Zosic

Zosic

What a f**king tool that guy is. Please don't buy his book.

dcartist

So I must now comment here where others will listen and understand, ah. First off, he has nothing better to do than pick on Mass Effect? Why not DOA? or Ghost Squad?

Next, fifteen year old boys? I believe the recommended" age is 17+. That, and the average gamer is around 30+, which by the tremendous amount of "15 year old boys" makes out to a shit load 30 year old men AND women gamers.

Next, the "X-Box 360, perhaps the most visually stimulating gaming system ever made." This coming from a guy on the Sony/Nintendo bandwagon with sympathetic ties to the Xbox, since all my friends have one. This being the "Digital Chip age" with all the high tech and all that. How is a fifteen year old kid suppose to purchase such technology. A 54inch LCD? Whoa! These kids much of had a bigger paper route then me, and I'm the boy who went to Japan.

AntiZERØ

Subject: Regarding your 'Mass Effect' articles

I am a 22 year old student from Norway, and have been a video gamer all my life. If you don't read this e-mail then I suppose this website will serve as my wailing wall, if you do read it then I hope you go away a little bit informed, if not at all wiser.

I'm not going to point out all the misinformation in your two articles as it is obvious that most of it is pure speculation on your side. Whatever facts you've gathered from your various sources has either been erroneous to begin with, lost in translation or most likely been twisted on your part to work to your advantage. I shouldn't be surprised of course, because most argumentation is done in such a way. I would just ask you to reflect on this from the viewpoint of a person who has grown up with video games.

We're at a great divide at this point, between the video game generation, and the people who came before them. It really is a language problem if anything. Both film and television have had their content questioned, and now video gaming has its head on the block. The executioner are all men and women who have not grown up with video games, and thus do not understand the medium. Have you considered comparing video gaming to cinema?

I don't really understand what your point is about being able to customize the appearance for your video game avatar. Though Mass Effect does not let you change the shape of your body beyond gender, it does let you modify facial features such as chin width, neck thickness, hair style and color, skin color, wrinkles and scars. Why is that an objectionable feature? Surely being able to immerse yourself in an interactive narrative is wonderful when you can shape the face of the protagonist to whatever you see fit? Is it immoral to be able to select skin color? Should the skin of the character be strictly white, or strictly black? Can their skin not be weathered and wrinkled. We live in a society which worships beauty. Most actors and actresses in film have faces and bodies that almost defy nature. The fact that Mass Effect lets you change all this is commendable in my eyes.

I am not surprised that you oppose gay relationships, many do. I am surprised however that you oppose interracial relationships. Homosexuality is certainly an issue which is still up to debate, but the question of letting men and women of different skin color have relationships I would have thought of as resolved. Society in the world of Mass Effect is an all allegory for human relations on Earth. In space there are species and races, on earth there are nationalities and skin color. The game has a huge social aspect. As the protagonist you travel the galaxy and meet different species with diverse histories and culture, and with different points of view. The 'aliens' you speak of are humanoids in pretty much every sense of the world beyond the color of their skin, and so the relationships between people of white, black or blue skin color is handled at a casual level, just like interracial relationships in the real world.

As the game narrative progresses you as a character are able to pursue a single relationship from between a select number of characters, three to be precise, should you choose to do so. Little by little as the story progresses you are able to create a bond with that character, which eventually culminates in a sexual encounter. The way the game portrays romance and human relationships is no different from how the ideal relationship is presented in other media.

Personally I see the actual sex scene as done very tastefully. There is a great level of abstraction in the imagery. In many ways the scene is only as 'dirty' as you are. The scene mainly features flashes of skin, ending with a single outstretched arm. A youth would not be able to interpret the imagery on his own, and would need to put two and two together from other sources to understand what is going on.

There IS an element of sexism in Mass Effect which I find offensive. It is possible to have a lesbian relationship, but it is impossible to have a homosexual relationship between two men. The gay relationship between two women can by that fact only be seen as the result of the stereotypical male fantasy. I am not a homosexual myself, but I believe in personal choice in all aspects of life. I am sorry if you do not.

It saddens me when a piece of fiction like a video game teaches more about tolerance and freedom than we teach each other in the open forum. I hope your future articles contain a higher level of reflection and a wish to learn, and not just preach.

Pinhead

All ive been doing is playing the stupid side missions, and Ashley and that other alien chick havent thrown me to the ground and demanded a blow job from me yet. I didnt even know that was possible?

Yea, where was the this copy of the game this guy is talking about? Its like hes describing GTA 5: Vice Galaxy...

ZeonicFreak

You know what that means right?

Future Serial Killer.

SchwarzerWind

Pinhead

Spliner

it was awesome.

TiberianViper

Normally I would go and read the article, but those few quotes from it.. its reeking of BS. But yeah, just like at end the of the preview above, "The sad thing? You just know someone reading it is going to buy it hook, line, and sinker. Sadness."

And this person will probably be in some position of power and lack a brain or at least common sense...

--Core--

Blind hipocrisy ftw.

Spallywag

SinCartier

SinCartier

Dear Mr. Garthwaite,

A column on Townhall.com by Kevin McCullough entitled "The 'Sex-Box' Race for President" contains several inaccuracies about the video game Mass Effect.

Most of them revolve around his statement that the game allows players "to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes." This is categorically false.

There is no sodomy in Mass Effect. Players may choose (or abstain from) a romance subplot, which involves wooing a woman (or a man, if the player chooses to play as a female) through conversation. Mr. McCullough calls it "filth," but that's basically how it works in real life.

As I mentioned above, players are not "universally male," as Mr. McCullough claims. It is possible to play as a hero or a heroine in Mass Effect.

The statement that players may watch characters "hump in every form, format" is also incorrect. The sex scene in Mass Effect -- of which there is one in the game -- consists of a few brief moments of partial nudity and a bit of necking between the two characters.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that the game is rated Mature, meaning it's intended for people ages 17 and older. While I can't prove that the game isn't being marketed to 15 year-old boys, as Mr. McCullough claims, he did not prove that it was. This isn't so much a question of accuracy as it is simply a lazy assumption.

I understand this is an opinion piece, and not a work of journalism, but your readers at least deserve accuracy, not libel. A correction should be printed. I have also e-mailed this letter to Mr. McCullough and Hugh Hewitt, Executive Editor.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. If you have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me at newmanJB@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Jared Newman
New York, NY

ThePimpOfSound

You guys should seriously see how many posted on his page. I think it might top our largest.

goodknight

munkah

WasabiJoe

Samos42

Mikey G

scogle

Crawl to China

Crawl to China

ZinkO: preferred the old theme AND comment system

If Mass Effect was indeed like this, it's be the best game ever and microsoft would have heaps of faulty, sticky controllers returned to them for repair...

FunkyJ

Yeah, this guy (based on this one article, which is pretty damning) does make ole Jack seem a lot more reasonable. Mission accomplished?

GorbyGipper

I really am their target audiance. I'm a young, impressionable, conservative christian male. I'm not familiar with the site (nor do I wish to be after reading that bullshit article), but if they stand by the article, I guess I'm excluded from their demographic by either the sheer luck that I happen to be a gamer or the fact that I don't mindlessly eat the shit the nuts on my side of the fence choose to try to force down my throat.

I'm a pretty easy going guy. I've listened to most of the right-wingers on the radio, and quite a few of the lefties, too. I'll watch Bill Maher on HBO. I like opinions. If they're well stated (or even amusingly stated), they're worth listening to.

This crap, though...that's why you always do your own homework when listening to any point of view. For every conservative gamer this guy alienated with his self-serving article, there's at least a dozen more non-gamers that probably treat his words as gospel.

Scary shit...

GorbyGipper

seriously though. i am a Christian and i am not offended by this game. i have never seen it explicitly marketed to 15 year olds, and it certainly lacks these amazing features he listed. the sex scene? more sensual than sexual, really (to be fair i only saw the one with male Shepard (sp?) and the blue alien, could be steamier with the human chick or both). To get to the sex scene, it takes quite a bit of what i will call "virtual relationship" with the partner before the sex takes place. this is actually more moral than 90% of the things you might find on the internet.

The game IS rated M, and if you want to ban this game, why would you not start at the REAL porn industry? little 15-year-old jimmy can go to roflbewbs.com anytime if his parents aren't monitoring his computer usage, which close to the same scenario Mr. McCullough thinks Mass Effect is all about. the internet is teeming with vile pornographic material to fill every unnatural lust that a human could want, so who needs a customizable video game that has fake characters doing it?
as always, the responsibility rests with the parents, because i can't see pornography being banned ever in the United States. or in Canada. or any democratic country, really.

just leave my vidya games alone! Jack Thompson makes more sense than this fellow. Did i just say that? and mean it? i need to sit down. i am sitting down? what has this world come to?!?!

Crawl to China

I think you should need to have a license to be able to post on the internet...

FunkyJ

Yeah, playing politics on this is bullshit. McCullough did it in the article and doing it here is no better. The right and the left are equally as bad about this sort of thing.

Allowing this sort of thing to go unchecked is dangerous, especially when it's not the cook fringe of either political party. The religious side of the right has their folks supporting all sorts of censorship for "family values" reasons.

The folks on the left...maybe someone else here has more insight, but I liken it to all the footage of democrats at church. It's their way of saying that just because they're liberal, they're not heathens.

Any way you slice it, whether it's a core belief or a political strategy, goverment censorship is wrong.

GorbyGipper

CyberSkull

Katana3160

Teelie

Politicians live to be re-elected and pundits live to be read. This jerk is a sad excuse for a journalist, but that's not what he's paid for. He's basically getting paid to do what a lot of people do when they're drunk, complain at how the world is a rotten place and how they could fix it. His piece was poorly written, but it'll get people all hot and bothered who can't think for themselves.

But that's me talking. I bought two of my boys (12 and 14) Team Fortress 2 over the holidays so we could shoot each other online (and because they were messing with my stats when they played on my account). Oh no, virtual child brutality!

BobbyMike

-kXj-

rhinestonedarling

Erwin

siempre

Srsly, I agree that I'd buy that Mass Effect in an instant, but I'm sorry to say this man has been misinformed.

KraZe

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Insomnia Bob

ZinkO: preferred the old theme AND comment system

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

@PapaBear434: He's never gotten laid in his life that's for sure.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Insomnia Bob

PaJamieez

GorbyGipper

To whom it may concern,
I'm not the type to send complaint e-mail, but Kevin McCullough's error-filled article, "The 'Sex-Box' Race for President" was an absolute disgrace in regards to accuracy in one's premise. I suppose I should start my response with some sort of background information about my self, in an effort to project the identity of this reader. I don't want to make this some sort of auto-biography, so I'll just classify myself as a 20-something catholic conservative male.
That said, Mr. McCullough's piece starts off presenting blatant misinformation that I can only assume is planted in the article in an effort to mislead your readers. He introduces the videogame in question, "Mass Effect", as a "new video game that one company is marketing to fifteen year old boys." Now, I'm hardly a TV-junkie, I watch less than four hours a week, easily (excluding football season), and at least three of those hours are typically a mix of C-SPAN and various cable news outlets (when they'll grace me with actual news). My relative lack of television knowledge aside, I'm not familiar with Mass Effect being marketed heavily during programming intended for an under-eighteen crowd. I highly doubt it has much of a radio advertising budget and I'm not even sure what would classify as an under-18 demographic magazine for males, nowadays.
That admittedly flimsy point aside, Mr. McCullough goes on to blatantly misinform either based on his own ignorance of the subject matter, or a malicious attempt to mislead your readership in order to further his own ends. Either way, it's grossly unprofessional and makes him as bad as any of the liberal bloggers I can only assume he takes issue with.
The article goes on with an ignorant assumption of a male-only audience (I know plenty of well-adjusted women who enjoy these titles) and states how this supposed male-only audience can "engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived." I'd argue that these scenes, painted to be pornography by Mr. McCullough's own words, are no worse than something you'd see in a PG movie. They'd certainly be passable by today's television standards. In a plot-rich interactive story with hours of gameplay (my first session took up about 50 hours of my life), these lurid acts included about two seconds of a person's backside and maybe a single second of the side of one's breast. It's all surprisingly tastefully done in a medium that can, regrettably, reduce itself to juvenile antics more often than I'd like to see. Also, the offending 30-second-or-so sex scene, which Mr. McCullough so puritanically referred to as "filth" is proceeded by several hours of character development. These filthy digi-sluts (a moniker I'm sure Mr. McCullough would have no problem using) are presented as real people. They have lives, pasts and concerns. They display feelings and attempt to evoke sympathy and a real personal connection in the same way any non-virtual actor would. It's a love story, this subplot. In a world where so many games result to violence as the easy solution, Bioware decided to include a love story. Now, an ignorance-laden article from Mr. McCullough attacks the idea of love as being pornography, as "filth." So much for allowing a new medium to mature.
He attacks the title for being "disgusting" in that you can choose your own appearance. Apparently, in his mind (if I'm to assume his intellectual honestly intact) being able to choose one's appearance isn't a matter of being able to personalize a story. It's not a method of creating a character that appeals to you for your own interactive adventure. It's about getting one's rocks off to 30-seconds of hugs and kisses with a second of the side of a breast (sans nipple, mind you) and two seconds of a backside. I can't even begin to imagine the mindset that draws one to such conclusions. He claims that women are objectified (a female protagonist can do the so-called objectifying of a male, but pointing out such equal opportunities wouldn't serve his cause), that human relationships are objectified (despite the fact that Bioware's title does all it can to make you really care about your possible love interest as a person with a past, a future, and real feelings), and that sex is objectified (though it's handled far better than I've ever seen it handled in this medium). Bioware does so much to try to make more of the medium, to make characters matter, to make life and death a weighty choice. In spite of this, all Mr. McCullough can do is recoil and rant at the thought of a digital buttock. It's truly narrow-minded.
There's so much more I could cover, but I fear my rebuttal would end up with more thought and content than the source from which it has spawned.
I'll highlight a few as-of-yet unaddressed nuggets of misinformation for the sake of brevity:
Mr. McCullough stated that one can alter the "shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, [and] breast size of the images they wish to 'engage.'" While it is true that you can alter the hair style of the protagonist, none of the rest of these statements are true. There's no body or breast augmentation. Also, the player is unable to remove warts, mole, etc. as Mr. McCullough stated...though you can add a scar.
The article states that "the video game 'persons' hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of." While I won't directly question Mr. McCullough's sex life as a basis for his description, do a quick google search for the video. It's light petting and kissing it's certainly not "copulating like jack rabbits." For a videogame, it's quite tasteful. It's a little awkward, sure, these are virtual characters. There's no "humping" in any form or format. Also, rest assured, there's no offensive male on male sex to worry about, though I understand a pair of women can copulate. I'm also not aware of any sort of orgies, as Mr. McCullough implies, but he just might be better at the game than I.
"Mass Effect," in this article, is said NOT to be "a war game with a deadly virus that is spreading unless the GI-Joes are able to defeat the evil and deadly substance and it's covert war plan." However, this is actually quite close to the game's main-plot. You know, the 49 hours and 58 minutes that surround the two minute love scene....that part of the game. It's the story of a rogue government agent doing what he believes to be right in order to save lives. Unfortunately, the path he chooses, while well-intentioned, may cause more harm than good. The protagonist is then sent to stop this rogue agent. This could be done via violence or (brace for it) conversation. The protagonist can actually convince the mislead would-be hero that his deeds are misguided. He can stop the rogue agent via persuasion and reason without any force what-so-ever. The entire game is filled with such opportunities. You can persuade with reason. You can avoid violence. You can tell a willing would-be sex-partner that "it's too soon." Mr. McCullough, in an informed and honest article could reference such material. He chooses not to for reasons which I won't speculate upon any further. Mr. McCullough doesn't imply, but states that the name "Mass Effect" (which implies it's actual plot, based on his own interpretation of what such a title should mean) is only used as a ruse to pull impressionable children into playing it for it's 30 second love scene.
He uses the example of this poor hypothetical fifteen year-old boy. The problem with such a hypothetical victim is that this software simply isn't intended for him. The ESRB marks the software as being the equivalent of a rated-R movie. The publisher (Microsoft) does not market this game towards a seventeen or under crowd. Software retailers, such as Best Buy, do enforce these ratings as policy (though I'm sure minors can obtain the game, much as they could an R-rated movie). At the end of the day, though, the videogame industry does more than the movie industry to promote ESRB ratings. In short, the problem with minors accessing content they shouldn't isn't a videogame problem, it's a problem with all sorts of media as well as pornography (real pornography; not a game with all the steamy lurid carnal appeal as a soap commercial), liquor and tobacco.
Mr. McCullough goes so far as to imply the rape of virtual women. Not rape in a violent form, mind you, but just in that the "Barbie streetwalkers" (the term "streetwalkers" must now mean fully-clothed educated scientists and similarly fully-clothed strong women (or men, should your protagonist be female) serving as soldiers for their people, I guess I'm old fashioned, but I always thought that "streetwalker" was a pseudo-polite way of saying "whore.") must "submit without choice" (how nice that in an article flowing with a fear and disgust of sex, Mr. McCullough finds time to stick up for the poor streetwalkers, who he must hold in the highest regard) to your sexual advances "and perform whatever act can be imagined." Again, I implore you to search google for "Mass Effect Sex Scene," but not before, in the name of honesty, you must think up and list all the lurid sex acts you can imagine. Perform that google search and be prepared to see the tame, tame world of Mass Effect's sex. If kissing wasn't the one and only item on your list, you lose. The only thing that an honest writer, publisher, or editor would find disgusting is the idea that your publication would run Mr. McCullough's article with all it's blatant misinformation for the sake of a political end. It's not worth sacrificing one's intellectual honesty for the sake of an ideology. Doing so makes you as bad as moveon.org.
Mr. McCullough goes on to try to link other awful behaviors to this scene that I hope you may have witnessed by now. He brings up serial killers while again, likening the entire game to pornography. He goes the entirely unproven route of people imitating movies and games (today's version of the subliminal lyrics in rock witch hunt that ended 15-20 years ago). He implies that the women of Mass Effect, unwilling to say no to your sexual advances (a false claim) are essentially training wheels for tomorrow's rapists.
And maybe worst of all, he's supporting opening the door for the government to censor and regulate media. Should such a law be passed and upheld in court, what's next? Movies? Television? Books? News? Blogs? It's insanity, really. If the president in 2009 (as the onus is put on our presidential nominees to push for such an anti-American law) were to have this power, would he not have censored an article such as this? One that criticizes him for not taking a stand on the issue? Would Mr. McCullough really like to give up his freedom of expression while a future democratic president raises taxes? I should hope not.

GorbyGipper

Not Hillary 08

ZinkO: preferred the old theme AND comment system

unmarkedone

Gofthick

If this is harmful to the name of Bioware or it's properties would they be in the position to bring this to a lawsuit? If this man was a 'news journalist' rather than a 'blogger' wouldn't he be held accountable for such slanderous ranting and raving?

However, I believe my own inquiry has proven the why of his exclusion from professional journalism.

Dick move, Kevin.

art_zombie

You just can't teach reason to psychos and fanatics

And really, you can't tell someone the sky is red, without first looking at it to see if its true.

Pancho_Villasan

ZinkO: preferred the old theme AND comment system

blacksamurai87

I'm all for journalistic protections for bloggers - but with those protections come some responsibility for what it is you're publishing.

Waziir

PsycheDiver

TearsandScreams

Spiffyness

Seriously, maybe Sony & Microsoft should just let AO games onto their systems, then uptight parents will only let their kids play with their Wii's and leave the serious gaming to the grown-ups. It's this kind of crap the holds back the exploration of different types of stories in gaming.

Beelzebozo

Murdermonkey

MegaPanda

Are we sure that this isn't a satire site? Because I've NEVER seen such blatant misinformation outside of The Onion.

Spiffyness

Grahamunculus

Maluvin

Elrando

Klink

J-Fro

EmeraldDragon

tk.

I'm seriously tired of broad and sweeping generalizations coming out of this most small-minded and intellectually incapable demographic age group on the planet.

Thank God our video games are training us up as mindless, horny killers for our violent and grisly rebellion against the establishment, right?

crapsh00t

Gunhaver

Hades

But seriously, someone from the states please go down there and write a comment as long as the article on how mass effect was misjudged and tell those lost lambs that this guy is lying without even trying to play the game. I saw a comment of a lady asking if she should let her 17yo boy play. The boy is really looking forward to it but then his mother is not sure if she should buy it. Help us get a new fan of the game and help this mother take a good action for his son. Because a fellow gamer is another member of our great community! :D

I'm even willing to help! contact me! :P

Phibius

braddie

"Mr. McCullough
Please learn the difference between "its" the possessive and "it's" the contraction. The first denotes possession, as in "The dog chased its tail." The second is the contraction of 'it is', as in "It's cloudy today".

This retard can barely write properly.

altgod

Leobebes

dubbfoolio

Mosaab

Common sense?

Really!?!?

Wouldn't it be common sense to, y'know, PLAY the game that you're talking about before, y'know, writing this kind of thing?

I mean...

Come. ON!

REALLY?!!?!?!?

mordennight

Made my day right there Fahey. Thanks^^

Nohman

Oh well, I'd love to play this phantom Mass Effect and make Kaiden a little more bishonen. Or somehow insert yaoi.

What?

Rebochan

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

EightBit

Petezah

[kotaku.com]

Yeah, that one.

Lyner

Iblis

IrisMR

HardRoc

cybereality

siluro

Wolf_Dog

That's a new one and I been on the internet since god knows when.

-

Xagest

Aith

Garcian-Smith

luketheobscure

The Town-hall article is so atrocious, not only the column but the comments.

Just 30 people spewing their absurd political banter with sarcastic undertones at each other and getting nothing out of it.

Political arguments really are obnoxious.

:|

Junker

shinobi2u

That being said, the sex scene in Mass Effect added nothing to the game for me. In fact, I thought it was distracting because it garnered too much media and fan attention for an aspect of the game that was honestly EXTREMELY short and relatively insignificant in the bigger scope of the game.

Therefore, its my opinion that the game would've been better off without it.

DARTH_TIGRIS

Unless, as Dudemeister3 mentions here, there's the Hot Alien Coffee at work.

Artheon

z357x

Dudemeister

Tako Attack

Journalism apparently just hit a new low.

Chilly Hollow

rdj

billygoat117

I don't like to advocate violence, because it argues against the thesis of the site, but Jesus Christ. This man should be loosed naked into the savannah, where wild animals - drunk on his heady bouquet - will attempt to drag him in different directions simultaneously.

A quote taken from Penny Arcade.

Bluecell

cadaverdog

DrFresh

Help me...please

Sekthruth

DugDawg

Zunnoab

I remember, because as a democrat who lives in New York City, I seriously considered becoming an independent when that happened. Or committing suicide, whichever makes my vote more useless.

Moonshadow101

hageesheart

smitty1123

Hmm... may not be the worst idea come to think of it.

fuchikoma

Mr. McCullough,

You have got to be kidding me. As a 21 year old adult -- a senior at Northwestern University -- and an avid gamer, I cannot possibly sit idly by after reading your column without responding.

First of all, I have played, and completed, Mass Effect in its entirety. Before I dissect your irrational ramblings, let me first state that most of your claims rely on a "15 year old boy" playing the game. Let me point out to you, good sir: the game is rated M for Mature. That means it is NOT being "intentionally marketed" towards 15 year olds; in fact, it is doing the opposite. No one younger than 17 can buy the game! But I'll ignore that egregious oversight and get into the nitty gritty of your "argument."

I have particular problem with the claim ""Mass Effect" can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however, the game player wishes." (By the way, it's "whomever.") That claim is utterly ridiculous at best, and a blatant, filthy lie at worst. "Sodomy" is defined as either a forcible sexual act, usually against a person of the same sex, or some type of beastiality. To correlate the sex scene(s) in Mass Effect with sodomy is downright pathetic. The sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic -- they show no frontal nudity of any kind -- nor are they dirty or gross in any way. It's not as if the game depicts fellatio, "doggy-style" sex, or any other type of act that could be viewed as degrading for women. I'm sorry if you live in the 19th century, but sex for women is supposed to be just as enjoyable as it is for men, much like Mass Effect shows it to be.

Mr. McCullough, I have to hand it to you: you've really done your research. In fact, you've really used your time wisely in writing this piece on Mass Effect. I'm sure you spent countless hours traversing the many worlds in the game to gather all the details you put forward as fact. Mass Effect is a sex-filled video game that must be stopped before it rapes another game and begets an army of these pornographic nightmares! This is a really important issue!!

Here's another question: have you heard of the internet? Any 15 year old boy can type in a number of key words on Google (read: sex, blowjob, cum shot) and get a wide, WIDE variety of free porn at which to look, all of which is more easily accessible, much more graphic, and vastly more degrading to women than any video game. Let's ignore that fact -- it's much easier and more convenient to attack something about which you know nothing and use it for politically charged gains, right? Video game violence and sex is the hot topic right now, so you might as well put on a blindfold and dive right in without a single personal experience on which to base your claims. You, sir, are pathetic.

Sincerely,
Lee Linderman

Tchaikovsky08

This is bible belt politics -- people who would never vote for a democrat if their life depended on it.

DrFresh

In fact I think a lot of people over their are making some very good arguments in favour of the game and his blatant lies (misinformed or not) about it.

Marcus117

Bluur

ManjiKengo

Moonshadow101

lolzors on everyones posts.

PatATC

You put a monkey named Kevin McCullough at a type writer, eventually he will bang out enough words to form complete sentences. It is highly unfortunate those complete sentences are not back with the power of complete thoughts.

zenpoet

frickinharlem3

But, um, seriously. Where did this guy get his info? 'Cuz if he just made it up, I'm pretty sure that's, y'know, at the very least unethical journalism, at the most libel. And if he "researched" this--well, my God, where? Maybe he was confusing Mass Effect with Second Life...

hageesheart

I swear if this guy played the game with the ONLY interest of finding the sex scene, he obviously didn't understand why we love this game so much and why it is wrong to bash on it.

Phibius

guar6dian

Andy S.

You can pick up your penis, testicles, and learner's permit at the door.

Andy S.

Irenicus-the one and only

Artificial Girl 3 is out? Shit, I'm behind the times!

baberg

openedge1

/cough

That Girl Hates You

ConstantCupcake

armchairnixon

Oi sorry off on a rant but I think you see my point.

That Girl Hates You

I can see him, the author, in his darkened room, his all-too-serious face illuminated by the glow of his monitor. But something is off. He's sweating profusely and biting his lower lip as he types. And he types faster and faster. His breathing becomes more and more ragged as he imagines the filthy goings-on in this 'Mass Effect' that he hears about. People touching each other inappropriately! It's all so...so...DIRTY. But the words. Ohh, the words. For all the adjectives and adverbs, the damned words are insufficient to voice his thoughts. These feelings that he has. This raging fire that burns hotter in his belly as he thinks about the game.

And suddenly it's done.

Then he runs to his room, puts on a dress and cries into his pillow. His slow, heaving sobs are like a lullaby that sends him to sleep.

Fishballs

LMAO!!!

That's like dressing up in Devry jersies and trying to play in an NCAA game.

Billkwando

Though I have to say, if I'd played the version he has, it would have taken even longer to finish the game than it already did. Let's see, 25 hours divided by 3-minute playing sessions...

Ashraam

Teo

Rayk2099

He's probably a virgin too, as he obviously can't understand what is sexually explicit and what isn't.

Ignatius

that is, until they got banned form the league for not actually being a a real news organization, which is what the league was for. they're basically the mouthpiece for an ultraconservative think tank. they purport to be "journalists" but are nothing more than flacks for right-wingers.

basically they suck and can be safely ignored.

TonyRockyHorror

NPlace

Scooter

Jmontilla2786

tk.

Winterbringer

Billkwando

Antiflow

TouchMyBox

SolCutter