Category Archives: Violence in games

US vice president Joe Biden has said there’s no legal objection to imposing a tax on violent media.

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Electronic Arts has revealed plans to ditch gun licensing deals from its games – but will continue to feature well-known weaponry in their titles without paying gun manufacturers.

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Video games have been implicated in a violent assault by a teenage boy on an online gaming buddy.

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The Guardian has posted a graph and a video, which shows information the site compiled through research regarding guns and violence in games. According to the site, an analysis of the top 50 video games sold in 2012 found that “more than half contain violent content labels,” and “one-third have weapons that depict real-life firearms.” According to the firm’s analysis, 68% of the games looked at contained violence while 32% contained none. Realistic firearms were found in less than half of of the 50 games of 2012, with 38% having guns in general. 62% having no guns. You can watch the video and run your mouse over the interactive chart through the link.

SWAT, MAG and SOCOM veteran Charles N Cox has sworn off first-person shooters, admitting that it may be a career-limiting movie but affirming his belief that the games industry “is ready to do better things”.

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In other news out of the Jersey Shore, the New Jersey SAFE Task Force, has released a report recommending state lawmakers stamp out the sale of Mature games to minors. Former by governor Chris Christie in January, the task force is looking for a way to curb situations would result in tragedies such as Newtown school shooting. While it also recommends changes to gun control laws, providing better access to psychological care, and encourages schools to employ armed officers, the task force is also reviewing whether violent media is being marketed to kids. This is despite the group’s acknowledged of the Supreme Court ruling in California, and said it’s plan was “subject to the appropriate regulatory authority’s consideration of the practicality and feasibility of each approach.” More through GI International.

New Jersey assemblywoman Linda Stender has proposed a state bill prohibiting public spaces like cinemas and bowling alleys from hosting arcade games rated Mature or Adult’s Only. But put down your pitchforks; according to Kotaku, the ESRB doesn’t actually rate coin-operated arcade machines, so assuming this bill was passed, it would have absolutely no effect on anything, anywhere. Hopefully someone will highlight this issue for Stender before she puts her bill before other lawmakers.

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Speaking on US TV, Dianne Feinstein seems to have suggested that games can be a kind of aid or crutch for those inclined towards violent acts.

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California senator Dianne Feinstein believes the government could legislate the sale violent games in US if the industry doesn’t cut back on violence in its games.

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Games are stuck on the same old material, Warren Spector has argued, and the industry needs individual role models to break free of action’s stranglehold on art.

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Irrational’s Ken Levine has voiced his opinion on the violence in games subject – a subject which as cooled recently, but is still hanging around enough to warrant being broached on NPR’s On Point radio program with Tom Ashbrook.

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Following a report suggesting the perpetrator of last year’s Sandy Hook massacre was trying to get some sort of ‘high score’, a pair of US politicians have renewed their campaigns against violent games.

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A 14 year-old who shot his parents with a pistol taken from his father’s gun cabinet, leaving both injured and his mother stable but awaiting further surgery, has told police video games made him violent.

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Violence in video games is a hot button issue in some circles, with pundit going as far as to blame gun violence on crimes committed around the world, and most recently in the US. One of the most vocal accusers of late, is the EVP of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, who in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut called the video game industry a “callous, corrupt, and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against own people, through vicious violent video games.” His opinion, is not one which Gearbox president Randy Pitchford shares.

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Last month Connecticut senator Toni Harp introduced a bill intended to keep minors from playing what he described as “violent point-and-shoot” video games in public venues such as arcades. The loose definition of such games takes in any which include the “facsimile of a firearm as an essential component of play” – so anything with a light gun, no matter how innocuous. On the brighter side, the bill also calls for further research into the effects of violent games on young minds.

Thanks, Joystiq.

Californian Democrat and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has said scientific evidence suggests violent media is not at the root of the US’s disproportionate rate of gun crime.

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Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector dropped a heck of a flamebait quote in his DICE Summit 2013 presentation, saying games like Grasshopper Manufacture’s Lollipop Chainsaw “should just not be made”.

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God of War and Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe has posted a typically sharp critique of recent CNN coverage of violence in games.

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EA CEO John Riccitiello fielded a question related to FSP and gun violence during the firm’s Q3 FY13 call to investors last night, stating there has already been an “enormous amount of research done” regarding whether there is a link to real-world violence and video games.

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Tennessee Republican senator Lamar Alexander has said that “video games is a bigger problem than guns, because video games affect people”. He was responding to a question from MSNBC about the possibility of background checks when guns are sold in the US. You can watch the whole segment through the break.

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