A researcher at England's University of Essex says that there is little evidence to suggest that video games are harmful. Patrick Kierkegaard, writing in the current International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, adds that, in his view, games do not lead to aggression.

He also suggests that previous studies linking games and aggression are biased.

As reported by Science Daily:

Kierkegaard explains... there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and the advent of video games. If anything, the effect seems to be the exact opposite and one might argue that video game usage has reduced real violence.

As others have done, Kierkegaard cites declines in US juvenile crime at the same time that video game sales are increasing:

Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s. With millions of sales of violent games, the world should be seeing an epidemic of violence. Instead, violence has declined.

 

Kierkegaard said that the inherent bias found in many studies indicates a need for more details research on video games and their effects on youthful players.

According to money.co.uk, a Texas boy used his dad's credit card to purchase Halo, call girls and a lot more. stuff.co.nz, however, reports that the story is likely a hoax. 

According to the original report, 13-year-old Ralph Hardy scammed an extra card on his father's account and took some friends on $30,000 spending binge. The boys wound up in a motel room, playing Halo with a couple of high-priced escorts. From the report:

Police said they were alerted to the motel by a concerned delivery clerk, whom after delivering supplies of Dr Pepper, Fritos and Oreos had been asked by the kids where they could score some chicks and were willing to pay. They explained they had just made a big score at a "World of Warcraft" tournament and wanted to get some relaxation. On noting the boys age the delivery clerk informed the authorities.

The hookers were supposedly released by the police since the boys were more interested in playing Halo than hanky-panky. stuff.co.nz did a bit of follow-up investigation, however, contacting the local Texas police (all the way from New Zealand!):

Newark county police spokeperson Amy Cromer  said, "As far as we know, this story is a hoax. There have not been any arrests here, and we're not aware of any convictions like that in this county."

GP: The story certainly sounds like a fake. Besides, everyone knows that only Grand Theft Auto players indulge in hookers.

A freelance game artist and programmer has designed a video game which explores concerns over the excessive use of force by police.

Jason Rohrer writes in The Escapist that he was moved to create Police Brutality after viewing the famous Don't taze me, bro! incident in which a student was tasered by police while Sen. John Kerry gave a speech at the University of Florida.

Of his game design, Rohrer writes:

The video reminded me of how scary police can be... I'm not suggesting that the UF students should have physically attacked the police. ...Perhaps they should have done some quick, ad hoc organizing. Perhaps they should have collectively stood up to the police in some kind of non-violent, legal way.

Even if the students could organize on the spot, I wasn't sure what the most effective strategy would be. I designed a game to explore the possibilities. Police Brutality is a game about fear, collective motivation, ad hoc organizing, self-sacrifice, and non-violence...

A British government commission studying violence in urban areas heard a grieving mother blame violent video games and television programs for leading young people into ciminal behavior.

The panel is headed by Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. As reported by the Birmingham Post. Ann Oakes-Odger (left), whose son was stabbed to death during a robbery, said:

When advertising first became a medium on TV...subliminal shots... were banned... because it was considered to be interrupting the natural psyche of one's thinking. I believe video games and violent computer games have the same effect... We have a responsibility as adults to protect our children and the information that is input into them...We can't allow them to live in a twilight world of reality and non-reality...

The censorship of Grand Theft Auto IV will likely force the Australian government to add an R18 rating by year's end, according to The Australian.

GamePolitics readers will recall that some of GTA IV's sex scenes had to be cut in order to qualify for the current highest rating, MA15+. Without the edits, the game would have been banned by Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification.

Greg Bondar, who heads the Game Developers Association of Australia told The Australian:

I think the release of GTAIV is a defining moment; it goes to show how far the games industry has come. The ratings system has not kept up.

The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia also supports adding a R18. IEA chief executive Ron Curry said:

Anecdotally, there was always a lot of hostility towards the classifications, but that is softening now as people are becoming more comfortable with games as just another form of media.

Among gamers, the British Board of Film Classification is best known for issuing a controversial ban on Manhunt 2 last summer.

In the wake of the Byron Review, however, the organization's game rating future is up in the air as the UK video game industry has expressed a preference for using the PEGI rating system. With that backdrop, Spong takes a look at the BBFC and how games get rated there. Press officer Sue Clark told Spong:

[Examiners] have to be good at playing games. There are no 'formal' qualifications... but you do have to have a good level of education and a good grasp of English as you are required to produce well argued written reports... Most games are played by at least two examiners and if necessary several may play the game.

Clark said that the average BBFC examiner is in his or her mid-thirties. Of the 32 employed, 19 are men and 13 are women. They are well-paid, earning from  £33.950 to £45,758 [US $66,036 - $89,003].

You also have to have an interest in film because games examiners don't just classify games. It also helps if you have an understanding of child development because the majority of the works classified are for people under the age of 18.

A 22-year-old convicted killer claims that he played Grand Theft Auto just before murdering two housemates in 2005.

As reported by the Fayetteville Observer, James Christopher Stitt is waiting to learn whether he will be executed or face life in prison for the gruesome double slaying. Stitt told a psychiatrist that he played GTA until 4 a.m. and then committed the killings. The psychiatrist, Dr. Moira Artigues, testified:

He went in and killed George and Jenna in a state where he was like an automaton, not in control of his actions at the time.

The newspaper report notes:

[Dr.] Artigues... did not suggest that there was a connection between the video game and the murders.... Artigues said Stitt seems at times to live in a fantasy world and she wasn’t even sure that the version of the murders he described to her was the truth. He told a different story — in which Grand Theft Auto wasn’t mentioned — to his girlfriend, according to earlier testimony.

Courtroom testimony also revealed that the convicted murderer had an extremely troubled childhood.

A senior at California's Chico State University added a political flavor to three popular Nintendo classics for a recent art exhibit called "Eeprompaganda." The title is a mashup of EEPROM and propaganda.

As reported by student newspaper The Orion, Ryan Fitzpatick showed off mods of Super Mario Bros, Millipede and Dr. Mario. From the report:

Fitzpatrick reprogrammed the beloved "Super Mario Brothers" and turned it into "Super Democracy Brothers: The Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism." Instead of Mario and Luigi... players were able to choose from President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney... The two men run around the desert, encounter men in turbans and hop over oil bins with Exxon Mobil labels...

Fitzpatrick likewise transformed Dr. Mario into Doctor Democrat:

The words "Hillary Care" stretched across the top of the screen and players became Dr. Hillary Clinton. The object of the game was to arrange pills into a medicine container, similarly to "Tetris."

Millipede was modded into what sounds like a potentially controversial take on the immigration debate, Minuteman Civil Defense Headquarters Presents: Border Stampede: The student newspaper, however, notes that the mod was presented in the vein of political commentary rather than political advocacy:

Fitzpatrick was afraid people would miss the comical aspect of the exhibit and find the games offensive... In the statement, he wrote about his curiosity with American culture symbols and the influence they have on thinking.

It took Fitzpatrick a year to create the classic Nintendo mods.

John Douglas, a former game industry worker who says he has played over 7,000 titles, has once again criticized violence in video games.

As reported by Christian news site OneNewsNow, Douglas has called upon Congress to create legislation regulating video games. From the report:

Douglas... contends that the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV shows that the video game industry will not regulate itself. The former police officer points out that the game has received an "M" (Mature) rating, which means that anyone under the age of 17 years should not play the game...

Douglas is especially critical of the ESRB, and advised parents not to trust its ratingss:

Currently the people rating these games for the ESRB don't even play these games. There's needs to be some kind of common-sense application that's put forth as to how these games are rated... Why isn't there a law to prevent it? Because every time the state passes a law that says children cannot play these games, it's [labeled as] a crime. The media coalition and the industry itself, they hire attorneys, they file an appeal, they find a judge, and they have it overthrown saying it's a violation of the First Amendment.

Douglas, who now runs Grand Design Productions, a "family friendly" animations studio, refers to violent games as "spiritual cyanide" in a video interview.

Activision's uber-popular Call of Duty 4 and Rockstar's controversial Bully are among hundreds of non-work related Wikipedia edits made by city and county government workers in the San Francisco Bay area, according to local TV news.

KGO-7 aired the report, which also noted a variety of non-game Wiki edits, including some related to movies, politics and American Idol. The station used Caltech grad student Virgil Griffith's Wikiscanner application to trace the edits back to government offices.

Spokesman Gregg Sass of the San Francisco Department of Public Health criticized the government employees' Wikipedia activity:

Clearly it sounds as if that's not city business. They're prohibited [by policy] from using city equipment for non-business use, period.