In 2008 a controversy arose over the sci-fi epic from EA and Bioware, Mass Effect, when a little known news service, Cybercast, falsely reported that the game's sex scenes were like pornography. No one took much notice of the story because anyone who played the game knew it was untrue; the game does not even feature nudity of any kind. Sadly the story became a much bigger deal when Fox News got word of the story and, without the forethought to actually play the game and find out, began a week long report on the false claims. The game was depicted as one for perverts and yet aimed at children. Author Cooper Lawrence jumped in on the story in a debate with games specialist Geoff Keighley, who asked her if she had played the game and she laughed at the idea. Needless to say gamer's took to their keyboards and began letting Fox and Lawrence know just how wrong they were. Lawrence's book on amazon received hundreds upon hundreds of 1-star reviews from scorned gamers around the world. After the week long abuse EA put a stop to it, sending a stern letter to Fox News, letting them know how wrong they were. This is simply further proof that politicians and media gurus tend to jump the gun and not actually bother to play through these games, or even do a little research, before reporting falsehoods and erroneously slandering video games.
Journalism student from Ireland. Interested in video games, books, rock music, films, comics, TV and wrestling - the basics! Check out my Twitter for PS4 screenshots and random comments!
