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Fox News Takes On Green Gaming

Gamers don't expect too much from Fox "Mass Effect Is Hardcore Porn" News, but the station's recent coverage of environmentally conscious games is like jumping down a crazy rabbit hole.

You can watch the segment for yourself below, but here's the short version: Games like SimCity Societies and the satirical McVideoGame are supposedly promoting a liberal agenda by encouraging players to consider the impact of climate change. This constitutes using scare tactics to secretly convert children into tree-hugging hippies.

The view is put forward by guest T.J. McCormack, whose credentials include being a radio host and a parent. Not, as it turns out, any sort of environmental expert. Also, many of the games referenced came out years ago; SimCity Societies and Flower (which isn't mentioned but shown) were 2007 releases, and the McVideoGame came out in 2006. I didn't know outrage needed such a long incubation period.

[Source: Gamertag Radio via The Escapist]

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Comments
  • Honestly I always felt like that stuff in games did seem like propaganda. I was slightly annoyed any time a Civ3 tile changed due to "global warming". They never changed any tiles for "global cooling" and that is just as credible of a phenomena
  • Fox News just made me punch myself in the face.
  • Every time a story about fox news hits the net, i get a little more scared for the u.s. I just hope the lovely folks on g.i are the majority. peace and love.

  • i like how they cut to another video of a flower peacefully gliding through a meadow as he mentioned kids freaking out with sweaty palms.  it's that kind of top-notch editing that really drives the point home that keeps me coming back to fox news again and again

  • Alright, I've said this before and I'll go ahead and say it again since no one wants to listen. KEEP YOUR POLITICAL RHETORIC OFF THE SITE GAME INFORMER! I could care less if you're a liberal or conservative leaning magazine, just don't let it show in your reporting. You're the number one gaming magazine in the world, you're better than this and honestly it makes you all sound stupid. Are you all so shallow in your political thinking that you can't comprehend that when you talk garbage about Fox News and the Republican Party, you're alienating a percentage of your audience's political beliefs. This kind of crap is the only problem I've ever had with Game Informer, a magazine that I thought was above this left vs. right garbage. I know you all probably don't think it's your job to be unbiased on this stuff, but you should really think about trying because I'm slowly loosing respect for you all as journalists and I bet I'm not the only one.
  • Mass Effect is hardcore porn.

    Bulletstorm causes rapes.

    Sim City Societies pushes liberal agendas.

    How is this actually getting to be MORE asinine?

    This crap needs to stop before it teaches gamers to be liberals "just because the conservatives are idiots" about games, which causes people to be narrow-minded about politics thinking one side is always right and one side always wrong.

    This jackasses are continuing an anti-gaming crusade started in the 90's by the lefties.  

  • How could ANYONE consider Flower (of all effing games) a brainwashing tool? Jesus

  • This guy...what a tool.

  • T.J. McCormack reminds me of the crazy religious people spouting nonsense to hear their own voices on street corners. At least the Fox host wasn't in total agreeance with him.

  • Who honestly cares about if kids play these games?! I don't know any kids who would play games like this. Sadly, most kids I know just sit down and play Call of Duty. Why haven't they decided to instead cover something like, say, the fact that children are learning more about how to kill instead of being environmentally friendly?

  • I'm sick of Fox's bias...

  • I'm so f***ing sick of the news channels trying to analyze video games as propaganda. They hate this, Mass Effect, Bulletstorm, and any other game they've had a problem with because they don't understand it. And since they don't understand it, it apparently is bad. They need to grow up and calm the f*** down.

  • It's almost laughable how dumb they are.

    Almost.

  • Pardon me while I bang my head against something.
  • Wow, he sounds like an expert...

  • -_-...this is just ridiculous.

  • well this is foxedup..
  • I have no faith in the world anymore..  This guy is a foxing idiot!

  • Everybody here that are making fun of that poor radio host guy really needs to grow up. He is entitled to his opinion, and while its perfectly fine to disagree with him, its quite another to say he's "retarded" or "has no Dick". Does this guy have a point? I think so, but that's just my opinion, and I'm not going to assault your personal integrity just because of a little disagreement over a videogame. I always thought that us gamers were mature, and I hope the people on this site who are saying these vile statements are a minority, but the comments on this page have made me wonder.
  • Everyone! We have gone from murderous, violent, pyschos....to tree hugging hippies! well at least that is more positive. YAY Progress!