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[HeadsUp7Up]

Just to not feel left out I’ll add my 2¢ that has already been stated multiple times.

It’s a rated M game where the core gameplay is horrific violence; yet smoking is where they’re deciding to take a moral stand? I’m all for not including it but anyone that does a “good” deed and then shouts about it from the mountaintop I feel is disingenuous and only doing it for clout\recognition.

 

[Darrec]

It’s a rated M game where the core gameplay is horrific violence; yet smoking is where they’re deciding to take a moral stand?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say smoking and all it's consequences are a more real and paussible threat than getting cut in half with a chainsaw.

 

[HeadsUp7Up]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say smoking and all it's consequences are a more real and paussible threat than getting cut in half with a chainsaw.

I understand that and I know you’re being sarcastic.

My stance is it’s an adult game with adult themes. I don’t care for smoking and don’t mind they took it out. Just seems like they’re looking for a bunch of “atta boys”.

I guess it makes me think of how games have tons of violence, gore, foul language, but the second someone puts some boobs in or an uncomfortable subject like religion everybody freaks out and grabs their pitchforks.

 

[The Alien]

Only as a tool to enforce the machismo of the gruff characters. It influencing the intended mature audience to smoke is laughable. The tough guy Sargent chewing on a cigar is an iconic stereotype, it’s additive to the atmosphere of a game called ‘Gears If War’.

We are heading towards a monotone sanitised future, where you can’t condone ‘this’, and can’t cause offence with ‘that’. It won’t end.

While I pretty much agree with your 2nd paragraph, I'm a die hard Gears fan and coulnt for the life of me place smoking in the game.

Also, I am ok with this removal though. Its less about PC speak and more about health, I suppose. Rod mentioned first hand impact/perspective of the damage smoking can have.

This also wouldn't have been a blip on the radar if Stranger Things didnt make headlines the well before.

 

[ruvikx]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say smoking and all it's consequences are a more real and paussible threat than getting cut in half with a chainsaw.

The entire western world is anti-tobacco. They removed tobacco adverts from F1 cars, there has been ten trillion anti-tobacco commercials/articles/reports/messages on a daily basis for at least 2 decades (tobacco awareness as a cancer risk on a widescale "let's drill the fact tobacco is dangerous & unhealthy into the people" actually started over 50 years ago & even existed in the Third Reich!). But here we are, with some pretentious people working on a video game sequel in 2019 who've anointed themselves virtuous antitobacco advocates.

Metal Gear Solid had an anti nuclear proliferation message. So let's give Hideo Kojima the virtuous (pun intended) award. Meanwhile, bored people who just want to play a video game might just yawn & say "whatever".

 

[Darrec]

I understand that and I know you’re being sarcastic.

My stance is it’s an adult game with adult themes. I don’t care for smoking and don’t mind they took it out. Just seems like they’re looking for a bunch of “atta boys”.

I guess it makes me think of how games have tons of violence, gore, foul language, but the second someone puts some boobs in or an uncomfortable subject like religion everybody freaks out and grabs their pitchforks.

I guess you don't know about this (no one really did until yesterday) but the lack of smoking in the Gears games has been an intentional and biased decision since the very first game (make no mistake, lack of smoking isn't a new thing for Gears 5). Turns out Rod Fergusson (producer for all Gears games) has been on an eternal crusade to keep tobacco references to a minimum or not present at all due to his personal experiences with smokers.
This isn't really a "think of the children" kind of thing (at least not from the actual developers since that whole thing was said from the esports people/organization trying to get some good boy points), it's more like this particularly subject is touchy for the studio head and that's why it's not present in the games.

 

[HeadsUp7Up]

I guess you don't know about this (no one really did until yesterday) but the lack of smoking in the Gears games has been an intentional and biased decision since the very first game (make no mistake, lack of smoking isn't a new thing for Gears 5). Turns out Rod Fergusson (producer for all Gears games) has been on an eternal crusade to keep tobacco references to a minimum or not present at all due to his personal experiences with smokers.
This isn't really a "think of the children" kind of thing (at least not from the actual developers since that whole thing was said from the esports people/organization trying to get some good boy points), it's more like this particularly subject is touchy for the studio head and that's why it's not present in the games.

I stand corrected then, much ado about nothing.

 

[Darrec]

But here we are, with some pretentious people working on a video game sequel in 2019 who've anointed themselves virtuous antitobacco advocates.

Feeling dumb yet? Also read my post above.

 

[Mista]

Even though not a single character smokes in Gears 5. Rod said that smoking took away his father from him when he was 4 so maybe that’s why he made this statement. But the backlash came because since there’s no character smoking in Gears 5, why make this contradicting statement?

 

[Darrec]

Even though not a single character smokes in Gears 5. Rod said that smoking took away his father from him when he was 4 so maybe that’s why he made this statement. But the backlash came because since there’s no character smoking in Gears 5, why make this contradicting statement?

What's contradictory about it?

 

[ruvikx]

Feeling dumb yet? Also read my post above.

I don't care. If someone wishes to shove their personal drama into their product they can't expect everyone to give a shit. Tobacco is unhealthy. That's a fact. Rod Fergusson says it. Hitler's NS said it. Whoop-de-doo.

I say they should get the f-out of my video game with their preachiness because I don't need Rod to tell me tobacco is bad for my health. I already know it is & he earns zero special points for stating the obvious. It's not like Gears of War will initiate a debate about tobacco & people will suddenly realize the error of their smoking habit just because Gears says it's bad.

FYI, obesity also causes massive health problems/heart attacks, so should we expect games to ban fatties? Somone, somewhere, might just remember the medium here is "computer entertainment industry". Not "health advice for people who need gaming companies to teach them how live their lives".

 

[Mista]

What's contradictory about it?

The game has violence, shredding people with chainsaw, and heads popping but that’s okay because it’s rated M. Was smoking ever rated as family friendly? No.

 

[Dada55000]

I guess you don't know about this (no one really did until yesterday) but the lack of smoking in the Gears games has been an intentional and biased decision since the very first game (make no mistake, lack of smoking isn't a new thing for Gears 5). Turns out Rod Fergusson (producer for all Gears games) has been on an eternal crusade to keep tobacco references to a minimum or not present at all due to his personal experiences with smokers.
This isn't really a "think of the children" kind of thing (at least not from the actual developers since that whole thing was said from the esports people/organization trying to get some good boy points), it's more like this particularly subject is touchy for the studio head and that's why it's not present in the games.

You keep talking about his "personal experiences" as if they're in any way distinct from the rest of us. Verbiage you'd use for something that doesn't apply to literally most people, like fucking war not smoking.
They're not. They're bog standard. They're been there done that. They're known by most, and so much has been done against it. The platforms to express these things are also known, and available and as plentiful and far reaching as ever. His QQ-ing about smoking with his (formerly)dudebro gory cover shooter aimed at adults is pathetic and is steeped in the dumbest of nonlogic.

Feeling dumb yet? Also read my post above.

Do you? Oh no here's his shitty emotional copout as rational basis for why he's acting like a tard in need of wrangling.

And now you just turned this whole thing onto his daddy issues. Jesus, you wanna make his position seem any more 1 dimensional and petulant? He's now 1 step short of a fucking Naruto character.

 

[Dabaus]

The only thing to get any gears thread past 4 pages is a no smoking controversy. Kind of shocked how little hype there is behind this game. Most gears YouTube videos had/have millions of views, gears 5 is in the hundreds of thousands.

 

[zenspider]

Once again, proof that Vanquish > Gears.

 

[Dada55000]

The only thing to get any gears thread past 4 pages is a no smoking controversy. Kind of shocked how little hype there is behind this game. Most gears YouTube videos had/have millions of views, gears 5 is in the hundreds of thousands.

it's the most fun thing I've seen in relation to Gears 5 so far tbh.

 

[The Cartographer]

Once again, proof that Vanquish > Gears.

I wish P* and Mikami pumped out 5 Vanquish games!

 

[Riven326]

The only thing to get any gears thread past 4 pages is a no smoking controversy. Kind of shocked how little hype there is behind this game. Most gears YouTube videos had/have millions of views, gears 5 is in the hundreds of thousands.

Because it's just another Gears. Even the developers don't seem excited.

 

[Stimpak]

Ironic, considering the first time I ever saw weed gamer tags was in gears of war 1 multiplayer.

 

[Stimpak]

Hyperbole much. 10 sec smoking scene pissed u so much? You must be a hardcore smoker to get mad over this.Smoking causes stupidity and cancer confirmed.

In Gears u killed monsters with chainsaw mostly and Gears gore is cartoony and not realistic as Tlou or MK to affect youngsters in any major way. People hardly get grossed out by Gears violence.



And as far as games are concerned then 9 studios they bought are to make games only but it takes time

 

[Dabaus]

Because it's just another Gears. Even the developers don't seem excited.

If you told me Xbox was deliberately sabotaging gear 5 launch as a pretext to bring it to pc and even PS4, would they be doing anything different? Serious question.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

It's is kind of weird.

A game where you shoot, blast and blow up people into pools of blood and body chunks flying everywhere...... and characters smoking in cut scenes is like the scourge.

 

[Danjin44]

This is really weird, sure smoking is bad for you but with Gears of War sitting its weird not see people smoking especially the type of stress they would go through fighting those creatures.

 

[Riven326]

If you told me Xbox was deliberately sabotaging gear 5 launch as a pretext to bring it to pc and even PS4, would they be doing anything different? Serious question.

I don't know. Maybe this is how Xbox first party is going to be from now on with everything being on Gamepass.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Given that he has his own personal reasons. I see why he would say something or do something like this. Look at his position in the company. I smoked, but my grandpa wasn't so lucky. Smoking is bad, we should all know that. Will that stop tobacco sales? Absolutely not.

It sucks he lost his dad. My dad died too, I wasn't 4. I'd rather it not even be a thing than have him throw his own political beliefs around in the game. That would probably make it worse. I love a good story, but when they add a bunch of unnecessary stuff then it makes the plot look like its on thin ice.

I only see this type of reaction with "why I developed this this way" in American games. We don't exactly see this with Japanese games. Its like there could be a gossip column inside video games news sites now. The one person who makes headlines from Japan blocks people.

 

[CJY]

 

[danielberg]

Its getting annoying that adult rated games have mature content cut, what is it with narcissists aiming to treat adults like children.

 

[Silent Viper]

Ah

Gears isn’t at all the franchise it used to be. 4 basically bombed in sales compared to previous iterations. This new direction with their woke ideas and female lead won’t do it any favors whatsoever. The average kid gamer doesn’t give a shit about this series nowadays anyway.

Good for game pass! Now instead of dropping 60 bucks on a shit game in a shit antiquated franchise you only need to drop, what, 5?

Shit game ? When it's not even out,?

Yup smoking makes people stupid. They don't know what they talking about half of the time.

There's a story reason for Kait being lead but you have not played Gears or care about the franchise to know this. You just a troll who is here just to talk shit.

 

[Ulysses 31]

 

[Lupin3]

It's ok, I guess. It doesn't bother me, and I would never even have noticed if they didn't speak out about it.

 

[Danjin44]

Simple, most people to this day think of video games as "Toys" and it should be kids friendly regardless its rated M.

 

[zcaa0g]

Gears needs a new dev team. Hell has frozen over...I miss Cliff B as it pertains to Gears of War.

 

[Hawke502]

If you told me Xbox was deliberately sabotaging gear 5 launch as a pretext to bring it to pc and even PS4, would they be doing anything different? Serious question.

LMAO, you have to be trolling. The marketing is being handled by Rod. He is shitting the bed, sure, but you're talking shit.

 

[HotPocket69]

Ah



Shit game ? When it's not even out,?

Yup smoking makes people stupid. They don't know what they talking about half of the time.

There's a story reason for Kait being lead but you have not played Gears or care about the franchise to know this. You just a troll who is here just to talk shit.

I’ve tried playing a couple of the games and I’m not a fan. I think the characters are dumb and uninteresting and that the gunplay sucks a fat dick (no weight to the weapons, bullet sponge enemies, poor hit animations etc)

 

[Silent Viper]

LMAO, you have to be trolling. The marketing is being handled by Rod. He is shitting the bed, sure, but you're talking shit.

Rod lost his family member to smoking he talked about it in detail on Twitter. So it makes sense. Only who affected by Cancer or similar tragedy can understand this.


Also Getting cigarettes to smoke by getting influenced by someone you follow or like is pretty easyfor teenagers than getting chainsaw to cut someone.

Plus you killing monsters mostly in Gears .

 

[Jack Videogames]

This is not going far enough in the woke scale. Instead, have the bad guys smoke. And between puffs they have to laugh evily and sneer how good it feels to smoke the evil sticks of death while destroying humanity.

The final boss will munch on an appropriately sized Montecristo and you'll also have to dodge the falling ashes.

 

[sonomamashine]

it's the same game since GEARS 1 they had to change something

 

[Silent Viper]

Sony has much strictier guidelines towards nudity nd all but not one cares apparently

Report: Sony Has New, Stricter Guidelines For Sexual Content In PS4 Games

The recent toning down of sexual games on the PlayStation 4 is not an accident or a coincidence. Sony has a new set of guidelines for regulating the sexually explicit content in the games sold on its platform, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal.

www.google.com

Tlou 2 stars female protagonist and on top of it pandering to LGBT people by making Elie kissing a girl openly, but no one cares. They gonna kill Joel in Tlou2 to put Elie in front and centre but it's fine.

Kait leading charge is too problematic even though she is tied to Queen by blood and easily one of the important characters in Gears universe now, more than JD and Del.

People love to hate Xbox i get it but make sure your bashing make sense and not stupid which makes you look like a fool who just trolling and trying hard to come up with stupid reasons to shit on something you don't like.

 

[Jack Videogames]

Sony has much strictier guidelines towards nudity nd all but not one cares apparently

No, apparently nobody here in Neogaf cares about Sony's puritanism. It's sad, really but what can you do? This site has a strong Sony bias.

 

[nkarafo]

It's not that the characters in the game don't smoke. In most games you never see characters smoking, it's actually a rare sight.

So why mention it at all? Why focus so much on it and get out of your way to spell it out for everyone?

Because you want to virtue signal ofc. That's the only thing corporations, devs, etc care about these days.

 

[Hawke502]

Rod lost his family member to smoking he talked about it in detail on Twitter. So it makes sense. Only who affected by Cancer or similar tragedy can understand this.


Also Getting cigarettes to smoke by getting influenced by someone you follow or like is pretty easyfor teenagers than getting chainsaw to cut someone.

Plus you killing monsters mostly in Gears .

i know, i was talking about the marketing

 

[Iced Arcade]

I don't even remember any smoking in the previous games and i recently just played them again.


should have just not included any smoking and not say anything and not a single person would have batted and eye.

 

[Shinobitron]

I understand where the man is coming from, My Aunt died while riding her motorcycle, anytime I see one, no matter what I have to close my eyes or do something to erase it from my mind. Trauma is a real thing and can be lifelong.

This isn't a big deal to me, Now if he starts censoring other things because of personal or political beliefs then i'm out.

 

[Ten_Fold]

Just trade cigarettes for weed, gotta be relaxed killing each other.

 

[Azula]

This is dumb and misguided. Yes back in the day, regulation was needed because smoking companies were purposely targeting children. There was also an uncomfortable relationship between advertisers and media. Meaning there used to be targeted advertising in tv shows or movies.

That hasn’t been the case in a long time. The fact we are trying to now erase smoking from stories, is stupid. In the real world people still smoke. Fictional characters reflect the real world.

I don’t like this trend where people are trying to erase things from fiction. It’s a childish mentality. Acting like something doesn’t exist, doesn’t stop it from existing. We also need to give people more credit. No one is watching Hopper in Stranger Things and taking up smoking.

If they do, then they aren’t very smart. As far as kids go, this is why parents should monitor what they watch and be honest with them. Have discussions with them and have a close relationship with them. You know, parenting.

I hate smoking, and this won’t really effect me. But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen people suggest we eliminate things from fiction. Shitty people can exist in fiction and do shitty things. It doesn’t mean the creator endorses that behavior or is “glorifying” anything. And I’m not the biggest fan of the “glorifying” or “normalizing” argument either.

 

[Shai-Tan]

Smoking is often used as a device to give characters an excuse to be loitering for a conversation to happen because the characters are apparently too cool to otherwise have a discussion

Some of those characters could just as easily have a toothpick or whatever in their mouth. Would Clint Eastwood or Lee Van Cleef not be cool in westerns if they weren't smoking? It seems to me that devs follow tropes that form out of pastiche of old action movies because they don't know how to create characters with a real stage presense

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Can’t say I have ever thought of Marcus Fenix when I fire up a Capstan Full Strength. But whatever.

 

[mckmas8808]

I understand that and I know you’re being sarcastic.

My stance is it’s an adult game with adult themes. I don’t care for smoking and don’t mind they took it out. Just seems like they’re looking for a bunch of “atta boys”.

I guess it makes me think of how games have tons of violence, gore, foul language, but the second someone puts some boobs in or an uncomfortable subject like religion everybody freaks out and grabs their pitchforks.

Or maybe the CEO of the company just don't want smoking in his game?..... And maybe he woke up one day and wanted to speak on that in hopes that it gets a conversation going about creators depicting smoking in their content. It's a win-win situation for him. There's no downside to anything he did here.

 

[48086]

Am I missing something here? I see one producer make a comment on a change but you apparently see an entire org spending more time inserting things into games they can then go out and publically pat themselves on the back for. That is except for the significant fraction of that org supporting Halo and Forza. I thought games were art and creators would naturally insert things based on how they see the world. Apparently that is bad if those things reflect some candy ass bullshit.

And just because it's a mature game, doesn't mean kids won't play it so the adult game argument is not really relevant. Smoking is gross and does nothing but damage. It should be snuffed out in all representations. I say this as a former dumb fuck teenager/young adult smoker. If people want to smoke, fine, just keep it far enough away that I can't smell it. And stop fucking flicking spent butts out the windows of cars.

This is yet another case of the internet finding some minor detail and making it into something to whine about. As at least one other poster stated, almost nobody would have noticed the change if it wasn't mentioned. All this bitching is just chiding a creative type for not liking smoking just like a billion + other people.

Yes, you are missing something. The Xbox team has been doing a ton of virtue signaling lately.

I'm not sure what games being art or not being art has to do with my preference to play said games.

And just because it's a mature game, doesn't mean kids won't play it so the adult game argument is not really relevant.

Lol, yeah that should go for all forms of media, right? We need to remove any vice from every piece of media ever! B...but muh games as art, right?

Smoking is gross and does nothing but damage

Yeah same thing with eating Twinkies or 80% of the food Americans consume. We must remove all sugary food from video games!

I say this as a former dumb fuck teenager/young adult smoker.

Ok, so because you made stupid choices media should be censored? Sounds logical.

All this bitching is just chiding a creative type for not liking smoking just like a billion + other people

No, it's about being annoyed when people in the games industry are desperate for good boy internet points.

Also, just an fyi, cigarette smoke gives me horrible headaches destroys my sinuses. Guess what? That means I stay from smoke instead of being a jackass and trying to force people not to do something that's perfectly within their right to do.

 

[Wolfgang Jr]

They'll probably be sucking on JUULs and blowing fat vape clouds.