Has Rockstar gone soft?
by Ken Weeks 
{ Mar 4th 2006 at 8:00AM }
Those who waited with baited breath only to learn
that the new 360-exclusive game from industry badboy Rockstar is based on Forrest Gump's favorite sport reacted with
mixture of why and wtf? The basic gameplay action of table tennis (or Ping Pang Qiu as it's known in China) has a long
and storied history in the video game world. Nevertheless, I get the feeling that gamers expected more grit from the
creative minds that made running over hookers a national pastime. Rockstar has taken
enormous heat the past few years, as evidenced by this recent petition signed by Wailing Mothers Against Playground
Cruelty. One has to wonder if the accumulated bad press, not to mention the disaster brewed by a certain incident
involving overly-warm Folgers, played a role in the company's sudden enthusiasm for competitive table tennis. Maybe
Rockstar is eager to prove that they don't need mature content to capture our imagination. Or maybe they're just
relieved that Hillary Clinton can't make Pong 360 an election year issue.
Far too many of us have praised
the joys of classic arcade gameplay (and complained about the idiocy of edgy-for-edgy's-sake fare like True
Crime: NYC) to prematurely bitch about a game that could turn out to be the King of
You can't help but think that Rockstar is a little less Billy Idol these days and a little more Drew Lachey.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SlyEcho @ Mar 4th 2006 9:20AM
I think they should have made GTA an adult game in the first place. But they're just afraid it will hurt sales.
Chodite @ Mar 4th 2006 9:48AM
C'mon now. Don't be so gullible fellas!
This is NOT going to be a ping pong game. Maybe a mini-game in the new GTA game... exclusive to the 360 *?* But the whole thing is a joke. Trusssst me.
tarl @ Mar 4th 2006 10:22AM
Has anybody though that this ping pong game (and possibly any other franchises) could be created with the purpose of using the two cameras to play. I can see people in their living rooms now, paddle in hand, swinging away playing a virtual ping pong game with other gamers online.
Sense @ Mar 7th 2006 11:03AM
Actually, this is the perfect move for Rockstar. It's basically an esoteric "F*** you" to all the critics/fear mongers out there. And I bet that Rockstar has the know how to make this game hugely popular.
Rockstar will prove that gamers enjoy video table tennis just as much as GTA; simultaneously they will prove that they don't exist on controversy alone.
That is assuming, of course, that this ping pong game isn't filled with violence and hookers.