MadWorld release upsets moralists

By Dan Pearson Published 11 March, 2009

NIMF registers disappointment.

Self-appointed American media watchdog and purveyor of moral outrage, the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF), has issued a thoroughly wholesome statement indicating its unhappiness with Nintendo after SEGA's stylish Wii brawler MadWorld saw release in the US yesterday.

The group claims that Nintendo has "shed its 'family friendly' reputation with MadWorld's release", indicating its belief that it is the platform-holder who should vet all content inappropriate for consumption by children, rather than those children's parents. However, it does concede that "MadWorld is another reminder that parents need to make sure they watch what their kids watch and play what their kids play".

NIMF goes on to decry what it sees as shift in Nintendo's marketing policy, claiming that "Nintendo [has] opened its doors to the violent videogame genre", and adding: "The National Institute on Media and the Family hopes that Nintendo does not lose sight of its initial audience and continues to offer quality, family-friendly games".

Don't worry too much about the claims being taken seriously, however; these are the same people who considered Stubbs the Zombie to be actively promoting cannibalism.

If you fancy having your impressionable psyche corrupted into going on a bloody chainsaw spree, head over to our MadWorld review first.

Picture of Dan.

About Dan Pearson

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Comments (33) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Gnort #1 3 years ago

    Oh dear.

  • the_dudefather #2 3 years ago

    I thought they would have been whining about the EG review score

  • secombe #3 3 years ago

    I take it they haven't seen any of the cutscenes in HOTD: Overkill yet.

    I think the Wii stopped having a 'wholesome' image the moment the menu loaded in that game.

  • menage #4 3 years ago

    Who?

    Can't these wholesome people read the 18+ on the box or what. Idiots.

  • sega #5 3 years ago

    Idiots - some of the first games on the Wii were more violent than this. Y'know things like the Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil 4 for a start.

    I own a Wii because I love a lot of the types of games Nintendo produce - the Marios, the Zeldas etc. I'm the type of person who only likes one console under my TV and I don't like the idea of having one console for those types of games and another if I want anything with a more adult theme. It's a games console - simple as that. You buy the family friendly games if you want stuff for your kids but there are plenty of adults out there who own a Wii and we can buy violent games if we wish.

  • mingster #6 3 years ago

    I am opposed to NIMF and their family friendly views...
    I find it extremely disturbing as i was brought up as an orphan in a care home.

  • mingster #7 3 years ago

    why call yourself sega if you only have a nintendo?
    /is puzzled

  • sega #8 3 years ago

    Well I do have a Dreamcast and a Saturn stored away but they don't make games for them any more y'know. Unless you're implying Sega have just released Dreamcast 2 - in that case I'll ditch my Wii this second and get one of those!

  • TheTingler #9 3 years ago

    Wow, it must be good then!

  • Eraysor #10 3 years ago

    Nintendo shed their "family-friendly" reputation years ago for me when they published Eternal Darkness, the scariest game in the universe. A kid playing that would probably implode from the horror, I know I would.

  • YourMessageHere #11 3 years ago

    I knew exactly what level of assholery to expect when I read the acronym. I would bet significant portions of my anatomy on that being a back-formation from Not In My Family. The fact that you can't have an institute ON something, just FOR something, is even more damning IMO.

    The key word in the phrase "family friendly image" is of course image. They've swallowed the advertising hook line and sinker, and are now upset that it's no more than sales pitch, given that so far as I know it's never really been true. It's true that I've never been a nintendo owner, but I always got the impression that there was an average amount of gore/asterisk-worthy language and so on on nintendo machines overall, relative to the prevailing level of such things in games overall. It just wasn't usually part of the main marketing effort so it got through somewhat unmolested by Freelance Morality Police of this kind.

  • Sunyavadin #12 3 years ago

    When will these people get it into their heads?


    YOU DO NOT DECIDE WHAT THE COMPANY'S TARGET AUDIENCE WITH THEIR HARDWARE ARE.




    Also, you don't see them complaining to TV manufacturers that their products can display pornography.

  • bad09 #13 3 years ago

    Sorry but, these fascists need to crawl up their own arse and die.

    How about we just take the children away from these "caring" parents who can't perform the simple task of monitoring what their own child does on a machine for everyone. That way we don't need idiot twat organizations like this one.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #14 3 years ago

    /Laughs at Americans.

    Actually I thought they approved of guns and violence in their media. Its the naughty sexy stuff they usually complain about.

  • Eraser #15 3 years ago

    ban this sick filth!

  • Eraser #16 3 years ago

    JohnnyWashnGo, I wouldn't laugh too hard at the yanks. The germans already start crying when there's one drop of blood in a game.

  • dncc #17 3 years ago

    All I can see is....

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=gT9xuXQjxMM

  • Doctor_What #18 3 years ago

    @ Sunyavadin: My TV can display porn? Why didn't someone tell me this before! That could definitely be a selling point. More people should know about such things...

    Anyway, more sensibly, I can't help but be amazed when people living in an enormously capitalist society are surprised/shocked/offended when a company does something that expands their business model. The same goes in the other direction too, with fanboys who hate the vast amount of family friendly non-hardcore gaming on the system.

  • septimus #19 3 years ago

    Morons. Where is the organisation to police these idiots and their bullshit ideas?

  • reelbigkris #20 3 years ago

    If they are upset about content, they need to educate the parents about the content found in 18 rated games or games rated M. I work in a gameshop and many parents dont understand that the rating system reflects the content in the game. every single day, one adult purchases grand theft auto for thier sons, some as young as 8!

    Spend more time educating parents! more mature gamers know about the ratings and can make thier own decisions! the last time i played my wii was when De blob was released. im hoping that my wii will see a steady increase of playtime when this gets released in the UK.

  • Redeye #21 3 years ago

    Dear Platinum Games,

    I hereby submit the following concept for a future piece of MadWorld DLC - the inclusion of NIMF's cast of reactionary imbeciles, so I can take a great deal of entertainment and satisfaction from ramming street signs through their narrow-minded, arrogant heads.

    Yours, etc.

  • spitfire1945 #22 3 years ago

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

    Now that's a good laugh!!! :))))

    So many sick people these days!!!

  • Gearskin #23 3 years ago

    Stubbs the Zombie lol.

  • neonemesis #24 3 years ago

    "When will these people get it into their heads?


    YOU DO NOT DECIDE WHAT THE COMPANY'S TARGET AUDIENCE WITH THEIR HARDWARE ARE. "

    This ^^^

    You can't just decide that kids play Wii = no other type of games should be released for the machine.

    Nintendo made their family friendly image themselves so it's up to them. Unless this group owns controlling shares in Nintendo which I very much doubt.


  • elephant_stone #25 3 years ago

    nymph? LOLZ

  • Dan234 #26 3 years ago

    So the National Institute on Media and the Family is incapable of reading the publisher's label on the box lest they go blind?

  • kissthestick #27 3 years ago

    i guess all those HOME dvd players and VCRs upset them because of all the porn no? ;)

  • Kikizosan #28 3 years ago

    I'd be willing to wager that organisations like this (and their blinkered views) have more of a corrupting influence on people's minds than violent videogames ever will.

  • AOFanboi #29 3 years ago

    Yeah, I guerss this is the first case of Nintendo "abandoning" their family image by releasing mature games for their consoles. I mean I must have imagined the release of a shedload of RE games and Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube...

  • imamazed #30 3 years ago

    "Family systems" include an audience for all of the family.

    That would most usually involve those of over 18.

    It's about catering for the whole family, not just little ''uns

  • Ryze #31 3 years ago

    Er... Manhunt 2.

  • Spekingur #32 3 years ago

    I wonder why they wait till after the game is released rather than just before it is released. A forewarning of sorts. If they were actually serious in watching out for the family they would have seen this game a long time ago and already know enough to make an educated opinion about it.

  • Dan234 #33 3 years ago

    Why my children can never play the Wii again (not entirely serious)