FOX VS. Mass Effect VS. EA

Wow, it has been an amazing week. Especially for the people at FOX and EA. It all started when FOX aired a clip about Mass Effect with people who never played the game criticizing the game for its "sexual content" claiming it's pornography and that it's ruining the lives of children even though the game is rated M for Mature 17 and older. Anyway here is the clip. Watch it. It is very interesting.



Following the brutal beating of Mass Effect on FOX, EA strikes back with this:

Your headline above the televised story read: "New videogame shows full digital nudity and sex." Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows. It's also worth noting that the game requires players to develop complex relationships before characters can become intimate and players can chose to avoid the love scenes altogether.

FNC voice-over reporter says: "You'll see full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex."
Fact: Sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time.

FNC reporter says: "Critics say Mass Effect is being marketed to kids and teenagers."
Fact: That is flat out false. Mass Effect and all related marketing has been reviewed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and rated Mature - appropriate for players 17-years and older. ESRB routinely counsels retailers on requesting proof of age in selling M-rated titles and the system has been lauded by members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. In practical terms, the ratings work as well or better than those used for warning viewers about television content.

The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.

Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?

This isn't a legal threat; it's an appeal to your sense of fairness. We're asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect.

Sincerely,

Jeff Brown
Vice President of Communications
Electronic Arts, Inc.

After this the community is outraged. They all go over to Amazon, where the women who never played Mass Effect sells her books, and give her a 1 star rating leaving comments such as:

• "I never read the book, don't know who she is, and don't really care what she's writing about"
  

• "If she does have as much "research" as she does for her tv spots you can expect a book full of complete lies at best. Take everything she writes with a huge grain of salt or better yet save your money."

• "Trying to encourage sexual acts in a book made available to young children is unacceptable."
  

Following the spamming of amazon reviews, Amazon pulls ALL reviews of the book. Soon after Ms. Lawrence gives an apology stating:

...Ms. Lawrence said that since the controversy over her remarks erupted she had watched someone play the game for about two and a half hours. "I recognize that I misspoke," she said. "I really regret saying that, and now that I've seen the game and seen the sex scenes it's kind of a joke.

"Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said it's like pornography," she added. "But it's not like pornography. I've seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit."

As of now FOX has not issued any apologies for the slandering of Mass Effect, while EA continues its fight.

[From Kotaku]