Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004    Text size: 

“We want to raise awareness that these video game makers are walking a fine line with the type of content they provide to teen-agers,” XXX Church cofounder Craig Gross told XBiz. “We felt we needed to do something over the top [with the awards show].”

The Wally Awards, which is intended to thumb its nose at a number of video game manufacturers, will honor video titles like “Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude” and “Extreme Thong Volleyball,” among others, for their sexual nature, Gross said.

The show will also honor Stuff magazine and Playboy, which will win the “Crossover Nude Pixeltorial” for a print pictorial of video game figures, Gross said.

“How did an industry that used to be represented by PacMan and Donkey Kong turn to this?” Gross asked. “No one has a clue what these kids are playing. You have ‘Playboy: The Mansion’ being marketed to 12-year-olds, but they can’t even buy the magazine.”

Gross said that he and partner Mike Foster got the idea for XXX Church after seeing what little concern the Catholic church had for people with pornography addiction. Gross said that neither he nor Foster had a problem with adult entertainment themselves, but they had certainly been exposed and felt a need to do something about it.

"What the porn industry doesn't understand is that this stuff isn't for everyone," Gross told XBiz earlier this year. "And while it isn't going to hurt everyone, it can hurt some people. From our standpoint, this is a call for kids to stay away from it, and if not, to be responsible with it."

The award show begins tonight at 7 p.m. at the Showcase Theatre in Corona, Calif. The event will feature performances by musical group FIN and rapper Cal Logic.

A webcast of the show will be available at XXXChurch.com on Wednesday.