What? I hope you're being facetious about comparing Mario and FFVII (which I hated and stopped playing by the way - but not because of the violence..) to something like Manhunt. 

I'm not taking a moral stance about games with violence or blood - almost every game has violence in it to some extent, and blood can be used in an effective way to portrary realistic characters and real circumstances (such as a character being wounded and bleeding). I only question the existence of games where the designers specifically make blood and gore entirely the purpose of the game.

But that's not all games with gore in it.  Jamicus is right; there's really no reason to take an ANTI-GORE stance and at the same time be perfectly fine with the fact that the only black character in FF7 reinforces an awful racial stereotype, or any of the other plethora of offensive things found in games.  If you literally get squeamish because of video game gore then that's one thing, but it's a bit of a double standard to choose to take issue on a moral level with ALL GORE IN VIDEO GAMES and not with other stuff, especially since you've just pointed out that gore isn't your problem, gore as a gimmick is.  These are totally different things.

If you're talking about just not wanting to play ridiculous games where you play as a serial rapist or a pedophile or some other type of awful game where you're supposed to derive entertainment out of being a disgusting human being, then that's one thing, but we're not talking about games that throw a 12 year old girl in front of you and go RAPE THIS THEN LAUGH ABOUT IT; we're just talking about gore in general, which doesn't necessarily need to be like that at all.  So yeah if you're not playing them on principle because you think all gore is bad, that's a little silly, because it's not, and if you're not playing them because gore grosses you out, that's also a little silly but w/e I almost puked playing through fucking Jabu Jabu's belly in Ocarina of Time, but if you're not playing them on principle because you think that some of this shit shouldn't be made into a game then... well, that's still silly because this isn't all gore can be!

I don't like the for the gore, like many people have said. But it's really no problem if it fits in the context of the situation. Often times people subscribe the the mention of the word violence as negative (with gore as a result). But some people forget that violence is just a method, it's up the the person to decide if it's for good or bad. And even when violence is used for justice, enemies still bleed.

Gore for the most part is thrown in as an unnecessary, disgusting factor to sell games to 13-year-old boys.  Sure, there are some times when it MAKES SENSE (of course if you're shot you're going to bleed) but sometimes they do things like make bodies bleed more than PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE.  I don't look for gore in games, but I guess it doesn't really bother me much if it's already there.

If you don't mind the special effects being so bad, I guess you could go back and play games like Phantasmagoria and Harvester.  Some of the scenes from Phantasmagoria made me physically ill (choking that woman with bloody meat)

Ooh, I just checked out Phantasmagoria and it's pretty awesome! If only the game would still work on my PC.. But at least I could watch most of the game on the internet. The only death that made me ew was when the woman in Phantasmagoria 2 got hung up in the locker room by her feet and hands and then poked to death several times.

Anyway, it seems that most people feel that gore is fine if it's in context with the game itself but not if the game is based around the gore. Yet, say, House of the Dead is pretty much based around gore. It's all gore (though not much). I liked that game though. The final boss of House of the Dead 2 was so impressive I still remember it.~

I like a bit of gore but only if it's going to help along the game. Like in RE, The Punisher, God of War and so on it's pretty effective so I enjoy it. It can make games a lot more gritty and immersive if done correctly.

The problem is games where it seems to mainly be focused on the gore and they end up terrible. I don't like games like that and I would never play them just to see some BLOOD N SHIT.

yeah, like gears of war, it had allot of gore but it worked because the styles worked together,.. the buffed up rugby players caught up in close-quarter brutality doing everything to survive, it just translates.


but mostly games focused on massive gore are mostly bad games that rely on being "cool". but anyways there wasnt a single game that shocked/ made me feel sick because of gore.... im gonna look at that Phantasmagoria game on youtube

oke, I gotta admit that the choking with meat scene was really fudged up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQ-C1suCEY&feature=related

one thing gta4 misses is the ability to sever body parts with the stronger weapons imo

also soldier of fortune rocks for the gore but that game isnt very good so i barely play more than the opening level but what an opening level huh?

oke, I gotta admit that the choking with meat scene was really fudged up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQ-C1suCEY&feature=related

I really don't think this scene is more disgusting than the common gore scenes.. It's just a woman with a pipe in her mouth, and some fake meat stuff being put into the pipe. But then again, in Saw 3 a man was almost drowned in chopped up pigs and everyone was all "OMFG DISGUSTING", while I didn't think it was scary/disgusting at all. :/

dude holy shit that looks awesome,  I am glad I got a Wii now.

I demand more Wii games like that.

Keep an eye on Platinum Games then because they're the ones behind it and much of the team is made of ex- Clover Studio reps.  Wii is getting that game, MadWorld; PS3/360 are getting a game called Bayonetta (has some crazy leather clad chick with pistols strapped to her boots killing what looks to be angels or something, sounds weird, but look for the teaser trailer on youtube, it looks cool anyway) and a Sci Fi space RPG for the DS. (forgot the name)