Earlier this week Ubisoft announced plans to publish Call of Juarez: The Cartel this summer. Unlike the previous releases in the series, The Cartel is set in the present day and focuses on a "bloody road trip from Los Angeles to Juarez, Mexico."
While the description of this mature rated game may not shock gamers, the modern-day setting combined with the title has rubbed law enforcement officials in south Texas the wrong way. Pointing to gang and drug cartel-related violence that is very real to towns in southern Texas bordering Mexico, Brownsville Police Chief Carlos Garcia says that any game involving organized crime "sets a bad example." More from Garcia:
"Unfortunately there are companies that are looking to capitalize on the violent situation in Mexico which has had a very negative impact on the country," said Garcia. "There have been spillover cases in certain areas of our country with cases of kidnappings and murders. This is a serious topic and this is just another violent video game."
"It doesn’t matter if it deals with the cartel in Juarez, the Gulf Cartel or the Sinaloa Cartel. It is simply not something that is appropriate for our youth," Garcia added. "This leaves lasting images and ideas in teenagers who get caught up in the game and may try to make it a reality and live the violent lifestyle they see in these games."
While Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio admitted that he was not familiar with the game, he says that he agrees with Garcia "that any type of media" that glamorizes the criminal lifestyle should be "discouraged."
"The title itself leads one to believe that the game deals with narcotic trafficking organizations," Lucio said. "Games like these create a false idea in the minds of teenagers who are still developing and may grow up and want to imitate these characters. Sadly enough these kind of games are protected by freedom of speech, but the violence that comes from cartels is not a game and it affects us all."
Commentary: While we can all sympathize with the tough job that law enforcement has on both sides of the border dealing with the drug cartels, it is difficult to listen to anyone that has a knee-jerk reaction to a game that not even the media knows anything about yet. Let us at least wait until we know more about the game before we start condemning it.
Source: Brownsville Herald
Comments
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
Every time I see law enforcement officials describe constitutional rights in terms of 'sadly', I die a little inside.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
"Sadly enough these kind of games are protected by freedom of speech"
I don't care one whit what some idiot with a badge thinks about a video game. They need to get their noses out of entertainment and back into law enforcement where they belong. He has no place giving out an opinion on such a thing. He needs to STFU.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
This was a pretty fast and unwarranted knee jerk reaction. Well, more unwarranted than usual. There is barely any information out about the game in the first place.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
"It doesn’t matter if it deals with the cartel in Juarez, the Gulf Cartel or the Sinaloa Cartel. It is simply not something that is appropriate for our youth," Garcia added."
Yeah! And for that matter what is up with all of this porn. I went to this porn shop and I was like "Hey! Shemale Anal Housewives 7 is NOT appropriate for our youth!"
-Ultimately what will do in mankind is a person's fear of their own freedom-
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
Hmmm.... Just like how people are cashing in on the second Red Scare?
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
Of course, because it is well known that people can't separate fiction from reality, that entertainment is the most important motivator of crime, that video games cannot possibly do anything other that glamourise the themes they involve -their interactive nature prevents it!- and that there are no safeguards for protecting potentially impressionable children from their ill effects.
Joking aside, I hope this doesn't discredit the work that the officers do. They ought to avoid making connections such as this as it may cause them to lose respect from young people in the communities they serve.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
But it's perfectly fine to have movies involving organized crime -thumbs up-
Seriously, get the fuck over it guys. There has never been a proven case of anyone (of any age) committing a crime just because of a game. But even if there was, if that was all it took to influence them then they had some serious issues long before they played the game.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
I don't know if I can possibly speak for all or even most gamers, and this particular game isn't appealing to me, but I don't know where this idea about gamer mentality comes from: "If they do it in a game, they may want to replicate the experience in real life."
If I do something particularly satisfying in a video game, I do want to replicate the experience... but in another game. If another, similar game is unavailable, I'll make do with replaying the same game. Sure, I'm 28 years old and not as impressionable as I once was, but I grew up with video games as my main source of entertainment, and my ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy has not been impaired one iota.
I am an anecdote, and they say the plural of anecdote is not data. That's true, but also would only be relevant if the thing to which I am providing a counterexample wasn't a bizarre and ungrounded assertion in the first place.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
let us also remind these knee jerk morons that the game isn't meant for the "youth" hence the rating on the box and the fact 99% of stores won't sell to anyone without ID or at least very much looking the proper age.
Re: Texas Law Enforcement Complain About Call of Juarez: ...
Actually it's 80% as of 2009.