VGs getting canceled and delayed

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/story.cfm?sid=3386

Global industry stunned by US tragedy

Sickened games publishers and developers worldwide are delaying and abandoning projects across the board after horrific terrorist strikes against America earlier this week
 

As the world today stood eerily at silence for three minutes at 11.00BST, attempting desperately to come to terms with the nightmare terrorist attacks on America earlier this week, the global games industry reeled in shock. Publishers the world over are having to rethink, reschedule and abandon releases in the wake of the most audacious paramilitary strikes made against civilians in modern history, due to certain content contained in the games.
Speaking to CVG, entirely appalled spokespeople working in the British industry have confirmed that the future of many upcoming games is currently being rethought.

Konami sources have confirmed that discussions are currently underway in Japan as to the American release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and that the PlayStation 2 title will almost certainly not appear in the States this year, as was previously planned. Set in New York and based on an anti-terrorist plot, the game is said to feature gigantic war mech Metal Gear Ray destroying sections of the city. Metal Gear Solid 2 is the most anticipated videogame in the industry, and the Japanese launch, towards the end of this year, is said to be unaffected by the US tragedy. No official comment has been forthcoming from the publisher as yet.

Bizarre Creations\' upcoming Xbox racer Project Gotham contains a completely realistic representation of New York. The developer is currently in discussions with Microsoft so the two parties "can find the best solution" for the release of the game. Although the World Trade Center appears in the title, cars do not drive directly past the buildings, "It won\'t go undiscussed or unnoticed in the game. It\'s not something anyone here takes lightly," said a source close to the project.

Sony has indefinitely postponed the releases of Twisted Metal Black and Dropship for PlayStation 2 in Europe, "as a mark of respect", after the events in New York and Washington earlier this week. Company reps have been keen to play down the move and are seeing even reporting on the situation of games being delayed as "very trivial" in the light of the horror of the attacks. Twisted Metal Black includes sections involving destroying aircraft and Dropship contains a mission concerning Mid-East terrorism.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has been removed from Virgin\'s shelves due to reports in the British press that terrorists may have used the package to hone flying skills in order to carry out atrocities in the States. Microsoft issued the following statement today: "We\'re both shocked and saddened by the horrific events in America this week, our hearts and deepest sympathy go out to all those affected. As you\'d expect, we feel that any comment from us would be both inappropriate and insensitive at such a tragic time."

EA confirmed the suspension of online conspiracy game Majestic within 24 hours of aircraft demolishing the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon. EA Europe is expected to make further comment in the near future regarding the rest of its release schedule.

Ubi soft has confirmed that all release dates for Tom Clancy products, famously built on anti-terrorist plot lines from Clancy\'s novels, are being discussed. "Any terrorist-based game is under review as to whether they\'re going to be released before Christmas," said a spokesperson. "We haven\'t made any decisions."

Brit Publisher JoWood\'s PC title World War III Black Gold has been "held back until further notice": the real-time strategy outing was originally slated for release on September 24 and pits the US, Russia and Iraq against each militarily over global oil supplies.

Both THQ and Infogrames told CVG today that schedules remain unaffected by events in American earlier this week. Eidos remained unavailable for comment at the time of writing.


Patrick Garratt
Friday, 14 September 2001 15:14 GMT

Good article guy. Thanx for the information.

Hmmm... I\'ve got mixed feelings about this. Not to sound like the events were trivial or unimportant, but I think we need to focus on getting on with our lives - and I don\'t think altering/delaying/canceling games is the best way.

People die every day and if we were to edit and/or cancel every movie/book/game that contains acts of violence we wouldn\'t be doing anything besides that because of the large quantities of potential material.

On the other hand I can see why people would like to respect the tragic events, but how much is too much?

i don\'t understand this,
at all.
How can they show the plane crashing into the building every other hour, yet have any grievance against a video game?

thats what im talking about....
we need to move on...otherwise amerika will never get over this tragedy...why dont we ask the news to stop broadcasting re-runs of the incident  24-7?

funny how there are bloackbuster movies of tragedies such as titanic ,  jfk,  and pearl harbor,  yet games that take place in new york now have to be altered or delayed....wtf?


i guess A.I. wont be coming to dvd then...NY is completely underwater in that movie...

amerika better reconsider  all these delays and alterations and realize that all theyre doing is prolonging the country to remain in mourning and not move on....

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...lestat?

Those movies are already out. Its kinda late for them to change them now is it?

However, new, yet to be released movies and shows, have been affected. Colateral Damage, delayed. Big Touble where we have a plane with a nuclear bomb, also delayed (till next year. It was supposed to be release NEXT WEEK!), MIB2, had to change the ending, hand a scene with the now gone WTC.  24, future in doubt (had an episode with a plane exploding because of terrorist). Most likely only delayed. The Agency, one episode might have to go (in which Osama Bin Laden was mentioned). As you can see, everyone in the entertainment business has been affected.

And if your talking about DVD releases for those movies...they too, will probably be delayed (they can\'t cancel them now, Hollywood has spent too much money on these movies to do that).

[edit]And its not like America WANTS to stay in mourning, just that, for the entertainment industry, they don\'t want to appear insensitive.

Originally posted by Simchoy
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm...lestat?

Those movies are already out. Its kinda late for them to change them now is it?

no crap theyre out...which is why i said what i said...
if movies of such caliber as titanic jfk and pearl harbor can be released,  why do VIDEOGAMES have to be changed or delayed?

videogames!!

i dont man...i just dont feel it as the industry does...
as much as i was shocked and hurt at 9/11\'s tragedies,  i dont think that the rest of amerika has to pay the price of missing out on such games...the majority of us so called gamers have been waiting for MGS2 for 2 years and ,  just like that,  we might be screwed.

The game industry too, has games like Twisted Metal Black, Half-Life Counter Strike, Max Payne, or even the original MGS release as well already released, and on store selves, and I consider them, in a way, the same calibur as said movies. What do you expect the industry to do with said movies or games??????????? Take them off the selves? These games/movies have already been released, and so forth. Before the attack. But new yet to be release games/movies/shows even, can\'t pretend that what happen at the WTC didn\'t happen now. Can\'t get around it, so you must delay or change the movie/games/show.

I can understand delaying a movie if it shows the WTC getting blown up, and it\'s due next week or something. But I don\'t think this should be more than a temporary state, because we can\'t keep hiding \'sensitive\' things forever. Showing a terrorist blowing up a plane might seem harsh right now, but later it shouldn\'t be a problem as such - it is afterall (sadly) something that can happen in real life. Otherwise we shouldn\'t be able to show any realistic movies/games from now on... well, I guess this state of things will change after a while, when people have had time to distance themselves a bit from the tragedy.

there ya go...
thats what i mean...no they wont pull movies off the shelves,  although it COULD happen,  but what im saying is that if such movies were actually released, knowing that it was a remake of a tragic event in history,  then why would they delay games that arent coming out for another 2 months which have NOTHING to do with the WTC bombings?

MGS2 doesnt involve 2 planes crashing into the twin towers does it?
neither does any other game...

neither do the movies...i cant believe they pulled the spider man trailer off the theatres...that trailer has no such terrorism...it just shows spiderman capturing the bad people (which is a good thing) ..so it happens to be around the twin towers...so what?

isnt it sadder to watch the damn recorded footage on TV over and over again on the news?

A similar thing happened during the Columbine shootings, movies and show episodes got delayed/changed, game industry laid low, etc. After a year or so after that, things got back to normal in the entertainment industry. While I don\'t think we are going to return back to normacy as soon as Columbine, eventually, things will be back to "somewhat" normal and movies/games/shows/etc. will be back to what it was before (sorta, can\'t expect everything to be the same before [especially since WTC can\'t be ignored]).

I don\'t see why most of you are confused.  The United States experienced the worst terrorist attack in history just 3 days ago.  This didn\'t happen last year, or the year before, or ten years ago.  This happened 3 days ago.  

Developers and other such companies know that we as a whole are not yet ready to be reminded of this tragedy.   MGS2 was set to release in a couple months, but Konami believes that is too soon.  They believe that some of those who play the game will be "hurt" because of how it relates to the attack on the US.  And you want to know something?  Some people will be hurt when they play MGS2.  It\'s a sensitive subject right now, and it won\'t go away over night.  By delaying the game, Konami can give everyone a little more time to cope with what happened, and therefore fewer people will be hurt when the game is released.

Movies like Titanic didn\'t have to be edited or delayed because the majority of the population had already accepted that tragedy.  

I hope you all understand what I said.  These game and movie delays are nothing to worry about.  They might actually be for the better.  Any of you bother to think of that?

However its hard to ignore what just happen. Even if whats in the game doesn\'t have anything to do with the event that just took place (for example, the Buffy episode that got delayed and toned down had a shootout in a school, they were fighting vampires and so forth, not other kids). Heck, I think fighting terrorist theme might help sales of games like MGS2 or Counterstrike (think about it, fighting terrorist...TAKE THAT OSAMA!). Of coarse, some people might think what I just said is "insensitive". In an industry catering to everyone, its hard to please everyone (espeically if the people who would think what was said as insensitive is currently the majority).

I do understand and appreciate your views 182Ways. I am however, not a very big fan of \'censoring\' games and movies because of such events. I can accept it if it\'s something that\'s directly or almost directly related to the events and due very soon, but that\'s where I personally draw the line. While I understand it\'s hard for many people to see WTC in a movie/game perhaps involving violence, I just can\'t find myself in favor of altering the material. That\'s just me personally though, because I do see how it\'s probably \'best\' for the majority of people/Americans. It just isn\'t for me, but I can\'t really do anything about that and I\'ll have to accept whatever the industry decides.

And lastly, I\'m going to bed now so I won\'t be able to respond before tomorrow. And no pun intended, it\'s not like I\'m loosing sleep over how games and/or movies are affected in this difficult period. But having that said I don\'t see anything wrong in speculating about the future, and this includes the future of videogames.

\'Night folks.

i definitely understand,  and perhaps im thinking of myself here more than anything because i was looking forward to MGS2 since it was coming out on my b-day...but now i guess i better prepare myself for whats to come because from waht ive heard today,  it doesnt stop with just games,  but movies as well...
i guess its time to bust out with brood war and lord of destruction for my pc,  and buy games like klonoa 2 and rayman for now..atleast silent hill is still coming out this month and ICO.


still,  im upset at the possibility of MGS2 being delayed or altered.