Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[JFK: Reloaded]]'', while marketed as an accurate recreation of the [[Who Shot JFK?|Kennedy assassination]] according to the Warren Commission's findings, was harshly criticised as depicting the assassination in a video game setting was viewed to be in extremely poor taste. Late Senator Ted Kennedy condemned the game as "despicable", and Joe Lieberman, who also happened to have co-led the Senate hearings which formed the basis of the [[Media Classifications|ESRB]], "was sickened by the game."
* ''The Guy Game'' would've been yet another run-of-the-mill trivia quiz-slash-puzzle game with a [[Fanservice]] theme taking the form of a live-action [[Full Motion Video]] game show, where players are treated to bare-breasted women should they complete any of the minigames. There was just one problem though: one of the women in the game going by the name Diane filed suit and alleged that she was unaware that her footage would be used in a video game, and she was [[Ephebophile|seventeen]] when the footage was taken, giving it the dubious distinction of being ''the only piece of underage pornography to be licensed for home consoles.'' Unsurprisingly, the game was pulled from shelves as it technically counts as [[Paedo Hunt|child porn]] (given the latter, it is presumed that all unsold copies and masters were destroyed to avoid any legal repercussions over the possession of illegal pornography as well as personality rights issues), though Topheavy Studios eventually re-released ''The Guy Game'' as an interactive DVD under the subtitle ''Game Over'' with the offending footage removed and replaced with other models. The child porn controversy may have accounted for Jeff Spangenberg going off the radar since then.
* The vulgar humour and adult themes in [[Acclaim]]'s ''BMX XXX'' was universally viewed as one of the worst (if not ''the worst'') gimmicks to grace a sports game. It was said that Acclaim somehow had the brilliant idea of having [[Z-Axis]] [[Executive Meddling|turn]] what was going to be an extremely subpar game [[Sex Sells|into a raunchy sex comedy]], breasts, babes and all, in a vain and puerile effort to drum up publicity and make up for the lacklustre gameplay, likely under the impression that immature men would grab a copy and play it for the smut regardless of the game's actual quality. The late extreme sports athlete Dave Mirra, whose namesake video game series formed the basis for ''BMX XXX'', balked at the decision and sued Acclaim for the use of his name and likeness, forcing Acclaim to release the game without the Dave Mirra branding. Sony also forced Acclaim to censor the PS2 release as they "didn't feel that the topless nudity fundamentally added to the gameplay experience
* On top of recent entries in the ''[[NBA 2K]]'' series being peppered with increasingly pervasive monetization schemes like [[Loot Boxes]], ''NBA 2K20'' was condemned and ridiculed by gaming circles for its blatant and tasteless use of casino gambling mechanics in a game rated for players ''as young as three years old''. The pre-release trailer<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MQ1ZMZ-l4 NBA 2K20: MyTEAM]</ref> was savaged for its in-your-face promotion of gambling towards youths, and doubts were thus cast towards the integrity of ratings organisations ESRB and PEGI for giving such a dubiously low age rating, as well as video game journalists whose praise of the game was seen as questionable and myopic. Alongside the likes of ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars Battlefront II]]'', ''2K20'' and many others was seen as representative of the unabashed greed and avarice by corporate video game developers as well as ''laissez-faire'' capitalism in general.
* ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars Battlefront II]]'' garnered the attention of legislators over its use of loot box mechanics and prompted ''Star Wars'' series owner [[Disney]] to force EA into toning down the use of microtransactions by removing the lootbox mechanic in favour of paid cosmetic items.
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* Despite receiving critical acclaim from mainstream gaming press, ''[[The Last of Us Part II]]'' was [[Critical Dissonance|savaged]] by a number of gaming circles for its inclusion of LGBTQ+ content and themes, branding it a "[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|social justice warrior]]" or a "woke" game as some perceive it as [[Anvilicious|pervasive agenda-pushing]] not unlike films featuring female, LGBT and racially diverse cast members. Kotaku's Riley MacLeod saw the controversy as a weak point with Metacritic's aggregation system, where he stated that the site "fails to take into account the diverse critical opinions of the game", instead focusing on the overall scores and seemingly padding it out to make the game appear better than it is, than the actual content of the review and provide a more even assessment of the game's critical both in the eyes of the press and the gaming public. It also didn't help that, like what happened with the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' remake, the game's cast members were unfairly harassed and trolled by self-styled "edgelords" who take offense at anything remotely "diverse" or "feminist". Considering the disconcertingly divisive sociopolitical atmosphere in the United States in this day and age, the homophobic and anti-feminist sentiment thrown at ''The Last of Us Part II'' is unsurprising.
** The other part of the controversy was due to leaks of the game revealing that one of the main characters of the first game got [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|a very ignominious death at the hands of the new playable character]], while the other remaining characters received extreme [[Character Derailment]] compared with their previous characterization (and the actual release of the game revealing that the game has a bleak [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] story–with a lot of [[Shoot the Dog|figurative and literal dog shooting]]–with a [[Bittersweet Ending]] very high in the bitter that gave little emotional resolution). The leaks forced a definite release date of the game after some years in [[Development Hell]], and the ensuing takedowns of leaks and early critics only irritated gamers that were already angry with both Sony and Naughty Dog. The above was not helped by the heads of the project responding to their harassment by calling any critics that didn't like the game "regressive" and "misogynists", [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|whenever they actually were or not]].
* The [[Vaporware|eternally delayed]] [[Animesque]] stealth action indie game ''[[Yandere Simulator]]'' solicited controversy for its graphic and sexually explicit content, as the game involves killing or maiming those whom the player character believes is monopolizing her senpai's attention. Besides its violence, whom creator YandereDev cites the ''[[Hitman]]'' series as a major influence, its sexual themes was seen by some as concerning owing to its high school setting which may give out [[Ephebophilia|ephebophilic]] undertones; YandereDev maintains that, despite the supposedly juvenile setting and glaring evidence to it, none of the characters in the game are minors. Said controversy made ''Yandere Simulator'' a total pain in the rear to stream uncensored on sites such as Twitch or YouTube, due to the game's premise falling afoul of said platforms' terms of service. YandereDev wasted no time to shoot back at those who banned his game from being streamed online, citing "[[Censorship Bureau|self-righteous ideologues]]" for the ban.
** The game has become mired in many a controversy since, with the repeated delays themselves now among them - this has spawned at least [https://twitter.com/BeforeYandere one account on Twitter] dedicated to chronicling events that took place before while Yandere Simulator 'finishes' development. For the record, it began development in '''2014'''.
* A lot more has been said about [[Electronic Arts]]' questionable if not abhorrent business practices than for the merits of the games they publish. From acquiring independent studios and eventually liquidating them if they underperform, to the recent backlash towards microtransactions and loot boxes, EA has earned a lot of scorn and ridicule amongst the gaming community, to the point that they have earned the [[Medal of Dishonor|dubious honour]] of being the "worst company in America" for two straight years. And yet their games still sell somehow, partly due to more impressionable gamers or to those who are just too uninformed or complacent to care.
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