Adults-Only Video Game Console Will Probably Fail
As the MPAA is to the NC-17 rating, the ESRB is to a little-known rating called Adults Only (or AO). The rating is almost never used for a number of reasons, all of which having to do with companies being afraid to get near sexual content with a 10 foot pole (gratuitous violence, on the other hand, remains perfectly acceptable). Retailers won’t carry the games (Wal-Mart and Best Buy have policies against them) and console manufacturers like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony won’t allow AO games onto their systems.
Enter the Silicon Xtal Corporation. They’ve registered the name SexBox in the US with the intention of creating a “video gaming console comprised of computer hardware with unique controls which plays Adult Only rated (AO) video game software titles.”
Nothing else about the company or the product is really known, but the concept itself seems fatally flawed to me for two reasons:
1) People do not want to buy expensive porn-specific hardware (see also: FyreTV)
2) No one has figured out how to make a pornographic game that doesn’t suck really bad
You name the crappy sex-themed video game, I’ve played it. From Leisure Suit Larry to Sextris to Red Light Center to the wide variety of shitty Flash-based games floating around the interwebs these days. They’re all terrible. Maybe the people who are good at making games are busy doing it for money, or perhaps it’s because the characters of any halfway playable game are located squarely in the uncanny valley, but I’ve never seen a sex video game that was hot or fun.
Much like chocolate and pickles or polyester and fire, I think porn and video games are really best left separate pleasures.
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Tags: adult video games, porn video games, sexbox
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 4:38 pm and is filed under games, news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
9 Responses to “Adults-Only Video Game Console Will Probably Fail”
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I am a…
September 9th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
G man says:Ehm … have you considered just not playing crap games anymore?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
alison hart says:If people keep making them, I feel duty bound to play them once. And since the game I’ve been waiting 2 years for got pushed back to 2010, I’ve got time.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:54 am
Lash says:You gotta be kidding me the Al Lowe LSL games are classic. Its to bad they made those god awful ones without him though, Ill agree that those were awful.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:59 am
alison hart says:I completely agree they were classic (and that the ones they made without Al Lowe were really terrible), but they weren’t hot. They were funny. Which is better than not hot and boring.
September 19th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Oruba says:I don’t know. This might not be such a bad idea. I mean, yes, sex-themed games have historically sucked hard. And yes, any game on this console will probably blow, but think about it: 1) the graphics on mainstream games have reached a level of near lifelikeness. 2) technology that synchs body responses to gameplay can’t be that far away. I’m thinking of something between a rumble controller and the Strange Days headgear will be in the hands of anyone with $59.99 in no more than 10 years. Do you see where I’m going with this? Games where you can fuck (and feel yourself fucking) some onscreen star are closer to reality than flying cars and robot nannies. For whatever reason (moral, legal, public relations), the mainstream game purveyors might not be able to jump on this, at least not right away. A company with a console, distribution network, and clientele might be able to scoop the market. I’m not saying this is the way things will be, but it is certainly a possibility.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:35 pm
alison hart says:You make a good point: past performance is not always a good indicator of future behavior. That said, I think that it’s more likely that haptic technology and related gadgets are going to end up being used to interface with other humans rather than video games. From an entrepreneurial perspective, you can charge a lot more to virtually fuck a real girl than a fake one and the owners of cam sites are the ones who can really cash in on this because they don’t have the moral, legal or PR excuses not to.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Oruba says:Didn’t even think of that. Who says the medium can’t be a game console? What you describe sounds a lot like Xbox Live.
Now that I think about it, the possibilities would be endless with hapatic gear. Mind fucking a fake girl, cam girl, or fellow gamer could be just some of many options.
This is the kind of stuff they should bring up at T.E.D. Screw making cheap laptops for kids.
You just made me all excited about the future again.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
alison hart says:It could definitely be a game console, but I think the lines between boxes of electronics that connect to the internet and play games and allow people to have Demolition Man-esque cybersex are going to get fuzzier and fuzzier.
Have heard anything about the RealTouch? http://www.realtouch.com
The future is indeed bright.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
oscarbares says:Hi, first time posting… I really like the blog.
I think you all are missing a point (the important point, I believe)
The REAL market for this gaes it’s really small. I know that everyone around here likes porn… but let’s be real, a hit movie will sell at most 50K copies (and that is a HUGE hit) for that amount you will only have the cover art done in video game industry
I guess the future of adult games could be more like a WOW or eRepublik game design, nothing to do with consoles (I don’t need/want porn in my PS3)
And among all… are you ready to spend (not borrow, not copy) 70+ bucks in a game with adult oriented material? ummm…let me guess the answer. And also in some kind of weird add on peripheral to “feel” a 3D blowjob? I like porn… but not that much…
*Sorry about my english