Owning this 'dangerous' 2004 video game could get you arrested
The video game industry loves a bit of controversy.
From Grand Theft Auto and Bully being banned due to their violence to Postal 2 being pulled over homophobia and racism, The Pokemon Trading Card Game was censored over accusations of Zionism and 2006's RapeLay was banned for its name alone. There are plenty of video game nasties out there.
Even if some think video games have gone 'woke' with their censorship in 2024, there are times when games are removed from sale or banned altogether for very serious reasons. When it comes to 2004's The Guy Game, even owning it could get you arrested.
A search of The Guy Game won't see it on any second-hand auction sites, nor will you be able to find it being streamed on Twitch.
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Topheavy Studios released the simplistic trivia game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, with four players going head-to-head in a title inspired by the Girls Gone Wild pornographic videos. The general premise is that getting a question right earns a 'reward' of a topless woman.
Video games continue to make money from sexualization, but when it came to The Guy Game, it was banned due to the age of the models featured.
While players assumed they were ogling some attractive woman, it was later alleged that one of the women featured was a minor.
The topless segments were reportedly filmed at a Spring Break party in Texas' South Padre Island, with participants having their ID checked and being paid $20 for their participation.
In 2005, an unnamed 'Jane Doe' filed a lawsuit against Topheavy, claiming that she was only 17 at the time of filming.
The Jane Doe said she'd falsified her date of birth, meaning The Guy Game included indecent images of an underage girl.
Although the court didn't resolve whether Topheavy had produced child pornography in violation of obscenity laws under the Texas Penal Code, she won the case and The Guy Game were pulled from sale.
Topheavy responded and posted to its website: "The Man has decided that our fun and hilarious presentation of spring break revelry just wasn't appropriate for the world of gaming."
This wasn't the end of the story, and in 2005, a collector's edition DVD titled The Guy Game: Game Over took the video game elements out of the title and released previously unseen footage and women from filming. Game Over was released for $19.99, but for those who wanted something a little extra, there was the $39.99 special edition that included a hat and a T-shirt.
It doesn't sound like we're missing much by not playing The Guy Game, and when The Guardian listed it as one of the worst games of all time, it was branded as 'salacious' and 'misogynist' even without its legal troubles.