All time top 10 controversial games Options

[K-Bee]

According to the magazine "PC Gamer" this are the 10 most controversal computergames ever to be released on PC. Hmmm...i guess by "controversial" they really do mean violent!

here's the list:

takeken from: http://www.pcgamer.com/eyewitness/eyewitne...2003-06-05.html
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10. Shadow Warrior
Released: May 1997
The game: 3D Realms recycled Duke Nukem 3D’s Build engine to create this first-person shooter that followed the adventures of crouching ninja, not-so-hidden stereotype Lo Wang.
The controversy: Not surprisingly, Japanese-Americans weren’t exactly thrilled to see their cultural heritage reduced to clichéd double entendres and offensive pigeon “Engrish,” leading to cries of racism.
Number sold: 118,500 copies
The aftermath: Once the game came and went, so did the controversy. In the end, Shadow Warrior just wasn’t enticing enough to make as lasting an impression as Duke Nukem 3D.

9. Carmageddon
Released: 1997
The game: Sort of a 3D Death Race, it puts you in a lethal car race where you earn money by causing damage — which includes running over hapless pedestrians.
The controversy: It was the “running over hapless pedestrians” part that outraged parents. The glorification of ramming innocent bystanders into bloody hood ornaments — for money — rubbed some people the wrong way. Fancy that.
Number sold: 117,228 copies
The aftermath: My, what wide-eyed innocents we were back in 1997. The original Carmageddon ended up being ported to most consoles — including the kiddy-oriented Game Boy Color.

8. Duke Nukem 3d
Released: January 1996
The game: An overmuscular buzzcut psycho defends the Earth from aliens in this first-person 3D shooter that cemented the position of one of PC gaming’s most enduring pseudo-celebrities.
The controversy: Duke routinely forked out dollar bills for pole-straddling strippers to “shake it, baby,” or euthanized suffering (and nude) women who’d plead with him to “killlll meeee.” Some found Duke misogynistic.
Number sold: 1,252,035 copies
The aftermath: The game’s alleged sexism — nothing more than you’d find on TV during sweeps — didn’t stop Duke. A sequel has been in development since the late Jurassic era.

7. Phantasmagoria
Released: 1995
The game: In a marked departure from designer/writer Roberta Williams’ King’s Quest series, you play as a young wife exposing the secrets of a deadly old mansion you’ve just moved into.
The controversy: In addition to blood and gore, it had sex, partial nudity, and — in a cut-scene that generated the most controversy — a brutal rape.
Number sold: 301,138 copies
The aftermath: Despite the game’s self-censoring option, Australia banned Phantasmagoria entirely, and some retail stores
in the United States refused to sell it. But it was still popular enough to spawn a sequel, Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh.

6. Soldier of Fortune
Released: 2000
The game: As mercenary-for-hire John Mullins, your job is to find four stolen nukes, dispatching any assorted scum who interfere.
The controversy: Some charged that the action was a little too realistic. SOF’s location-sensitive damage model let you blow off body parts, leaving bloody stumps and howls of pain from the blow-ees. The all-too-human enemies begged for their lives and doubled over in agony after searing crotch shots.
Number sold: 298,563 copies
The aftermath: Still the goriest shooter of all time, SOF is often held up as an example of violence in videogames, but it was successful enough to launch a sequel and be ported to the major consoles.

5. Kingpin
Released: June 1999
The game: As a two-bit thug, you whack marks with lead pipes, flamethrowers, grenades, and shotguns in a first-person shooter that asks, “Who the f**k are you lookin’ at, mother******?”
The controversy: Kingpin’s abundant blood and smack-talking obscenities had the industry bracing for an all-out attack by political pundits.
Number sold: 76,189 copies
The aftermath: Inevitably, the game tried too hard to be controversial — the cartoonish violence undercut whatever shock value was to be found in the four-letter language. Developer Xatrix went out of business right after Kingpin’s release.

4. Everquest
Released: 1999
The game: This fantasy-based massively multiplayer RPG sucked players into a persistent online world where you can live virtually forever…as long as you keep up your monthly subscription.
The controversy: EverQuest became controversial after the highly publicized Thanksgiving 2001 suicide of Shawn Woolley — committed, alleges his mother, because of Woolley’s addiction to EQ. The game has been widely referred to as “EverCrack.”
Number sold: 559,948 copies
The aftermath: In spite of Mrs. Woolley’s threatened lawsuit to mandate warning labels advising that EQ is dangerously addictive, the game is as popular as ever.

3. Panty Raider
Released: 2000
The game: An “adventure” game where you must help horny aliens take pictures of scantily clad models — or they’ll destroy the world! (The aliens, not the models.)
The controversy: Panty Raider’s sophomoric sex antics garnered the attention of parents’ group Dads & Daughters, which touted the game to CNN and USA Today as an example of videogaming’s degradation of women.
Number sold: 28,692 copies
The aftermath: “[The controversy] definitely helped it,” says Simon & Schuster Interactive’s publicity director, Peter Binazeski. “If it wasn’t for parenting groups latching onto it, I don’t think it would’ve [sold] as well as it did.”

2. Postal
Released: 1998
The game: In short, you’re an armed-to-the-teeth loony who goes on a major killing spree in this isometric action game.
The controversy: In Postal you aren’t gunning down aliens, demons, or criminals — your targets are the innocent human inhabitants of a small town. Mail carriers, and the Postmaster General in particular, were also offended by the game’s name.
Number sold: 49,036 copies
The aftermath: Postal’s serial-killer plotline is mitigated by the game’s less-than-realistic visuals. Developer Running With Scissors is banking on the controversy: FPS Postal 2 promises to be more twisted than the original.

1. Doom
Released: 1993
The game: A space marine faces level after level of demons and other denizens of hell in this first-person shooter that revolutionized the game industry.
The controversy: Dubbed a “mass-murder simulator” by critics like Lt. Col. David Grossman, DOOM is still being touted as Public Enemy No. 1 by concerned citizens a full 10 years after its release. The quintessential “violent game,” it has seemingly been blamed for everything from school shootings to bedwetting, and everything in-between.
Number sold: 601,773 copies*
The aftermath: Since the main brunt of the controversy didn’t emerge until well after the PC version had become a classic, sales were never affected. Despite looking their advanced age, the DOOM games are the most ported titles in history, even appearing on the Game Boy Advance and Pocket PC.
*Does not include non-retail shareware sales.

[timster]

Interesting list! Thanks for posting K!

I can faintly remember a 80s video game, I believe it was for the Atari system that had General Custer raping women....seriously. Totally tasteless.

[jeffrico]

i'm surprised that Leisure Suit Larry didn't make it on the list. I bought that game in '86 I think and my parents flipped when they caught me playing it on my computer.

[K-Bee]

Guys...remember this list only include games released on the PC platform. They're were not many of those around in the 80s - unless you count the Amiga as a PC. I'm still looking for a top 10 list of all time 80s arcade games but I haven't found a good one yet.

[Martika_fan]

I would have thought "Grand Theft Auto" would be on the list.

People have always complained about the violence and rape in that game, but most seriously I read somewhere that an early edition of the game was labelled as encouraging racist violence against Haitans.

I never saw or played this particular edition so I can't say whether I agree with the charge (though I think its strange that they still sell the films "Birth of a Nation" and "Taxi Driver"). I've only played Grand Theft Auto 2 and 3, and glimpsed Vice City.

I thoroughly enjoyed GTA2- I really liked its detailed, colourful and cinematic in scope vision of an entire city and the community within dealing with the negativity and violence (particularly the callers on the radio station)- that's why I considered it artistic - almost socially aware. They perfected similar results in version 3 and Vice City, but because this time the violence was so up close and often permissively violent towards prostitutes and naked strippers, I found it too sickening to enjoy the same way.

[K-Bee]

I would have thought "Grand Theft Auto" would be on the list.

People have always complained about the violence and rape in that game, but most seriously I read somewhere that an early edition of the game was labelled as encouraging racist violence against Haitans.

I never saw or played this particular edition so I can't say whether I agree with the charge (though I think its strange that they still sell the films "Birth of a Nation" and "Taxi Driver"). I've only played Grand Theft Auto 2 and 3, and glimpsed Vice City.

I thoroughly enjoyed GTA2- I really liked its detailed, colourful and cinematic in scope vision of an entire city and the community within dealing with the negativity and violence (particularly the callers on the radio station)- that's why I considered it artistic - almost socially aware. They perfected similar results in version 3 and Vice City, but because this time the violence was so up close and often permissively violent towards prostitutes and naked strippers, I found it too sickening to enjoy the same way.

You're absolutely right. GTA Vice City have some missions dealing with Haitian gang wipeouts. The PS2 version has a particular mission telling you to "kill all haitians" and i believe that's the one causing the controversy. As far as I know Rockstar Games has been kindly asked to rephrase the mission objective taking it into "pc" territory for later copies of the game.