New computer game makes money by glorifying murder

THE COMPUTER games industry is likely to face a barrage of criticism this week over games with graphic violence and sex being launched in the run-up to Christmas.

Carmageddon II - Carpocalypse Now is the sequel to the banned 1997 game, in which racing cars collect points by hitting pedestrians. Another game, Thrill Kill, includes a dominatrix who has an orgasm every time she kills.

Publicity for the Carmageddon sequel, to be launched in November, declares: "If you just remove a limb, the victim can still be seen limping across the street, searching for help. There is only one thing to do. Finish them!"

The game also offers the option of opening "your car doors (to catch those fast moving animals), the option to have your own little barbecue by pouring petrol over opponents, pedestrians, and animals and then kick in your car's afterburner and ... well you can work out the rest".

The original Carmageddon was highly controversial and the British Board of Film Classification refused the "immoral" game a certificate.

Games are only referred to the BBFC if they show "gross violence to human beings", and the decision was the first time a computer game had been refused certification under the 1984 Video Recordings Act.

A "zombie" version, with green gunge instead of blood, was released first. The full realistic version only came out after the company which produces the game, SCi, successfully appealed to the Video Appeals Committee. On that panel were the novelist Fay Weldon and long-time Blue Peter editor Biddy Baxter.

Jane Kavanagh, the chief executive of SCi, defended the game. "It has been successfully released in 59 other countries," she said. "Over here we won the appeal on the European Convention on Human Rights, which says any body proposing to ban a product has to prove that it will have a devastating effect on society.

"The BBFC couldn't possibly claim that. It has sold over half a million copies worldwide, and was voted game of the year by PC Zone. When you think about it, these images are just pixels on a screen; they are fantasies. The BBFC are censoring games they don't even know how to load."

Steve Cheese of the European Leisure Software Publishers' Association, said people should not be misled because the programs were called games. "It's an adult pastime, not a children's one," he said. "As long as they're rated and distributed responsibly, there's no danger. While 80 per cent of computer software is suitable for all ages, the average age of a Playstation owner is 22, that of an IBM PC game-player is 29."

Under current practice, the industry, via ELSPA and the Video Standards Council, classifies games voluntarily . Of the 3,000 games seen by the VSC since 1994, 15 have been rated "18", and 202 have been sent to the BBFC. But this Christmas, games such as BMG Interactive's Grand Theft Auto (in which you play a petty criminal) and Postal (for serial killers), could be surpassed.