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!

UAE State Enforces God Of War Ban

A UAE national said he was one of the people who was shocked to discover that the game was distributed in commercial areas, including the Central Souq, Al Rolla and sports shops in Nuammiya. "I knew that it was banned, but many of my friends were able to buy pirated copies from Dh5 to Dh10. I was shocked to see how much it contradicted Islamic values," said Khalid Bin Deemas, adding that it was dangerous as the video game was popular among children.

More Crimes to Blame on GTA IV

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]

Best-selling author Stephen King points up and rips down the double-standard of what's tolerable in violent films, compared with video games, in a brilliant op-ed for Entertainment Weekly. You should take a look at this, because as a creator of worthy stories filled with violence and suspense, he speaks with real authority. Plus, it's great to see this kind of defense in a mainstream medium.

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.

Australian Game Ratings Behind The Times

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

Boston Mayor Backs Games As Porn Bill

And yet another state takes a stab at the consistently failing "Games As Porn" bill, which would classify violent video games in the same category as pornography, making it illegal to sell them to minors. This time around it is Massachusetts, whose legislature will consider House Bill 1423 tomorrow. Among the bill's supporters is Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino

"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]

Teachers Still Demanding Bully Ban

Haven't we been over this already? A year and a half after the release of the original game, a coalition of teachers' unions in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, South Korea and the Caribbean are urging retailers to ban Bully: Scholarship Edition from store shelves.

"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?"

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."

LaRouche Blames Microsoft For NIU Tragedy

"International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler." That is the title of a news posting over at the LaRouche Political Action Committee website, home of the supporters of American political nutcase Lyndon LaRouche. Taking their lead from the New York Post's sensationalist article "COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME", the LaRouche Camp is apparently blaming "Microsoft's Counterstrike killer video-game" for the shooting. Never mind that Microsoft doesn't make Counter-Strike - that's probably all part of the conspiracy as well.

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]

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

For as violent a reputation as has been bestowed upon the video game industry, 'M' rated games only make a small percentage of their total numbers and, according to the ESRB, this small percentage is actually down 50% since 2005. Back then, 12% of titles were rated M. And in 2006, that figure was already down to 8%. In 2007, a year in which the ESRB rated 1,563 games, 'M' rated games only accounted for 6% of the titles.

More neat stats from the ESRB in 2007:

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]