FOX News misrepresents Mass Effect as a SexBox game
“Fair and balanced” FOX News completely misrepresents the 2-minute implied sex scene in the 30+ hour Xbox 360 role-playing game Mass Effect. Did I say Xbox? According to FOX it’s the Sex Box, that was a real clever play on words back in 2001, oh no wait it wasn’t. Watch as a psychology major and the presenter go from assumption to assumption without having played the game and how Geoff Keighly from Spike TV (a game channel) attempts to explain the game isn’t evil and isn’t aimed at kids at all (hence the Mature rating). But that doesn’t seem to stop FOX News as they bring in a panel who basically admit to being lackluster parents.
I don’t even need to explain everything that happens in the following Fox News video. Let’s just say pulling out your nose hairs is more fun. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Games publishing giant Electronic Arts issued a statement responding to the “insulting Mass Effect inaccuracies.” To quote:
Your headline above the televised story read: “New videogame shows full digital nudity and sex.”
Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows. It’s also worth noting that the game requires players to develop complex relationships before characters can become intimate and players can chose to avoid the love scenes altogether.
FNC voice-over reporter says: “You’ll see full digital nudity and the ability for players to engage in graphic sex.”
Fact: Sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time.
FNC reporter says: “Critics say Mass Effect is being marketed to kids and teenagers.”
Fact: That is flat out false. Mass Effect and all related marketing has been reviewed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and rated Mature - appropriate for players 17-years and older. ESRB routinely counsels retailers on requesting proof of age in selling M-rated titles and the system has been lauded by members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. In practical terms, the ratings work as well or better than those used for warning viewers about television content.
The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.
Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?
This isn’t a legal threat; it’s an appeal to your sense of fairness. We’re asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect.
Sincerely,
Jeff Brown
Vice President of Communications
Electronic Arts, Inc.
Update: Apparently the “Fox News Channel has extended several invitations to EA through a company representative to appear on Live Desk With Martha MacCallum to discuss Mass Effect and the segment which aired on Monday. We have received no response.” And why would EA? 1. It’s a waste of EA’s time, Fox will spin it just like they did the original “newsitem”; 2. EA tried to be polite when all these false Mass Effect accusations by Fox could easily win EA a libel suit!
25 January 2008 14:56joe
sounds to me like fox think all games are for kids? stupid fox media and the assumptions they made 
Yeah it’s sad when the media tries to analyze something like this that they know nothing about, especially when they take such an extreme “sex/violence is bad” stance on it and try and make it seem that the games are for kids (or marketed to kids) when they receive an M-rating.
Anyway, I’ve seen this a billion times on every news network, I think it’s funny how people want to call out Fox as somehow being worse. Of course the whole ‘Sexbox’ thing only did make it worse. But as far as I can tell eye-popping headlines are par for the course.
As far as the “you can’t hover over your kid 24/7″, everyone knows that. If you do you end up with a bad, rebellious kid and make matters worse. The real ignorance here is thinking that this LOVE scene in Mass Effect is anything but that.
It is a mis-representation but it’s hardly out of the ordinary, you don’t turn to the mainstream news for anything video game/comic book/anime, etc. related. They simply don’t know anything because that is not where they’re interests lie and they could care less.
They obviously did this segment to appeal to “concerned parents” and didn’t get their facts straight. It was a stupid move but most parents are as clueless as these people. And that’s what these people are, uninformed parents.
As far as Fox is concerned I’d rather have a panel stacked with conservatives than with liberals, so I’ll stick with it. Even though that’s hardly true since Dems & Reps are often represented in equal numbers for anyone paying attention. But people’d rather call Fox out without ever watching it. But I digress.
