Subliminal Messages in Games

Samphis

The recent XBox Live Arcade game Geon is an awesome game. Apparently it's inspiration was a game called Endorfun.

Taken from Endorfun's Wikipedia page:

Endorfun is a single-player, arcade-style computer game released in 1995. It is notable for its use of subliminal, new age messages throughout its soundtrack.

Endorfun's soundtrack is composed of a large number of short, looped song segments. Each segment is approximately 5 seconds long, with different segments strung together to provide longer, varied soundtracks for each level.

Each level's soundtrack contains subliminal messages oriented towards peace, well-being, love, and happiness. Selected messages include:

* I feel joyful now
* I love being alive
* I love the world and it loves me


Apparently this got the game banned in the UK. I'd be interested in checking this out. Has anyone else ever done this in games? This sounds relaxing and calming.

Djiem

Samphis wrote: »

The recent XBox Live Arcade game Geon is an awesome game. Apparently it's inspiration was a game called Endorfun.

Taken from Endorfun's Wikipedia page:

Endorfun is a single-player, arcade-style computer game released in 1995. It is notable for its use of subliminal, new age messages throughout its soundtrack.

Endorfun's soundtrack is composed of a large number of short, looped song segments. Each segment is approximately 5 seconds long, with different segments strung together to provide longer, varied soundtracks for each level.

Each level's soundtrack contains subliminal messages oriented towards peace, well-being, love, and happiness. Selected messages include:

* I feel joyful now
* I love being alive
* I love the world and it loves me


Apparently this got the game banned in the UK. I'd be interested in checking this out. Has anyone else ever done this in games? This sounds relaxing and calming.

So. Is there ANYthing not banned in the UK?

yalborap

Djiem wrote: »

Samphis wrote: »

The recent XBox Live Arcade game Geon is an awesome game. Apparently it's inspiration was a game called Endorfun.

Taken from Endorfun's Wikipedia page:

Endorfun is a single-player, arcade-style computer game released in 1995. It is notable for its use of subliminal, new age messages throughout its soundtrack.

Endorfun's soundtrack is composed of a large number of short, looped song segments. Each segment is approximately 5 seconds long, with different segments strung together to provide longer, varied soundtracks for each level.

Each level's soundtrack contains subliminal messages oriented towards peace, well-being, love, and happiness. Selected messages include:

* I feel joyful now
* I love being alive
* I love the world and it loves me


Apparently this got the game banned in the UK. I'd be interested in checking this out. Has anyone else ever done this in games? This sounds relaxing and calming.

So. Is there ANYthing not banned in the UK?

Final Destination.


(oh god I'm so sorry.)

Hotlead Junkie

Subliminal messages in games? you're crazy, I'v played games all my life and I'm perfectly Mountain Dew.

Janson

The UK has only ever banned two games.

Algertman

Bioshock--Fuck Ayn Rand

IShallRiseAgain

Janson wrote: »

The UK has only ever banned two games.

Did you even read what it said? The UK doesn't ban games, it just makes them illegal to sell by not classifying a game's rating......of course you might be joking or something.

Dodge Aspen

I've always maintained that the background characters in Street Fighter 2 are simulating masturbation. On almost every stage, there is someone making a jacking off motion with their hand. Most people I've showed roll their eyes at me, but it's pretty obvious to me. Hell, one guy on Chun Li's stage is actually choking a chicken. You can't tell me the developers didn't know what they were doing.

More than subliminal messages, I wonder how many inside jokes among developers there are in games.

Einhander

Hotlead Junkie wrote: »

Subliminal messages in games? you're crazy, I'v played games all my life and I'm perfectly Mountain Dew.

Your sarcasm is strangely quenching.

Drool

Algertman wrote: »

Bioshock--Fuck Ayn Rand

A critique of a philosophical theme is not the same thing as a subliminal message.

Djiem

How about that meta mine 3D background in Gunbound Revolution? There's a pole suspended by a lever that moves around, and it looks like someone jerking off.

1:08 to 1:15

Cantido

I want to take the ears off but I can't.

Mr_Grinch

I played (and own) Endorfun so it can't be banned in the UK. It's an enjoyable enough puzzle game (You roll a kind of dice thing around if I remember rightly) but the whole subliminal messages crap was either a gimmick or it flat out didn't work on me.

amateurhour

I remember reading something a long time ago that said Earthbound on snes with that crazy hippy tie-die shit going on in the background was streaming out subliminal messing, like magic eye stuff... Good thing I can't see those.

Magic Pink

Hotlead Junkie wrote: »

Subliminal messages in games? you're crazy, I'v played games all my life and I'm perfectly Mountain Dew.

I laughed. Loud and long.

Rend

Mr_Grinch wrote: »

I played (and own) Endorfun so it can't be banned in the UK. It's an enjoyable enough puzzle game (You roll a kind of dice thing around if I remember rightly) but the whole subliminal messages crap was either a gimmick or it flat out didn't work on me.

Keyline project: It was you who broke my mason plate!


Also, on the subject of banning, alot of the time people mistake other things, like not being released, censorship, etc etc for banning. And it's not like the UK hasn't seen subliminal messaging before in more prevelant media.

wateyad

IShallRiseAgain wrote: »

Janson wrote: »

The UK has only ever banned two games.

Did you even read what it said? The UK doesn't ban games, it just makes them illegal to sell by not classifying a game's rating......of course you might be joking or something.

...and that's exactly the process by which the two games in the article were "banned".

ArcSyn

Wow, the "banned games" section actually makes the US seem good considering they've never really "banned" anything, they just have the ESRB give it an AO rating and let businesses do the rest by refusing to sell it.

I lol'd about Saudi-Arabia and Pokemon, and China and C&C: Generals.

on topic: never noticed subliminal messages, but I think that's the point. If they were there, I doubt they really had any effect.

brynstar

Dodge Aspen wrote: »

I've always maintained that the background characters in Street Fighter 2 are simulating masturbation. On almost every stage, there is someone making a jacking off motion with their hand. Most people I've showed roll their eyes at me, but it's pretty obvious to me. Hell, one guy on Chun Li's stage is actually choking a chicken. You can't tell me the developers didn't know what they were doing.

More than subliminal messages, I wonder how many inside jokes among developers there are in games.

Whoa man. I've played a ton of SFII and I never even thought about that, but wow, you might actually have something there.

And Hotlead, you are absolutely hilarious.

The_Scarab

smoke

LewieP

whenever I play Zool 2 I want to have a lolly pop.

Also, I allways think of yiffing whenever I play a Jeff Minter game, and I don't even know what yiffing is (nor do I want to)

Gyral

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smoke
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