ELI RATES THE GAMES
By KCOW Weekend Warrior and Resident Madman Eli Smith
The organization known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) hasn’t been known for its love of video games. Not too long ago they released their own video game taking a strike at Nintendo and a popular item known as the Tanooki suit. In this “game”, you play as the Tanooki (a rare, small, and furry creature) who is fighting for his life against the lovable mascot of Nintendo, Mario.
The Tanooki runs and Mario attempts to skin it, something that any gamer could easily be disgusted by. If this wasn’t bad enough, PETA has now taken another strike at one of Nintendo’s most successful franchises, Pokemon.
Following the release of a new Pokemon game (Black/White version 2) PETA is attempting to be clever by using it to create their own sick and twisted ideal. In PETA’s version (“Pokemon Black and Blue”) you play the part of a beaten and abused Pokemon, fighting off various humans in order to free yourself and free other Pokemon who are also trapped. The PETA game’s tagline is “gotta free ‘em all!” (as opposed to the normal Pokemon tagline “gotta catch ’em all”).
The images used to advertise this thing are in poor taste, with disturbing portrayals of wild people attempting to trap their Pokemon again and battered creatures from the popular video game. Needless to say, this video game won’t be getting a good review from me because it is not worth it.
This does not necessarily mean that I am a heartless individual who does not care about animal cruelty. In reality, I just don’t like cruelty in general. But taking a stab at a video game is an obvious publicity stunt. When PETA has the feeling that the world has stopped caring about them, they attempt to make a new game to disturb and excite their audience. It is one thing to decide to not eat meat, test on animals, or avoid cruelty; but taking a stab at Pokemon is just plain stupid. Through the entire series of Pokemon games you are taught to value and respect the importance of these creatures. This ideal just oozes off of the television show as well, with Ash Ketchum running around telling everyone how much his love and respect for these Pokemon has given him a great deal of strength. In the games and the TV episodes, any Pokemon Trainer that does not follow this idea is eventually stopped in one way or another, creating an environment that discourages animal cruelty and encourages a partnership.