MadWorld on Wii waxes Philosophic

I've posted comments about the upcoming Wii splatterfest "Madworld" a few weeks ago, but that doesn't mean I'm not waiting for it with baited breath every waking hour until the ever-elusive Q1 2009. Yesterday, The Escapist pointed out that some are worried that "Madworld" will tarnish Wii's family friendly image. First of all, as the french say, "no shit." Secondly, while I agree it's a bit of an extreme jump to release a game that features gruesome interactive kill sequences on a system popularized for fake hula hooping (sexy video here), cartoony driving, and wild stick waving, I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing. Despite huge sales, the Wii still fails to capture the imagination and the perpetual engagement of the hardcore gamer crowd, even though that's been a huge problem of Nintendo's since the N64.

As is the case with all violent video games, it will be up to the parents to keep this devilishly wild game out of the hands of their sprouts. It will also undoubtedly be blamed for at least 200 separate violent incidents regardless of connection or context. In case you were worried that the "MadWorld" crew isn't up to the task of deflecting the heat, sample this little blurb from the MadWorld Official Website, that made me giggle more than a little:

Often times, brutality is expressed in a spiteful nature. There are already plenty of games out there that hit this mark; however, we decided that MADWORLD’s brutality should be aimed at providing the user with a sense of exhilaration during play.

To give you an example from gameplay, we have a scene where you can pull a street sign from the ground and shove it into a enemy’s head. However, I thought that it is much more fun to stab someone with a sign that actually has some sort of meaning as opposed to a knife.We tried the idea out, and the reaction amongst the team was so positive, I knew this was the way to proceed.

It sounds as if the people behind MadWorld are representing the sociopathic teenager within all of us, and for that, we salute you! Stay tuned, because this is sure to be a doozy as the weeks and months pass towards MadWorld's release.

Mark

Co-Owner/Managing Editor/Web Developer/Podcast Co-Host/Beard Wizard

Mark is the pretty much everything of Bloody Good Horror. When he's not casting spells in Magic or Hearthstone, you'll probably find him watching wrestling, beard glistening from the essence of Chicago's myriad beers and meats.