The popular violence in video games debate rises again after a recent string of gun crime attacks in the US, but what’s more surprising is the number of franchises named which typically remain a fair distance from the fray. UK newspaper The Guardian has featured 50 of the best-selling video games of 2012 and pitted them against each other in a chart showing varying levels of violence in gameplay.
Joining the battlefield are popular Nintendo franchises such as Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Super Mario 3D Land and Wii Sports Resort amongst others. The official ESRB rating gives them an ‘E’ for everyone, but they have underlying levels of ‘cartoon violence’ with a pinch of ‘comic mischief’. According to the chart only 32 per cent of the 50 listed titles contained no violence while 38 per cent were listed as ‘E’ by the ESRB, and 38 per cent contained realistic firearms. If ‘cartoon violence’ is excluded, just over half of the games listed carry a violent label. Of course, The Guardian is clearly underlining the core violence that exists in video games, but is slipping a few bananas behind your vehicle in Mario Kart a step too far?
Couldn’t agree more.
But hittler had a gamecube thats why he did the genocide in europe. And genghis khan had a ps2 whit katamary damacy.
What I find funny is that this posse of retards is pretty much the same one that is against actual disarmament, and they believe they can solve the problem of crime and homicide/suicide by attacking a completely unrelated topic instead of, you know, either disarming the public or at least providing job opportunities and psychological health insurance.
That’s just stupid hitter didn’t have a GameCube it was the nes and game boy pocket color that cause him to start the holocaust everyone know that I think it was most because of to much Tetris cuz we all know the underlying violence of how stacking the blocks really means pummeling ppl under your heal and then when u get enough making them disappear by gassing them and burning them until u reach lvl 10 could u imagine what would have happened if hittler would have reached lvl 10
Hittler did had a nes but it was during the building of the nazi party. He got a gamecube when he rise to power and invaded poland then hittler got mad cause stalin got a ps2 to play madden. Is all in the text books.
I’m amazed how nobody can spell “Hitler”.
exactly
o_o retards..
xD really?
Yeah, GTA and COD are not violent, the culprits are Mario Kart and Animal Crossing!
Fucking ridiculous.
Sounds like someone didn’t read the source article.
@zorfendor sounds like someone doesn’t understand sarcasm.
…this country has gone full blown retarded. They wouldn’t know violence if it blew up a TNT in their face.
Seriously, Mario Kart? A fu**ing facing Nintendo (a family oriented company) game which only violence is throwing bob-ombs at somebody but doesn’t explicit terrorism or gore at any point? But they didn’t say anything about its clones like Sega & Sonic Racing, Diddy Kong Racing, Mod Racers, Little Big Planet Racing, shall I continue? Or is this comment giving these stuck up violence inducing fu**ers a headache with facts they cannot overlook. The system and people behind it is a fail and this is one of them.
And Animal Crossing, I have never played one in my life but I know its not violent nor show anything wrong anywhere. Whoever said these are violent needs to get bitch slapped nonstop for a week and have their jobs taken away.
Hang on, some words are accidentally misspelled due to my dumbass iPad keyboard.
They’re not saying these are violent, you idiot. They’re comparing the contents of them games and other games.
Yeah right. In Sonic, you shoot drones, get electrocuted, run into giant blowfish, crash into meteors, blown up by fireworks, smacked by mallets, obliterated by missiles, chopped by axes, burned by hot wheels (no pun intended), and road killed by sports cars. XD
I remember a time I went fishing in Animal Crossing, then changed the wallpaper in my house. It was a fucking massacre.
Don’t say that shit! Scares the shit outta me!
Some one stole my fossils and i went on a killing spree only to know that i hide them in another place!
Great now I can’t sleep.
You can piss your neighbour off by hitting them with your butterfly net too!
hahahaha!! love this one
I remember when I hadn’t played the game in a year, and everyone held a hang festival for my character, and it said “Game over” with the head of the character with red eyes crying bloody tears, or some other shitty creepypasta stuff like that.
I guess mario kart could influence road rage lol?
I threw a turtle at a guys windshield cus he was cutting me off. That was admittedly , a pretty horrific event…
LOL Can’t say I haven’t imagined doing that a few times. xD
Mario Party is the most violent game ever created, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
Every day that pass i understand why Nintendo is not having a press conference in E3.
Sorry, but that’s a ridiculous headline. They’re doing a rundown of violence in the top 50 best selling games. Mario Kart and Animal Crossing are obviously on that list, and are both listed as not having violence and only comic mischief.
THIIIIIS ^
Hey. Stop reading stuff the way you’re supposed to.
Covers his face whit a Spider man mask and likes animal crossing? You must be satans pawn.
after reading this i can literally feel my brain cells dying
You didn’t even read it; it’s nothing to do with Mario Kart and Animal Crossing being supposedly violent.
Thats really stupid.
You guys are reporting this wrong. They are listing the top 50 games in sales from 2012 and what labels they fall under (with 68% being violent). The only category Mario Kart and Animal Crossing fell under was Comic Mischief. They didn’t fall under any violent categories. They didn’t “name” anyone – they are using top 50 games in terms of number of units sold last year. AC and MK7 are naturally among that top 50, and are used as examples of games that AREN’T considered violent…
comic mischief is in almost all cartoon looking games. although nintendo do not make m rated or violent games they still get lashed for their games. amazing.
Eternal Darkness, Geist, the Wii U version of Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge, and Zangeki no Regenleiv says hi!
Le Sigh. So, why don’t we start complaining about how there’s no ratings on books. They have violence in them. How about we start putting a disclaimer on certain types of classical music such as the 1812 Overture because they have cannons in it. So sad……
The west getting more stupid each year, I can see it just taking a walk outside, pathetic…
Seriously? There definitely has to be at least 50 games sold last year that are more violent than ANIMAL CROSSING. OH SHIT, I CAN USE PITFALLS TO DROP MY NEIGHBORS INTO HOLES THAT THEY CAN EASILY GET OUT OF.
Alright, alright, I definitely did read this wrong. I feel stupid now. xD
Anything to make headlines. Always playing the blame game and not trying to actually fiz the problem. The problem likely lies in the pyche of the people doing these crimes and likely doesn’t stem from playing mario kart or call of duty. Gee, while we are at it. People used and still do hunt for food on a regular basis, does that mean they are going to go mental and kill people? Probably not. If you have never played a video game with violence in any variety (if you can find one) or watched any tv/movie without it and are vegan as well does that mean you are incapable of getting a weapon and going mental, no. Solutions, not blaming is what we need.
Oh, btw, a country with very little violent crime is Cuba, they are communist, and if you do commit a crime you are prosecuted, tossed in prison and people are hep accountable for their actions. The US has some of the highest crime rates in the world violent and non, also one of the most forgiving judications. Coincidence?
Thats because in cuba the crimes are made by the goverment not the people. Learn politics it would help you in the future.
It’s not The Guarding trying to make headlines; MNN has distorted this story beyond belief.
so it’s ok for kids to tackle people to the ground in a game but a little comedy is seen as wrong
Once again people don’t read the actual article and comment on just the attention-grabbing headline. Unsurprisingly then the said idiots start using memes or fail videos to express their outrage which just aren’t amusing in the slightest apart from how they are unintentionally proof that they themselves have failed. The majority of people who comment on this site are just moronic. Truly stupid.
Ok fine, but, how is your comment related to this article? (besides making criticism to others), just wondering. ;)
Mario kart and animal crossing are too violent to my child. Now i don’t give them play those games. Said nobody ever!
WHAT?!?!?! (o_0)
Play GTA and then play Animal Crossing and then we will talk.
I mean come on.
am sick and tired of the media demonizing gaming, it’s an easy scapegoat for terrible incidents when people want to avoid the difficult truths.
*facepalm*
I give up, see ya *flys to the moon*
It’s true! i used to be a nrmal driver but ever since i played mario kart i cant help throwing red shells and bananas at other drivers.
Don’t kid yourselves. Mario Kart deserves to be on this list. Just not for the in game violence. More for the harsh physical violence it brings out in the people playing with each other.
I’ll die if they say Kirby’s Epic Yarn is too violent! lol
I dunno. The Kirby series is pretty nightmare inducing when you get real deep into it.
You could it’s a….”Nightmare in Dreamland”
YEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH
How about Kirby’s Dream Collection with Zero/Zero 2 bleeding when he gets damaged or cuts himself for an attack?
How the humanity could pass the Tom & Jerry and the Coyote & the Roadrunner generation? Those must be a really violent years
What about Paperboy?…
That game really was extremely violent…
Destroying neighbourhoods with newspapers…
Cool chart I suppose. With great graphics..comes great comic mischief!
i am not going there funny people
saw a vid response of alphaomegasin and he is like “have these people gone full retard”
The guardian is obviously out of touch with video games.
Well, shit, I played Mario kart and the firsts Mortal Kombat games when I was 7 and I afraid to even kill a cockroach.
Sometimes I want to facepalm so bad to actually think that these people have that kind of mind
Stupid… Videogames don’t have anything to do with violence in the world. Studies have actually proven this! If anything religion is the problem in the world. It is why we have holy wars (Jihads) and terrorists (Al Qaeda, etc..) 💋
(¬_¬)Yeah Mario Kart And Animal Crossing made me skin cats and shot people
Reading this gave me a cancer…and I could be in more danger too.
But really, WHAT?! Come on. There is a level of stupidity that you shouldn’t break, but they just annihilated the retard bar.
Is the Guardian mentally retarded? I mean, seriously, are they? My aunt is mentally retarded and she could tell you there isn’t violence in these video games. Mario Kart has some shells flying and a few explosions, but it just causes the kart driver to get dizzy and spin out. It’s hardly violent at all. And Mario 3D Land’s violence is… stepping and squishing mushrooms and kicking shells…. No blood, no splattering parts, just… poof. Seriously, what is it with people nowadays? Why are we so damn protective of what we do. And as for Animl Crossing, I just… what the hell? I really don’t even understand how there’s violence. OH SNAP, MY GUY GOT STUNG BY A BEE, I AM SO FRIGHTENED AND SCARRED FOR LIFE BECAUSE OF THE VIOLENCE THAT BEE HAS SHOWN! Jeeze. What ignorance.
Just when I thought the readers of this site couldn’t get any worse. Actually, I don’t know if some of you qualify as “readers” cause you definitely didn’t read passed the title.
Animal Crossing? Violent? LOL! Oh no! Look at how violent it is when chopping down those trees. Kids could get an idea that using an axe is fun. *face palm* I think they should stick to the bloody, gore-filled games. They’re getting desperate.
Look, even if these were close to real violence, and it can be in someway maybe. It doesn’t matter. It’s not like it connects to real violence. People these days need to stop worrying about this. It’s gone way too far. Even if they show a bomb exploding in a E rated game, it’s not like it would make people cause this.
Animal Crossing?
Oh, and haven’t been on here in a long while…they changed the look! Ah!!!
what are you serious? im going to through turtle shells and bananas at the car behind me and kill them or something, seriously!! mario kart makes me want to kill people nrrr de derp!!!!!!
the only thing that makes me want to kill is them.