In 1996, Bob Jimenez of UPN 13 News, Los Angeles interviewed the creators of the Mortal Kombat series about video game violence and its effects on children.
😂😂😂 I played mk in the 90s and mk 11 now. Mk 11 has stuff in it that I like but Im definitely like “now that is disgusting!” But long story short if you don’t like it don’t buy it.
Poor Ed Boon i feel sorry for the shit he went through for all of this. He's a true rebel made one of the best fighting games of all time and went through hell and back for it!
It's sad to see that decades later the news and so called parents still doing the same stupid shit and the game was never aim for kids and the parents shouldn't blame the developers they should look into a mirror because the failure is all theirs
Ed is right! I remember playing MK 1 2 and 3 for the genesis when I was only 5 years old and I NEVER used violence in real life or thought killing was ok. People try to blame video games and movies for all the bad stuff in the world!
@1:32 if I were Ed, I would say "oh, so all these mediums have violence and WE are the ones that have to stop? How about YOU stop showing violence on the news since the news is so concerned about the children". And I know that answer might come off wrong, but I legit got pissed hearing that ignorant question.
lol i like how ed boon says that there will be a line to how violent it gets when the new one just came out and its arguably the most graphic and gruesome MK of them all
"You're very young guys" What was the relevance of that? Yes, they're very young guys whose combined income from these games could probably have bought the entire UPN network.
@yoe91 completely agree, I find it annoying how older people find shows/movies like The Sopranos, Scarface, The godfather, etc. to be masterpieces (which they are) but disregard that there is violence and malevolence in those movies/shows,seems hypocritical to me, some games (just like movies) have a good story with the gore, others have mindless, but fun (as it's intended to be) killing which just serves as entertainment, besides...older people hate not being in the loop of video games imo
I hope critics now a days realize that kids know the difference between seeing someone get killed in a game or movie and seeing someone actually get killed right in front of them.
It still aggrivates me to this day that the controversy about Mortal Kombat's blood and fatallites steemed from a misunderstanding caused by parents, teachers and others who never played the game
I was a kid when Mortal Kombat first came out. I admit I was infatuated with it because of the adult content that it had in it; The blood, the violence, the fatalities, all those factors are what made the game of what it is. It was around that time the people realize that the game itself was so violent the kids it spark up a huge controversy of whether they should continue selling the game or pull it from the shelves. I even remember that they were stupid out there that committed violent acts or sometimes murder and said they got the idea from Mortal Kombat. Because of that, Mortal Kombat became the Scapegoat of every of juvenile's bad decision. Sounds like bullshit right???? I already knew that is was just a game and that was it. I never took further than what it was. I'm glad that everyone has stop jumping on Ed Boon and John Tobias for there creation. Maybe there are more games out there that are getting more attention, I don't know. Who cares!!! Just play the game!!
@yoe91 good point on the visuals, I can easily feel indifferent to an exaggerated character like a big gears of war guy, or an ice ninja in mortal kombat getting chopped in half, I suppose when every game looks like L.A. noire or Heavy Rain with brutal violence is when i'll cringe a little, but like you said, still fiction, look at the Saw movies or any other horror movie, still fiction, maybe in our eyes, but people will always complain...people should just have a little more trust in us!
@91aztecking He did say they will draw a line, but he never said what that line was or that they crossed it yet. He was also not under oath here. And even if he was, people often do what they said they wouldn't do after it's been 10-20 years since that promise. Times change.
@4everSolidSnake Yeah man. Basically, the point is "do you feel the same way about blood on the screen as you do in real life ?" No joke, I JUST came back from a blood test, they filled up 7 tubes off my veins, felt like I was going to die. But MK fatalities leave me indifferent, as it does all kids. No controversy here.
I remember this. Eddie Murphy also had to put out an apology in the 80s because his 'Delirious' special had offensive language. Tropic Thunder got backlash back then as well because of the "Never go full retard" thing...Turns out people have always been offended by stuff and it isn't just nowadays.
Boon said there's a point where he'd draw a line in video game violence; obviously having two guys split a human being in half crotch up, while the victim is still alive, like a Thanksgiving wishbone is not that line yet.
AWKWARD interview.... Violence itself isn't to blame. e.g.: Someone yelling at someone is "violent" to some extent. Then there's a few levels above: i.e. ripping the torso off, head off, burning body...etc. But MK doesn't desensitize; we still find it horrible in real life to see a dead body. And it never goes beyond the "limit". That limit is pretty well defined after all: no incest/rape/pedophilia/actual torture etc...
I just learned this: In MK3 there is a character named Noob Saibot. Tobias spelled backwards is Saibot and Boon spelled backwards is Noob. They must've really liked this character if they named it after themselves.
its like smoking...when you smoke too much sooner or later your body starts to feel uncomfortable about it, that you further want to belch when you see a pack of cigarettes...the same with violent games... ...but to tell you honestly i still think ts kind of personal thing...if you arent out of your mind and can control yourself, calm and concentrated...well...then no violent game can make you out of your mind...
The Parent Groups and Reproters from the 90s would have rioted in the streets at the sight of games like Grand Theft Auto, the Call of Duty Series, MK9, God of War, Gears of War, Bioshock (the moral choice system) Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead
I would have most likely answered if I were in their position: If kids or whoever plays violent games like mortal kombat isn't smart enough as to know it is fiction and only a videogame and that your life keeps going after you're done playing you better stay away from any kind of framed construction that displays images(monitors)
@infinity34 oh yeah totally ... trust me i love all the mortal kombat games (even the failures mythologies and special forces) i especially love the new one ! :D
...and i'm also so looking forward MK9 , i so wish inprovement of character creation system ! ...i want to be able to create characters of any shapes and nationalities, i want to be able to give my character textures like stains veins freckles etc...(sorry if spelled wrong...) ...also i'd be nice if they could bring back all CLASSIC mk characters back and remove all that wannabe from MK armageddon, also add some characters from movies and commercials...like Taja and Siro from Conquest etc...
@youngcnyce over 15 years later... on one of the biggest companies of the world WARNER BROTHERS! picked up MK! and supports their violence! MORTAL KOMBAT IS COMING BACK WITH ITS OLD 2D STYLE FIGHTING WITH MORE BLOOD AND VIOLENCE FOR MK9! POSSIBLY AN ADULTS ONLY RATING THIS TIME!
the news guy said if he was going to draw the line and stop making more games and ed boon said yea....but look now how many he has made. Mortal Kombat is the best!
No, because they don't give a fuck what society thinks. I will always love MK and it hasn't "warped" me when I was younger. These products test parenting skills for the better.
Actually, they draw the line... Boon says in the interwievs of the new MK, that all the fatalities are tested and revised, in the phase of "design"... he says: "We know when the fatality is going to far"... Tanks to the Elder Gods (XD), the line is higher than rip te arms, and use them as weapons for decapitating your oponent... O man... Thats MK.
@4everSolidSnake As a matter of fact, the so called masterpieces about Italian American gangsters and mafia are real, based on a reality. I'd say it's more shocking to watch a guy wake up with his own horse's head on his blood-soaked bed (knowing mafia people actually deal that way) than seeing something more brutal but 1) fictional and 2) in 3D graphics. Maybe in 20yrs, the PS-17 will be out and display graphics as real as a film. Then, that might be problematic...still fiction though....
