Arguably, there’s an infinite number of things that could probably upset the fine residents of North Carolina. Dragons, volcanoes and liquor prices, I imagine, are towards the top of that list -and yet for one NC household their rage is purely focused on video game title Portal 2, from developer Valve. Go figure?! See, here’s the issue for North Carolina resident Neal Stapel and his family: in Portal 2 players work to solve a variety of puzzles in hopes of escaping the confines of an A.I. overrun research facility. No issue there. Now, throughout the experience, players interact with robotic antagonists who do all they can to distract you from reaching your goals…even name calling, at certain points. During one of the game’s particular dialogue sequences, our main character is teased for being an orphan. By the game’s lead villain. A robot. Making fun of the player. For being an orphan. So, when Mr. Stapel discovered this dialogue sequence within the game, he was outraged. Mainly because his adopted 10-year-old daughter was sitting right next to him at the time, but also because (I imagine) he was probably thinking about those damn dragons from earlier. Either way, it didn’t take long for CBS news affiliate WBTV to be contacted and the rest, as they say, is non-news history.
Look, I’m not adopted so I’m not even going to pretend that I understand the emotions related to that kind of experience, but I am an avid gamer who has had tons of expletives shouted at him from video game villains, so in part, I guess that I can identify with this story.
Catch the news segment after the cut, along with an extended clip of the “orphan dialogue” sequence from the game. Is this dad justified in his outrage? Will I ever find that f–king television remote? Answer after the jump.
[via Kotaku]