I don't know if todays post was originally going to be just a general annoyance of mine or not, but I was going to comment on video games, the media, and the scary element lurking in the night - that creature known as jack thompson. But amazingly someone somewhere (florida) has seen sense and the guys finally been disbarred, and since all he ever achieved was self publicity, I won't bother servicing his ego further by being another blogger to have a go.
So I'm not reduced to 2 out of 3 points, and thankfully this week the media has played a big role in my desire to writing about this subject by making a complete tit of themselves. Not the specialist gaming media, thankfully they keep a more even head on their shoulders when such stories come out since they actually know the area in which they deal with (completely unlike people along with myself).
The stories I refer to are the murder the Advance Wars game has been tied to, and unsurprisingly the latest Grand Theft Auto game has been making the headlines again.
So first the Advance Wars story. Now the Advance Wars game exists in a genre where to be honest I've never really been able to exist, I see the point of the strategy game, why people would find it enjoyable but I just can't get my brain to think in the way I need to to actually be good at them. In short, I suck at them so don't play them. The Advance Wars games however have been a bit of an exception, having played all 4 of the english speaking country released series - in its native japan the series debuted on the famicom (nes) under the name Famicom Wars. The reason this shocked me is the fact that for starters its a Nintendo brand who have always been accused of almost being too family friendly (among gamers) and this series itself is very cartoony. The game deals with war in various different settings - varying from game to game - but the violence well, you see small pieces ie infantry, tanks, helicopters etc blowing up but theres no blood or anything nearing realistic while the generally limited story (it serves its purpose but its not a main reason to play the game) impresses upon you the horrors of war.
Details on this murder are still on the sketchy side, and all the developments so far at the questioning stage - from what little I've found out on the internet no one has been charged as yet - and the unfortunate victim was known to run a fan site/forum for the series/perhaps one of the games (as I said, details in the reports have been sketchy) and this is the only connection between the game and the murder and yet it has taken pride of place among a lot of the reports. So as far as I can see this link is merely being promoted to sell newspapers.
I can't really think of much more to say on this however until other details come out. As a sidenote however I found this a little bit creepy, the guy is about my age, a fellow Physics student - about to start at Nottingham Trent University - which was one of the universities I briefly considered.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7636821.stm
Now a complete lack of surprise greeted me when I saw the latest GTA game made it into the papers due to another controversy, but I mean really is this stuff really news? The games are now really well documented even in the mainstream media (although rarely ever completely fairly), the title implies at minimum you're going to be a thieving bastard and every single one of the series has come in rated at 18 or Mature (meaning 17+ in america) so to be honest if kids are playing this its their parents fault. Storylines/missions in this game have often involved assination/random killing, extortion, and while I can't yet speak for GTA 4 ( I still haven't sunk my teeth into this one) , the rest of the series is also infamous for being able to pick up prostitutes, take them back to 'your' car, have sex with them to boost your health - with the option of killing them to get your money back.
The latest addition to this series will be on the fantastically successful Nintendo DS and will be known by the subtitle of 'Chinatown Wars'. Now DS games, mainly due to the nature of the portable console are well known for having a strong base in mini games - quick blasts/distractions that can be completed and progress saved on a short bus trip. So in the realm of gangsters, one of the mini games is based around dealing drugs - which to me is perfectly fitting, I mean you shoot/kill/run over/otherwise attack other people so it makes perfect sense that you would deal drugs as well, if anything its less shady than many of the other aspects. However unsurprisingly the tabloids have been having a field day with this fact, getting quotes from anti drugs spokesman etc. However there are 3 facts that need to be taken into account.
1) Nintendo may be family friendly in the majority of their content, but GTA clearly isn't, and will unlikely receive anything less than the 18 rating given to its elder brothers.
2) You have to have something wrong with you to actually attempt anything in these games in the real world, yes they may glamorise some aspects of the underworld and make it seem like easy money but the fact is its so easy to die in this game, for something to go wrong and get blown up or something. Okay in the game all that occurs is you lose your inventory/some cash and wake up in the hospital, but anyone thinking this would happen in real life just isn't right in the head.
3) Parents, if you're worried about games like this getting into your childrens hands use your parental powers to prevent it, or at the very least do some research on it. Jon Davidson of former 1up fame, and still a fairly regular personality on 1UP Yours left to found a website www.whattheyplay.com - a parents guide to video games. Its an area I believe is heavily neglected and while I was sad he left 1UP at the time its the sort of resource that needs to be out there, and seriously needs to be promoted and pointed to because while it may often be bliss, ignorance makes fools of us all.