The recent media blitz on violent videogames, culminating in an Adults Only rating subsequent censorship of Rockstar’s Manhunt 2, doesn’t seem to scare Tecmo, and they plan to release Ninja Gaiden 2 with all of it’s bloody gameplay mechanics intact.
The specific issue in question is the ability, and necessity, to sever opponents’ limbs. In Ninja Gaiden 2, as I’m guessing would also be the case in real life, enemies whose arms have been cut off don’t suddenly drop dead – they just lose the ability to, you know, use their arms. In essence, limb severance can leave opponents effectively dis-armed. *chuckle*
It’s all very graphic, as the game’s director showed off to eager members of the press at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, but he insisted that the violence and gore is not gratuitous, but very important, and integral to the core gameplay.
“We know that we’re going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it. But for us, I think that with the way the violence is used in the game and how it works with the gameplay, we’re not using violence of violence’s sake. It’s really tied into how the game plays. We don’t want to compromise on that element at all.
[Violence is] one method that you can use to really bring a player into a game and make it more satisfying…. It’s one portion of making this game the best action game on the market, but it’s not like we have a specific goal to [make this the most violent game ever].
…We want to continue to pursue the violence in cool way, in a bad-ass way.”
Here’s to Tecmo, pursuing violence in a cool, bad-ass, and USEFUL way.
