Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Yes, because only 13 year olds enjoy horror. There is nothing in this game worse than what you would find in a Steven King novel (actually, I can recall parts of IT that trump anything in found in here), and we all know his audience is made up entirely of 13 year olds.
Not to defend this game too much, the plot was a little weak and the gameplay was buggy and unfinished feeling, not to mention that the consistantly grotesque and constantly dark story put it much closer to the likes of Hostel or Saw, rather than well written horror from the likes of King or Barker, but true horror is a sparse genre in gaming (unlike movies and books) and as a (27yo) fan of all things horror related, I was happy to see a game push the boundries of games a tiny bit closer to those of other mediums, even if it was a game that lacked polish and the soul to justify the gore, at least it set the stage for someone to do it right in the future.

I'm getting mixed messages from your post. On the one hand, you're defending it, but at the same time, you yourself claim that the game has no justification or real context for the gore, and you liken it to the god-awful Hostel and Saw films.

"Gorenography" films are not horror films. In the same vein, "gorenography" games are not horror games.

Firstly, gorenography films are most definitely horror films. They are the bottom of the barrel in the genre, but they are still part of the genre, both in spirit and by definition. In quality horror movies, the feeling of horror is derived from suspenseful, well written and disturbing twists, in addition to the usual jump scares and monsters or madmen stalking protaganists that the viewer has grown to care about. In other horror movies (torture porn or "gorenography"), the horror is derived from disgusting, excessive gore and violent imagery (as well as those jump scares and monsters/psychopaths). But they are still 100% horror, as their main intent is to horrorfy the audience. They succeed in this task by attacking their sensibilities and ethics with disgusting acts of violence, thus horrorfying the viewer.

Yes my post is sending mixed signals, because I have mixed feelings about this game. While it fails at being well executed, it succeeds in establishing precedent and opening up boundaries for it to be done correctly in the future. Now digital artists know what they can and cannot get away with, and the boundaries have been pushed a (very) little bit closer to that of books and film. And that, to me at least, is very important. Take for example a movie like Dead Alive. While the excessive gore (easily worse than Hostel or Saw) and cheesy acting, writing and directing may seem hard to defend, this cult classic was key in building Peter Jackson's career, ultimately leading to him landing the gig on the Lord of the Rings trilogy for which he is so strongly loved and respected. Dead Alive may or may not be art (in the same way that this game may or may not be), but the LotR films certainly are, and without the freedom to experiment and push the limits, an artist is handcuffed and may never find their true strength and ability, as Jackson ultimately did.

There's nothing in this game that shouldn't be allowed in video games, just as it's already allowed in books and film. And this isn't a terrible game, it's just a bit mediocre and rather unpolished. I'm just looking forward to a day when a quality team of coders has the freedom to build a game from a script or concept including the same things already found in other forms of media, and can include such things without fear or pulling any punches. Watch Halloween, and tell me that the violence and gore is any more or less justified than it is in Saw or Manhunt 2. It's not. People are hacked and stabbed for little to no reason. The killer even gets away. The things most inventive and redeeming about it are the creative ways in which it comes up with to kill people (same could be said for Hostel or Manhunt 2), and the American Film Institute put that film on it's top 100 thrill movies of all time alongside films from Hitchcock and Kubrick. So yes, media dealing in murder is obviously not only enjoyed by 13 year olds, but by many people of varying ages. That stereotype has no more weight than the sterotype that only kids enjoy video games. Many 13 year olds enjoy gore, just as many of them enjoy video games. To say that they are the only ones who do is just false, plain and simple. Sorry for the length and if my response was taken as a flame, I'm just so sick to death of that goddamn stereotype.