Another year, another fresh batch of controversies in the gaming industry. With the advent of two brand new consoles and a whole heap of divisive games, we have been witness to a bunch of controversial moments in 2013. Somehow, we’ve managed to whittle them down to the 7 ones which raised the most ire.
Here are the 7 most controversial gaming moments of 2013.
The 7 Most Controversial Moments in Gaming of 2013
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Dragon's Crown's Ill-Proportioned Women
Dragon's Crown received some great reviews and sales to match, but one aspect of the game that came under much scrutiny was its ridiculous depiction of the female form.
Video games have a history of featuring ill-proportioned women, but Dragon's Crown's female cast is perhaps the most grossly exaggerated yet. While the males in the game also have some disturbingly bulky frames, they aren't as sexualised as those of the women. Dragon's Crown even gives you the option, if you so choose, of pointing your mouse along a female character's breast, to which she'll respond by moaning and writhing around as if she's deriving some sexual pleasure from it.
The game's artist George Kamitani responded to Kotaku writer Jason Schreier's lambasting of the art direction by posting an image he had drawn of three naked, sweaty dwarves, with the caption: "It seems that Mr. Jason Schreier of Kotaku is pleased also with neither sorceress nor amazon. The art of the direction which he likes was prepared." A nice bit of homophobia, too. Classy.
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The World's Worst Husband on Twitch
The combination of the PS4's camera and Twitch live streaming was always bound to present problems, but no one anticipated just how swiftly the system would be abused.
Just after the PS4's launch, user 'Darckobra' started streaming a video of him and his wife drinking. Then, after she had seemingly passed out drunk, he pulled out her breast and began fondling it in front of the camera. He then removed all of her clothing, leaving her naked body being broadcast to the world.
Needless to say, Twitch banned Darckobra, and are now making as many changes as they can to ensure that this kind of incident doesn't happen again.
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The Xbox One Reveal
After Sony's reveal of the PlayStation 4, everyone turned their attention to Microsoft and their unveiling of the Xbox 360's successor. Unfortunately, what followed was an unequivocal s***-show, in which it seemed like MS were trying their absolute best to turn every consumer against the Xbox One.
Whether it was the hugely restrictive DRM policies, the complete lack of games, the poorly-explained TV integration or the higher price point, the announcement was a PR disaster and one which Microsoft would painstakingly try to resolve in the following months.
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BioShock Infinite and the Vox Populi's Revolution
Depending on who you ask, BioShock Infinite was either a masterclass in writing or a self-indulgent mess. However, there is one facet of the game's narrative that mostly everyone can agree was poorly handled, and that was the Vox Populi's revolution.
Watching the Vox Populi and their leader Daisy Fitzroy turn from repressed activists to power-hungry, blood-thirsty oppressors at the drop of a hat was uncomfortable, and nowhere near fleshed out enough to be believable. BioShock Infinite's otherwise confrontational take on America's history of racism was undermined by the image of Fitzroy holding the gun to the head of a child, and prompted many to question the writers' motives.
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Metal Gear Solid V's Booty Call
Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima turned a few heads when revealing his "sexy" plans for the characters of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, followed a tweet of new female character Quiet's posterior.
The Metal Gear series has never been known for clothing its women in a practical manner, though many felt that Kojima had been far too blatant about the sexualisation of his characters this time, and so many in the western media called him out on it.
Kojima responded by saying: "You're going to notice [when you play,] but there's limited dialogue with the [Metal Gear Solid 5], and for that reason we really want to show the characteristic from each character. Sexy could be for guys, weapons, vehicles, it's really that characteristic." I guess that clears that up, then.
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Rayman Legends' Delay
It was slim pickings for Wii U owners this year, but one game they had to look forward to at the beginning of the year was the highly anticipated Rayman Legends.
However, though the game was complete, its release was delayed by a whopping 7 months in order for it to be ported to the Xbox 360 and PS3. Wii U owners were up in arms over publisher Ubisoft's decision, but they were ignored, and the Wii U was left without killer software for another few months.
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LucasArts' Closure and Star Wars 1313's Cancellation
From Super Star Wars to Knights of the Old Republic, LucasArts had given the gaming industry some of the greatest games based on a movie license ever, so when Disney announced that they were closing the studio down and the promising Star Wars 1313 had been cancelled, it was a sad day for many.
Though EA purchased the license and swiftly announced development on a new Battlefront game, it still didn't quite heal the wounds of the closure of a studio that brought us so many classic games.
