 | Common Sense Media’s 10 Games That are Uncool for Kids |
| Geoff - December 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am - 189 views - 5 Comments |
Common Sense Media is a somewhat right wing, religious group who dole out parental advice to people who probably shouldn’t have had children in the first place. Displaying a complete lack of their namesake, they’ve compiled a list of games to avoid buying kids for Christmas, as well as suitable replacements.
While their goal is a noble one, and I agree that children shouldn’t be playing games unsuitable for their ages, their choices as alternative games have left me scratching my head a bit.
This is the list of games to not but for kids, with “suitable” alternative encased in parentheses.
- Assassin’s Creed II (Mirror’s Edge)
- Borderlands (Infamous)
- Brutal Legend (Ghostbusters)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Battlefield: Bad Company)
- Dead Space: Extraction (Deadly Creatures)
- Dragon Age: Origins (Braid)
- Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
- Demon’s Souls (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (Overlord II)
- Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (C.O.P.: The Recruit)
And here are the problems :
Replacing Borderlands, which, yes, is a horribly violent game – but one set on a fictional planet with decidely satirical overtones with inFamous, a decidedly violent game set in a realistic world where your moral choices hardly matter and you can be a right evil bastard? Substituting Dragon Age Origins, a pretty violent RPG with adult themes with…Braid, a time-distorting puzzle game? Barring the fact that they’re completely different games, just how the hell do you put downloadable content under a Christmas tree?
Batman : Arkham Asylum, while not as superficially violent as GTA is a game filled with mature themes that just aren’t child appropriate, and Overlord II is a game where the sole purpose is to be evil, going so far as to club baby seal. I reckon ridding the world of infected scourge is a more noble endeavour.
You can read more about why Common Sense Media thinks these games are so morally bankrupt over at their site, here.
Related Awesomeness
The above list was chosen because I slapped the following tags onto this post
Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, Braid, Common Sense Media, dragon age: origins, infamous, Overlord, Parenting, Right Wing
December 9, 2009
11:09 am
at least they are giving alternatives/solutions instead of the ‘carpet banning’ of games.
Dragon Age: Origins (Braid) – whahahhahahhaha
December 9, 2009
11:11 am
Now I know why I don’t have any of those games on that list
December 9, 2009
11:16 am
Uncharted 2 has a fair amount on swearing in it, so this kinda surprises me.
December 9, 2009
11:20 am
Overlord II… the one we smite seals in?
inFamous… the portable electric chair?
Battlefield Bad Company.. how is that better than MW2?
December 9, 2009
12:56 pm
In some societies clubbing seals are perfecty acceptable!