I think the reason why the U.S. army makes a game is mainly advertising. They want their target audience (young adults) to associate their product (war and death) with the adrenalin-pumping but ultimately innocuous thrill of blasting "baddies" and scoring points. It's a natural extension of their PR wing which has been in the business of ensuring that the army/navy/air force are portrayed as "cool" through 100's of films. eg. Top Gun, Black Hawk Down, ...
GG must've seen the episode of Corrie I saw today -- the one with a deranged David Platt taking out his anger against his mother through a violent video game. (We're months behind in Canada.)
When you think about it, the violence in video games gets an inordinate amount of attention compared to the amount of violence in movies. Perhaps vid games are simply the new scapegoat.
Grand Theft Auto withdrawn in Thailand after copycat killing Thai distributors have pulled GTA IV after a 19-year-old killed a taxi driver while recreating a scene from the game
Jonathan Richards
August 4, 2008
One of the largest video game distributors in Asia has halted sales of the Grand Theft Auto IV in Thailand after a teenager confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game. New Era Interactive said it had sent a note to all of its Thai stores telling them to pull the game off the shelves after a 19-year old high-school student confessed to killing a taxi driver with a knife he bought at a local branch of Tesco.
Police in Bangkok said that the youth "had wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game." "We are urging all video game arcades to pull the game from service," said a spokesman for New Era Interactive, which has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Polwat Chino, described by his parents as polite and diligent, was arrested late on Saturday after he was found trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the severely wounded driver in the back seat, according to local newspaper reports. He had paid to play the game at a local shop in Bangkok, and said he had needed more cash to continue playing it and that the taxi driver looked like an easy target.
Neighbours in the Bang Phlad district in central Bangkok called police after Mr Chino was heard pressing the car's horn while reversing down a dead end street. He had been trying to drive away - apparently in an attempt to recreate a scene from the game in which a criminal steals a car to evade police - but was unable to control a real car, police said. The victim, a 54-year-old man from the poor northern province of Maha Sarakham, had been stabbed ten times.
A police spokesman said Mr Chino, an obsessive player of Grand Theft Auto, showed no sign of mental problems during questioning and had confessed to committing the crime because of the game. In a statement, Mr Chino told police: "I needed money to play the game every day. My parents give me only 100 baht a day, which is not enough. I am also fed up with them fighting. They are civil servants and do not make good money."
Police have charged Mr Chino with robbery, causing death and possessing offensive weapons. If gound guilty, he faces death by lethal injection. A senior official at Thailand's Culture Ministry, which has been pursuing tougher regulation of violent games such as Grand Theft Auto, said the murder was a wake-up call for authorities, and urged parents to take note of what their children were playing.
"This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse," the official was quoted as saying. "Today it is a cab driver but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner." Thai authorities have been pushing for a rating system on video games, as well as restrictions on how long youths can spend playing games in video arcades.
Grand Theft Auto, which is published by the Scottish company Rockstar and has raised more than $1 billion (£500 million) this year, has been criticised for depicting violent scenes such as beatings, car-jackings, and drive-by shootings. A spokesman for Rockstar could not immediately be reached for comment.
-----------------
Note it's a Scottish company for the sake of this article!
Video game fanatic hunts down and stabs rival player who killed character online A French video game fanatic hunted down and stabbed a rival player who had killed his character in an online war game.
27 May 2010
telegraph.co.uk
Julien Barreaux, 20, told police he wanted to see his rival player "wiped out" after his character in the game Counter-Strike died in a virtual knife fight. A court in Cambrai, northern France, heard how Barreaux plotted revenge for seven months after the online "killing" last November.
He then located the victim, named only as Mikhael, several miles from his home. When the man answered the door, he plunged a kitchen knife into his chest, missing his heart by less than an inch, a police officer told the court. He added: "Barreaux was arrested within the hour and told us he had wanted to see his rival wiped out for killing off his character."
Barreaux was jailed for two years for causing grievous bodily harm, and ordered to undergo psychiatric tests and anger management therapy. Judge Alexiane Potel told him: "You are a menace to society. I am frankly terrified of the disproportionate reaction you could have if someone looked at you the wrong way in the street."
--------------------
If the judge is terrified of his potential, why only give him 2 years for GBH?
Study: Violent games 'harmless for vast majority' The effects of violent video games are a constant topic of debate. A study in the Review of General Psychology contends that such games are safe for most kids.
Don Reisinger
June 10, 2010
Those who worry that violent video games are dangerous for all youths may want to hear what researchers had to say in a recent journal from the American Psychological Association. According to the Review of General Psychology, the Texas A&M researchers examined 118 teens and found violent video games are actually quite safe for most youths to play. The only youths who shouldn't play violent video games, researchers found, are those who tend to be "highly neurotic, less agreeable, and less conscientious." Those who didn't posses those personality traits were not adversely affected by video games.
"Recent research has shown that as video games have become more popular, children in the United States and Europe are having fewer behavior problems, are less violent and score better on standardized tests," Christopher J. Ferguson, guest editor of the journal, said in a statement. "Violent video games have not created the generation of problem youth so often feared."
During their study, the researchers found that a "'perfect storm' of traits" cause children to be negatively affected by violent video games. Patrick Markey, one of the researchers, found that children who express a combination of certain emotions can have trouble with violent games. Those traits include "anger," "depression," having "little concern for others," "acting without thinking," and "typically breaking rules." When children have a mixture of those traits, they will likely show increased hostility, the researchers determined.
"These results suggest that it is the simultaneous combination of these personality traits which yield a more powerful predictor of violent video games," Markey said in a statement. "Those who are negatively affected have pre-existing dispositions, which make them susceptible to such violent media." Ferguson put it another way. Comparing violent video games to "peanut butter," he said that violent titles "are harmless for the vast majority of kids, but are harmful to a small minority with pre-existing personality or mental-health problems."
Of course, the Texas A&M study will not end the debate over whether violent games really do hurt children.
A recent study from Iowa State University that combined 130 research reports on violent video games claims youths are, in fact, negatively affected by violent games. "We can now say with utmost confidence that regardless of research method--that is experimental, correlational, or longitudinal--and regardless of the cultures tested in this study [East and West], you get the same effects: that exposure to violent video games increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in both short-term and long-term contexts," the ISU study's researchers said.
Playing as 'Taliban' removed from 'Medal of Honor' game
By Larry Frum, Special to CNN
October 1, 2010
(CNN) -- Plans to let players control Taliban fighters in the highly anticipated "Medal of Honor" video game have been scrapped amid harsh criticism from military officials and others. Game publisher Electronic Arts said Friday that it has decided to remove the name "Taliban" from one of the forces in the multiplayer version of the game, which focuses on modern-day fighting in Afghanistan. The game is set to be released October 12 and is expected to be one of the top video-game rollouts of the year.
Executive producer Greg Goodrich said the development team listened to feedback from friends and families of fallen soldiers who expressed concern over the game's option to let players fight as the Taliban. "This is a voice that has earned the right to be listened to. It is a voice that we care deeply about," Goodrich said in a written statement. "Because of this, and because the heartbeat of 'Medal of Honor' has always resided in the reverence for American and Allied soldiers, we have decided to rename the opposing team." Players still will be able to control the fighters -- which are the enemy when a player is playing the game alone -- but they will be referred to simply as "Opposing Force."
In recent months, British Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox made headlines when he called for retail stores to ban the game. He told London's Sunday Times that he was disgusted and angry and asked stores to show support for the military and military families by not selling "Medal of Honor." "It is shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban," Fox told the newspaper. "At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands."
The U.S. military's Army & Air Force Exchange Service had asked on-base stores not to stock "Medal of Honor." "Out of respect to those we serve, we will not be stocking this game," said Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella, the service's commanding officer. "We regret any inconvenience this may cause authorized shoppers, but are optimistic that they will understand the sensitivity to the life and death scenarios this product presents as entertainment."
Jeff Brown, a spokesman for EA, said the controversy surprised the game publisher. "The misunderstanding starts with people who don't understand the dynamics of video games," Brown said. "There are cops and robbers, good guys vs. bad guys, in nearly every game, and we were surprised to be reminded that not everyone gets that dynamic." He said EA received many letters from consumers, including military and retired military personnel, who supported the company's right to produce the game in its original form.
Brown said it was comforting to get those letters of support because it showed the development team that they weren't doing anything that was out of bounds or exploitative. "We do stop and take measure of people who are offended," Brown said. "People who say it is difficult actually seeing the Taliban when we've lost someone to the war."
William Gaunter, a former U.S. Navy medic, helped play-test the game. He supported the game in its original form but said he wasn't surprised by the backlash. The war against the Taliban "is happening right now as we speak," Gaunter said. "The American public -- there is a certain time period when they are willing to accept as playing the enemy. There is a cutoff somewhere."
Other popular war-game franchises have allowed players to compete as historical U.S. enemies, including the Nazis, in their multiplayer modes. Games like "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II" have allowed players to control Taliban-like forces, but they weren't directly identified by that name.
Some military personnel and veterans served as consultants to EA to help make sure the game was both accurate and respectful to U.S. and allied troops.
EA's Goodrich said that removing the "Taliban" name does not fundamentally change the gameplay. He said the majority of the feedback on the game has been positive, but EA chose to make the change "for the men and women serving in the military and for the families of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice."
Brown, the EA spokesman, said he thinks opinions about the game's original design were largely generational. "Younger people who are familiar with video games [and] the good-vs.-bad concept are okay with that," he said. "Older people who don't play games and understand the concepts have a problem with it."
Gaunter agreed. "If you aren't a person who plays these games, you aren't going to understand the dynamics of the game," he said. "It is a game. It is not real life. I don't correlate the two."
---------------
So it's offensive to kill representations of American soldiers, but not offensive to kill representations of Afghanis who are defending their land against invasion... the twisted hypocritical bastards.
Germany lifts Doom sales ban after 17 years
bbc.co.uk
1st September 2011
A German ban on selling Doom to older teenagers has been lifted after 17 years. The classic video game was put on an index of controlled titles in 1994 as it was deemed likely to harm youth. Like pornography, sales of the violent shoot 'em up were restricted to adult-only stores. The rules have been relaxed because officials believe that Doom is now only of artistic and scientific interest and will not appeal to youngsters. However, one version of the game remains on the index because it features Nazi symbols on some levels.
The restrictions on Doom and Doom II officially expired on 31 August following a meeting of the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprufstelle) earlier in the month. The Bundesprufstelle reportedly decided to reconsider the game's status following an appeal by Bethesda Softworks, the current owner of id Software, which created Doom. Bethesda argued that the game's crude graphics had been surpassed by many modern titles and, as a result, the violence it depicted had far less of an impact.
The Bundesprufstelle said its original decision was not solely based on the graphic quality of the game, although it noted that most mobile phones now supported far more realistic images. The panel explained that it was originally concerned because the story played out in Doom involved a relentless cycle of gunplay and "bloody sadistic" violence that was not balanced by other scenes.
In an email to BBC News, a spokesman for the Bundesprufstelle said the key question it asks is whether a game contains "drastic portrayals of violence directed against human or human-like beings". They added: "If the game then does not contain any real alternative scenes which might on the whole 'neutralise' the violent parts, then the game is likely to be found to have a harmful effect on minors."
The Bundesprufstelle said it had relaxed the restrictions because Doom was now "mainly of historical interest" and was far less likely to be played by children. Not least, it added, because much more realistic and challenging games were more widely available. Some members of the Bundesprufstelle panel wanted to keep the restrictions in place but were outvoted by those deeming it acceptable.
If Doom goes on sale in Germany it will still only be available to those aged 16 or over. The adults-only rule was beginning to look like an anomaly because other versions of Doom games, such as one for the Game Boy Advance, had previously been approved in Germany.
Restrictions on Doom II - Hell on Earth have also been lifted. However, the panel decided to maintain controls on the American version of Doom II because it incorporates two levels from Wolfenstein 3D which makes use of Nazi symbols including swastikas.
When PlayStation turns nasty Father, 46, tracks down and throttles schoolboy, 13, in revenge attack for 'killing' him on Call Of Duty
Chris Parsons
30 September 2011
A middle-aged man charged round to the house of a schoolboy and throttled him after his online character was killed during a game of Call Of Duty, a court heard. Mark Bradford, 46, was furious when he was gunned down in the war simulation by the 13-year-old, and 'lost it' when the youngster goaded him over his online death. Unemployed father of three Bradford stormed from his bedsit in Plymouth, Devon, and confronted the youngster at the boy's friend's house by placing his hands round the schoolboy's neck. The pair had been playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops against each other online and talking using microphones.
The attack ended when the teenager's horrified mother pulled Bradford off the boy, who was left scratched and with reddening to the neck. Plymouth Magistrates heard that Bradford then simply walked away without saying a word. The boy, who cannot be identified, said: 'I was just sat playing. We’d had a bit of a joke and then he stormed in and grabbed me. I didn’t know what was going on.'
Gareth Warden, prosecuting, said the teenager was playing the game at a friend's house when he called Bradford a name after he 'killed' him. He added that Bradford went to a nearby house where the boy was playing, walked into the front room and grabbed him around the throat with both hands. The teenager's mother, 33, said: 'It’s pathetic that a grown man would attack a defenceless child like this. If you can’t handle losing to a child then you shouldn’t be playing games.'
Tracey Baker, mitigating, said Bradford, who had mental health issues, 'just lost it'. He told the court the attack was not planned and was provoked by the name-calling. Magistrates ordered a probation officer to prepare a full report on his background before he is sentenced. Bradford was released on unconditional bail to return to court on October 24.
Bradford admitted the attack was 'moment of madness' as the child 'would not shut up'. He said: 'I'd been playing the whole day and he was baiting me and baiting me and just would not shut up. He went on and on and I just lost it. I hold my hands up, I lost the plot. In a moment of madness I went round to his house. I didn't know what I was going to do. It wasn't malice. I just grabbed him. I've seen him since and apologised. We've played online too. He's actually a decent kid.'
Bradford admitted one count of assault by beating at Plymouth Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. Bradford is thought to be a loosely-connected friend of the boy's family
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
