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On Father's Day, Obama Urges Dads To Swap Video Games for Books

Sun, 06/21/2009 - 9:58am — Snipehunter

On Father's Day, Obama Urges Dads To Swap Video Games for Books -

Repeating a theme that he frequently touched upon during his 2008 election campaign, President Barack Obama has once again referenced video games as a metaphor for academic underachievement.

In a Father's Day message published in Parade, Obama writes:

We need to set limits and expectations. We need to replace that video game with a book and make sure that homework gets done. We need to say to our daughters, Don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for your goals. We need to tell our sons, Those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in our house, we find glory in achievement, self-respect, and hard work.

Interestingly, the Parade feature is Obama's third mention of video games in the last 10 days. On June 11th he told an audience in Wisconsin:

Even with the good schools, we've got to pick up the pace, because the world has gotten competitive. The Chinese, the Indians, they're coming at us and they're coming at us hard, and they're hungry, and they're really buckling down.And they watch - their kids watch a lot less TV than our kids do, play a lot fewer video games, they're in the classroom a lot longer.

Last Monday the President mentioned games during a speech to the American Medical Association in Chicago:

[Preventive care] starts with each of us taking more responsibility for our health and the health of our children. It means quitting smoking... It means going for a run or hitting the gym, and raising our children to step away from the video games and spend more time playing outside.

 [Game Politics]

I'm pretty big fan of Obama. I like what he's done so far and - generally speaking - I agree with his message, but his derogatory comments about video games are getting worse. On top of that, they're getting less accurate. Before it was "We gotta get kids to stop playing games and get outside" and you know -- that's not a bad thing. We could all benefit from more active lifestyles, right? But now he's saying replace video games with books.

Sounds noble right? I mean, surely a book will teach you more than a video game ever did? Video games are just distractions after all, there's nothing really intellectual or literary in them for you to see, is there?

Is there? Read more»

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Keith Vaz Moves in Parliament for UK Ban on Rape Game

Wed, 02/25/2009 - 12:59pm — Snipehunter

Keith Vaz Moves in Parliament for UK Ban on Rape Game -

Making good on a vow to bring up Japanese PC title RapeLay in Parliament, British Labour MP Keith Vaz has issued a call for the game to be banned in the U.K., reports the Evening Standard:

Mr Vaz, who campaigns against violent computer games, called on the Government to ban [RapeLay] from sale to UK players over the internet.In a Commons motion, he said he was "appalled that a video game that simulates rape has been readily available for sale on the internet".He welcomed the decision by Amazon to withdraw the game.

As GamePolitics reported earlier this month, Vaz was one the first to speak out against RapeLay.

 [Game Politics]

The moral of the story being, apparently, that one should never attempt to resell one's pornography on Amazon's market. Look folks, it's not like this "game" is being put on shelves at Walmart or something -- it was, literally, one dude trying to sell a game he'd clearly imported directly from Japan. Why manufacture a crisis here? One guy has poor taste and there's a nation out there that made a video game that satisfies that taste. Is this less true in books? Or movies? Or plays? Seems to me we've had examples of the sort of thing this game covers in every medium but television and radio, so I don't get it -- what makes this one worse?

Seriously, what is the crisis here?

"Oh dear! There seems to be a tempest in my teapot!"

- Snipehunter Read more»

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PTC Spanks Game Industry, Praises GameStop, Best Buy in Secret Shopper Report

Thu, 07/24/2008 - 2:44pm — Snipehunter

PTC Spanks Game Industry, Praises GameStop, Best Buy in Secret Shopper Report -

Game Politics]

Wow, seriously? How often are you folks at the PTC going to do this? Why "spank the industry" for what the retailers do? For that matter, why chastise the retailers when it's the parents that don't pay attention to what games are played by their children?

As the first commenter at Game Politics points out, Consoles have parental controls. It doesn't matter which games your kids buy if you use the functionality the game industry has already put into parents' hands.

Seriously, this is like what? Decade 3 of this claptrap? Parents, how many of your kids are at home, right now, watching the Saw movies? Or any slasher flick? How many of them are reading Stephen King, Clive Barker, Piers Anthony or any other author that is either graphically violent or pornographic in their narrative? Sure, I get it; Games are expensive for you buy and they're very popular and kids do sit in front of a display of some sort to play them... but isn't that also true of movies where they watch the screen or books where they sit and stare at printed pages?

New != Bad (!= means not equal, in case you didn't know).

Honestly, with the possible (And let me stress that word possible) exception of DVDs, no other form of media gives you parents as much control over what their children can and can't see or experience, as modern games do. It wouldn't matter if your kid got a hold of GTA IV, if you'd bother to turn on the console's content controls.

If you'd bother to parent your children, at all.

It's not our job to raise your kids, or protect them. That's your job. The games industry does A LOT to make sure that you can make informed choices and enforce your choices even when you're not there at the console with your children. Why do we also have to take the blame for you when you fail to avail yourself of all the help we've given you?

Do you think we feel good when you let your kids play GTA IV? I cringe inside at the thought, to be honest, but you know what? It's not my choice to make. I don't get to decide for anyone what games are good for them, or their children. I have to leave that choice up to the parents. Just like they need to leave the choice of what games we make up to us and we all have to leave the choice of what games are sold up to the retailers. That's what freedom is about, isn't it? Making choices for yourself and accepting the consequences?

I just wish parents would make a choice, instead of doing nothing and then blaming the industry when things go wrong for them.

- Snipehunter Read more»

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Watchdog Group Deletes Misinformation About GTA IV From Parental Alert

Mon, 07/21/2008 - 2:04pm — Snipehunter

Watchdog Group Deletes Misinformation About GTA IV From Parental Alert -

Here's something you don't see very often: a media watchdog group actually scaling back  the Grand Theft Auto IV fear factor in the interest of presenting more accurate information.

But it's true. The Parents Television Council recently issued a a video alert which warns parents about the violence and sexual content in GTA IV.

On July 11th GamePolitics reported on the alert, which is narrated by PTC president Tim Winters. Among his criticisms of the game, Winters repeats the oft-heard, "You get points for [insert nasty activity of your choice]..."

In the latest edition of, the player is a thug who gets points for having sex with prostitutes, running over pedestrians and even shooting police officers.

There are no such points in the GTA series, of course. Never have been, despite the frequent assertion of such by watchdogs. At least two GamePolitics readers, hayabusa 75 and NecroSen, wrote to the PTC to voice their objections. Lo and behold, a few days later the PTC edited the "You get points for..." line out of the video.

GamePolitics received this comment on the change from Gavin McKiernan, National Grassroots Director for the PTC:

[Winters] misspoke.  He knows there are no points in GTA and we of course want all of our productions to be completely factually accurate so we corrected it.

Catch the edited video alert here.

GP: While the viewpoint of the PTC is often at odds with that of gamers, credit is due for taking the trouble to correct this error. Kudos as well to the GP readers who contacted the PTC to point out the misinformation.

 [Game Politics]

Huh. Maybe people are listening to gamers. Now, if only they'd believe us...

- Snipehunter Read more»

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Parents Television Council Issues Video Alert on "Sick" GTA IV

Fri, 07/11/2008 - 1:34pm — Snipehunter

Parents Television Council Issues Video Alert on "Sick" GTA IV -

Watchdog group the Parents Television Council has issued a "entertainment alert" condemning Grand Theft Auto IV as well as the CBS TV series Swingtown.

PTC president Tim Winter narrates:

Unfortunately, sex and violence often go together in today's media environment. That's especially true for many of the violent video games that are now flooding the marketplace. Topping them all for worst content is Grand Theft Auto. 

 

In the latest edition of, the player is a thug who gets points for having sex with prostitutes, running over pedestrians and even shooting police officers. And our research shows that many chidlren are able to buy this adult-rated video game far too easily. That's because the retailers don't have any consequenced for abiding by their own rules. We're asking major retailers to not carry this sick game at all...

 

You can also write Congress to ask them to pass the Video Games Rating Enforcement Act which will give teeth to the current ratings system.

Via: GameArgus

GP: Thanks to Matt Paprocki for the heads-up!

 [Game Politics]

*sigh*

At what point will honesty come into play in the video game violence debate? I'm tired of this witch hunt and of the PTC, in particular. They're the real menace and I shudder at the thought of the number of people in the world who - either willingly or inadvertently - allow themselves to be manipulated by people like this -- people who have an agenda and wish to pursue it with deliberate mischaracterizations and outright lies.

For the last time: there are no damned points in GTA, nor is there any active encouragement to run down pedestrians or sleep with prostitutes. Yes, people can choose to do both, but that's the key right there -- it's a choice. Why should the PTC, or anyone, be allowed to strip adults of their choices? Because children play GTA? If you accept that as true -- and honestly, I'm not willing to -- then the question becomes: How do children get to play GTA?

Could it be, perhaps, because their parents allow them to? And isn't that the parent's choice, informed or otherwise? Even if the store sells the game to a child, at the end of the day, that child is playing that game in someone's home, right? Someone who, I dunno, maybe ought to be watching and - god fordid - parenting those same children? When will we finally admit that the failing here isn't the system that allows these games to be made, or the people who make them, but the parents who allow children access to games clearly marked as inappropriate for them?

Of course, all of that supposes that kids can easily buy these games and I think that the characterization that children can easily buy GTA has no basis in fact, just like the outright lies the PTC pedals about the content within GTA. Don't buy the hype, and if you have it, take the time to tell both the PTC and your local government representatives how you feel about this issue. Just remember to be civil and polite. Just because the PTC feels the need to lie and mischaracterize does not mean we need to stoop to that level by being impolite, or insulting.

- Snipehunter Read more»

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