Gaming and Journalistic Integrity

Disclaimer: I know I'm late to this party, but this is still stuck in my craw.

The XBox 360 game, Mass Effect, was released to critical acclaim on 11/20/2007. Shortly thereafter rumors and then videos of a sex cut scene surfaced. Of course, it didn't take long for journalists to descend on the feeding frenzy. Some of the claims included:

• Video game has sex simulator!
• Sexual content marketed to and made available to children!
• New game is chock-full of sex!

One of the worst pieces written was The "Sex-Box" Race for President by Townhall.com's  "columnist" Kevin McCullough. "Mr." McCullough, who obviously had never seen the game let alone played it, basically alleged that the entire game was one big sex simulator, allowing the player to pick races, genders, physical attributes, sexual positions, setting, and mood of various encounters. Sodomizing rape is not only possible, but encouraged.  Uh, okay. But, no.

I think Kev is getting Mass Effect confused with Sex Villa. (Link not safe for work, kids, spouse...)

Note(s):  Today, McCullough's article is all but impossible to find on Townhall. Although it may be due to editorial archive policy, I'm betting the negative press associated with said article led to its removal from the site. Although why his follow up article is allowed to persist is beyond me. Also, although the worst of the bunch, McCullough's article wasn't too far afield of other journalist's reports, even on my local news in February.

None of the journalists reporting on the game kept these facts in mind:

• The game is rated M by the ESRB, targeted at players 17 and older (and generally as inaccessible as pornography to minors--it can be had but then why buy a $59 game with one dodgy sex scene if you can get real porn?)
• The scene in question shows only partial nudity and is barely 30 seconds in length (compared to the 20-50 hours of gameplay)
• The scene is part of a mini-game, only accessible if you talk to the right characters at the right time

I'm sick of the gaming industry being fair game. IMO, hacks like McCullough should have their journalistic license revoked and be banned from any journalistic pursuits. Too harsh? Ask yourself if McCullough fabricated something this simple to check facts on, what else has he fabricated? I'm betting lots of articles and topics, sparking to mind Stephen Glass, who did pay the price for his lack of integrity. Oh, and I pick on McCullough because he's an easy target, but I'd also yank the local reporters off the air for riding the wave and not checking their facts.

But, that's just me.