Rockstar's Family-Friendly Shocker

kleptonin writes "IGN is running an article about a new game being developed by Rockstar San Diego. Unlike their previous releases, the game will feature no guns, no violence, and no swearing. The game, Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and will cost $39.99." Chris Morris, over at the CNN Game Over column, has some commentary on Grand Theft Ping Pong.

Could it be a hit?

[babbling]

This game sounds a little silly, but I think it could be a hit.

Here's why:
- It's the first ping-pong game to have come out in years.
- It's probably also the first ping-pong game to have decent graphics.
- Whilst ping-pong isn't going to attract many gamers into GTA, it could be a hit amongst asian gamers. Ping-pong is fairly popular in Asia. (at least more so than typical western sports)
- It's different. No competition. (maybe tennis games, but that's a bit of a stretch)

Re:overkill?

[JungleBoy]

I think it's hilarious that the first game I played on the Xbox 360 was Joust. JOUST! Damnit! The same game I played over 20 years ago on my fake wood veneer'ed Atari 2600. And it's still fun!

Re:My god the CNN article sucks

[Haeleth]

Soccer is european football, not the other way around. Most families probably have both footballs and soccer balls, or for you european types, footballs and footballs: round edition.

No, in Europe we have footballs and rugby balls.

Note for Americans: Rugby football is the European equivalent of American football. The main differences:

• Rugby players don't wear body armour, helmets, or silly breeches.
  
• People don't watch major rugby matches for the advertising.
  
• International rugby involves more than one country.

Re:Funny

[VJ42]

You're right, many more people complain about violence than sex or nudity (though oddly GTA is still only recognised by non-gamers because of it's huge sales figures more than it's content); I think that's a big difference between the UK and the US, you seem to worry more about nudity and less about violence, where as we could hardly care less about nudity, but are appalled gratious violence. This latter point is not so much about games, but more about the entertainment industry as a whole; particularly TV and Film (Hollywood in particular; indie films are usually allowed to get away with anything as it's considered art)

Re:You guys crack me up...

[filterban]

Virtua Tennis - at least the Dreamcast version - is indeed one of the greatest games ever made. It is a shining example of how a game can be the inverse of a GTA and do well. (In other words - do one thing and do it well, as opposed to doing many, many things in a bland way. My main beef with San Andreas is that it tries to do far too much and really doesn't do much well.)

As a serious table tennis player...

[5pp000]

... I'm impressed that they've simulated the game in such detail (down to the dust that accumulates in the center of the racket!!)... but I'd much rather play the real game and get some exercise.

Re:Mario Kart is nonviolent? who knew?

[Meph_the_Balrog]

I dunno, IMHO cartoons stopped being "apparantly" less violent in the days of "Sam & Max Hit the Road". Its funny violent, but when the cute little rabbit picks up a kitten, rams his fist down its throat, rummages around for a while, rips out a letter and then throws the kitten into a trash can, its hard to justify the diference between the two. I understand your meaning, and to a certain extent agree with it, but to the uninitiated, the diferences are small enough to be considered trivial.