to change the game's content to achieve a different rating. The game we have created is the one we want our fans to be able to play." ZeniMax said that the ruling has forced the studio to put the Mature rating and age gates on the ESO site, trailers, and ads.
New DLC adds buckets of blood to Total War: Rome 2
If Total War: Rome 2 proves a bit tame for your desensitized palate, we've got good news: Sega has released a new downloadable addition for the strategy game that will cause its battlefields to literally run red with blood. Appropriately titled "Blood and Gore," this DLC addition focuses on improving the brutality of combat in Total War: Rome 2. New sound and particle effects have been added alongside "hundreds of gruesome animations." According to Sega, both soldiers and the ground they fight on will now become increasingly spattered with blood and pieces of former people as combat rages on. As you'd expect, this bloody deluge earns the DLC an "M for Mature" rating. If that doesn't turn you off, you can feed your sadistic desires by purchasing the Blood and Gore DLC from Steam for $3.
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs keep the gore on the down-low?
If there's one staple that MMOs share with other video games, it's that fighting tends to be a mostly bloodless and gore-free affair. Sure, sometimes a daring game might throw in blood fireworks that erupt in the air to signify that you're doing some damage, but you and your enemy will appear in model health until one of you keels over from invisible wounds. Of course, as time progresses and technology gives us terrific marvels, there's the potential for games to start showing more and more wounds on our characters. It kind of reminds me how there used to be action figures with the main selling point that you could transform them into disfigured, gory versions as they took "battle damage." What do you think? Should MMOs continue to keep combat gore on the down-low or have you had enough of these abstract, bloodless brawls? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Daily iPhone App: Zombies and Trains combine for gory fun
Zombies and Trains is the latest app from Dragonhead Games, an indie dev based in Norway. It's a zombie app (which is fairly meh these days), but it features a pretty inventive control scheme and a whole lot of content to play through. The app is essentially an arena game, where you're presented with wave after wave of zombies, and then need to kill them off. Rather than using a gun or a hatchet, however, you use something a little more powerful: A freight train. Each area has various tracks running across it, and just touching one of those tracks will send a train rumbling through, demolishing any zombies who happen to be in the way. The game can be frantic but very satisfying -- most of the stages involve a trophy in the middle for you to protect, and if even one zombie reaches it, it's game over. There are four different modes, including a progressively difficult Arcade mode, an endless wave mode, a one minute survival mode, and a "slaughter" mode, which just has you killing as many zombies as possible before time runs out. The whole thing is fairly simple, but the graphics are well done, and the idea of a train at full speed running through a herd of zombies is really just too good to pass up (especially if you've played The Walking Dead game, which combined zombies and locomotion in a much less satisfying manner). Zombies and Trains is available for 99 cents on the iPhone, or $1.99 on the iPad.
DragonSoul pries a website and trailer out of its opponent's cold, dead hands
We're often asked here on Massively about what makes one start-up F2P MMO different from the others. What's the "hook," so to speak? Well, with DragonSoul the hook is easy to identify because the hook is dripping with blood and gore. It's a tad adult-oriented, let's just say. This PvP MMO with political underpinnings has reached two milestones today. Neonga AG has opened the official DragonSoul website and released the first trailer for the game (which features plenty of white blood splatter). There's plenty of information about the game that's posted on the site, including several (but not all) of the classes, screenshots, game systems, and community networking. There's even a place for you to register for the upcoming beta program. You can watch the SFW trailer after the jump and get a feel for what might make DragonSoul stand out from the crowd.
CCP reveals World of Darkness details to bloodthirsty fans
Details about CCP's World of Darkness are popping out of White Wolf's The Grand Masquerade in New Orleans this weekend, and they're definitely worth draining for every last sweet drop of... information. While the game is still in pre-production -- and as such, nothing is set in stone -- the devs weren't hesitant to dish out a lot of the ideas and features that they hope will make this the best vampire MMO to date. It's CCP's desire to emulate LARPing (live-action roleplaying) as much as possible with World of Darkness, with plenty of metaplots running inside the game and without. Players will begin as a mortal human who can make the choice to become a kindred (vampire) or stay mortal for the duration of their characters' lives. There's a very real danger that characters might experience "final death" -- permadeath -- if they take too many risks. If you get in over your head, you can retreat to your character's Haven for safety. The entire game will take place at night and on one server, and CCP is definitely aiming it toward the hardcore set. Nudity, gore, and insanity effects are all par for the course. If players push outside of the acceptable boundaries too often, they'll lose "humanity" points and could become flagged for constant attack by other players and NPCs. Play your cards right and you may become the prince of the city. The game will change over time with dynamic events, and CCP promises that there will be real consequences for player decisions. Look for our World of Darkness interview with CCP coming later this week. [Thanks Pilgrim for the tip!]
Lollipop Chainsaw gets a debut trailer at Gamescom
Germany's Gamescom show has brought us this debut trailer for Lollipop Chainsaw, a new title in the works from developer Goichi "Suda51" Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture. As you can tell from the (scandalous!) footage above, the game's about a cheerleader named Juliet -- who also happens to be a zombie slayer with a chainsaw. The official site lists the location as "San Romero High School," and since American horror/comedy director James Gunn is also along for the ride, you can probably expect plenty of sly references like that one in the game. Lollipop Chainsaw is targeting a 2012 release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Video: Censored Left 4 Dead 2 right 4 classification
Footage allegedly taken from Australia's censored version of Left 4 Dead 2 has made its way online ... and we feel it's inadequately preparing citizens down under for the future! Though the game will get Aussies used to facing down a charging zombie horde, it does nothing to desensitize them to the revolting gore that inevitably follows.The censored version lacks exploding heads, dismemberment (courtesy of the new melee weapons) and burning corpses. Sadly, for those of us who have built up a considerable hatred for the undead scourge threatening our civilization, the fallen undead just fade into the ether. Check out the full video after the break and pray for Australia's survival when the zombie apocalypse comes.[Via Destructoid]
Diablo 3 to include parental controls, region-specific gore edits
Diablo 3 designer Jay Wilson was on hand at the recent GamesCom, where he met up with Wired and frankly discussed the game's gore. He confirmed that the title would not only have parental controls, but could have a lot of its signature violence stripped for select regions. "Yeah, we're going to have to be able to turn off blood, change the color and things like that, because you can't have red blood in some regions, regions that we would very much like to sell the game in," Wilson said. Though he doesn't foresee any issue in selling the game in Germany and Australia, Blizzard will have to carefully weigh its options when it comes to a release in in China. "With our relationship with NetEase, we recently got new information about what China really wants, and it's a lengthy list. It's really hard for us to cater to. We'll try. There's no reason we wouldn't want to go there, but there is a certain point where we'd have to redo so much of the game that it's not viable anymore," Wilson explained.
Atsushi Inaba talks MadWorld inspirations, Wii
A lot of things come to mind when looking at screens or video from MadWorld. Its visual style has been compared to Sin City and Running Man, to name a few. So, is this where creator Atsushi Inaba got his inspiration for the game?"Of course we like Sin City very much and we have seen Running Man before but they are not the sources of our creation," said Inaba. "The concepts of MadWorld are 'visual impact' and 'over-the-top violence,' and these two themes run right through the game." Inaba also says it hasn't been easy for his team to accomplish the game's stylish look and feel, commenting that "all team members are constantly working very hard to capture the style we want the final game to have."When asked why Platinum Games settled on the Wii, Inaba pointed to the "huge install base" and said his team is "really interested in the Wii platform" and "wanted to create a really cool and stylish game for that." Frankly, we're glad. Not just because we, uh, want to play this, but also because we're tired of the Wii getting the "it's only for kiddies" label. We're awfully tired of that, to tell you the truth.%Gallery-22964%
Hunter Beta News: Tranquilizing Shot explained, pet focus system adjusted
Good old Tranquilizing Shot seems to be getting a lot of attention in the beta world yesterday. Ever since it was bought back to prominence when it inherited Arcane Shot's old dispel mechanic and the ability to dispel PvP enrage mechanics, people have been wondering what exactly it will be able to do in PvE. Lead encounter designer Daelo clarified the other day with some information on how enrage type effects will work in Wrath:
Controversy never ends with Age of Conan
First it was the gore. Then it was the fatalities. Then it was the promise of nudity. Then it was the nipple toggle. Now there's more controversy in the Age of Conan - the Stygians.Richard Cobbett brought up a new area where AoC might offend some of the more religious people in the population in his online journal. The Stygians, the infamous followers of Set, love demonic magic. And when we say love demonic magic, we really mean that they can turn into demons if you're a Herald of Xotli or summon demons if you're a Demonologist. The word Stygian can even be translated as "dark" or "infernal".While this is pretty tame for those of us who are into fantasy settings, it's just another part of where AoC can be offensive to those around it. Funcom has no doubt pushed the envelope with this game, but as any good Conan fan will say, "It's just another normal day in Hyboria."
Scattered Shots: Why certain pet families are so popular
Scattered Shots is for Hunters. David Bowers is caught in a Freezing Trap this week, so Daniel Whitcomb -- who did not set the trap, he swears to the Light -- is substituting for him. You hear it pretty much all the time if you've ever slightly dipped into the world of Hunters. If you want to play in the big leagues, conventional wisdom says you're pretty much stuck with a select handful of pet types (also known as pet families): Ravagers, Cats, and Raptors for PvE, Scorpids for PvP. But do you know why those pet families are so desired? What it really comes down to is Hunter roles and abilities.
Requiem Bloodymare footage is not that horror-ific
A few days ago, Zenke brought us news that the folks behind Ragnarok were working on a "Horror MMO" called Requiem: Bloodymare. At the time, we had no idea how you'd pull off a gory, horror-based MMO, but thanks to Joystiq's YouTube-searching abilities (these videos were all posted back in November-- whoops), we now have video, and you can see above just how this thing might play out.In a few words, "just like every other MMO." Granted, this is the starting area (which explains why the mobs are just standing there being neutral), but even the trailer itself doesn't promise anything super new-- the same old spells, grinding, standard MMO gamplay, and "extreme battle effects." It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look new either, so anyone hoping to have a real horror experience in an MMO (I had my hopes up, if only for a second) will still be waiting.But maybe the quest text, in Korean in the video, will add that much more to the experience. Release is set for sometime this year, so we'll see.
Suda and Wada behind bloodless No More Heroes
A recent announcement that Europe would be getting a bloodless version of No More Heroes didn't go down well with many of our bloodthirsty commenters. At the time, PAL publisher Rising Star Games refused to reveal what was behind the decision, but more light was shed on the omission earlier today, in a joint statement from director Suda51 and producer Yasuhiro Wada (pictured above unsuccessfully trying to give away free toilet roll and autographs on the streets of Akihabara).Turns out that it was Suda and Wada themselves who decided to drop the outrageous levels of gore from the European version, citing the "broadly growing Wii market" in the region.Not that this affects many of you, as the U.S. version still contains plenty of the crimson stuff. Buckets of it, in fact.
Wii Warm Up: Games vs. movies
Since the Manhunt 2 debacle, there's been a lot of discussion about the differences between graphic games and graphic films. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about which is worse. In fact, two recent articles were not only completely at odds with one another opinion-wise, but they used some of the same examples! However, they did focus on slightly different subjects. Seth Schiesel of the New York Times thought movies were far ahead of games on the gore factor, and he cited comparisons between Saw II and Manhunt 2. Since the most graphic moments in the latter were short, and of course, animated, Schiesel found the lengthy, almost loving shots of "torture porn" in Saw II to be much more disturbing. Clive Thompson of Wired, however, thinks that games are much better than most recent films at creating a frightening atmosphere. Movies rely far too much on gore, he said -- citing Saw as both example and possible progenitor of this phenomenon -- while horror games can recreate the chilling, anxiety-inducing feelings of the best horror films the genre has ever offered, because (Roger Ebert would hate this reason) horror games take a very artistic approach to mood and atmosphere. While he talks mostly about BioShock, the principles can be applied to many other games; he mentions Silent Hill and Resident Evil as well.So our question today is: where do you stand on this? Can games go further and do more, or are films still the benchmark for horror and intensity?
Mizuguchi working on Al Gore environmentalism project
On stage to discuss the game development process during Grasshopper Manufacture's 'Snake vs Zombie Vol. 2' event Saturday, Lumines producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi was instead questioned about his rumored involvement in an unannounced Al Gore project. Coy about details, Mizuguchi did confirm, "It's not going to be a video game. The concept derives from video games, and its something which the gaming generation will appreciate."Like last year's film An Inconvenient Truth, the project will focus on environmental issues, including energy conservation. Mizuguchi hinted that the effort will play on our perspective of Earth. "I think that we would need to see our own planet from outer space. We see that there are no borderlines between the countries and simply notice how beautiful it is. And maybe then, we will be more conscious about the environment. It's about gaining a new perspective, like when we moved from 2D to 3D," suggested Mizuguchi.
A presidential duo destined for destiny
As Infendo writes about one of the funniest headlines they've seen on the Nintendo News Channel, we imagine the title of this post as being the tag line for one of the greatest movies ever made: Clinton and Gore's Excellent Adventures. Move over Bill and Ted ...Are we nuts, or does it look like they're going to kiss?
Babes & bikinis & blood, oh my!
The latest installment of the Onechanbara series will debut on Xbox 360 next week in Japan. Is it significant that this cult franchise has jumped from PlayStation 2 to Xbox 360? Has Microsoft finally scored a key victory in Japan? Definitely not. In fact, Microsoft likely prefers to distance itself from this unexceptional achievement. As Onechanbara Vortex opens we find our heroine washing off the day's grime, her schoolgirl sister eyeing the news just as zombies emerge. Newly rinsed, our heroine elects to don a cowboy hat, bikini, and blade, and, joined by sis, embarks on a bloody quest to save the world. The one-button hack n' slasher is rounded out by a dress-up mode. While seemingly an amalgamation of two high-profile titles -- Dead Rising and Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 -- Vortex's budget production likely means the game will never see release outside of Japan.
