Old School Games were just as bad as GTA

Deathsythe | August 07, 2008 | Video | PC Nintendo Entertainment System Misc

Cracked shows us that violence in video games did not begin with the GTA series. Back in the days of the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64- games like Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior of the Commodore, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Death Race were ripping people apart, pixel by pixel.

Make sure to check out some of the gruesome gameplay videos in the link.

The scary part is- some stores refused to stock even these gems back in the day - comparative to the situation in Australia today.

Violent video games were around long before Grand Theft Auto and Dead Rising showed kids the fun of drunk driving and hitting golf balls into a crowded food court.

Here are some early generation video games that set the bloody tone for today's games. Even if you're too young to remember these, your parents probably played them, whether they admit it or not ...

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Barbarian

News Story attached to:

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop [Wii, XBOX360]
Grand Theft Auto IV [PC, XBOX360, PS3]

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Comments

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Zero and X | August 07, 2008

I remember when the AVGN reviewed TCM, ah, good times.
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Deathsythe | August 07, 2008

Also- forgot to add, if anyone has a working copy of TCM or the original Death Race please let me know. I may be interested in purchasing it from you.

Thanks!
0 thumbs!
Bri | August 07, 2008

As years go by, what was controversial ten years ago is commonplace today.

Point and case? Mortal Kombat and Doom were both loved by gamers and picked on by politicians. Now they are less violent than GTA and Manhunt, which are now getting undeserved heat.
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kspiess | August 07, 2008

Barbarian was a sweet game.

The thing was though, back then games were such a off-mainstream thing that no really cared enough (or noticed) if some were violent, or whatever.
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HisServant77 | August 08, 2008

This isn't suprising. I mean . . . people are the creators of these games and the same desires now were there back then. Only difference is how much is more commonplace and accepted as compared to back then. And be happy they censored it back then . . . it shows that they're not just "picking" on gamers NOW.
- 0 thumbs!
  kspiess | August 09, 2008
  
  Actually that's thing -- games weren't really censored back then.
  - 0 thumbs!
    chautemoc | August 09, 2008
    
    That started around the NES-era.
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kspiess | August 09, 2008

Texas Chainsaw Massacre sure looks lame. I can't imagine that anyone back in the day could play it for more than like 20 minutes.
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Gothic Girl | August 09, 2008

Those Harvestor videos were awful. That shit would have given me nightmares. XD