No More Controversy

Video games are often at the forefront of politics and popular media as controversial materials. This is often because of overly violent or sexualized material in a game. However, occasionally a game seems to slip through the radar that makes people scratch their heads a little bit. The most recent and possibly the most shocking case of this is the lack of controversy surrounding No More Heroes.

In No More Heroes, you play an anime and Lucha Libre junkie with one goal; to reach the top and become the number 1 assassin in the world. Armed with what can only be described as a lightsaber barely legally distinct enough to not get sued by George Lucas, the main hero Travis Touchdown often cuts through waves of enemies at a time with a literal shower of blood and coins at the end of each kill. This is a game that's violent enough to make Kill Bill Vol. 1 almost look appropriate enough for the Disney channel. There's no lack of sexual content either. While little has been seen at the point I've reached in the game, a lot is insinuated and the amount of reference are rather far above normal. Examples include the main character originally only taking the job only so the hot secretary at the Assassination Ranking Organization will sleep with him and some rather humorous, but disturbing messages on the answering machine from a video rental clerk. Finally, the game plays out plenty offensive enough in other areas. The language is colorful at best and downright in the gutter at its worst. The portrayal of anything from minorities to women in the game could be seen as either stereotypical, oversexualized, or down right offensive. All in all, if there was one game that you would NOT want a 9-year old to play, this is it. So why no controversy? Is it too new? Games have hit controversial stage even before the release of the game itself so that doesn't seem likely.

One possibility is the fact that the game is stylized. While ultra-violent, hyper-sexualized, and just a smidgen bit sexist, racist, and any other -ist you can add in there, the game is very stylized. The death of character's are very non-realistic, but on the side of being too violent. Certainly, no one's going to complain that it's too soft on violence. Still, the whole of the game's offensive content is meant to be artistic and the characters are never portrayed as anyone to look up to. Does the artistic approach make it excusable? Is it okay to portray these things when they done in the name of spectacle rather than realism?

A second possibility is that the game is Japanese and in some way excusable in the same way a foreign film might be. In reality, the vast majority of game controversies in America are indeed over game made in America. Certainly offensive games have come out that were made in Japan, but among them, Killer 7 is the only one that comes to mind that raised ANY major objection from anyone.

The final and most likely possibility is that only the popular games get picked for controversy. Looking at the current controversy with Mass Effect's epic “Orgasmic Lesbian Rape” scene and looking at No More Heroes, the only possible way one could be more offended by Mass Effect is by not knowing of No More Heroes's existence. Bully and the Grand Theft Auto games managed to often gain controversial points before the games were even released. Save for maybe the Hot Coffee Mod, the sex and violence in GTA is nothing compared to No More Heroes. Despite all this, No More Heroes was released on a relatively low release and hasn't sold as well as its hype. On top of that, there are no commercials for it, and virtually no ads. This seems to lead to the obvious conclusion that popularity is the biggest factor in determining controversy.

We may not know what has caused No More Heroes to slip under the controversy radar for sure, but the we can make some logical guesses. Furthermore, No More Heroes has some time to catch a bit of controversy weeks from now. So, for the time being, I'd be on the lookout for articles about how No More Heroes is “The Very Cause of Moral Decay in Society”.