Patrick wouldn't like this at all.

Idiotic thread title aside, this, as all of them usually are, was really funny. It's really interesting to see how the rest of the world views video games from time to time. And good god, that spike death is fucking brutal.

Best quick look ever

We need this guy in the industry. To make fun of every drama that erupts for every little fucking thing. Conan should write for Kotaku so he can save that fucking website.

@gravier251: I didn't know how to respond to this thread, but I'm just going to say I agree with basically everything you just said.

Uh...no. Read the tweet again. He's not saying he doesn't like the video, he's saying that Conan's videos highlight a lot of the juvenile and out dated concepts in games these days. Which he's absolutely right. Like I said before, it's important to get an outside view of the games industry from someone so completely removed from it.

Thomas having his face impaled on a hook now has competition

God damn. I know it's been said in this thread, but god damn that river scene.

Yeah. Definitely not going to play this game now. That's too hardcore for me.

that legitimately might be my favorite death in a video game.

So well done

I don't know. I love violence in video games but when that stick through the neck popped up I was shocked. It was pretty awesome but I was shocked. Mortal Kombat and God of War's violence is too stylized and over the top to be shocking. Also the suddenness of the stick through the neck was a major factor.

i for one hate attractive women i cant wait to watch lara croft die brutally in all manner of scenarios .

Putting your game in Conan's hands is a fairly good way to know what the non-gaming public will think of the game.

it is important to get the outside view from people like conan as its refreshing to see what genuinely naive people think of our modern videogames, it highlights a lot of juvenile stuff in our games sure, but as someone in that twitter conversation says in which i agree and you can say what you will, but that generalization doesn't apply to all games these days.

also feel free to disagree, but that tweet still reads to me that patrick doesnt like the videos cause of how damming it is, so in relation to the topic title i still think the OP is right. ( i do agree the thread title is stupid though, just by the title alone its gonna generate tons of views for better or worse)

I don't find Conan funny, but this video was actually pretty funny and good.

What? Have you been playing modern video games recently? A good chunk of all video games are about killing something, usually in some graphic manner. How is this death scene pushing the envelope when we've been literally chainsawing doods in half since Gears of War 1 came out?

That was hilarious. Conan is awesome. Also I really am dying to play this... URGH!

But characters who look like Scott Shelby and Aveline are not leading characters in any visual medium. They're character actors. And we all love character actors, where would we be without Stephen Toblowski to be bald and kind of annoying? But at the end of the day, it's Tom Cruise's perfectly symmetrical face on the billboard. Idealized? Absolutely. But that's kind of how it's always been. Even actresses we'd consider to be 'normal looking' like Ellen Page or Jennifer Laurence are gifted genetically, and tons of time and money are spent making them look even better. Singling out video game characters for being 'too attractive' strikes me as a bad precedent to set. Especially considering how much this character is based on Camilla Luddington. Next we'll be storming Beyonce's estate; it's not fair for her to have the body of an amazon and the voice that can blow doors down!

Also for the supermodel line, this might just be a lack of understanding, but modern Lara Croft is absolutely not a supermodel. Or she'd be 6'2 and 102 pounds. If she was anything, she'd be a fitness model, and even then... Lara just looks like your usual Hollywood pretty lady.

Wow, way to post a bait topic like this. You didn't give any type of context at all. Try again OP.

I would say that's a good thing! Considering how desensitised most video game players are to video game violence, it's refreshing to be shocked and made to feel for the safety of our avatar. It reminds me of how most people reacted to the ending of The Last of Us' E3 stage demo, where Joel blows that bandit's face off with a shotgun. We've all seen plenty of gooey headshots before, but the way it was staged managed to make it look appropriately depressing and uncomfortable.

Same with this death animation. It's even kinda sobering to find that some form of violence in a video game can still elicit some sort of reaction out of me. Of course shock value for the sake of shock value doesn't warrant a lot of merit, but under the circumstances of what was happening, it doesn't seem too unlikely that Lara could inadvertently have her neck collide with a pointy thing. Though I will reiterate that I agree that the way it lingers on the shot is... a little unnecessary, but even then -- dat grit. It's not like it completely tore through her neck and you're left starring at Lara's decapitated head on the end blinking at you after all. But oh if only...

I enjoyed all of that way too much! Sadly I laughed pretty hard at the CH asm, and CH aotic joke. Kudos Conan!

aren't you fighting against aliens in Gears of War?

again, there's a difference between tomb raider (which seems to be trying for realism) and something fantastical likes gears of war or mortal kombat. I mean if that doesn't bother you than rock on but the fact is that it bothers others.

It's not particularly a question of just straight up what's worse, but it's also a question of tone and of scale. Chainsawing dudes in Gears of War will always seem ridiculous (to me at least) because of the overall tone of the game, and the sheer fact that you're doing something as outlandish as cutting someone in half.

However, everyone's been charging down a hill at some point, and changes are you've scuffed your toe or hand or whatever on something whilst doing it. Now times that to a million and add someone who actually seems like a real person. Then it's worse than anything I've ever seen in Gears. Specially with the way the handle that with the crash cut to it from the pace of the scene before it. That's some brutal editing right there.

It's why Saw 1 is way better than any other torture porn things. Cutting my foot off seems like something I could actually, possibly do, if my life depended on it (though I probably wouldn't because I'm a pussy). However, I can't comprehend any of the shit in the later films. Pulling myself up hooks that are attached into my chest? Nope. Getting fucking melted by acid? No idea. And then you don't give a shit about Saw films anymore.

It's not as much as about graphic nature as it is about your ability to relate it to your own past painful experiences, subconcious or otherwise. That's what gets you.

You've assumed a lot about me. First: There are plenty of modern games that have violence as their central gameplay mechanic and yet aren't really gross about. Second: Modern games aren't only Gears of War/God of War/Dead Space/whatever other violent game. Third: I'm not a fan of graphic violence. The idea that just because Gears of War is graphic, I should find this okay makes no sense. Chainsawing dudes in Gears of War 1 was really off putting to me. I didn't care for it at all. At all. Nor did I care for any of the other gore in that game. I don't even like it when shooters have exploding heads from head shots.

I had a passing interest in Tomb Raider as I thought it might have been an okay game. Now, well, it could totally be an okay game but I know for sure that I no longer care to play it.

I watched 30 seconds and turned this off.....this is entertainment?

@superwristbands: Well I certainly understand and respect the fact that you don't like violence in video games. I just find it so surprising to hear such a strong reaction when most big budget titles revolve around murder of some kind. Were basically killing in most games we play. I'm excluding things like iOS titles and whatnot and just thinking of big releases on Consoles. Gears of War, Uncharted, God of War, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, Skyrim, inFamous, Assassins Creed - etc etc all these games basically revolve around slaughtering hundreds of bad guys between you and your next waypoint. Murder is at the crux of most games which is why I found your strong reaction so strange. (I know there are a lot of other games like Katamary Damacy, Professor Layton, Ghost Trick and others that don't involve violence of any kind but I was simply listing big releases) Just want to be clear that if you think this game has too strong an emphasis on graphic gore, and it certainly does from all the footage I've seen so far, then it's obviously your choice to stay away from it and theres nothing wrong with that.

You know I don't remember people having such a strong reactions to a death scene or graphic depictions of violence in the various AAA titles that have come out. Is it because Lara is a girl?

This was funnier then it should it have been.

You've got me all wrong, I don't hold any particular ire that new Lara Croft is still a super hotress with a pair of D's. I guess I should have elaborated more in my original post, but I was mostly commenting on how a lot of people have stated how much more ''real'' this new Lara is, when I think she's still just as capable and video game character-y as her predecessor. It's just for the first few hours she goes through some shit to get there. Of course I haven't played the game so maybe it won't be quite as instantaneous as it looks, but judging by the reviews it won't take long for Lara to reach the same capabilities that she's recognised for -- now with 10x more ponytail sway, and some occasional bits of remorse here and there. It's basically very much like when Nathan Drake is labelled as the ''every-man'' when he's far from it. I just think some people give certain characters the wrong sect of praise.

Though I would of course love to see some more Scott Shelby's of the world in leading roles; we need our Phillip Seymour Hoffman! Besides this one, anyway. But as it is, I'm not particularly flustered that video games are filled with fantasy characters or anything as it comes with the territory, especially for these sorts of games. I replied to humanity with Scott Shelby and Aveline just to prove that there can exist characters who are more akin to the everyman/woman and look the part. Hell, the Silent Hill series adds to that as well. James Sunderland is of course one of the most average guys you can imagine, minus the psychosis.

Well this escalated quickly.

Don't do that. You should very clearly be able to perceive why some people are weirded out by her death in the video. And as I've mentioned earlier, there was a very similar reaction to The Last of Us' E3 demo where a male bandit was shotgunned to the face by another male.

I really don't see. What kind of mental gymnastics does a person have to go through to applaud the killing in The Last of Us as being impactful and a great way to depict violence versus the stuff in the new Tomb Raider?

Versus? They're both in the same league. They both put forth gruesome brutality that looks real and isn't cartoonish like so much other video game violence. In The Last of Us you had the guy begging for his life moments before he was shot, and in Tomb Raider they make her death look like something very plausible while still highly unpleasant. They could have made the pipe/spike/thing rip her spine out along with her head or some craziness, but having it simply poking through her neck as she instinctively tries to flail her hands around it and hope that'll somehow save her is something that at least looks real, and it's then made to be all the more relatable and ultimately more disturbing.

Lol

We are in agreement that both instances are visceral and could have a place in reality. The question I'm posing is why that demo of The Last of Us received accolades from the media and got everyone hyped for the game while the stuff we saw with Lara has people condemning the violence. What is the difference and why didn't people react negatively to both examples if they are the same.

@golguin: Ohh, well actually I can remember that particular E3 brought up a lot of discussion about whether games are becoming too violent ect. Even the GB guys were involved remember, and they criticised God of War Ascension in particular for the whole stabbing the elephant monster's brain. Plus this came out of it, too.

@golguin: I'm not gonna condone the The Last of Us demo from E3 but as I've already said earlier in the thread, context. That's what's making people react to this more than other stuff we've seen in gaming.

Also, did that demo actually get a positive reaction for it's imagery ?

I do remember the elephant brain and how they were critical of people in the audience at the show cheering for it. What I also remember is the praise heaped on the Last of Us demo because it was moving away from the Uncharted series of violence where you have a good and fun loving guy like Drake going on a massacre and no one calling him on that. The violence and killing in the Last of Us was made more impactful because those moments are suppose to be up to the player since you can stealth your way through that section. The Last of Us depiction of violence was praised as a step up from the Uncharted series.

Ha. I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched this.

"Welp. Patrick's not going be pleased."

Cue article about how Conan O'brien is a sexist monster.

Hey! You're here! This is good news, I'm glad someone's still here who can just... you know, just talk for me.

The reaction to the demo was overwhelmingly positive because of its depiction of violence and how different it was from the Uncharted style of action and violence.

Lara Croft was denied employment because she was perceived as inferior to a man?

Also -- the more I hear about this game, the more pleased I am that I didn't pre-order it. And . . . . that I don't like the Tomb Raider franchise.

After 2011 and 2012, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter. You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. The only solution is not to include women in your game at all so as to avoid all (usually blown out of proportion, based on nothing, and totally absurd) criticism. Except, of course, then you'll be criticized for that, too. I'm almost starting to buy into the ridiculous claims some people make that "the ones with the problem are the ones who are overly critical; not the ones being criticized" where this topic is concerned.

So people are dog-piling on defending against criticisms that don't yet exist -- also, those criticisms are usually based on theoretically offensive things that people aren't actually offended by. So I guess their quickness to defend against those silly not-yet-existent criticisms seem fair, because experience has taught them that nobody actually has to be offended or harmed by anything. It's merely enough that some pudgy spoiled white kid in his dorm room tweets out that something struck him as potentially insensitive toward one gender or any other categorical classification of person and that is enough to stir a frenzy of coverage about a thing as if it were actually offensive or harmful.

That absolute circle-jerking navel-gazing lunacy has caused entire swaths of gamers to feel necessarily always on the defensive.

@humanity: It's cool. Your reaction to my reaction was surprising as well to me but you do understand so, yeah, it's cool. I'm not against violence, I just try to avoid graphic violence if I can.

@branthog: @_@'

Sorry, I just have this habit of reading a lot of your posts like they're being shouted directly by the Sun. Also, am I being insulted? I feel like I should go sit in the corner and think about what I've done.

God I love Conan so great, not as pervy as the Halo one though

@branthog: you're argument doesn't hold water. No one was in here whining about that shit. NO ONE.

actually there was one and they deleted their post (and it wasn't that bad, just misinformed), but it was hardly anything worth the entire fucking thread dog piling against this imaginary half person half strawman without actually discussing the better topic at hand, that is to say whether the extreme, semi realistic violence was too much or not (which is an argument worth having)

and you know what? if those so called naval gazing lunatics really caused them to always be on the defensive, then we get to fucking call those people out as man-children who act like a kid scared that there's a monster who's going to call him a misogynist in his closet.

You defend these people? They literally did not read the topic.

I like games.

I don't know what Patrick has to do with any of this, but that did make cringe a little bit. Its like its almost too real if that makes any sense. Cartoonish violence like mk or gow is fine but when it seems so realistic ( like the last of us trailer where the bandit gets shotgunned in the face) that it becomes a little off putting. I may wait to pick up tomb raider b/c of that. I don't wanna pay $60 for a game i'm not sure i can finish.

holy shit. I just woke my baby up when I choked on conans reaction to the stick through the face.

If I saw Nathan Drake get a spike through the skull, I think I'd have the same reaction.

Also,

Sounds like she's being raped.

I'm here too-Walrus! Eh? Eh?