The research concludes that violent video games can have effects on your body's autonomous systems, without you even being aware of it. In this instance, kids who played violent games had a greater HRV during sleep but still reported they'd slept fine. Makes sense. Games can have effects on your voluntary systems beyond your control, too. Like Dead Space making you shit your pants.

There's debate on whether HRV means anything, but the researchers indicate they're going to use this research to study links between violent video games and aggression and, of course, "video game addiction."

Study Says Violent Games Affect Boys' Heart Rates [Wired]

Bad deeds 2.0 include:

• Driving while talking on a cell phone
• Simple assault
• Hotboxing a car

Funny take that doubles as a feature on some of the new stuff you'll be able to do, in and out of mission, in GTA IV.

8 new crimes that'll be blamed on GTA IV [GamesRadar]

King's been writing horror novels for nearly four decades, many of them reaching the big screen, some of them even winning Oscars. And he rightly points out that to a politician, a 17-year-old can see gruesome flicks like Hostel or Saw, but would be a danger to society playing the less graphic Grand Theft Auto or Hitman series.

Then he loses it on a bill before the Massachusetts state legislature, and it gets good.

You really should read the whole thing, but his kicker is well worth quoting here:

What really makes me insane is how eager politicians are to use the pop culture — not just videogames but TV, movies, even Harry Potter — as a whipping boy. It's easy for them, even sort of fun, because the pop-cult always hollers nice and loud. Also, it allows legislators to ignore the elephants in the living room. Elephant One is the ever-deepening divide between the haves and have-nots in this country, a situation guys like Fiddy and Snoop have been indirectly rapping about for years. Elephant Two is America's almost pathological love of guns. It was too easy for critics to claim — falsely, it turned out — that Cho Seung-Hui (the Virginia Tech killer) was a fan of Counter-Strike; I just wish to God that legislators were as eager to point out that this nutball had no problem obtaining a 9mm semiautomatic handgun. Cho used it in a rampage that resulted in the murder of 32 people. If he'd been stuck with nothing but a plastic videogame gun, he wouldn't even have been able to kill himself.

Case closed

Stephen King: Video Game Lunacy [Entertainment Weekly, thanks Avi Gold]

"It seems inconsistent that in Australia, adults are allowed to view 'adult only' films which have been classified R18+ by the Classification Board, but not computer games with an equivalent high level content," he said in a statement. "With the increasing convergence between films and games, the different approach to classification principles is difficult to sustain. At the moment, Australia is out of step with the rest of the developed world on this issue."

The Australian federal government is currently considering whether to support the addition of an R18+ rating for games, but is hesitant to make a decision until they hear from the public. Things aren't looking good so far, as in order to bring about the change, all of the Australian government's Attorneys-General would have to agree, and some - like South Australian Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Multicultural Affairs Michael Atkinson - remain strictly opposed to such a move.

"I do not want children to be able to get their hands on R18+ games easily. I understand that the lack of an R18+ classification denies some adults the chance to play some games, however, the need to keep potentially harmful material away from children is far more important."

Australian pol says country's ratings 'out of step' [CNET Australia]

"Children aged 17 and under should not be sold this stuff, so they are not getting into the hands of 9- and 10-year-olds," said Larry Mayes, Menino's chief of human services.

"Is it going to be an uphill battle? Sure. But it's absolutely a battle that the mayor feels he should take on."

Menino: Ban violent vid games for kids [Boston Herald via Game Politics]

"We're asking retailers to be responsible," Emily Noble, president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, said yesterday. "Yes, they can sell it and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?"

The intended effect, to foster an environment of mass suicide terrorism in the U.S.A., is a by-product of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs' policy, organized by Felix Rohatyn and George P. Shultz; the same individuals, who not only helped to install the fascist Pinochet into the Chilean government, but are the prime backers of a fascist Bloomberg Presidency.

International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler [LaRouche Website via Game Politics]

Noting that the study focused on subjects who played video games for only 30 minutes, Chou said many youngsters spend far more time on video games each day, unaware that doing so on a long term basis could damage the frontal lobe of the brain, as well as the anterior cingulate gyrus.

Not my anterior cingulate gyrus! Fuckbeans. I love my cingulate gyrus.

The frontal lobe of the brain is associated with thinking, speaking, and impulse control, so the study definitely explains 75% of Xbox Live users. Meanwhile my beloved cingulate gyrus monitors the internal emotional response, which is why I am so cold and dead inside. Decreased blood flow to these areas is generally exhibited in patients suffering from schizophrenia and depression.

All I can say is thank goodness I am no longer 25 years old and thus not affected by these findings.

Playing video games may sap emotional control: survey [Taiwan News Online via PC World]

It seems to be the vogue lately to blame video games for every violent crime attributed to a teenager. Last week 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic went on a gun toting rampage through a Salt Lake City Mall killing five or six people (the Deseret News article I read reported both numbers) and injuring several others. When questioned about motives for the killings, Salt Lake City Police Chief, Chris Burbank, had this to say:

Although nothing will be completely ruled out in the search for a motive, some of the possibilities that have been rumored on Internet blog sites so far seem to have no merit, Burbank said. For instance, detectives as of Friday had found no evidence that violent video games may have influenced Talovic. In fact, Talovic did not even own a computer or a video-game system, Burbank said.

I am not sure which of these "internet blogs" he was referring to would start such a rumor, but I can venture a few guesses. And, in a move that will surprise none of us here, our good friend J.T. wasted no time in sending local reporters an inflammatory email titled "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game."

I am terribly saddened at this news and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. I am glad, though, to see the authorities stepping up to the plate and taking a stand against those certain individuals who just can't seem to understand that violent video games are not responsible for the entire downfall of our society. Flynn De Marco

Police, DA give further details in Trolley shooting [Deseret News]
Childhood offers clues about killer [Salt Lake Tribune]
[via GamePolitics]

Wow, talk about reaching! Father Germogen Tucker of Florence, KY has written a thoughtful editorial on his thoughts about the endless debate over violence in video games. But, the Father has taken a new approach. He doesn't need to rely on statistics or pie charts or specific examples, oh no. Father Tucker has the sage words of 3rd century Priest, St. Hescios...

St. Hesycios the Priest (3rd Cen.?) stated: "...we and the demons combine in committing sins. The demons work through evil thoughts alone by forming in the intellect what fanciful pictures they wish..."

Thus what we conceive in the mind, if acted upon, becomes sin. If we see violence, and do not dismiss it immediately, it then becomes a compulsion that we attempt to act on.

I guess now violent video games are sin according to this ancient man of the cloth. I suppose I shall have to add it to my already growing list of daily sins. I sure hope Ronnie James Dio is right and that there really are video games in hell. Flynn De Marco

Priest Draws Connection Between Games & Sin [GamePolitics]

In another move against violent video games, 11 Playstation and Xbox consoles and over 58 games were removed from three New Zealand prisons due to questions over the games' content by the National Party. Simon Power, a National Party spokesman said that the games in question included violence and weapons such as guns and chainsaws and needed to be removed immediately. New Zealand's Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor had different feelings on the matter.

"It's far better to have the games than the real thing... No doubt at some stage before TVs and before cassettes were allowed in prisons some may have had the same attitude as Mr Power."

Mr. O'Connor did agree however, that some sort of rules regarding these games need to be implemented.

"The reality is that technology has moved ahead of policy, that's why we are about to look at the policy and put a new one in place."

What this really boils down to is the age old question: Do violent video games make people more violent or provide a release for that violence? All I know is, when I was in juvie, those violent games helped me forget about all those awkward trysts in the showers. Flynn De Marco

Violent video games banned in jail [New Zeland Herald]
[via: GamePolitics]

In a surprising show of hypocrisy in the government, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum's new campaign ad features the upstanding politico in the wrestling ring talking about all his various partnerships with various government bigwigs. He makes reference to his work with Hillary Clinton's Anti Violent Video Game initiative, yet ten seconds later he's elbowing some poor wrestler guy right in the face.

Perhaps no one has explained to Mr. Santorum that in some circles, a sharp elbow to the face could be misconstrued as violent. Check out the video on the Senator's website, cleverly titled Wrestling. Flynn De Marco

I'm Rick Santorum, and I Approved Elbowing this Guy in the Face During My Anti-Video Game Violence Commercial [GamePolitics]

It looks like video games have become the sort of generic evil that clueless politicians can use to scare people into voting for them. Colorado's own (I'm so very proud) Ed Perlmutter, who is running for the U.S. House 7th District, is running a political ad that features a couple of kids ogling a copy of Grand Theft Auto. Better still, Perlmutter lumps violent video games in with online predators when he says "In Congress I will fight to pass laws protecting kids from online predators and violent video games." Yeah, because as a father my two biggest fears are my son getting abducted and raped by an online predator and my son playing Starfox. You can watch the ad on his site. Brian Crecente

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