10 Video Games Changed After Real-World Events
"Art imitates life", but sometimes it doesn't MEAN to.
I've never understood the phrase, "being in the wrong place, at the wrong time". That's like, a double negative. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, doesn't that mean it's the wrong time to BE in the wrong place? In that case, the place becomes... okay. It's only the wrong place at a different time. No?
So, long story short, I'm in this abattoir, and I'm surrounded by all these guys in masks and boxer shorts, right?
Ahem.
The point is, sometimes, context can make or break a product. If you release a game about baking cakes during the Great British Bakeoff, you're going to make doshola. But conversely, if you release a game about puppy-kicking on national Don't Kick Puppies day, you're going to have a bad time.
Seriously, at least wait until Christmas.
So, in this list, we're going to take a look over some games where context mattered big time, and coincidental or unfortunate real-life events irreparably changed them - and the way they were received - forever.
10. Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro - World Trade Centre Battle
Post-9/11, Spider-Man's content was far closer to the content of controversy than any other game at the time.
In the game, subtitled Enter Electro, Spider-Man would have literally fought the final battle of the game atop the World Trade Centre, screeching "tonight, Electro dances with the gods!", before using the iconic spire of the building as a lightning rod and empowering himself.
Obviously, this wasn't ideal for the development team nor the game's marketing, given that the Twin Towers had already appeared in some marketing materials (and still featured in some capacity, in some regions' releases of the game), but later versions of the game would remove the World Trade Centre entirely, with the final fight taking place atop two generic skyscrapers instead.
Interestingly, it's not the first time Spider-Man would have to remove Twin Towers-related imagery - the teaser trailer for the original 2002 movie featured Spider-Man catching a helicopter full of criminals and pulling it back into a web suspended between the towers themselves.