WWE star wants "more violence" in games

By Johnny Minkley Published 8 August, 2008

Randy Orton piledrives industry's critics.

WWE man-mountain Randy Orton last night became an unlikely defender of the industry's creative freedoms, urging developers to fight back against critics with a rallying cry for "more violence" in videogames.

The fantasy wrestling superstar, who's currently sidelined with a broken collarbone, was in London to promote THQ's SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, and revealed to Eurogamer how he was sick and tired of the bad press gaming receives, insisting that the makers of adult titles had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Violence sells. I want to see more violence in games - the more blood the better," he told us. Orton argued that videogames were the least of parents' worries, when some "don't know their kids are watching South Park".

He cited the example of the Scorcese gangster flick Goodfellas as evidence that movie violence could be far more shocking than anything in a videogame, calling Grand Theft Auto "just a cartoon" in comparison.

"The violence [in Goodfellas] is against human beings. There's rape in movies - you see all kinds of f***ed up s*** on film," he observed. Playing Mortal Kombat underage, added the man who now hits people for a living, hadn't done him any harm.

Orton, in true narcissistic WWE fashion, enjoys "playing with himself" in the game, and is particularly pleased with the accuracy of his tattoos in this year's update. He owns an Xbox 360 and Wii, his favourite recent game being Mario Kart, although he sticks to the regular controller as "the wheel is just a gimmick".

The birth of his baby daughter last month has meant he's been "too covered in poop" to play much else, though. Give the man a column.

The Yuke's-developed WWE series remains THQ's most successful property, the last one shifting over 6 million copies, despite only strangling a six out of us in our review.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw is out on PS3, 360, PS2, PSP, Wii and DS on 11th November, with THQ keen to flag up a new tag-team mechanic, Create-A-Finisher feature, co-op storylines, the belated introduction of downloadable content, and online play in the Wii version.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Eurogamer TV's Johnny Minkley is a veteran journalist with a lifelong passion for games and the games industry. He uses Twitter more than most people use air.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_dudefather #1 4 years ago

    he is going to be the Jeremy clarkson for gaming soon

  • gooners2006 #2 4 years ago

    Clarkson is a Legend, this Orton is payed shit loads to walk around acting like a twat in lycra....i can see the similarities lol
    Edited by 1 at 08/08/08 @ 10:21

  • Der_tolle_Emil #3 4 years ago

    Even if GTA IV looks cartoonish next to Goodfellas - I agree with him - I don't see any reason why this should be a good argument to get more violence in games. There are more than enough mature titles to play.

  • PearOfAnguish #4 4 years ago

    "added the man who now pretends to hit people for a living"

    Fixed.

  • johnnybrn #5 4 years ago

    More violence

    Fuck yeah!

  • LazyDan #6 4 years ago

    Man whose job involves performing pretend violence wants more pretend violence!
    Edited by 1 at 08/08/08 @ 10:33

  • Setaro #7 4 years ago

    LOL Randy Orton.

    After the match in which he broke his collar bone, the crowd was clapping him to show respect, and he spins round and roars 'SHUT THE FUCK UP'. Then starts on someone in the audience. Smart Man.

  • Foxclose #8 4 years ago

    he's a heel!! :D

  • kestral #9 4 years ago

    I'm not sure a WWE wrestler would be the best spokesperson for videogaming at the moment. Ask Tanya :p

  • Aretak #10 4 years ago

    He is actually a genuine prick though, even outside of his character.

  • sickpuppysoftware #11 4 years ago

    MOAR VILENSE!

  • giant_frying_pan #12 4 years ago

    "Violence, for the sake of violence..."

  • towser #13 4 years ago

    Wrestling = men in pants... fighting over a belt.

  • The-Bodybuilder #14 4 years ago

    Wow, someone with publicity (whether good or bad, it's still publicity) supports gaming freedom and defends games, yet he still gets stick with gamers.
    Heck, the guy sounds like an actual gamer, not just a mainstreamer. I thought he would get some respect here, but I guess not.

    I don't care for wrestling (anymore), but I really do think gamers are pure dicks. Attack games? Gamers attack the person. Defend games? Gamers still attack the person.

    We're all a bunch of dicks.

  • doragor #15 4 years ago

    @ The Bodybuilder

    my evenings on XBox Live with headset enabled seem to support your findings.

  • Quint2020 #16 4 years ago

    Lol this dude sounds like a legend.

  • thefilthandthefury #17 4 years ago

    Absolutely 110% behind Orton. The man speaks my mind.

  • DDevil #18 4 years ago

    Orton always comes across as a complete douche to me. Even when he was playing a good guy. This news doesn't change a thing :-)

  • Nithron #19 4 years ago

    People who rag on South Park for being detrimental to any kids watching it have probably never actually sat down to watch it beyond the first fart joke. There's actually a lot of interesting social commentary buried in there. Maybe they're more worried it'll teach kids to think for themselves?

  • El_MUERkO #20 4 years ago

    i support this man 100%, especially when he kicked cenas dad in the head (not for real), that was some funny shit right there :D

  • SharksInYourMouth #21 4 years ago

    He seeme alright on Sky Sports News yesterday.

  • cam_guin #22 4 years ago

    The legend killer owns a 360. That gives me so much ammo in my personal ongoing arguments. we'll ignore his fear of sham steering wheels

  • Sam_Smith #23 4 years ago

    This made me chuckle. At least he sounds like he actually plays games.

  • Hugh.G.Rection #24 4 years ago

    I enjoyed the irony in " doesn't use the wii steering wheel because its just a gimmick"

    I agree with 'The Giant Douche' in some respects, but its this appealling to the lowest common denominator of more violence = better that is getting the industry nowhere. Conan had more violence than GOW, but that was just appalling in comparison. We need more articulate, mature adult content to coincide with more realistically animated violence if the world and in particular ratings bodies are to take these fiascos seriously. Living in the wonderful world of oz is especially irritating when nearly every game gets either banned or severely edited to conform to our strict MA15+ guidelines. Nothing is going to change unless the context of the violence in the games is clearly understood by the OFLC and BBFC (and the others). Otherwise the classification bureaus will always fall back on the same old ' but you can control this axe wielding maniac' argument. I forgot what I'm getting at, I'm just peeved that Fallout 3 has been banned over here unless it is edited is all.

  • DutchDemons #25 4 years ago

    @Hugh

    Allthough you make a valid point, im all for more games with appalling violence..without good reasons etcetera. Why? Because gaming needs to break out of these shackles that hold it down...where all we get is cartoon like violence. To protect the effing kids. Kids shouldn't play these mature games.

    Make more games like manhunt (ftfw!) and make the world see, that adults play games too...and it can as violent as the roughest movies. Even now, when my non-gaming friends come over and se my chainsaw someone in Gears...there like ' oh my god, you can cut someone in half??'....1 hour later we're watching saw and see someone's had smashed in by 2 ice blocks. nobody blinked.

    I'm sure that when the market gets flooded with violent games, the whining would stop.

    And whether you like Orton or not...finally a well known guy stands up for us...and yet some gamers trash him...Wouldn't now be a good moment to let go and just agree with the man? ffs
    Edited by 1 at 09/08/08 @ 17:17

  • DutchDemons #26 4 years ago

    Sorry..double post due to server error.
    Edited by 1 at 09/08/08 @ 17:16

  • Devange #27 4 years ago

    I agree with him.

    they SHOULD stop blaming GTA for everything and put the gore back in the games! :)

  • YourMessageHere #28 4 years ago

    In theory it's good that a well known person has decided to declare his support for games. However there are a few problems in practice.
    First, how many people likely to be persuaded by a wrestler are likely to be enormous critics of gaming? This is just as likely to be seen as ammunition by the anti-games lot: "this man who encourages violent behaviour in youngsters for a living says he wants more violence in games...so irresponsible..." and so on. To the average person who's on the fence, a violent guy saying more violence in games is not likely to sway them towards liking it. He's preaching to the converted.
    Second, the fact he's concentrating on money rather than intrinsic merit, be that artistic, educational, functioning well as a pure game, or having entertainment value, does little to counter those who claim violent games are cynical attempts to exploit money from people with no regard for consequences.
    Thirdly, simply adding violence in games is just as likely to make them better and more respected by the general public as putting more violence in films is, and I think most people can agree that adding violence to a film generally does not improve its public image or critical acclaim.
    But most of all, it's hardly as if anything he's saying is particularly persuasive. He doesn't even present a properly coherent argument, just an "I want violence in games, 'cos it's in films and that's OK". Unless the level-headed, reasoned rationale never made it to the news story. But I somehow doubt that - I don't expect coherence from wrestlers.

  • sirtacos #29 4 years ago

    Lol. Awesome article.

    A 'wrestler' isn't a very credible defender of videogames, though*. But who cares? The man knows what he wants. Give him more hacked limbs and severed heads.

    (*A senator who fought in WW2, Vietnam, survived the Rwandan genocide and is now the head of the Red Cross - now that would be the sort of advocate videogames need.)

    To be honest however, games just need time to be widely accepted as just another medium for entertainment, art and information... no more or less harmful or influential than television or books. This is inevitable, I think - so the games medium doesn't really need defending at all. It just needs Time.