"Ten years ago, a kid 10 years old could walk into any store in America and buy an ultra-violent, adult-rated game. That's no longer true," Walsh said of the 13-year-old NIMF's chief legacy. It was founded in the days of mainstream panic over titles like Duke Nukem and Doom, but industry types credit Walsh's leadership for having proportionate reactions to legitimate parental concerns, rather than exploiting them.

"Were it not for those collaborative efforts by all sides, it's questionable whether there would have been a non-legislative resolution," Hal Halpin, the president the Entertainment Consumers Association, told the AP. NIMF was very influential in the creation of the ESRB's rating system, which helped stave off government interest in regulating content.

Although Walsh expressed shock at watching 10-year-olds play games in which they dismembered their foes, he always maintained that he never endorsed censorship. And while NIMF was a critical actor in the "Hot Coffee" controversy that exposed sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - leading to its brief AO classification and resulting loss of sales - NIMF's report cards weren't dedicated to blaming games for everything. Parents fared worse than game makers and retailers in the group's 2008 report card, the last it will produce.

Unfortunately, this final quote, by author Steven L. Kent, will likely prove true: "I think the game industry will look back and pine for the days when their top opposing voice had as much self-restraint as Dr. Walsh had."

Video Game Watchdog Shuts Down, Victim of Economy [Associated Press on Yahoo! News]

The study, entitled "The Priming Effects of Avatars in Virtual Settings," more or less says that people don't have to self-select antisocial depictions of themselves to engage in antisocial behaviors. Just being told to play on the Dark Side in Jedi Knight II, or as a Klanketeer in another setting, encourages them to be a-holes. So you can imagine what that says about a person who creates the skeleton-faced, top-hatted all-black avatar with a tag like xXx_ScAbIEsDeM0n_XxX.

Before you get huffy, the study's author isn't singling out video games or avatars; they just comprise one environment that can also "prime" people to be louts and douchebags. Let me submit another: The 101 from the 87 to Mountain View at 8:25 a.m. on a weekday.

But yeah, as "no shit" findings go, it does sound rather obvious. You can read up on the rest of the study if you like.

What Does Your Video Game Avatar Say About You? [Daily Comet via Destructoid] [Pic via Something Awful]

The closure is apparently tied to the end of funding from a primary NIMF source, Fairview Health Services, which had committed $750,000 annually to the Institute. WCCO-TV of Minneapolis reported that Fairview Health Services knew back in the summer that, in light of the current economy, "We can't continue," supporting NIMF.

NIMF was known for its annual Video Game Report Card, released around this time of year. The 2008 report gave an A grade to the ESRB, for its new game rating summaries; a B+ to retailers, for following rating and sales policies, and an "incomplete" to parents for not availing themselves of parental controls or closely following what their kids play.

While NIMF occasionally blasted the odd violent video game here or there, at least it wasn't part of the tinhorn orchestra that obligated the ESRB and retailers to do all the parenting by themselves. Game Politics notes that the Entertainment Software Association gave NIMF a $50,000 grant last year.

In a statement, NIMF said it hopes to continue its programs and research through other non-profit organizations.

NIMF to Close at Year End [Game Politics]

Sutain believes two types of misogyny are at work in the Gamer Girl stereotype - the first is condescension, that if women aren't less skilled at popular games, they're at least less serious. The second is the ridicule of men who are less worthy performers or competitors in games with female co-players.

If you dare to turn on the TV, you'll see gamer girls flaunted in video game commercials, while on the Internet, they're placed up on a pedestal in tongue-in-cheek music videos sponsored by G4. Through no fault of their own, every single gamer girl in the world has suddenly been lumped into one gigantic generalization that was obviously based on the same types of misogynistic fables that I used to have back when I was young.

[...]

It's time equality took its place up on the pedestal. Stop the egotistical ranting about where a woman belongs. Stop the senseless mocking of men who have lost to a more skilled female player. Women not only belong in gaming, they excel at it. So quit making excuses when you lose, while acting as if women aren't up to snuff.

Although as a white guy, it rarely, if ever, happens to me, I can understand how a marketing stereotype presuming to speak for my experience would be off-putting, to say the least. But that's how marketers operate, reducing things to symbols and then attaching a value to it.

The issue of online behavior is something that will be persistently disappointing, however, to anyone expecting better of gamers. Patronizing or misogynistic behavior, like racist or homphobic comments, isn't going to go away because of well written arguments or appeals to character. It hasn't gone away, fully, in other settings, has it?

Gamer Girls Aren't So Special Anymore [Busted Analog]

Alice and Kev are the creation of UK game development student Robin Burkinshaw, who decided to see how the old poverty challenge idea from The Sims 2 played out in the recently released The Sims 3. Robin set the pair up in a lot made up to look like an abandoned park, gave them a couple of park benches to sleep on, and then stripped them of their money to see how they would fare in the simulated world. Thanks to some insightful writing from Robin and The Sims 3's new living community and traits system, the story of Alice and Kev is nothing short of completely enthralling.

Alice is a good-natured, affection-starved girl with a penchant for falling asleep anywhere imaginable, while Kev is a crass, inappropriate miscreant who blames his daughter for all of his failings. Their adventures are often as completely heartbreaking as they are humorous.

I mentioned that Alice is feeling stressed out now that she's a teenager. When she was a child, she used to always get her homework done on time, worked hard every day at school, and got constant A grades. She would often come home from school feeling strained, and the only way she could relax after working that hard was by cuddling her teddy.

She's too old to cuddle teddy now. All she'll do is hold him, but gets no enjoyment from it. She can't even pretend that somebody loves her any more.

See? I am tearing up just re-reading that bit right now.

Alice and Kev have gained quite a following since Robin launched their blog, which is kind of depressing in and of itself, as you generally won't find a real homeless family on the receiving end of this kind of attention. Perhaps the fake family will help raise awareness of real families in similar situations. If not, perhaps they should.

You can follow the entire story so far at the link below, where you can also download Alice and Kev, placing them into your own Sim town to see how they get on.

Alice and Kev [Robin Burkinshaw via BoingBoing]

Ten years after the tragedy, Sirota says the United States' debate on violence remains rooted in easy scapegoats because the country as a whole doesn't want to take a closer look at why it is so conditioned to violence.

After each tragedy, it's the same thing. Liberals want us to wonder why gun laws let anyone access deadly weapons. Conservatives insist we question why video games supposedly turn down-to-earth kids into murderers. These queries satiate two desires. In a country that ascribes hubristic "exceptionalism" to itself and berates self-analysis as "hating America," we seek absolution via scapegoat, and so we upbraid boogeymen like firearms and Xboxes.

Among the more likely culprits, Sirota writes:

• A "winner-take-all economy." When it "tortures society, should we be shocked that a few lunatics go over the edge?" He cites reports of increasing domestic violence and extremist activity since the economic collapse of last year.

• U.S. militarism and a media culture that enables, glorifies or otherwise sanctions it.

His politics are very well left, so if you don't care for that, it may just piss you off. But the fundamental point he makes seems reasonable and apolitical to me. Games and guns are sort of pretend-cultural arguments about violence in America. No one is asking why we're dispositioned to carry it out in the first place. We're just looking at means or inspirations.

He says: "Ultimately, shouldn't we expect the deep alienation that may lead the occasional troubled kid to turn video-game fantasies into real-world terror?" That's reasonable. The game's not even a proximate cause of all this. If someone's life is so dysfunctional they spend hours in front of a screen divorced from reality, the last thing we should look at is what's on the screen.

Columbine Questions We Still Haven't Answered [Salon, thanks Kai]

Well, no, actually. To interrupt your scheduled grumblings about know-nothing moral guardians and anti-games cliches I bring news that several figures from Church of England groups and charities met at a round table chat organised by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and came to the conclusion that this gaming lark might actually have something positive to contribute to society.

Mike Royal, national director of the Lighthouse Group said that games can encourage children to talk about 'boundaries' and what behavior is good and acceptable, not only in gaming but other aspects of their lives.

Up next - Jack Thompson "really getting in to Tales of Vesperia".

Computer And Video Games Are Good for us!! [Yet Another Review Site]

Some researchers are convinced that repetitive play of violent games instructs kids in violence, making violent acts more likely. But others argue that video violence is a cathartic replacement for real violent crime, which has gone down since the advent of video games.

While the article does spend a great deal of time dealing with the issues of violent video games, calling out the usual suspects - Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, etc., it also addresses the fact that there are constructive games out there like SimCity, social games that let you play sports like golf and baseball, and even games that are "just plain fun" like Guitar Hero. These are all titles you hardly ever see mention in writings dealing with the negative aspects of gaming, since so many choose to stick with the negative and forgo the positive completely.

Of course the article isn't without some more sensationalist speak, such as this tidbit from Pastor Kody Kirchhoff of the LiveWire Youth Ministries at Calvary Lutheran Church:

“Aside from the violence, obscenity and negative themes, the larger and greater problem lies in the fact that video games control many people’s hearts and minds, creating a monotonous, zoned-out new reality,”

But even an accusation like this is quickly brought into focus by the follow up.

“God, family and friends do not exist in many games,” he says. “Activities like camping, playing catch with Dad, swimming, or just being a kid have vanished.”

The man has a point. I seem to remember a lot more children outside playing when I was a kid. After school you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a child, a fact that used to make my after school times truly special. While I don't think video games are to blame for the lack of kids screaming at each other outside my window every afternoon, I do think they make a very convenient babysitter for parents who don't have time to play with their children and are too terrified by the concept of child predators to let their babies go outside unattended. If anything, the mainstream media - who often target video games themselves - are to blame, scaring parents out of their minds with special reports about the dangers their children face crossing the street every day.

I digress. This isn't about my opinion. This is about the opinion being distributed to Christian newspapers this month, and the final message from Center for Fathering CEO Carey Casey is one I can really get behind.

“Parents should place limits on children’s media use, including when, where, and how much they can participate. And we should be ready to address common myths that are often portrayed in the media: such as the myths that to be worthwhile you have to be beautiful, that money buys happiness, that sex is merely recreation and has no consequences, and that violence solves problems.”

Getting serious about gaming [ChristianExaminer Online]

Part of the fun, sometimes, in doing atrocious things in games is that it's fiction. The fact that it's fiction does not make it any less impactful to me. Another part of the fun for me, in video games, is that you can experiment with the boundaries of a world, push them, and if you leave a permanent mark, you can reset, try again. I'd hate if the fear of being caught in my private, solitary mess-around actually restrained me from playing around in a game. So to answer N'Gai's question — yes, it would change how I played games, but I don't think for the better.

Croal's original piece is worth taking a gander at and raises some interesting questions of where our outward gaming personas might be telling people in a few years .... Still, I don't think we should be linking in-game 'personas' with real life - and I don't even have any murdered Little Sisters lurking in my gaming closet.

Social Sanction And Game Choice? [Sexy Videogameland]

I was hanging out around the outside of the Loews Beach hotel in Santa Monica Friday afternoon, trying desperately to ignore the growing red crispiness of my sun-punished forehead as I awaited the festivities promised by the Gamecock Media Group, when an all too familiar, mournful tune rang out through the dark...sunlit day. It really is hard to be moody and noir in Santa Monica.

In my austere reverence I decided there and then to take the air-conditioned shuttle bus in a circle around the city to ponder the heavy thoughts that the haunting image of this becockled piper stirred in my soul, and to get a Snickers bar. Upon my return, the festivities were beginning to get underway.

I entered the courtyard of the Hotel California, already filled with hopeful partygoers, with not one trace of Colitas rising up through the air. My disappointment was soon sidetracked by the strange items being passed around by the party organizers. Stylized black tambourines, black bandanas festooned with the Gamecock logo, dark umbrellas similarly festooned and, for some odd reason, a pickle in a bag, which remains to this day a subject of much speculation among my fellow press members.

In true Gamecock style the pre-funeral party was dotted with voodoo vaudevillians, dark and sexy creatures that were on hand to add a certain spooky beauty to the proceedings. The ghosts of booth babes past perhaps?

There was no time to ponder the origin of the specters any further, as the call had come, and it was time to give E3 the grand sendoff it deserved. The ever-growing procession of sad faces, black umbrellas and confused game reporters made its way down the long flight of stairs onto the sidewalk that parallels the beach. I found it a very moving ceremony and was ready to go back up the stairs for more beer, when the damndest thing happened. They kept walking!

Passersby stared at the mass of marching mourners in awe, perhaps wondering how those of the larger, sweatier persuasion (*cough*me*cough*) were able to maintain their footing without tumbling face-first into the crowd. Children followed along on their bicycles and skateboarder passed by us presenting very tempting lariat targets. Policemen on ATVs sat and watched us pass with the resignation of authority figures who knew deep down inside that if a group that large decided to start getting rowdy there was absolutely nothing they could do to stop us.

We walked and chatted and took picture after picture of other people walking and chatting as a brass band marched up front, setting the time. Then, despite my best efforts, I died of heatstroke.

Ahhh, but remember, I said I'd tell you about the time I almost died. *Rolling Stones music plays, digression ends*

Finally, after walking from the Hotel California to Venice Beach a full mile away, the procession lined a cement pier facing the ocean and urged the assembled gaming press to gather around to pay final tribute to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, taking a cue from Brutus by burying it but not praising it, only without the subversive undertones. Songs were sung and words were said. The Destructoid robot gave a speech I did not catch, too busy wondering when his brain was going to explode as the shiny metal helmet glimmered in the Santa Monica sun.

We stood and remembered the good times spent covering the gaming industry from the E3 show floor. Pondered all the good the show had done over the years to bring awareness to the business. Held a moment of silence for the...wait, beer? Later E3, they've got beer.

I learned so much that night at the Beer Garden. I learned that if you seem sincere enough when you tell the waitress the fried calamari is for your group, she will give it to you, just like that. I learned that if you accidentally call it katamari in front of several dozen members of the gaming industry you will never, ever live it down. I learned that Germans find it rude if you don't look them in the eye when you toast. I also learned that trying to keep up with beer-drinking Germans is a really, really bad idea. Most importantly I learned that you should write your flight time down on your body somewhere before attempting said keeping up, lest you find yourself running half-blind through the streets of Santa Monica screaming for a taxi cab nearly four hours before your flight is scheduled to leave.

Thank you Gamecock, and thank you E3. The lessons shall live on forever in my heart, as well as the inordinately large gallery that follows.

Bashcraft's Japan Wii Launch coverage continues.

What do you call groups of old men standing next foreigners at a PS3 launch? Gray market. What do you call the same at a Wii launch? Expanded demographic, that's what! It's still early, but I'm seeing some of the same type of thing that plagued the PS3 launch present at the Wii one (pockets of old men), but noticeably absent at the 360's (rude, I know). Brian Ashcraft

Earlier: Homeless Winos Wait

The PS3 launch a cakewalk? Far from it. We don't usually let readers take the reins (fearing y'all would rub us out of a job), but Tokyo-based reader Dirk Benedict sent us this doozy of an email, complete with first hand reporting, a pic and video. His observations struck a cord with me: Things that I saw at launch, which at the time seemed small, but in hindsight, really, weren't. Hit the jump for video of the PS3 chaos and Dirk's email in full:

At the worldwide sales debut of PlayStation 3, Sony's newest console attracted dozens of media outlets and thousands of people willing to camp outside overnight for a chance to score the 60,000 yen game system.

Minutes before the clock struck 7:00 A.M. and Sony's new PlayStation 3 console would officially go on sale, a company representative addressed the crowd of media and the new face of early bird game console buyers - Chinese nationals.

"Everybody, the PlayStation 3 is the door to a new world of interactive entertainment," the spunky Japanese rep trumpeted as SCE CEO Ken Kutaragi joined her on stage.

Unfortunately for her and the rest of the Sony entourage, the men and women standing patiently in the front of the line either didn't understand what she was saying, or didn't care - the first buyers of PS3 were largely elderly Chinese men and young Chinese women with shaky Japanese language skills.

This became readily apparent when Kutaragi welcomed the first official PS3 owner on stage for an on-spot interview. A 26-year-old Chinese man politely stood on stage while the organizers earnestly tried to squeeze some information him.

Questions like "When did you start lining up?" and "What games will you buy?" were left unanswered as the young man shook his head, refusing (or unable) to respond. The Japanese media would later catch up with him, confirming suspicions that the first PS3 buyer didn't understand Japanese. An eyewitness claimed the young man didn't purchase a single game for his brand-new PS3.

This is the true face of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. Hardcore gamers are not here waiting in line overnight, buying a first-run PS3, and running home to play some good old next-gen gaming. Rather, opportunistic Japanese businessmen have the largest presence, hiring poor Chinese men and women to wait in line for a PS3, one which will later be sold on web auctions to wealthy gamers around the world for exorbitant amounts of money.

THE LINE

Some waited patiently for the clock to strike 7 A.M., others pushed.

Around the corner of Bic Camera, the line continued on and was partitioned by a television news van. With one hour left of waiting, this became a troublesome spot for Bic Camera employees who tried to calm a crowd of increasingly agitated people, upset over the lack of organization, cramped spaces, and increasing number of people cutting in line. Soon pushing ensued, men began yelling at one another, and some women began crying for help.

Without the presence of Tokyo police officers, the Bic Camera employees were temporarily able to bring order to the line, most armed with their weapon of choice - ear-splitting megaphones.

The levy broke soon afterwards, as a truck attempted to pass through the narrow street, forcing the organizers to push back to the line closer towards the wall. Or in other words, squeezing together a line of people already packed like sardines.

The pressure was too much as the line busted open and more pushing ensued (which broke out in front of the waiting truck), causing those waiting in back to push forward, inching themselves closer to the finish line with a prideful Kutaragi waiting.

One man truly leveled-up - the chaos allowed him to push forward from roughly 200th in place all the way up to 20th in line.

The Tokyo police would eventually arrive just prior to 7 A.M. - fifty minutes after the pushing first took place.

A gruff-looking Bic Camera manager was the first to realize the problem - nobody in line understood the directions his employees were screaming. He quickly grabbed one of his Chinese-speaking employees, put him on top of a ladder, handed him a megaphone, and instructed the young man to address the crowd in Chinese.

CLOCK STRIKES SEVEN

To the relief of everyone, the final countdown took place at 6:59 A.M. as Kutaragi made a quick speech and officially kicked off the retail debut of PlayStation 3.

But what took place at the cash registers moments later would put a big, fat exclamation point on what can only be described as a failure of a hardware launch.

"Thank you for your patience!," welcomed the cashier to the first PS3 buyers. "What game software would you like with your purchase?"

"Hai," the consumer nodded, not understanding the question.

Most cashiers soon figured out that the men and women standing in front of them didn't speak Japanese. Some would then repeat the same question in English, and would all get the say reply, "Only hardware."

Based on my observations of the first twenty PS3s sold at Bic Camera, they were all purchased by Chinese nationals, none of whom bought any software. After making their purchase, television crews asked for interviews but all were declined. These temporary owners of PS3s would then make their way down the street where their bosses waited. After several minutes, a dozen PS3s were rounded up, as their Japanese business manager paid out cash to those who waited in line for them. I witnessed a homeless-looking Chinese man, in his sixties or seventies get paid 20,000 yen for his services and was then sent away.

The sales spree continued back over at the registers, and not everything was running smoothly. One elderly Chinese man, next in line to buy a PS3, was in a state of panic. He explained to a Bic Camera employee that his "friend" has his money, but that he is further back in the line. After further investigation, these poor Chinese are not given the 60,000 yen to purchase the PS3 until minutes before their reach the registers, perhaps out of fear that some will run off with the money. The Bic Camera employee assisted the elderly gentlemen, escorting him back to the cash registered after he received the cash from his good "friend."

The transactions continued, tired-looking Chinese carried away their newly purchased PS3s, and avoided eye contact with journalists asking for interviews. All but one young man - a Chinese exchange student studying in Japan. He was willing to go on camera and was excited to talk about his new purchase.

The television reporter started off with a few questions that the young man didn't understand, so she stuck to simple questions: "Why is PS3 good?"

"It's interesting," the young student said with a grin.

"What game will you play on your PS3?" she asked.

"The tennis game," he replied. Among the four software titles that launched with the PS3 in Japan, there was only one sports title - Sega's golf game. The student was perhaps referring to the recently released "Minna no Tennis" on PlayStation 2. Either way, it was obvious he was no gamer.

The young man would later head over to Yurakucho Station, where he added his purchased PS3 to a collection of consoles bought by his friends, which no doubt will be sold online in an auction later today.

TIME FOR CHANGE

Today I witnessed the most disturbing side of the video game industry in my three decades of game fandom. It's not the Chinese that I'm upset about. Who can blame them? If you're poor and without a good job in Japan, 20,000 yen to wait in line isn't a bad deal. And for ambitious people like the Chinese students I encountered who scored five PS3s, this hardware launch could net them thousands of dollars in profit through online auditioning - that's more money for them to spend on tuition. These are the lucky Chinese kids in Japan, getting an education, and trying to get ahead in life. If these kids are good students, who's to say that they should be playing PS3 instead of using the console to afford more education?

But this story isn't about the hardships of Chinese in Japan. It's about how poorly run hardware launches are done in Japan and why they should change.

Sixty seconds before Kutaragi kicked off the launch, rain started to fall on hundreds of people in line, many without umbrellas. People were pushed and yelled at by out-of-control campers without the presence of a single police officer (even though a police box was located one block away), and hundreds more are still waiting outside as I write this, with the rain pouring down. Meanwhile, true Japanese gamers are waiting. Based on the record-breaking attendence of this year's Tokyo Game Show, there are tens of thousands of Japanese interested in playing (not selling) PlayStation 3. They are waiting for their chance to play Ridge Racer 7 or Genji II (or maybe not), but still the interest is there. And should they line up again when the next shipments of PS3s come in? Hell no. As evidenced by the ongoing DS Lite storages in Japan, patient Chinese and their crooked Japanese bosses will be there too, waiting.

This is the true story of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. This is the kind of expose that Japanese media are prevented to run because of their nationalism and close ties with big business. While it's honorable to not smear their own countrymen (Sony) for their botched launch, the truth must be told.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN

Sony should be scolded for staging a national launch event with 80,000 units. An extreme lack of supply ignited an extreme surge of demand - that of which poor Chinese and opportunistic Japanese took full advantage of today.

If Sony and major retailers like Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera are going to participate in launch day festivities like today, police need to be present.

If measures aren't taken to try and curb rampant scalping of hardware through online auctions, then retailers must address their customers - Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Don't bother having your employees shout into megaphones all morning long - nobody understands a word they are saying.

CONCLUSION

As a fellow foreigner studying in Japan, I can tell you the hardships that many of us face everyday. The intent of this story is not to point fingers at hard-working Chinese nationals. Rather, I think this subject needs to be brought to light. This is the truth that no Japanese media wants to touch.

Eds Note: Be Patient. The vids are still processing.

I've been riding the Light Rail from my house in suburbia to downtown Denver since January. And while I play games on either my PSP or DS Lite every day, twice a day, I have yet to run into another person doing the same... until today.

I was minding my own business listening to some music and playing Club House on my DS Lite when a guy sits down across from me on the train. After a few seconds I notice he's staring at me. Then he's staring at me and leaning forward. The seats are so close our knees are almost touching. Finally, apparently oblivious to the fact that I'm doing my best to ignore him and stay cocooned in my music and gaming induced isolation, he starts talking to me.

I can only tell he's talking to me because he's leaned forward so much his mouth is actually in my surprisngly wide peripheral vision. Finally I give up and yank the plugs from my ears.

"Is that a DS Lite?"

"Yes"

"What are you playing?"

"Club House"

"Cool"

I get back to the game.

"Do you have any other games?"

"Yes."

At this point I realize that a bit of stranger gmaeplay is inevitable, so I ask what he has and we decide on Tetris.

He wallops me in the first three games, but then I make a strong come back taking three of the next four games. I hear him mumbling "That's cheating" in the middle of several games.

We end with a friendly, but awkward hand-shake (broken hand and all) and he ambles from the train.

The whole thing felt a little unsavory, forced. It was like a bath house hook-up but instead of man sex there was Tetris. A podmate at work blurted out Tetris Gloryhole after hearing my story, and then laughed so hard his face turned a deep red.

I think I need a shower.

When was it that gaming became something that doesn't just support multiplayer modes, but encourages it? Local WiFi play is great among friends, but I don't want to feel obligated to stop what I'm doing to share some playtime with a total stranger. Don't get me wrong, I love online multiplayer gaming, but we need some etiquette I think. Some rules about how to go about playing a game of pick-up that doesn't involve lots of staring. Brian Crecente