Favourite scandal in gaming?

[FAST6191]

Games have been mired in scandals since... possibly the beginning (going back to the Vic 20, C64, Atari and such there were still quite a few notable ones). Intellectual property theft/accusations thereof, lies from developers/publishers, lies from journalists, egos getting bruised, failures in press conferences, basically anything Peter Molyneux has ever touched, developers being gutted, developers working under unpleasant conditions (almost as though they don't have feet), dubious lawsuits, anti consumer action, false claims of unpleasantness, offended moral busybodies (and placations thereof)... this list could go on for a while. They may or may not have been fun at the times but since then things you might look back on and think good times either in general or because it got a suitable response from where you sit.

What then is your favourite? There are bonus internet cool guy points for old ones that those that maybe did not start until later in life might not have heard of, ones that happened outside the English speaking world, ones that might not have made it more mainstream (storm in a teacup is still a storm)

Video of a somewhat forgotten scandal these days but has all the hallmarks of a good one


Better have a general overview of Jack Thompson in here as well

and a related figure in the US anti games movement some might have had slip from mind
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Lieberman

The recent Amiga mini thread reminded me of one I had almost forgotten about. Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior

In 1987 (do a search for 80s exercise videos) that was enough to get letters into magazines it seems, though the game itself was on the more violent side (Mortal Kombat was some 5 years out). Anyway apparently the lady posed topless for newspapers (not in the game/included poster or anything, separate thing entirely) and that was controversial in the UK.

Conversely, or maybe just a related note, then for your money are there any overblown ones? This is to say ones that got more attention than was really deserved.

 

[Alexander1970]

In Germany and Austria,the "Half Life 2" mandatory Internet Connection / Registration back then was a little like an "Gaming Scandal".

Spoiler: "Warning" to Valve.

Warning from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations The umbrella organization for consumer centers in Germany is the Federation of Consumer Organizations, which warned Valve and Vivendi Universal in January 2005 in connection with Half-Life 2. The consumer advocates mainly accused the two companies of not showing on the game's packaging that an internet connection and a Steam account are required to install the first-person shooter. This is what was written in the warning letter: "By the term 'internet connection', the average consumer only understands that, as with all common single player games, the game can be operated from any Internet connection." According to the Federal Association of Consumers, this was only partially the case with Half-Life 2, because Steam would be installed with the game and important game data would be downloaded over the Internet, which could be tedious for users without broadband Internet access. Another point of criticism was the online registration associated with Steam, which is mandatory for everyone and which ties the Half-Life 2 serial number to a person. The consumer advocates criticized the fact that the buyers were deprived of the opportunity to resell the game or to buy it used. The warning said: "An indication of these serious exceptional limitations is not made on the game packaging." However, consumer advocates were wrong in assuming that Half-Life 2 could only be installed on one computer because Steam allows one account to be used on multiple computers as long as the program is not accessed from different PCs at the same time. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations also criticized the general validity of the General Terms and Conditions (GTC) because they were only written in English. However, the consumer advocates referred to the fact that the comprehensibility of the terms and conditions presupposes that they are written in German. In addition, a clause in the Steam Subscriber Agreement (Steam Subscriber Agreement) would suggest to the buyer that the terms and conditions are still valid, but this is ineffective. With a cease-and-desist declaration contained in the warning, the consumer center Federal Association called on Valve and Vivendi Universal to remedy the points of criticism mentioned in the warning letter. The two companies were therefore threatened with a contractual penalty of up to €6,000 per game sold in the event of non-compliance. In March 2005, Vivendi Universal signed part of the cease-and-desist declaration and then drew attention more clearly to the need for an Internet connection on the packaging. Valve responded by restricting Steam account portability.

Also in Austria,the Selling from "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" - uncensored English Version.
At first - The Game landed regular in the Game Shelfs on the release Day.
Then - On the same Day,after a few Hours,it was removed from the Shelfs.....
Sellers was advised to NOT sell the Game.
But if someone "asked" for it (from 18 years of age) - the Person then got it - no Problem

 

[AncientBoi]

I still consider this scandalous, as to what I was able to do with the dead bodies. Just tried to stack them out of they way.

Scandalous

 

[Elodain]

When Dream cheated his speedrun and conveniently "forgot" he had cheats on.

 

[AmandaRose]

Games have been mired in scandals since... possibly the beginning (going back to the Vic 20, C64, Atari and such there were still quite a few notable ones). Intellectual property theft/accusations thereof, lies from developers/publishers, lies from journalists, egos getting bruised, failures in press conferences, basically anything Peter Molyneux has ever touched, developers being gutted, developers working under unpleasant conditions (almost as though they don't have feet), dubious lawsuits, anti consumer action, false claims of unpleasantness, offended moral busybodies (and placations thereof)... this list could go on for a while. They may or may not have been fun at the times but since then things you might look back on and think good times either in general or because it got a suitable response from where you sit.

What then is your favourite? There are bonus internet cool guy points for old ones that those that maybe did not start until later in life might not have heard of, ones that happened outside the English speaking world, ones that might not have made it more mainstream (storm in a teacup is still a storm)

Video of a somewhat forgotten scandal these days but has all the hallmarks of a good one


Better have a general overview of Jack Thompson in here as well

and a related figure in the US anti games movement some might have had slip from mind
https://gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Joe_Lieberman

The recent Amiga mini thread reminded me of one I had almost forgotten about. Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
View attachment 304039
In 1987 (do a search for 80s exercise videos) that was enough to get letters into magazines it seems, though the game itself was on the more violent side (Mortal Kombat was some 5 years out). Anyway apparently the lady posed topless for newspapers (not in the game/included poster or anything, separate thing entirely) and that was controversial in the UK.

Conversely, or maybe just a related note, then for your money are there any overblown ones? This is to say ones that got more attention than was really deserved.

@FAST6191 in the Barbarian poster is that Wolf from Gladiators? Sure does look like him

 

[FAST6191]

@FAST6191 in the Barbarian poster is that Wolf from Gladiators? Sure does look like him

View attachment 304051

Impressive eye if so. But apparently yes it was him. Michael Van Wijk if you wanted a name.

In Germany and Austria,the "Half Life 2" mandatory Internet Connection / Registration back then was a little like an "Gaming Scandal".

Spoiler: "Warning" to Valve.

Warning from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations The umbrella organization for consumer centers in Germany is the Federation of Consumer Organizations, which warned Valve and Vivendi Universal in January 2005 in connection with Half-Life 2. The consumer advocates mainly accused the two companies of not showing on the game's packaging that an internet connection and a Steam account are required to install the first-person shooter. This is what was written in the warning letter: "By the term 'internet connection', the average consumer only understands that, as with all common single player games, the game can be operated from any Internet connection." According to the Federal Association of Consumers, this was only partially the case with Half-Life 2, because Steam would be installed with the game and important game data would be downloaded over the Internet, which could be tedious for users without broadband Internet access. Another point of criticism was the online registration associated with Steam, which is mandatory for everyone and which ties the Half-Life 2 serial number to a person. The consumer advocates criticized the fact that the buyers were deprived of the opportunity to resell the game or to buy it used. The warning said: "An indication of these serious exceptional limitations is not made on the game packaging." However, consumer advocates were wrong in assuming that Half-Life 2 could only be installed on one computer because Steam allows one account to be used on multiple computers as long as the program is not accessed from different PCs at the same time. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations also criticized the general validity of the General Terms and Conditions (GTC) because they were only written in English. However, the consumer advocates referred to the fact that the comprehensibility of the terms and conditions presupposes that they are written in German. In addition, a clause in the Steam Subscriber Agreement (Steam Subscriber Agreement) would suggest to the buyer that the terms and conditions are still valid, but this is ineffective. With a cease-and-desist declaration contained in the warning, the consumer center Federal Association called on Valve and Vivendi Universal to remedy the points of criticism mentioned in the warning letter. The two companies were therefore threatened with a contractual penalty of up to €6,000 per game sold in the event of non-compliance. In March 2005, Vivendi Universal signed part of the cease-and-desist declaration and then drew attention more clearly to the need for an Internet connection on the packaging. Valve responded by restricting Steam account portability.

Also in Austria,the Selling from "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" - uncensored English Version.
At first - The Game landed regular in the Game Shelfs on the release Day.
Then - On the same Day,after a few Hours,it was removed from the Shelfs.....
Sellers was advised to NOT sell the Game.
But if someone "asked" for it (from 18 years of age) - the Person then got it - no Problem

We might have to exclude Germany from the running here unless we have a sub round of Germany vs Australia for worst censorship from otherwise free countries.

The what would later become Steam thing was not uncontroversial outside it either. Nice to see at one point people cared about allowing consumers resale though (I say with most positive movements happening in Europe). Today while thankfully the "by buying second hand you're not supporting the devs/basically a pirate" did not really catch on (though is not as ridiculed as I would like) it feels like a non issue for so many.

When Dream cheated his speedrun and conveniently "forgot" he had cheats on.

I do actually like the Stand Up Maths episode on that

 

[Taleweaver]

Two words: hot coffee


*claims the internet*

Okay, okay... The background. When rockstar still made games rather than remasters, they provided a shitload of minigames with them. In this case : san Andreas.
Not all of those made the final cut. Two or three were cut because they were minigames that involved engaging in sexual activities, and that simply wasn't appropriate for a mature video game that made it common to pay for sex and then diving over the prostitute.
But... Was it really cut? Not long after release of the game, it was discovered that the developers didn't so much actually removed the content of the game as made it impossible to access within the game. Iirc, a few simple tweaks removed the overriding of these scenes (or 'unlock' if you want to make it sound like it was something different).

I've actually played these scenes (the 'mod' is named after one of the first skipped scenes, where a character invites you in for hot coffee). They're okay. Campy, of course, but really nothing spectacular. It also wasn't gore or explicitly pornographic either.
But that's just my opinion, and what do i know? Soccer moms came out in droves when it turned out they didn't bought their children a gangster simulator but a gangster simulator with like 0.2% sexual minigames thrown in. If you literally go online to find out how to do it (which in true Streissand effect nobody would even have known if it wasn't for those meddling soccer moms... So thanks ).

To those groups, it was a scandal that it was shipped. For me the scandal was that it was taken seriously, let alone that rockstar got fined for including something that wasn't even normally accessible in the first place (yeah, okay... And the bizarre ethics that driving over people and committing crimes is fine but consensually engaging in explicit sexual behavior is terrible).

 

[Nathan95]

nintendo got screwed by sony

 

[FAST6191]

nintendo got screwed by sony

What occasion was that?

The SNES addon that eventually became the playstation?

Scandal might be a tough one there as that was more nerd trivia than anything else, at least until the above was discovered and everybody learned the story. You are more likely to find the Sega snubbing 3dfx rank among those
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/3Dfx-Sues-Sega-Over-Chips-for-New-Saturn-2828678.php https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-cries-foul-sues-sega/1100-2467540/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-wins-injunction-against-sega/1100-2462543/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-sega-suit-resolved/1100-2464524/ (that I had to use gamespot links there and them actually doing gaming news says how long ago that was, assuming that it was 3dfx being named that did not give it away)

When said playstation rocked the boat that sega had started rocking enough that Square (Enix) jumped ship as did many others? I don't know if that was a scandal, and it had led to a golden age. There were the few Nintendo die hards that were convinced Nintendo was the lord and saviour of gaming though and the N64 would pop any day now so I can possibly get there.

 

[Taleweaver]

nintendo got screwed by sony

(presuming this is about the birth of the first playstation) That's a scandal? Sure, it wasn't nintendo's finest hour (to put it MILDLY), but it's just business in the end. I don't even know if anyone even threatened let alone sued anyone with anything, so I think you're in a wrong thread here.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

The situation with Acti-Bliz has been entertaining to say the least. Watching them burn down from the inside out was just wonderful. A situation turned to shit so much the only reasonable outcome was to be bought out wholesale by another company to fix their shit.

Scandal might be a tough one there as that was more nerd trivia than anything else, at least until the above was discovered and everybody learned the story. You are more likely to find the Sega snubbing 3dfx rank among those
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/3Dfx-Sues-Sega-Over-Chips-for-New-Saturn-2828678.php https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-cries-foul-sues-sega/1100-2467540/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-wins-injunction-against-sega/1100-2462543/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/3dfx-sega-suit-resolved/1100-2464524/ (that I had to use gamespot links there and them actually doing gaming news says how long ago that was, assuming that it was 3dfx being named that did not give it away)

Theres a good video that covered what went wrong with the Dreamcast as well that I recommend checking out.



Blows my mind that Sega decided to leave behind 3dfx because of some internal information coming out about it being in development. Shooting your goddamn legs off and crippinling your game system with inferior hardware because of stupid shit like leaks.

 

[Creamu]

I don't know if it qualifies but for me the Xbox One Kinect+always online takes the cake. They wanted to sell you the Xbox One with a sophisticated surveillance device and force you to go online with it. How creepy is that. I will never forget this. What creeps these guys are.

 

[AncientBoi]

In Germany and Austria,the "Half Life 2" mandatory Internet Connection / Registration back then was a little like an "Gaming Scandal".

Spoiler: "Warning" to Valve.

Warning from the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations The umbrella organization for consumer centers in Germany is the Federation of Consumer Organizations, which warned Valve and Vivendi Universal in January 2005 in connection with Half-Life 2. The consumer advocates mainly accused the two companies of not showing on the game's packaging that an internet connection and a Steam account are required to install the first-person shooter. This is what was written in the warning letter: "By the term 'internet connection', the average consumer only understands that, as with all common single player games, the game can be operated from any Internet connection." According to the Federal Association of Consumers, this was only partially the case with Half-Life 2, because Steam would be installed with the game and important game data would be downloaded over the Internet, which could be tedious for users without broadband Internet access. Another point of criticism was the online registration associated with Steam, which is mandatory for everyone and which ties the Half-Life 2 serial number to a person. The consumer advocates criticized the fact that the buyers were deprived of the opportunity to resell the game or to buy it used. The warning said: "An indication of these serious exceptional limitations is not made on the game packaging." However, consumer advocates were wrong in assuming that Half-Life 2 could only be installed on one computer because Steam allows one account to be used on multiple computers as long as the program is not accessed from different PCs at the same time. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations also criticized the general validity of the General Terms and Conditions (GTC) because they were only written in English. However, the consumer advocates referred to the fact that the comprehensibility of the terms and conditions presupposes that they are written in German. In addition, a clause in the Steam Subscriber Agreement (Steam Subscriber Agreement) would suggest to the buyer that the terms and conditions are still valid, but this is ineffective. With a cease-and-desist declaration contained in the warning, the consumer center Federal Association called on Valve and Vivendi Universal to remedy the points of criticism mentioned in the warning letter. The two companies were therefore threatened with a contractual penalty of up to €6,000 per game sold in the event of non-compliance. In March 2005, Vivendi Universal signed part of the cease-and-desist declaration and then drew attention more clearly to the need for an Internet connection on the packaging. Valve responded by restricting Steam account portability.

Also in Austria,the Selling from "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" - uncensored English Version.
At first - The Game landed regular in the Game Shelfs on the release Day.
Then - On the same Day,after a few Hours,it was removed from the Shelfs.....
Sellers was advised to NOT sell the Game.
But if someone "asked" for it (from 18 years of age) - the Person then got it - no Problem

I do wish I had the game "Return to Castle Wolfenstein". I had it in disk form when I had a PS2. Lost all when I went Homeless.

 

[Veho]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Kong

The intellectual property theft stuff is boring, and the other stuff that gets out into the public sphere turns ugly fast, this is a petty squabble with zero stakes and a few hissy fits that's just a joy to behold.

 

[Elodain]

They wanted to sell you the Xbox One with a sophisticated surveillance device

They didnt WANT to. They DID for the first year, year and a half of the console's life.

I would know, I have a Kinect gathering dust in my closet because I bought my XB1 before they removed the damn thing from the package.

 

[Creamu]

They didnt WANT to. They DID for the first year, year and a half of the console's life.

I would know, I have a Kinect gathering dust in my closet because I bought my XB1 before they removed the damn thing from the package.

Thanks for the correction. Well, they were reeeeeeally invested on that one. Reminds me of yesterday when that all seeing eye (profile pic) user was playing thread derailment ping pong with another user. But that just as a side note.

That always online kinect thing has strong HAL vibes. All thats missing is that vulcan red light.

Hello David

 

[tatumanu]

Nintendo CDI games + Philips Cdi console... I was young and dumb enough to think it was legit back in 93 or whatever year it was. Bought the CDI 450 + Mario Hotel + Link Faces of Evil on clearance thankfully for my dad. I actually enjoyed it back in the day but felt so sad when I plugged it in the first time. I could have bought some pretty cool Snes games instead . Strangest birthday ever.