After already having been
banned in Australia , British police chiefs have condemned Eidos’ video game adaptation of Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 cult film
Reservoir Dogs, ahead of the game’s August release in the country.
Although the game has already been given an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) – the highest age classification possible, the British Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has spoken out against the game, suggesting it could encourage violence towards real police officers.
Newspaper The Yorkshire Post
quotes an unnamed spokeswoman as saying: "Anything that encourages violent emotions, including such emotions towards members of the police service, is particularly disturbing and can only be described as offensive. It is disappointing to find violent video games on the market that may cause psychological harm to those who play them."
The paper also quotes local MP Phil Willis, who said “I am absolutely staggered that such a game is being allowed to be sold in our shops. It sends out the message that the police and authority figures are there to be targeted and dispatched, [and] desensitizes people to the idea of killing and undermines normal moral values."
Willis has backed a House of Commons motions, tabled by noted and longtime British anti-games campaigner Keith Vaz, MP, to ban the game - on the grounds that it "promotes and supports the infliction of extreme violence and cruelty".
However the paper also quotes a BBFC spokeswoman as saying, "It contains nothing that is particularly stronger than things found in most 18-rated games.” The game has, however, come under fire from even more moderate quarters for its detailed torture sequences, including allegedly burning the eyes of a hostage with a cigar and cutting off their fingers with a cigar cutter.
Eidos representatives, though, have pointed out that the game can be completed without killing a single person. The publisher has some experience of police complaints, with action game
25 To Life, which was never released in Europe, coming under repeated criticism from U.S. police groups. A release date for
Reservoir Dogs in the U.S. has not yet been confirmed.
