Oasis Guitarist Reckons Violent Games Cause Knife Crime

The recent increase of youth crime has Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher. Eighteen teenagers have been murdered this year so far in London, and the Metropolitan police have set up a dedicated task force of 75 officers to combat crime. And the cause of this crime? According to Gallagher:

I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it's every single night... People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it. If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary.

Wouldn't these kids not having jobs or getting an education have more to do with it?

Oasis star wants action on knives [BBC via Binge Gamer]

Parents! Watch Out For Meat Shields

Time to wheel out mainstream media's default boogieman: VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES. In this today's thrilling episode, Arizona's KTVK-TV warns parents of "meat shields." Citing Yahoo!Games, KTVK 3TV writes:

A popular video game for the Xbox 360 is getting a sequel this year - and it seems to be raising eyebrows with its level of gore and detail... The game certainly attracted attention for its realistic visuals and battle scenes, but caused some pause when game designers showed off a new attack players can use in the game.

Advocacy Groups Want Games Locked Up

As the GTA IV launch is once again trotted out as a controversy flashpoint, there's one thing the gaming audience tends to agree on: This game is not for children. Of course, just how zealous they are about enforcing such a mandate varies wildly.

Nonprofit advocacy group the Parents' Television Council takes their position on enforcement beyond just demanding legal consequences for retailers who sell M-rated games to kids under the age of 17. The council wants games like GTA IV locked up behind store counters, like cigarettes, tobacco and porn.

"Kids Who Don't Play Video Games Are At Risk"

Thanks Ryan for the tip!

Video Games Can Be A Rich And Magical Experience

Several of you have pointed us to an amazing opinion piece by Naomi Alderman at The Guardian titled "If we deny children access to all computer games, we deprive them of a rich and magical experience", a beautifully written response to recent events in the UK like the Byron Review and the banning of shocking Kane & Lynch advertisements. She praises Byron's report for touching on the many opportunities for fun and learning that computer games allow, and how we need to move away from the notion that computer games cause harm, and then points out how the print and television media reacted by warning parents about violent games and monitoring their children at all times. In short, they completely ignored the positive points and focused on the negative. Alderman paints a much brighter picture, though the quote that struck me as the most poignant was this:

The world of Grand Theft Auto does contain violence and misogyny; but then, so does The Godfather, or Goodfellas. So, for that matter, does The Iliad.

Kane & Lynch Ads Banned In UK

The Advertising Standards Authority is not amused by the recent UK advertisements for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. The watchdog group has recieved 26 separate complaints against the violent ads, which include a TV spot, posters, and print ads. The main offender was the poster, which featured a gagged, crying woman with her head held back by one of the game's heroes. Another poster contained a quote from OXM calling the game "Grittier and nastier in tone than anything you've seen before, the violence here is visceral, brutal and very, very real." The television ads included the crunching noise of a rifle butt being brought down on a man's face and another man getting his throat cut. The ASA has ordered that Eidos not broadcast or reprint the ads again, deeming them too graphic and shocking to be seen in any medium. Hope no one gets fired over a game as average as Kane & Lynch.

'Shocking' Eidos ad banned [MCV]

'The Myth of the Media Myth': Games and Non-Gamers

British MP - Games Let You Rape Women

The time-honored tradition of stodgy men arguing over things they know nothing about continued in England during last Friday's game censorship debate in the House of Commons, with MP Keith Vaz showing us how it's done while speaking in defense of Julian Brazier's bill to add a censorship level above the British Board of Film Classification. In comparing the interactivity of video games to movies, Vaz unleashed this little gem:

However, someone sitting at a computer playing a video game, or someone with one of those small devices that young people have these days, the name of which I forget— [Interruption.] PlayStations or PSPs, something of that kind.

"Well, whatever they are called, when people play these things, they can interact. They can shoot people; they can kill people. As the honourable Gentleman said, they can rape women."

UK Gets Serious About Video Game Ratings

The front page of the Guardian has an interesting story on the tightening up of the UK's video game rating system. According to the Guardian, only games that display "sex or "gross" violence to humans or animals" currently have any kind of age limit attached to them, leaving a large portion of games unrated that contain "weapons, martial arts and extreme combat." To make sure that large portion doesn't go unchecked, Ministers are proposing a completely overhauled ratings system.

An investigation of violence in video games and the current rating system and its effectiveness is being carried out as we speak, the results of which will guide British Ministers in their reshaping of the guidelines. Some of the findings are expected to effect not only the access of adult games by children but also access to adult content on the web as well. A bill is also expected to come forth that would create a separate body of people to appeal the decisions of the BBFC and its ratings of DVDs and games. While this could potentially be a good thing, it also has a lot of room to be detrimental to sales and ratings of certain games and movies depending on the how conservative this "body" turns out to be. Once the UK system is overhauled, it will be interesting to see how long it takes before the rest of Europe follows suit.

Ministers plan clampdown on 'unsuitable' video games

Iowa Caucuses Good On Gaming

The results of yesterday's Iowa Caucuses are in, and it's a clear win for video game fans everywhere! As the smoke cleared and the votes were tallied, two of gaming's strongest critics managed to avoid coming out on top. Republican Mitt Romney, who likes to lump in violent video games with pornography as factors corrupting America's youth, found himself in second place behind Mike "Change Your Last Name Before Being Elected Please" Huckabee, with 25% of the vote to Huckabee's 34%. On the democratic side of things, Hilliary Clinton found herself trailing John Edwards 30% of the vote by a tiny margin, with Barack Obama taking the lead with 38%. Clinton has long been outspoken against violent video games, at one time claiming they were "stealing the innocence of our children...making the difficult job of being a parent even harder." I think we're ll well-aware as to how hard it is to be a parent and still have to do all that unattractive parenting stuff. Icky. Despite the early numbers, the candidacy is hardly sealed for either party at this point. Next stop, New Hampshire!

Analysis: Huckabee up, Clinton down heading to Granite State [CNN via Game Politics]

Pick games that require the player to come up with strategies and make decisions in a game environment that is more complex than punch, steal, and kill.

The Morning Show's Other Gaming Expert

Comatose Oklahoma Game Law Dies

"It is time for lawmakers to stop targeting video games and the retailers that sell them. They should recognize that all video games are rated, retailers are choosing to enforce the ratings in their stores, and the new PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 video game consoles and Vista computer operating system all allow parents to control the types of games that can be played on them. These voluntary steps, not government regulation, are true to the spirit of the American Constitution."

Tory Leader Wants To Ban Violent Games

British Conservative leader David Cameron wants to fight crime in Britain, and of course on of the key ways to combat the criminal element is baning violent video games. Yes, violent video games are one of the many societal dangers that Cameron feels need to be done away with as part of a long-term plan to fight crime by changing behavior of schoolchildren both at home and in the classroom.

"We are never going to deal with crime unless we look at the broader context and say, 'Yes, tough laws, strong action on the police, but also action to strengthen our society'.

"And that includes, I think, video games and things like that where we do need to think of the context in which people are growing up."

NY Game Bill 3: Anticlimax

Virginia Tech Travesty In Crappy Flash Form

FPS, A Stage Production

Harvard Gamers: Violent