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The Most Violent Video Games of All Time 287

Posted by timothy from the your-actual-priorities dept.
adeelarshad82 writes "Switzerland and Australia already feel that violent video games are an issue, and in June the US Supreme Court will also take matters in its own hands. Revisiting some of the most violent video games made over the last couple of decades shows exactly why this is such a huge concern." Warning: this slideshow contains imaginary violence.
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The Most Violent Video Games of All Time More

The Most Violent Video Games of All Time

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  • Otherwise, it wouldn't be an escape from reality, now would it?

    • The real motivation (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:17PM (#35194328)

      Violent video games make ME uncomfortable. Therefore, nobody should be allowed to make or play them.

      Most laws that forbid civil liberties are based on this thought process, though they all have completely different ostensible justifications.

      • Religion makes ME uncomfortable (Score:4, Insightful)

        by mangu ( 126918 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:24PM (#35194402)

        Violent video games make ME uncomfortable. Therefore, nobody should be allowed to make or play them

        I don't like people who talk about their religion to me. My solution? No, I don't want to ban religion. I just avoid it. Don't go to church, avoid people who talk about religion.

        Even though thousands of years of history prove that religion motivates people to perform the most atrocious violence, I'm not proposing to ban religion.

        Therefore I cannot understand why people want to ban games without even presenting credible evidence that games cause any harm.

        • Re:Religion makes ME uncomfortable (Score:5, Interesting)

          by commodore6502 ( 1981532 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @05:03PM (#35194670)

          Sometimes violence can be a learning experience.

          When I watched the videos of Russian soldiers having their heads cut off, Jews being burned in furnaces, cats being set on fire "for fun", and a Ukranian man having his face bashed in by two teen boys, it taught me the world is a violent and disgusting place filled with dark, deranged people.

          Had these videos been censored, I'd still naively think everyone is good.

        • By the way the Supreme Court decision is obvious - enforce the law as written. "Congress shall not prohibit free speech... free press..."

          If it's felt that needs to be changed, then let the Member States amend the Union government's constitution to ban violent speech. It is not the job of the Court to do anything else but enforce the law.

          • And end up with the bad situation they have in Alabama with their bajillion page state constitution? No thanks. What really needs to happen is for people to recognize that the constitution was never intended to be all inclusive and literal in its nature. Or have you missed the bit where nowhere in the constitution does it state that everything is to be taken literally as you choose to interpret it later on? It was written to handle events in the future which couldn't be foreseen by them, which would be impo

            • Actually, the 9th and 10th Amendments make it pretty darn clear that it was to be taken as a closed document even if the copious notes and essays from the founding period did not (which they do). The Founders very explicitly and directly wanted to create a limited government of expressly delegated powers, one with a more powerful central government than under the Articles of Confederation, true, but strictly limited in nature nevertheless. Many people said so publicly and no one said otherwise--- not in the

            • The supreme court will rule in favour of the media companies, because most media violence researchers don't have a leg to stand on. I published an essay online on the topic here: The Utopian Pseudo-Science of Media Effects [pageofswords.net].
        • Religion also promotes the most atrociously awesome architecture that exists. Its a double edge sword man.

        • Even though thousands of years of history prove that religion motivates people to perform the most atrocious violence, I'm not proposing to ban religion.

          Thousands of years of history tell us no such thing. They tell us that religion can be used both for good and for bad, thus indicating that the cause of the atrocities you mention is rooted somewhere else, not in religion.

        • I cannot understand why people want to ban games without even presenting credible evidence that games cause any harm.

          It is a scape-goat thing. Persons who are convinced that the games are to blame do not have to exert the effort to look for any other cause.

          This is a pure example of evil at work. These persons in their righteous indignation will actively get in the way of others who are using more reasoned or even scientific approaches to finding causes and effecting solutions. These persons do not want a solution; they want to be part of a Crusade. Because Crusaders are never wrong, and the comfort of not being wrong is

        • Well is it so shocking people think differently from you?

          For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why the average person doesn't want something like school choice... and yet... I know these people exist.

          Why do you want to dis-empower yourself and give it to some bureaucratic entity?

          I don't know... but people do.

          There is one theory that I'm increasingly thinking is probable (not mine... read it in a book I cannot recall right now).

          People have a natural desire to be told what to do. In every society there is

      • Actually, most laws that forbid civil liberties are based on third person effects. For example: *I* haven't been too adversely affected by violent media, but other less educated and less mature people are. Why else is there an epidemic in violence?

        Moralists are always using third person effects. Moral outrage is always about some at risk group. Always has been.

        There are a few flaws with the reasoning, but there is no point being reasonable with a moralist. They really do think that they are smarter than

        • Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night. Isaac Asimov

          This quote reminds me of what you wrote. Im going to go ahead and "friend" you here on Slashdot because you actually sound like you would agree with most of my own thoughts. As far as my first reaction to what you wrote, you seem like you actually have something worthwhile to say.

        • Re:It's always third person effects (Score:5, Informative)

          by bjourne ( 1034822 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @08:07PM (#35195724) Homepage Journal

          Actually, most laws that forbid civil liberties are based on third person effects. For example: *I* haven't been too adversely affected by violent media, but other less educated and less mature people are. Why else is there an epidemic in violence?

          There isn't.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by Nursie ( 632944 )

            Of course there isn't if you look at the actual figures, but who wants to do a silly thing like that?

            No, we need to use gut feelings and media outrage, that way we *know* there's an epidemic of violence and society is collapsing right in front of us, without needing silly little things like evidence.

            DUH!

            I wish I wasn't becoming quite so misanthropic...

      • Violence is human nature. We are the offspring of violent civilizations and/or tribes. Simply put, they were the ones that out competed the peaceful ones. Sure, there still are peaceful tribes of people living in isolation in the middle of the jungle, however they continue to not build airplanes and freeways. If you try to peacefully remedy all your problems, be it for resources, faith, etc, short of some social contract you will end up being out-competed by a violent solution to the problem. Since we are t

      • Violent video games make ME uncomfortable. Therefore, nobody should be allowed to make or play them.

        Most laws that forbid civil liberties are based on this thought process, though they all have completely different ostensible justifications.

        So the basis for society limiting your freedom to murder people is just based on the fact that a few do-gooders don't like killing people?

        Please.

    • Exactly. Reality for most of us is trying to line up differently shaped falling blocks to form continuous lines across a 2-dimensional box before the box fills up, and we want to escape that reality!

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by xero314 ( 722674 )

      Almost all video games are extremely violent.

      Complete Hog Wash. I mean unless you consider DDR and Rock Band to violent games, but I think that would be quite a stretch. There are plenty of other non-violent games as well, and many that are violent but not to the extreme.

  • Amount of flying meat (Score:3)

    by eexaa ( 1252378 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:13PM (#35194306) Homepage

    Count of flying meat pieces usually seems pathetically low when compared to this game:

    http://icculus.org/jumpnbump/ [icculus.org]

  • Happens to every new media (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gman003 ( 1693318 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:14PM (#35194316)
    Pretty soon, we'll be seeing stuff like "most violent blogs of all time" and "webcomics are destroying our youth". Just as soon as the mainstream media catches up with this decade.

    • Re:Happens to every new media (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:27PM (#35194430) Homepage
      The scary thing is that you are probably right. Just about every form of media has been banned censored at some point; from the Catholic Church's removal of genitalia from countless statues, destruction of paintings depicting nudity, through the censorship of books, comics, music, films and more recently video games for being too graphic/suggestive violent. There have already been (mostly voluntary) attempts to get websites to rate their content for target audience ages, so I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time before it becomes a legal requirement somewhere in the world. Right now, I think it's going to be a toss-up between Australia and the USA who gets there first.

      This post rated PG for use of sexually orientated wording.
      • Using the word orientated without condemning the sexual perversion and sin against G-d of homosexual behavior, is illegal.

        Report to the port nearest to Cuba in the US for your transfer, punishment and educational water boarding.

    • Pretty soon, we'll be seeing stuff like "most violent blogs of all time" and "webcomics are destroying our youth". Just as soon as the mainstream media catches up with this decade.

      And in the decade to come, the schlock blogs and webcomics that caused all the fuss will be buried and forgotten.

      You only remember the good stuff.

      Think of the films released in 1939, all released until the strict production codes of the mid to late thirties. 1939 in film. [wikipedia.org]

      Films which have never left the air since their first release for television. You might have been fortunate enough to see some of them shown in a restored Art Deco era theater.

      Now try to name 10 pre-code sound films.

      "I'm No Angel"

      "Wh

      • People may not be able to name 10 pre-code sound films, but there are plenty of well known ones, especially in the gangster and horror genres.
  • Really, a submission every time anyone posts anything about violent video games and their alleged influence on kids? Mod submission redundant.

  • Slashdot & Censorship (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CajunArson ( 465943 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:16PM (#35194326) Journal

    Remember everybody, anyone who suggests that playing violent video games 18 hours a day everyday might have any negative consequences what so ever is obviously a deluded Christian fanatic who just wants to censor everything. Censorship is evil!
        Also please be sure to remember that talk radio and Sarah Palin are so evilly powerful that they single-handedly caused the shootings in Arizona even though the shooter didn't even listen to talk radio! (it was the evil permeating waves). Finally, remember that if any school child even hears the word "God" used in anything other than a derogatory manner or even sees a Bible that isn't being desecrated, that school child will forever mentally scarred beyond comprehension. Censorship is good!

        No, I don't take all of the preceding comments seriously, but Slashdot is strewn with +5 insightful mods that do state all of those positions seriously... and sometimes in the same post.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by foobsr ( 693224 )
      "Everybody in this room is wearing a uniform, don't kid yourself" (Zappa)

      CC.

    • Remember everybody, anyone who suggests that playing violent video games 18 hours a day everyday might have any negative consequences what so ever is obviously a deluded Christian fanatic who just wants to censor everything.

      Oh, I'm sure it would have negative consequences. Besides lack of sleep, they probably wouldn't get much exercise or sunlight. Or even have time to work or do anything productive.

    • While the points you make are true of many of the knee-jerk left-leaning individuals here (but not necessarily true of the more level headed ones--yes, they're out there), your post reminded me of something else that's mostly unrelated. So, here's my wholly tangential thought:

      Going back to the summary (which is light on details--and the slideshow is kind of silly), there's a huge double standard both in the media and our government. I'm talking about the double standard that exists between the treatment of

      • Previous calls for game censorship were really calls for attention by the politicians NOT getting enough bribes. So, after years of failing to get the hint it has ended up in the Surpreme Court (mild pun intended.)

        The industry missed its chance to avoid this; however, its not a big deal, its only a question of selling to minors that is going to court. They can still pay up and avoid future troubles.

        Disturbed people will find plenty to set them off. We could just update our midevil justice system to handle

    • Re:Slashdot & Censorship (Score:5, Insightful)

      by shutdown -p now ( 807394 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @09:42PM (#35196198) Journal

      Slashdot is not Borg. There are different people here, with varying political, philosophical and religious outlooks. That's why you can have several "+5" comments in a single story which disagree on key points - so long as those points are subjective and not factual.

  • Curing Zombies (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ChucktheMan ( 1991030 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:18PM (#35194338)
    I want a mod of Half Life where instead of killing zombies, you are curing them and sending them to safe zones. Then Mercy Hospital would make a lot more sense.

  • Idiots... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:19PM (#35194356) Journal
    Video games are among the best ways yet invented for keeping children from using the television to watch the news, an action which exposes them to a seamy world of corruption, pestilence, brutal exploitation, slavery, lust, violence, and savage, inevitable, death.

    The idyllic gameworld, on the other hand, offers a few PG-13 "situations", some morally unambiguous violence, and a world were death is a temporary setback.

    Video games are protecting the children!
    • I think you will find that the nutjobs and censorship natzi's also consider watching the news and just about anything that could possibly give children a sense of the real world something to be blocked from childrens viewing. I just wish people would keep there own homes in order and stop trying to control the lives of others, if you don't want your children to watch violence or play violent video games then your free to prevent them, I have never understood people that believe they must impose there belief

      • I have never understood people that believe they must impose there beliefs and supposed morals on others.

        Being surrounded by people who are wrong is just more than decent, right-thinking, members of society should have to stand...

      • And words can hurt forever... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by evought ( 709897 ) <evought@po[ ].com ['box' in gap]> on Sunday February 13, 2011 @06:34PM (#35195212) Homepage Journal

        I have never understood people that believe they must impose there beliefs and supposed morals on others.

        Largely because they, themselves, gained their belief system by having it imposed on them, often with cruelty, and despite their innate belief that what they were being taught was wrong. If they don't impose their belief on others, then they have to admit that what was done to them was wrong, and then they have to deal with all that pain.

        Spirituality is not the problem. Belief in a God who wants us to follow a path ("Torah") as part of our relationship with What Is, is not the problem. Religion often is. Religion is the belief in men who somehow know more about what God wants than you do or what He can communicate with you directly. Religion, at its foundation, is therefore idolatry and forbidden by the cardinal rule of Torah.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Hell, looking back at history the same thing happened even with radio!

        Speaking of history, we can't let children learn of the atrocities that have occurred over the past couple thousand years. That would give impressionable young minds ideas which will lead them to repeat the worst acts mankind has ever seen.

        Kids may decide they want to be like Edward I who had traitors hanged, drawn, and quartered [wikipedia.org]. They may decide to have some women burned at the stake. They may fancy themselves slave masters who ca

    • Re:Idiots... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Eil ( 82413 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @05:41PM (#35194944) Homepage Journal

      Prime-time TV crime dramas. These shows contain some of the most violent, disturbing themes and imagery I've ever seen: Some unlucky bloke gets decapitated by an out-of-control steel beam. Bad guy #1 shoots bad guy #2 full of blood-oozing bullet holes and kicks him off a pier. And then pan into a full shot of a rotting corpse on a autopsy table. This is all within the first 5 minutes of one episode.

      But put the same thing in a video game and it's going to corrupt the children.

      I am against all forms of censorship. Shielding kids from disturbing content is the parents' responsibility. However, if they're going to ban violent video games, I insist that they also ban the same content in all broadcast and cable television shows because such content is not only much more lifelike, it's also a lot easier for children to access. All they have to do is turn on the TV, whereas a violent video game must be purchased by someone...

      • Re:Idiots... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by fuzzyfuzzyfungus ( 1223518 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @06:06PM (#35195058) Journal
        Special mention should probably be made of the "SVU" sub-genre, which combines all the vices of its conventional TV Police/crime ancestors with a relentless undercurrent of the most transgressive flavors of sexual violence currently available.

        You pretty much have to resort to import-only, often not even available in English, Japanese stuff to get close in a video game context. And pretty much all of that is cartoon/animated, rather than FMV live action...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jandrese ( 485 )
        Those shows are in "adult" timeslots however (as if timeslots matter anymore). For the people who are up in arms about video games, all video games are for kids. They would be just as horrified if you suggested showing kids CSI type shows, and don't understand that video games have ratings. These are the same sort of people who were horrified by comics back in the 50s, and D&D in the 80s. They don't actually partake of the media, they just hear third hand about how terrible it is and how they need t

  • Nothing made me wants to kill and harm people more than Stuntman. That game makes Demons Souls look like Super Mario Galaxy. I must have smashed hundreds if not thousands of Dualshock 2 controllers in frustration and anger at that game.

    *overtake*
    *squeeze past truck*
    *hard right*

    After five minutes of Stuntman I'd have to spend a good week playing milder and gentler games like Doom or Grand Theft Auto to calm myself down.

  • Time Killers? (Score:3)

    by SaXisT4LiF ( 120908 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:26PM (#35194414)
    I don't think any list of "Most Violent Video Games" would be complete without Time Killers [arcade-museum.com]. Who needs solid game play or nice graphics when you can just up the ante on blood and gore with the ability to dismember your opponent?
    • Can you pick up their severed limbs and beat them to death therewith? That is a pretty necessary feature...

    • Shoot, you can go further back than that. How about "Death Race", where you ran down pedestrians. Which then turned into litte cross-shaped tombstones that you could wind up caught up on if you weren't careful. I remember playing that game, too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tackhead ( 54550 )

      I don't think any list of "Most Violent Video Games" would be complete without Time Killers. Who needs solid game play or nice graphics when you can just up the ante on blood and gore with the ability to dismember your opponent?

      Before there was Mortal Kombat, before there was Time Killers, back in 1986, there was Chiller [ironicconsumer.com], by Exidy. Over-the-top even by today's standards.

  • Casual observation (Score:5, Informative)

    by salesgeek ( 263995 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:27PM (#35194426) Homepage

    Personally, I'd rather people with issues do their beating, raping and killing in video games rather than in real life.

    • Personally, I'd rather people with issues do their beating, raping and killing in video games rather than in real life.

      Well, that's the question, isn't it?

      Will their "issues" be resolved in the game or be carried over into real life?

  • Just the list I was looking for. #boredashell.

  • DNF (Score:3)

    by NoobixCube ( 1133473 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @04:29PM (#35194444) Journal

    The uncensored release of Duke Nukem Forever, here in Australia, I'm convinced is a plot from the censorship lobby. Once it's been out for a week, there'll be a media shitstorm stirred up by the likes of Michael Arkins saying "this is what we protect you from, it's regrettable this one made it past our screening, but surely you can see we must outright ban such vulgarity!".

  • Carmageddon, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM.

    • +1 for Carmageddon and its slow motion replay and zoom-in, enabling you to see close-up the head you just ran over.
      But that stuff were so pixelated you couldn't tell the car wheel from the body, a high-def remake would be scary though...

    • Carmageddon, Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM.

      The violence in Carmageddon is on the level of a Roadrunner and Coyote cartoon. Doom is an amusement park's dark house ride.

  • Perhaps one of these lists could be compiled along side a list of the most violent movies of all time, and maybe the most violent news stories of all time, or most violent public spectacles of all time..

    That last one would make for an interesting list, humans had some pretty messed up forms of entertainment back in the day. Public blood sport, torture, rape, execution, etc..
    • Just for one example, I have yet to find a single published, post-ratings video game (discounting free flash games and the like) that would qualify as "hardcore pornography". Anything made in the US (or the West, for that matter) generally stops at PG-13, maybe R if they think they can use the media outrage to boost sales, material - even the Playboy game never went past toplessness. Anything made in Japan has enough blur/pixelation/censor bars to meet the oddly stringent censorship laws.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cederic ( 9623 )

      It's a fair point. I haven't seen any video games in which the consort of a high ranking official gets raped to death by a giraffe then eaten by lions - a real event used to 'entertain' a large crowd in Rome.

      Of course, the argument would be that we've progressed a bit since then. These days people merely download video of people being beheaded in the name of some fucked up archaic religion for entertainment.

      I'd rather they played computer games.

  • Commando Libya [wikipedia.org] for the Commodore 64. The bonus round consists of mowing down a bunch of guys lined up against a wall, and you enter your initials (if you get a high score) by dialing each letter in on a guy who then walks up and is guillotined. Screen resolution was not very high, but the gibs were there.

  • Video game violence has been declining for years (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Angst Badger ( 8636 ) on Sunday February 13, 2011 @07:11PM (#35195398)

    My favorite video game back in the day was Galaga, which came out in 1981. I still play it via MAME and whenever I run across the original game or the anniversary re-release. Every level is a fucking massacre. You kill at least 40 aliens and potentially more: if you're really good at killing aliens especially quickly, the game slips in some extras to satisfy your lust for xenocide. Every fourth level, in fact, is a "challenging stage" in which the aliens are completely defenseless and you get bonus points for killing them to the last man. I'm not an especially good player, but I can reliably get to at least the 25th level, which takes about fifteen minutes and during which I must kill at least 1,000 aliens. Nor is Galaga an extreme case. By the late 80's and early 90's, there was a whole slew of Japanese shoot-em-up scrollers where the screen was positively jammed with enemies that could only be overcome by acquiring more and more powerful weapons, next to which Galaga is like the most boring of UN peacekeeping missions.

    The body count in hours of gameplay with the current first-person shooters doesn't even merit comparison with three minutes of gameplay in any number of arcade classics from twenty or thirty years ago. What has changed is that the mayhem is more realistic -- and then only if you accept a rather loose reading of "realistic" that actually means "resembling the comic-book violence of action movies".

    To make matters worse, the violent crime rate has been mostly declining during all this time, during which ownership of computers and game consoles has gone from a relatively small market to being nearly universal, especially in the age groups that are most likely to be involved in violent crime. If one was compelled to draw a causal connection between violent video games and real-world violence, one would have to conclude that they are actually reducing the level of real-world violence. There is actually some evidence to that effect -- but the balance of the actual scientific data, as opposed to the hyperventilation of people like Jack Thompson, strongly suggests that if there is any connection between video games and real violence, it is too insignificant to be measured even with relatively large samples.

    At the end of the day, we'd probably hear less of this hysterical crap if y'all would just stay of those nice people's lawns. Now, if you'll pardon me, I have a sudden urge to fire up MAME and take another pass at getting to the 30th level in Galaga.

  • And I thought this list would give me something new to play. I have them all. They missed Blood, Blood 2 the Chosen, missed Mutant League Football/Hockey, Night Trap, Splatterhouse 1-3, Loaded, BloodStorm, Way of the Warrior and Kasumi Ninja. I was hoping for a holiday buying guide, but no, just a silly 7 game list. Heck, my list included more and I am half an idiot. Not only did they miss all of the above, they missed the most violet, PETA protested game of all. Pokemon. Come on, how can you NOT con

  • The article seems to be conflating the two. This game [newsgaming.com] is probably more violent than any of the listed ones, but it's certainly a lot less graphic. Why is gore bad for children but gore-free violence ok? That's so backwards.

  • Violence is human nature. Those of us that exist today are the offspring of violent civilizations and/or tribes. Simply put, violent people were the ones that out competed the peaceful ones. Sure, there still are peaceful tribes of people living in isolation in the middle of the jungle, however they continue to not build airplanes, and 42" TV's, and freeways. If a civilization tries to peacefully remedy all of their problems, be it for resources, faith, etc, then short of some social contract they will end

    • Violence is human nature. Those of us that exist today are the offspring of violent civilizations and/or tribes. Simply put, violent people were the ones that out competed the peaceful ones. Sure, there still are peaceful tribes of people living in isolation in the middle of the jungle, however they continue to not build airplanes, and 42" TV's, and freeways. (...) Why else do people get more upset about sexual scenes in movies than violent ones?

      The reason people get more upset about sexual scenes is

  • Now lets put those next to the most violent films of the same period and see who comes off looking worse. Even just put them against the Saw films. 'Torture porn' I believe they call them...says it all really.

  • One of my favorite games from the mid nineties...

    Not just your average racing game but there were 3 ways to finish most levels:

    * Complete the race, passing every checkpoint before the time runs out
    * Destroy all the opponents
    * Kill every pedestrian in the level

    You also could get extra points and bonus time for killing pedestrians in an especially graphic method, such as opening your doors to hit them while driving by or by

  • "Revisiting some of the most violent video games made over the last couple of decades shows exactly why this is such a huge concern."

    No it doesn't. Maybe the writer should have SAID why it was a "huge concern", then we might have a discussion. Is he suggesting that players emulate the gameplay? If so, instead of a few screencaps, some real world evidence might have been helpful.

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