Cage: "Censorship in games is a problem, the industry is where cinema was in the '50s"

The videogames industry is still far from society wide recognition, and David Cage weighed in the problems of censorship in comparison to cinema.

While he was able to shake them off for Beyond: Two Souls, he still thinks they're significant and constraining for authors.

[Crossbones]

Damn Right

[Derekvinyard13]

Has cage played gta V?

[fluxmulder]

Apparently not. Probably hasn't played Manhunt either.

[Pushagree]

Just about to say the same thing. Didn't know that topless strippers, torture scenes, and full frontal male nudity fell into the "restrictive media" category.

[minimur12]

I think he's talking about the 10 second clip that was cut from his game, seeing his interviews/lectures he gives, once he has a vision he doesn't change it. He was probably really pissed because of those cuttings, because they wanted to secure a 16+ rating

[Irishguy95]

Cage doesn't play games, he only talks about how they are childish and not good enough for his standards.

[3-4-5]

There is horrible stuff on regular basic cable and then those news stations which come on after those horrible shows about murdering, start complaining about video game violence.

It's just dumb.

[Alexious]

Agreed. There are prejudices against video games, sadly.

[Vitalogy]

And knowing that he didn't even stood his ground to fight for his product, instead he surrended and censored his game.

Like others mentioned already, GTA series speak for itself so it's not the industry that censors it's the creators themselves. QD admited that in order for the game to be rated for 16 they had to censor. Well mr cage, GTA series is rated 18+ and still sells like hot cakes, so your attempt to sell to a vast majority of audience failed anyway.

[Alexious]

Actually, if you read the article, he says the complete opposite.

[Codey47]

Completely agree...tbph it's the parents job to keep up to date with "training" of their children.

The amount of parents going into their local game stores to pick up a copy of GTA5 with their kids...was unbelievable

On Sons of Anarchy you can murder someones face but they can't say "fuck" whilst doing so.

[kevnb]

You want to work with big publisher and get actors like Ellen page you got to deal with big publishers who aren't about to risk themselves so you can be edgy. Same thing happens in movies, don't like it then pay for it yourself.

[Feocart]

This had nothing to do with the publisher, it was about various countries outright banning the game from sale.
"On Beyond there was a struggle, not with Sony, but with some rating boards in a few territories, they still think that videogames are toys for kids, even if you say 'I’m not doing Mario or Sonic, I’m doing a mature game for a mature audience so let me talk about these things, I won’t do that just for the sake of shocking, I’m an author and I want to tell my story'. And actually sometimes censorship can get in the way and just prevent you to do what you want to do as a writer."

[kevnb]

I missed that sentence sorry, I think debating this will get pretty complicated so Ill jut throw in the towel lol.

[Riderz1337]

Thanks for proving you didn't read the article. He says the problem was not with Sony (the publisher).

[brianunfried]

Maybe they should stop selling M rated games at Toys R Us, they don't sell R rated movies at Toys R Us.

[360ICE]

Call Obama fast.

[kratos_TheGoat]

love him or hate hime david cage know how to make games. love beyond 2 soul.

[InTheLab]

He needs to step back and allow someone else from QD to speak on his games. I'd bet that most of those ridiculously low scores for the game were received because the critics hate Cage. I know for a fact that's the case with Dtoid...

[porkChop]

Many people, myself included, find him way too pretentious. He thinks he's better than anyone else else, and that everyone else is stupid and don't know how to make games. He can never just make his game and keep quiet, he always has to throw the rest of the industry under the bus. That's how he promotes his games. It's pathetic really.

If more people from Quantic Dream were allowed to come out and talk about the games, I can guarantee that the studios image would vastly improve. Cage pisses a ton of people off, and it reflects very poorly on the rest of the studio unfortunately.

[kratos_TheGoat]

I will support his vision of his workbut sometimes I want him to stfu

[thelaughingwiseman]

That's why he couldn't show Jodie prostitute herself! Damn shame -.- lol

[CrossingEden]

The industry is where cinema was in the 50s? Uhhhhhhh, compare the violence of the video game industry, to the violence in the 50s.

[No FanS Land]

all that violence in many games os mostly over the top or mindless, it's not really disturbing.

[mydyingparadiselost]

I'm really tired of Cage talking about similarities between games and movies.

[Allsystemgamer]

He's a failed film director. What do you expect?

[Moncole]

This guy loves comparing games to movies so much. He should just start making movies and shows instead. He is half way there with Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain.

[Codey47]

Except a movie doesn't have you respond to a swift half circle on the anologue stick to put a plate away.

If I never hear the name Jason in spoken form again.....=bliss

[Allsystemgamer]

He tried making movies. He failed at it.

[Dagobert]

Emotions.

[Ripco_Keller]

Yeah.. we don't quite have it THAT bad. We're just blamed for everything wrong with kids these days. ...And with adults.

Useful notes for y'all:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/...

http://www.artsreformation....

[Killzoner99]

David Cage is a storytelling genius that has broken many barriers this industry has put into place that have been restricting games for years. I find it very sad that people like him have to overcome such adversity to deliver compelling stories and gaming experiences. No other developer has bridged the gaming an cinema worlds. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Can you imagine the game this guy could make if he had full control of his projects?

[GameCents]

Except that even the story focused reviews of Beyond derile his storytelling as goofy and yet taking itself too seriously.
The man should let other people do the writing for a change, it isn't his strong point.

[Juste_Belmont]

I'd rather watch films from the 50s than some of the uninspired stuff that's thrown at us today. I'm against censorship of any kind, but Cage knew what he was getting into when he decided to make video games. The ratings system wasn't invented while he was making his games and as far as I know it's completely voluntary, at least in the US. Not being rated may prevent stores from stocking your game, but in this day and age I don't think that would necessarily prevent you from selling it digitally or from your own website.

[darx]

Would you please go away already! His games are snoozers to say the least!

[fsfsxii]

I'm happy with censorship in movies and TV shows, as long as it keeps shows like game of thrones off tv i'm good.

[Ashunderfire86]

Here is an idea...Why not have every game start with a age verification screen, where they can just type in the exact age of the person. The person's age should be based on his or her online account, that could also be saved as offline to the system. That way no kids can just put in any age from many websites like gamespot, gametrailers, and ign(Why have a age verification screen at all if anybody can type in any age?).In order for the kids to play the mature game,these kid has to know the age of their parents, and even passwords for extra protection. This idea is much better than just putting a rating on a game cover, that many parents ignore and buy the game for their kids anyway. I should take this idea to David Cage(Hope to see him next E3), and the rest of the game developers. Perhaps, taking this idea to the ESRB. I digress.

When I was at E3, I talk to a QA Tester(my game design teacher's friend) about the issues of censorship in games, and he said, "We just got to defend this industry we love no matter what happens." The Game Industry is bigger than the Movie Industry, so why are games still treated as a kids thing? It is totally BS man.

The American rating system is as stupid, as the European and Asian rating system. America censors women's tits, pussy and butt, but don't mind too much to show men's bare naked chest and butt for laughs! America will never censor out violence, but they will censor out nudity? Europe will censor out violence, but don't mind nudity? China gives you a straight up edited movie that cuts the movie in half, and destroys the point of watching the movie or show. Look at Debby from the show Dexter who is known for her profanity, that makes her character. Even in the Japanese porn(some parts of Japan they say) they just censor out genitals and keep everything else uncensored? What? I don't know about you guys, but I am tired of these BS censoring that makes no sense whatsoever. Australia too beats everything in censoring games.

[Godlovesgamers]

Wow, youre a real classy guy, arent you?

[Dante81]

It's not that bad. They had the hays code back then. The industry is more like the late 60s.

[HonestDragon]

Not just movies, but music and comics too. Remember how people flipped their lid when Elvis had that hip dancing or when The Beatles came around? Parents were shielding their children from something they don't understand or like. And look at how it is today. We regard those people as idiotic because Elvis' dancing wasn't anything explicit or graphic and The Beatles have fantastic albums.

Comics faced the same scrutiny. As soon as World War II was over, comics adapted to different forms of fiction which freaked out parents. Science fiction and fantasy were targeted as being against religion or America (which of course was crap). Comics were also looked at as the cause for kids getting into accidents because they supposedly would mimic what superheroes did. Nowadays, comics are a common entertainment medium held up to high standards and for newcomers to them through the amazing films they have had. *cough* The Avengers *cough*

The difference these days is that video games are the new scapegoat. They are the new Elvis, the new comics. The industry gets targeted because the news media, politicians, and parents see a good victim. I agree that games shouldn't worry about taking chances. How else can art be taken the direction a person or team wants if they worry about censorship? Regardless of what picture a particular group wants to paint on a piece of media, there will be those who support it and possibly do so in a major capacity.

[dcj0524]

Well said.