Picture a game that will allow you to rip out the hearts of your victims, chainsaw and stab people to death, and impale your enemies on road signs. And then imagine that this will be an exclusive game for the Wii.
Nintendo has wanted to shed its image as a family and kid’s game machine for quite a while, and has consistently promised that more hardcore games will be introduced in order to offset the Wii’s squeaky-clean image. The game, MadWorld, not only promises to fulfill this goal, but also seems to be stirring up quite a bit of controversy as well.
The move by Nintendo to release MadWorld, has the anti-violence crowd and parents up in arms over in the UK.
John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-UK said MadWorld would destroy the image of the Wii as a family-friendly game console.
‘This game sounds very unsavory. I hope the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification. Without that it cannot be marketed in Britain.
"What the rest of world does is up to them. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people. It seems a shame that the game’s manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii.
"I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii."
Family games and the cute image of the Wii is what has skyrocketed the game console to the top of the charts. While causal gamers, families, and kids are the foundation of the success of the Wii, Nintendo has often been accused of abandoning the hardcore crowd by appealing to the masses.
But the big question that Nintendo must consider is just how much of an audience do they really have in the hardcore community, and does introducing games such as Manhunt 2 (Oct. 2007) and MadWorld (March 2009), really drum up significant additional business for the Wii?
Nintendo said in response to the protests of parent groups, "Wii appeals to a wide range of audiences from children and teenagers to adult and senior citizens, anyone from 5 – 95, as such there is a wide range of content for all ages and tastes available.
"Mad World will be suitably age rated through the appropriate legal channels and thus only available to an audience above the age rating it is given."
MadWorld will be exclusive to the Wii, and Nintendo is hoping that this Sega produced title will open the floodgates for the gaming crowd that they have had a hard time in coaxing into WiiLand…the hardcore gamers.
[via dailymail]
