How do you boycut something that is free? :-/

We are not gonna get peace until in 20-30 years when most voters have grown up with video games and know about them. Then we will be rid of these loons. I hope. >_

[...] Lanza goes on to say, “You’ve got Grand Theft Auto where you murder police officers … To me, I can’t imagine people marketing and distributing it, and putting it in the hands of kids, but it’s happening.” Of course, Rockstar has already weighed in about how much stock they put into what anybody from Staten Island says by just not inlcluding the landmass in GTA IV. [Via GamePolitics] [...]

At least, the mainstream media makes the difference between amateur Flash games and commercial ESRB-rated video games. It's a progress.

About Lanza's intervention, you can find worse on his website :
http://www.senatorlanza.org/press_archive_story.asp?id=16828
http://www.nyssenate24.com/press_archive_story.asp?id=16828

Read this excerpt, for example :
"The game is rated Mature on the website, but because it can be downloaded onto a personal computer, it can be accessed by anyone. Moreover because the present rating system on video games is voluntary, there is nothing to prevent this and other inappropriately violent games from being sold to children. 'This sick and twisted game which exploits the tragic events at Virginia Tech University further underscores the need to crack down on violent video games, and reduce children’s exposure to violent and inappropriate materials within these games,' said Senator Lanza. 'Although this is an on-line game, I sincerely hope that the video game industry, wholesalers, retailers and web sites refrain from advertising, selling or facilitating this game, or any game which exploits such a devastating tragedy," said Senator Lanza.'"

I wanted to contact him on his website in order to explain him (calmly, in a civilian way) how and why he was wrong. But it seems that only U.S. residents can email him.

Wow just when I thought our elected officials couldn't get any stupider on this issue.

This guy really needs to shut up. This isn't even an industry product. It's an online flash game that wasn't even made here in the states.

Why the hell are the men and women representing us in the government such oblivious asses?

Wow! I posted my letter to Lanza under the comments section of the Staten Island Advance article and it has since been REMOVED!

I love it when newspapers censor the public.

Tangent:

@ AnonAmbientLight: "Yea speaking of disturbing internet sites, 4chan is very very distrubing.

I wanted to check it out and my friend told me to go to section B because it was the “cleanest” section on there. Well, let me just say section B has scarred me for life, and that was the “CLEANEST” section."

Assuming that it happened exactly as you describe it, then your friend played you for a fool. /b/ is the, "Anything goes, no hold barred," section of 4chan, where none of the normal rules apply. It's far from the "cleanest" section.

To me, I can’t imagine people marketing and distributing it, and putting it in the hands of kids, but it’s happening."

A. It's happening less and less according to studies.
B. The games are not designed for children (one look at all the sexual inneundo in the games should convince anyone of that)
C. It sells like hotcakes everytime a new one is released (well maybe not VCS or LCS).


"Lanza called on retailers, manufacturers and websites to boycott V-Tech Rampage"


Retailers and manufactorers can't do anything about this since it's an online game, no one would pay money to play this game on consoles (and even if they would I don't think the creator is willing to invest that kind of money to make that happen). There are two websites that have it up newgrounds and the guy's own site, as a frequent visitor of newgrounds I can assure you they won't do so and this guy obviously isn't going to remove it from his own site.

Awesome point Wardo

"state Sen. Andrew Lanza, chair of the Senate Task Force on Youth Violence and the Entertainment Industry."

I'm not american so I have no clue about this. Is there also a Senate Task Force on Youth Violence and Poverty? How about a Senate Task Force on Youth Violence and Drugs? Or a Senate Task Force on Youth Violence and Gangs?

Blaming the Industry for stuff it didn't do seems to happen strangely often. Do all these politicians REALLY not know what they're talking about, or are they talking this way in hopes of looking good in front of voters who don't know what they're listening to?

Sure, I like to belive in the good side of humanity and not think that people are lying to me, but geez...

If people want the game to be taken down, then all they need is Guns N' Roses or Collective Soul (or their labels) to sue the writer of the game. He uses songs by those bands in the game without permission. Maybe a million dollar lawsuit will change his mind about keeping it up.

"There are certain things in life you don’t make light of and should not be turning into a game. It’s not a game, it’s a tremendous loss of life."

Based on that, I demand reparations from anyone who's ever done a WWII/Holocaust movie. Speilberg, I'm looking at you.

The fact that V-Tech Rampage is in bad taste, or too soon, or whatever is a moot point. This really is a first amendment discussion. Just because what this opportunistic shit head put out as a game is actually a worthless peice of crap doesn't mean he didn't have the right to make it. Absolutely, call it what it is, an atrocity, but it's still his right to make it and try to profit from it, even though his reputation is clearly inexorably tarnished.

I'd like to see this report get released

"Politician compares battle in streets of Fallujah to a session of GTA VI or Counterstrike."

contents of the report:

Thanks to continued training of military personnel using FPS shooters, such as America's Army (TM), endorsed, funded, and supported by the US Government, our soldiers are more than well prepared for urban combat. Congress has decided to not supply ammunition and armor to the soldiers for their mission, as PLENTY should automatically spawn at select locations throughout Iraq. Fear not citizens, for should our soldiers fall, they will reappear after a designated penalty time at a predetermined respawn point.

If only real life were like a game.. we could more easily justify the complete stupidity and ignorance of politicians.

if presidential candidate Ron Paul was commenting on this v-tech game, he'd be blaming the government i bet...the fact is Senator Lanza is right - its time the game makers are held accountable for there actions.

There is something you can do about it. I wrote an email (poosibly useless but the contents of that email are below).

"In regards to your recent interview concerning V-Tech Rampage:

Perhaps you should learn more about the industry your are trying to legislate. Your proposed legislation would not protect children from games like V-Tech Rampage as they are not created by the video game industry, nor are they sold through distributors. This game was made by an unemployed Australian man and is distributed freely on the internet. Either you are uninformed, or you are choosing to distort the facts (ie LIE). I choose to believe the former, so I have taken the time to try and educate you. If you persist in using V-Tech Rampage as an excuse to push your legislation, I will now be certain you are no better than the man who chose to use abuse a national tragedy for his own pathetic ends."

[...] [Via GamePolitics] [...]

newgrounds is loving this...

Daamn better step up quickly JT, some one is close to you in stupidity

You know, all this talk about "industry distance" has got me thinking. Consider the following games:

Armadillo Run, Bejewelled, Counter-Strike, Darwinia, Defcon, Desktop Tower Defence, Doom, Garry's Mod, Geometry Wars, N, SCMRPG, Starscape, the VT massacre game

Mentally divide them into "industry" and "not industry," with justifications. It's not so easy, is it? Some points of interest:

Popcap has free demos of its games that you can play in your browser. Are those demos industry?
Doom was distributed as shareware across countless campuses originally. Was it industry back then? Did it become industry?
Garry's Mod and Counter-Strike started as mods and became products for sale. Are they industry now that their names are registered?
Darwinia is available boxed in the shops, but Defcon (the next game by the same people) is not. Does not being in shops make it not industry?

You know what the ESA should do? They should publicly correct him. Put him in his place, embarrass him before the press, that he mistook a flash game for a commercial product...

@Pawsie

The problem lies with that the willfully ignorant, politicians massacre chasers and the like will be using this as ANOTHER example as to why video games need to be legislated. I think it's the only medium they don't yet takes bribes from or control

... my brain hurts.

No one mentions you getting in trouble for killing cops in GTA.

Newgrounds is on debate on whether to keep V-Tech Rampage on their. Aside from freedom of speach, the only other thing thats holding it back is their 9/11 collection (of which contains a lot of tributes, and one funny).

Fuck Tard Fuck Tard Fuck Tard

this man makes me angry, his incompetence that thinking that v-tech game is in retail stores, and that GTA is marketed for children are reasons why this man (how he ever evolved from apes i don't know) shouldn't have been allowed to take office.

I wonder if, should someone provide all the details to a local TV station, they'd find the tale of a task force chairman's ignorance of a topic he's responsible for worthy of a spot on the evening news.

I wonder...

Dont these people have lawyers that do some research on this stuff before they say something completely stupid like this? Its either that, or he just doesnt care about looking into anything for any amount of time before announcing his opinion on it. If thats the way our elected officials do buisness, then Im worried about this country very deeply.

How many times do we have to go over this? It's not the industry putting games in the hands of children. It's parents who buy the games for their children. I don't think I can imagine the head of ESA on a school playground handing out copies of GTA to the children like candy, or candy for that matter.

I saw it coming as well and all I can say is, it has begun. However with this we HAVE to start speaking out and making sure we get heard.

There always will be people trying to benefit from tragedy, nothing you can do about it.

If the US makes a game in which you have to slaughter thousands of Koreans, Iraqies or something like that (America's Army for example) you'll hear no one talk about it. Then it's entertainment and a nice way to recruit people for the army. I think that there a thousands and thousands of Korean and Iraqy families who's relatives have been killed that had nothing to do with the war.

What happend was a tragedy, creating a game of it isn't something of good taste... But you don't have to play the game, you even don't have to go to that website.

@jonc2006

"i dont blame these politicans for not realizing it is not a commercial product because these politicians are not gamers."

you don't blame our policymakers for being ignorant? isn't that the WHOLE PROBLEM with things? how can you make decisions on things you don't know about? shouldn't we hold our ELECTED officials responsible?


"im for freedom of speech and everything but this guy really stepped over the line with making Vtech rampage or whatever it is."

you're either for freedom of speech or you're against it, you can't be for it only when it suits you.

I fail to see the problem... there are movies where people kill police officers, children, and innocent citizens. And what happened to the freedom of speech? Sure.. the VT game was made by someone in a different country.. but shouldn't our own country support our own rules, such as freedom of speech?

It still confuse me.. the person doesn't want money 'for' the game... though they did spin it off to request money to get rid of the game... But if the game is that disturbing.. DON'T PLAY IT!

There are hundred, if not millions of disturbing things on the internet.. just last week my best friend showed me a picture of a nun eating shit right from a priest's ass. I think it's the american notion that you whine and bitch about smoething you don't like.. and feel you have a right to take it down without any fundamental consideration about the person that place it up.

We can just turn our heads away from it, it's that simple.

that fucking kid that made that game has really screwed the community over because of it. i dont blame these politicans for not realizing it is not a commercial product because these politicians are not gamers. yes they should become aware of what type of gam that is ASAP so that they do not take wrongful action or unintentionally spread misleading info about the industry but the author of that game has now started to bring down heat on the community because of it and the only reason i see he made it for was attention and money. im for freedom of speech and everything but this guy really stepped over the line with making Vtech rampage or whatever it is.

....wow...

How can one boycott something that isn't for sale?

Wow, that didn't take long. Is there any way we can disband and restart the Senate? Tell them that they are technically, socially, and morally incompetent and therefor unfit to lead.

"Lanza called on retailers, manufacturers and Web site hosts to shun the game."

No research. No planning. Not even a glance at what the people are saying about it. It is a video game, therefor it is destroying the children and we have to stop the evil industry. Go way to win quick votes from soccer moms.

someone needs to email this guy and set him straight

It's one of them E-lectronic games right? Well, them is only sold in stores, so we mus' boycott 'em.

@ aniki21

Don't you know? Cops have uniforms, that automatically makes them more important than the rest of us normal folk. That's why they mostly bring up the fact that you can kill them, and not the regular people of the city.

It's always bugged me that people specifically point out that you kill cops in Grand Theft Auto. You can kill anybody you like in Grand Theft Auto; some of them just happen to be cops.

there should be a three strikes policy for soundbites like this. once you've gone this far off the mark on a topic three times, you are permanently banned from holding a position of leadership.

i guess that means i wasted my $5 preordering the game at gamestop!