“This game is an atrocity,” an unnamed mother said.
“I think it’ll make a person become insane,” another said.
“Why would they even make something like this?” a third mother asked.
These women were part of a focus group study conducted by Electronic Arts for its new game “Dead Space 2,” in which the moms’ best reactions were recorded and used in commercials for the horror- and gore-filled franchise.
EA recently announced the game has sold more than 2 million units since its Jan. 25 release, and local independent retailer R. U. Game?, 5186 SW 34 St., is sold out. Based on sales, it’s clear that EA’s marketing strategy was a success, despite recent controversy over the violent content of video games.
“It [Dead Space 2’s commercial] was definitely more viral than usual commercials,” said John Kelley, shift manager at R. U. Game?.
But Kelley raised an eyebrow at the commercial’s target market.
“It seemed like it was marketed toward a younger audience,” he said of the game, rated M for Mature. “I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, because a lot of companies do that.”
Kelley said the store has a policy of never selling a Mature-rated game to those under 17.
Joshua Javaheri, lead technical artist at Trendy Entertainment, an independent video game development studio in Gainesville, criticized the media’s recent negative reaction to “Bulletstorm,” another controversial game, with violence and sexual humor.
“The reason people will play games like ‘Bulletstorm’ and ‘Dead Space 2’ is because they’re so over the top,” Javaheri said.
Clay Calvert, an expert on First Amendment rights, disagrees with Javaheri and said he thought EA’s honesty might do more harm than good.
“That type of marketing is precisely the thing that gets the attention of lawmakers and brings the video game industry under legislative scrutiny,” said Calvert, director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project and professor of mass communication at UF. “To that extent, it is a terrible marketing campaign,” Calvert said.
Javaheri isn’t too worried about legislative scrutiny, saying that so far lawmakers haven’t succeeded in passing anything that hasn’t been challenged by the law.
“I feel if you don’t like something, don’t play it,” he said.
