Did 2K go 2 Far?
So 2K sports released All-Pro Football 2K8 this week and the reviews have been rather mixed. I have yet to pick up the game as I am currently knee deep in a rental of Rainbow Six: Las Vegas. In my following the press of the game, I found a report that seems to think 2K Sports went a bit too far with their ‘cuteness.’
In the game, you have the ability to play many different non-NFL teams, complete with over 240 of the legends of NFL’s past. You can also build your own roster and put whoever you want on your team. Follow me so far? Well, this article (read it here) on TheStreet.com talks about a trailer that was released on GameTrailers.com which features O.J. Simpson as the star runningback on a team called the Assassins. When he scores, he does a little throat-slashing gesture, as does the giant ‘oddly familiar’ looking mascot above the scoreboard.
Now, the reporter for TheStreet.com went out and interviewed all sorts of people, including the family of Ron Goldman to get their reaction. The reporter calls 2K sports insensitive and then reminds us of all of the times the parent company has gotten into trouble.
Hang on a minute there. I agree that the game goes a little far with the mascot. It looks way too much like OJ. They could have used the name and made something that was a real assassin, not some jack-boot thug murderer, but they tried to be cute with it. But to me, the real insensitive person is the reporter who tracked down the family members of the people who OJ may or may not have killed and asks them about it.
COME ON!
As for the speculation on the trailer and how seemingly brutal it is, it only took a little bit of research to find out that in the game, OJ is not on the Assassins team, and his game celebration is not the throat-slash. Apparently, GameTrailers or someone else built that team with OJ on it, recorded the gameplay, and released it on the Net to get a little buzz going. Apparently, all players on that team have that celebration as one of their options. I’m not even saying that some unfortunate marketing person from 2K didn’t do it. But to rail the game without some research and then to contact the family that is trying to move on after what, 13 years? is completely irresponsible.
I guess that since it is JUST a video game you can make up stories anyway you like, huh?
Would my feelings be any different if the story was completely correct and OJ was in fact released in the game exactly as it is depicted in the trailer? Sure, I wouldn’t buy the game. Not because I dislike OJ or think he’s guilty, but because it is completly a slap in the face of the Goldman and Brown families.
The bottom line? Shame on the author and shame on GameTrailers.com. Now, if when I play the game (soon, I hope) everything is as it is on the video, I will post an apology and will then rail against the game producer myself. Sound fair?
Filed under: Games and Gamers
