Posted by Anton Gordon at 10:25 AM Nov 20, 2009
Here's a story about the bad economy that I actually feel somewhat good about. The National Institute on Media and the Family has decided to close its door, according to
Star Tribune. You've probably heard of the foundation; it was best known for the annual "MediaWise Video Game Report Card," a list of the most inappropriate games of the year.
NIMF founder David Walsh cited "the current challenging economic environment" as the reason behind his decision to shutter the foundation as of December 31st. He hopes that another non-profit will carry on his work after the shutdown.
I'd like to make it clear that I have no problem with the concept of parental advisories about video game content - I'm a firm supporter of ESRB ratings (although don't get me started on my issues with its governing body the ESA).
However, I've heard Walsh speak, and when you listen to the man, it's clear that he's on a witchhunt. He has no interest in understanding games, only vilifying them. For example, he claimed that Stubbs the Zombie was a game about cannibalism.
For that reason, I won't be sad to see his organization go away.
Posted by David Delony at 6:52 PM Oct 05, 2009
Venezuela is currently considering a ban on violent video games and toys to combat a growing crime problem in the South American country. The Venezulan National Assembly is expected to vote on the legislation in the coming weeks.
Read more "Proposed Legislation..." >>
Posted by Anton Gordon at 12:33 PM Sep 25, 2008
The career of the world's number one Anti-Gaming Nutjub has been dealt a staggering blow. A fatality, if you will. Jack Thompson, the lawyer all gamers love to hate, has been disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. No more suing Take 2 over the Grand Theft Auto franchise! But it gets even better! Jackie, it turns out, is actually suing the Florida courts system because he believe it is trying to punish him for his "activisim in the public square."
Is this the end of Jackie Boy's anti-gaming silliness? Almost certainly not. After all, you don't need a license to publicly hate games. If you're interested, Jackie Boy's lengthy response to the news can be found below the jump. Because I know you're all dying to hear his side of the story.
Read more "Jack Thompson Disbarred!" >>
Posted by Chris Ward at 10:43 AM Aug 05, 2008
Pictured: Le douche.
Imagine, if you will, a pasty, bespectacled stringbean draped in an American flag, an Olympic medal tugging at his pencilneck, all backed by John Williams’ orchestra swells and the impassioned cheers of thousands. Yes, friends, this is the moment: America has just taken home the gold in professional video gaming (classic arcade division). Brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?
I believe the children are the future. Teach them well. Let them lead the way...
But video gaming could never be an Olympic event. It’s just not as challenging or entertaining as, you know, curling. That’s the stance of International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, anyway, who spits at the very suggestion of the idea. “You will never achieve in a video game,” Rogge told the press in May, channeling the Big Lebowski. “It is not really success.” Wow, I didn’t know Hater-Ade was a sponsor this year. Maybe he’s bitter because he sucks at Sonique Le Hedgehog. Or maybe he simply has Rogge-Panty Complex [wink wink nod to my MST3K brethren]
Pole vault to the next page, true believers!!!
Read more "A very Special Olympics" >>
Posted by Ward Rubrecht at 1:52 PM May 08, 2008
Normally I'd let Kevin have the last word on conservative columnist Katherine Kersten's latest rant; I'd be too busy kicking prostitutes in the teeth to get my underdoodles in a twist over the ravings of one more mentally deficient sermonizer. But it's reportedly several months before a PC version of GTA IV comes out (if ever), so I have tons of free time.
Also, I'm armed with a new copy of Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do (By Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, and hereafter referred to as Kutner & Olson). It's a great book, one that any gamer should read (and one I'll likely quote many times here in the future). It discusses the violent-media studies of the past and details a new set of studies performed by the authors, a pair of academics with no previous game experience or ties to the games industry. And I need to justify expensing the book, so let's get ready to rumble.
Read more "Grand Theft Childhood..." >>
Posted by Kevin Hoffman at 7:15 PM May 06, 2008
Letter writer Joshua Nichols points out some selective editing by Strib conservative lightning rod Katherine Kersten in her recent column on Grand Theft Auto IV.
In the column, Kersten writes:
"[T]eenage boys of America," wrote one reviewer, "... you can still kill and maim and plunder and screw until your heart is full," but now "the violence is no longer cartoonish." Thanks to GTA IV's new realism, when G-stringed strippers grind the main character's lap, the player's controller vibrates in response.
But if you run the phrase "can still kill and maim and plunder and screw" through a Google search, you'll find the source material, this Slate column. As you'll see from reading the full quote in context, Kersten used some selective editing to remove portions that were inconvenient to her conservative orthodoxy.
Read more "GTA Hater Gets Owned..." >>
Posted by Chris Ward at 5:15 PM Apr 17, 2008
OK, maybe HATE is a strong word. But it got your goddamned attention. I saw Slash on Conan O' Brian last night giving Guitar Hero a fanboy handjob (The guy who wrote Welcome to the Jungle was getting stiff over the idea of beating "Baracuda" on Hard Mode. Just...wow.), and this got me thinking about some recent interviews I did with musicians. I'm not sure a lot of them—the ones who don't have playable characters in the game—understand or have anything to do with Guitar Hero, though they're in the game. It's pretty much a loose relationship where they allow their songs to be used and collect the check. No big surprise there, the last two sentences being the most obvious statements ever typed. But if you've ever wondered why some tracks are the Master Tracks, and some songs are cover versions, rest assured that the artists' don't know either. More with Rob Zombie and Rivers Cuomo, after the jump...
Read more "Rob Zombie, Weezer..." >>
Posted by Ward Rubrecht at 7:59 PM Apr 04, 2008
Phyllis Schlafly, anti-feminist activist and seared husk of fustian disgust, has finally found something she hates more than her own genitals. In an article posted yesterday on WorldNetDaily, she railed against video games with the kind of deliberate ignorance only possible in those who laugh un-ironically at Dennis the Menace comics.
Ms. Schlafly rehashes the thoroughly cliche and unsupported "argument" shouted from both sides of the aisle that video games train aggressive behavior and desensitization to violence. But she further, and specifically, disagrees with the thundering unanimity of judges who've ruled that video games are protected under the First Amendment to the same degree as literature.
And that just pissed me off.
Read more "Phyllis Schlafly..." >>
