It appears the next big censorship battle isn't gore or sex, it's immoral choices. The senior vice-president of development for SONY claims that this is the next battle ground, that censors object to the choices we have in games over being just a passenger in the story.

He makes some good points, and the article's short and makes for an interesting read.

SONY seems to be strong proponents of allowing adults to chose their own entertainment, some may suggest that they are just doing it to push titles, but remember, the following quote was said in regards to the new PS2 game Getaway, while SONY makes plans to release 'The Sims' on PS2, so it's not like they only publish hack-and-slashes.

"There's a strong storyline that legitimises the content for the audience we're trying to sell it to - we're not trying to sell it to 10-year-olds"

Censor boards feel the interactive nature of games mean they should be rated harder than movies, but do you think being able to chose to kill someone in a game make it more violent than not having the choice and being exposed to it as a passenger in a movie?

W00T.

yes thats what they all say, they all say "woot".

We should also ban little kids from playing cowboys and indians...

I hardly think

"plans to release 'The Sims' on PS2, so it's not like they only publish hack-and-slashes. "

Is a valid argument, considering any company would push a pc title conversion that has been the number one best seller for as long as the sims has been.


That said, Im sure out of any platform it would be the ps2 that would get the most diverse games if only because it has sold such a large user base and publishers/codeshops would be able to target niche markets.
Shame nintendo only has rare/inhouse studios to push originality :(

At lest the development teams are pushing the numbers on this one.

firstly, what is this 'sony' thing everyone keeps talking about.

and secondly, hi mum!

Hello Sir Spamalot.

hmm... "The Sims: Big Brother"

why do I get the feeling Sony taking the concept somewhat seriously.

i think that choosing to kill someone is no worse than wathcing such a thing as a "passenger". you aren't choosing to kill a real person anyway - you are choosing to kill a facsimile of one.

what do you think they use in the army as training? dummies/pictures of whatever - i've never been in there, but i bet they use reasonable look-alikes of humans, at least in some places.

if people can't understand the difference between reality and computereality, they shouldn't be playing the games. tougher restrictions aren't going to accomplish that, they're just going to ruin the industry.

yeah but the army are training people to kill.

actually, armies prefer to maim...

That way there are more resources in use by the other side taking care of their wounded