Venezuelan pres. calls games "poison"

By Robert Purchese Published 18 January, 2010

Says they put kids on capitalist "road to hell".

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez does not like PlayStation, because he thinks the console leads children down the capitalist "road to hell". Could Kaz Hirai be the Pied Piper of Hamlin?

"These games they call PlayStation are poison," said Chavez, airing his thoughts on his weekly radio-TV show Alo Presidente (reported by AFP (via GamesIndustry.biz). "Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game. 'You've got to find Chavez to kill him.'

He added: "[Games] promote the need for cigarettes, drugs and alcohol so they can sell them. That's capitalism - the road to hell."

But, not being one to turn up empty-handed, Chavez has had a solution: don't promote these games, make educational games instead.

In October, Venezuela introduced a law that made the selling of violent videogames punishable with up to five years in prison.

And it's not the first time Chavez has made clear his dislike of games and western toys in general. It's reported he once slammed Nintendo for promoting "selfishness, individualism and violence".

Chavez's administration was also vocal in its disapproval of Venezuela as the setting for Mercenaries 2, labelling the choice a form of "psychological terror".

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 2 years ago

    I thought Chavez played Tropico all the time...

  • mintycabbage #2 2 years ago

    Wow, he must have been really hurt, when someone put his face in a game.

  • Brainz #3 2 years ago

    damn you cianchristopher! that was exactly what i was about to write!

    btw every time i hear the name "Chavez" i have to think about "Ding" Chavez from the Rainbow Six games. Crazy isnt it?!?

  • Spanky #4 2 years ago

    Maybe he should stop taking advantage of us capitalist devils by profiting off the sales of the satans black gold.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #5 2 years ago

    He's obviously an Xbox fanboy...

  • Thedni #6 2 years ago

    I wish I had a weekly TV-Radio show called 'Alo Presidente'

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 2 years ago

    Just Cause games must not have helped his fondness of the consoles! Playstation is just a collective take of all the consoles obviously and may not have xbox in his vocabulary?!

    Nintendo Wii may be his secret guilty pleasure though.

  • the_dudefather #8 2 years ago

    "Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game. 'You've got to find Chavez to kill him."

    That's a great game, but first you have to chloroform a delivery man, sneak in the service entrance, get a guard's uniform, sneak your way up to the area above the dining hall, place a bomb on the chandelier fixings, then slip outside, get a guest pass for the party, then coax him into sitting down in the middle of the dining table, then calmly exit the building and detonate the bomb

    (wonders when the next Hitman game is coming...)

  • linksdad #9 2 years ago

    Read this on theregister earlier and wondered if Ellie was moonlighting:

    ""Those games they call 'PlayStation' are poison. Some games teach you to kill. They once put my face on a game, 'you've got to find Chavez to kill him,'" the one-time paratrooper declared."

  • ChthonicEcho #10 2 years ago

    Political 'leaders' such as these are the reason 'commie' jokes are so rampant on the Internet.

  • BabyJesus #11 2 years ago

    VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

  • imamazed #12 2 years ago

    I had a lot of respect for Chavez, still do actually, but this really is an ignorant comment.

  • SFG_Clan #13 2 years ago

    Frankly his comments stem mostly from lack of knowledge and understanding of the industry in general. However, he does have it right that the industry is plagued with capitalist rhetoric and marketing (over-priced dlc). But really as a socialist myself I advise Mr. Chavez to do his research on all of the industry before going all right-wing on us and straight up say they are just plain evil. I assume El Presidente hasn't outlawed violent films, so why single out games?
    Edited by SFG_Clan at 18/01/10 @ 17:08

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #14 2 years ago

    So he's still pissed on that Mercenaries 2 was set in Venezuela, then?

    Maybe someone should tell him the folk who made it were all sacked, perhaps that'll cheer him up.

  • kangarootoo #15 2 years ago

    "These games they call PlayStation..."

    Finger on the pulse, no doubt.


    "Chavez has had a solution: don't promote these games, make educational games instead"

    The man is a genius, why has nobody thought of this before.


    Essentially this is just a slight variant of the usual "old dude fears new stuff he has no use for" story.

  • miiiguel #16 2 years ago

    Interesting how the end of the cold war gave birth to these populist left leaders in America, and the shady pro-USA in East Europe. On the former you have this weird rethoric and an urge to control the economy, on the later you a have CIA shady prisons and stuff our allies americans don't realy like to do on their backyard.

    Take your pick.
    Edited by miiiguel at 18/01/10 @ 17:23

  • AphoticCosmos #17 2 years ago

    Chavez may be a complete and utter loon, but Venezuela has made some progress under his rule. People in the barrios no longer starve, for example, as he's made heavily subsidised food available to all in special government shops.

  • knightmt #18 2 years ago

    just as karioke is the communist "road to hell'.

  • kangarootoo #19 2 years ago

    @AphoticCosmos

    Don't get me wrong, I think on the whole he is a good guy. I just think he is out of his depth on this one :)

  • Lord_Gremlin #20 2 years ago

    Don't let kids play 18+ rated games, you stupid. Porn is poison too, no? What about vodka?

  • DrStrangelove #21 2 years ago

    Damn, Chavez really is nuts. He sounds like a German politician now.

  • DrStrangelove #22 2 years ago

    @beemoh

    lol, guess what's among the titles in the next singstar game.

  • Emmit_Assassin #23 2 years ago

    Go Chavez! I've got footage of him and three prossies playing naked, Vodka fuelled Mario Kart Wii, the dirty little fucker.

  • neilka #24 2 years ago

    Ironically the Playstation is quite popular among Huge Chavoz.

  • Iain815 #25 2 years ago

    Awh, @beemoh, I was going to post that! :)

  • Markusdragon #26 2 years ago

    Oh, Chavez. Why oh why couldn't you have stuck with the nationalisation of industry, the raising the lot of the Venezuelan people and the annoying the Americans, why did you have to go for the media censorship too?

  • MiniAmin #27 2 years ago

    It's so funny when the completely uninitiated call video games 'Playstation'. It's akin to saying "These films they call Cinema are poison".

  • Drogul #28 2 years ago

    This guy won't have a happy ending. Shame on Venezuela, such a beautiful country with this animal at the wheel.

  • Eraysor #29 2 years ago

    In communist Venezuela, games play you

  • Murton #30 2 years ago

    Drogul: that "animal" has done many good things for Venezuela, by nationalising the utility and telecommunications industry he has recognised reliable water, power and the ability to communicate as rights to all rather than a priviledge held to ransom by big business. Nationalising the banking and construction industries has saved vital jobs and kept their economy stable by having construction based on needs and not profits.

    His words are badly chosen (serious communist overtones) and he perhaps shouldn't stoop the level of the other political jokes who fight the games industry as a hobby, but that doesn't change the fact that's done a great job in running his country for the benefit of his people in not bowing down to big business as our own politicians have on many occasions.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #31 2 years ago

    You're poison running through my veins.

  • makeamazing #32 2 years ago

    This guy is getting more and more of a loon all the time.

  • beep #33 2 years ago

    I was half expecting an articulate argument from Mr Chavez about videogames corrupting the youth from doing a hard days work and blah, blah, blah, but his feeble whine which mostly boils down to his face being in a game just doesn't cut it.

    BOO!

  • Rodchenko #34 2 years ago

    Since Venezuela is over 70% dependent on hydroelectrics and hit by a severe draught at the moment which will result in massive power outages for the next weeks, there won't be much electricity to fire up those PlayStations in the first place. Problem solved.

    Oh, and Murton: nice way of painting what carries all the hallmarks of a dictatorship (controlling the press, the media, the legislature and the economy) in such a rosy and party-approved light. The last time someone spoke in such high-flying terms of a great leader was when the loony-left made Stalin their hero. Guess, as long as it goes against the common enemy and as long as one can ponder on socialist experiments from the comfortable distance of the UK, it's alright.

  • shotgun44 #35 2 years ago

    Ding Chavez! I must have played the Rainbow Six demo about a million times back in the day! There was a short haired woman that, if I wasn't put on the spot to think of R6 buddy names, would come to me in an instant who I used to howl at whenever she died!

  • Postumo #36 2 years ago

    He's not a bad man, he takes good decisions for his country. I have a teacher on economics that once was one of his consultant and he told me that his main problem is that he doesn't know when to shut his mouth. He talks louder than he acts, because he is a reasonable president.

    And it's evident he is an xbot

  • Postumo #37 2 years ago

    ahhh i forgot... he says the same stupid thigs that german say, but hey! he is some kind of populist dictator and jabber jabber bla bla...

    I'm tired of people criticising left wing politicians for saying things that the right wing ones say all the time.

  • samadriel #38 2 years ago

    He's right, playing Mercenaries 2 was psychological terror.

  • ardamillo #39 2 years ago

    Having spent some time on Xbox Live last weekend I can't disagree with him.

  • Lamb #40 2 years ago

    Down the capitalist "road to hell" - Actually thats true. :D

    Consume consume. Me, me, me. Awesome.

  • FTM #41 2 years ago

    he's just mad because his kids beat him on wii sports bowling, south american dictators are sore losers

  • Zidargh #42 2 years ago

    I bet he rage quits FIFA all the time.

  • AJGB #43 2 years ago

    I'm with Hugo.

    Someone put my face in a game once. It's a pain that never ends.

  • Zebula77 #44 2 years ago

    Ahhh, you just gotta love the ignorance on display here. Top class it is.

  • fredtheshred #45 2 years ago

    Is this the same Chavez that the Colombian President Uribe accused of conspiring with the FARC terrorist groups in 2008? Venuzuela closed its borders to Colombia for 3 months in protest. At yet Chavez says he is against violence in games. He is nothing more than a borderline dictator himself.

  • actionfitz #46 2 years ago

    you know what I think is Poison?
    Loud mouthed autocrats with their own TV show and private army telling people they need laws to prevent them exercising an ounce of adult discretion or wit as parents.
    Cheers Hugo!

    Don't get me wrong, I applaud the guy taking back his countries wealth and resources from foreign multi national companies and putting it to use in raising the quality of life of Venezuelans... Just a shame he's a cunt hair's width away from a Dictator, who feels he also has the right to tell people what to think - rather than empowering them to think for themselves.

    oops.
    /rant off.

  • Bill Gates is Evil #47 2 years ago

    Absolutely none of his 'nationalizing' and anti-globalist decisions have ever done anything to improve the state of his country. Venezuela is doing relatively well, yes, but because the price of oil is so high-- it blunts the results of the stupidity of his economic decisions.

    This is a new world, global economy-- any country that is building economic walls in the midst of advanced globalization is a complete fucking retard of a country. And this anti-capitalist rhetoric is sooo 1960's. It's a tragedy how many of you actually like Chavez, he's a closed minded barbarian who takes advantage of the weak masses for his own power-lust, all the while claiming 'self-lessness'

    And oh, he says stupid shit like videogames makes you buy cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs.

  • Quixz #48 2 years ago

    SHUT UP XBOT!!