I suppose the thing that annoys me, and I mean no insult to anyone by this, but is it really all that surprising that the US population has a reputation for being 'Gung-Ho, Kill-happy Rednecks' to much of the rest of the world, I mean, even your own politicians assume that everyone under the age of 30 is just itching for a chance to grab a gun and go shoot up a school, all they need is the right 'stimulation'.

I actually find it quite depressing to see a government with so very little trust in the sanity of it's own voters, It's another one of those strange ironies in a way.

SOLD im totally getting RE4 on the Wii, so the long term effects of being Leon will surface when i'm 30. I'm already packing my bags to some remote village in Europe to save the presidents daughter.

And so it begins...
Can't say I didn't see it coming.

Also, "much-ballyhooed"?

"Wii provides a double whammy - very violent content and physical involvement, which we know is how learning happens."
Here comes the copypasta, violent games aren't for kids. Not to mention Wii doesn't exactly have a huge library of "very violent content" to poison little Johnny's mind with. The author makes the wiimote out to be the anti-Christ, jeez...

There's something odd about the website. I clicked on the link, read the story, then hit back to go to the first page of the story, but now it's only promoting a sign up window for the Boston Globe. I don't understand.

jakethe8lf Says:
Really, this is like saying Guitar Hero can teach you how to play guitar, or that light gun games fire a gun, despite the lack of range and windage adjustment.
Or that DDR turns you into Kevin Bacon. ;)

@Anon:

That decreasing crime trend is something good researchers mention while those led by their biased interests don't. Most of the "research" done is subjective and is being paid for those wishing to hear a certain result. The objective research is great, but usually quoted out of context to say the opposite of what the actual study reveals. It suits these attackers fine to use the often-more-violent media news outlets to lie and shock the public into a state of fear, but telling the truth rarely is a concern.

@The Unholy:
"A lot of us (gamers/supporters) are missing the point. It’s not all about these people not knowing what they are talking about. It’s about these people finding things that are offensive to themselves and actively trying to take them away from everyone else."

When we hear stupidity, lies, biased frauds, and hypocrisy fall out of an "expert"'s mouth, the first thing someone naturally does is exclaim "hogwash" or "typical" or "I hate you". The problem is that these people are raised to levels of power and influence because they support the cause. They swell our levels of disgust that their opinions are taken as fact by so many against an issue we feel strongly about. Dwelling on the statements to some degree makes sure these moronic quotes remain in the canon and are saved to be brought back later when someone flip-flops.

Some people haven't swallowed the whole meal of what this battle means to be sure. They still think it's a bunch of meddlers who will whisk away when they have some of what they want. It isn't over a game, a TV show, or a movie but over a moral view of the world held above the industry standard of today. The standard that allows content of all range and level of expression to be obtained or avoided as the partaker desires. Freedom is a very scary thing to a lot of people. As long as there is a way to look busy fighting a war on a perceived evil, freedoms will continue to be cut out of the budget. Most people don't care about inequality unless it's affecting their money, their privileges or their back yard. Right now it's not their freedoms they see being stomped.

'But we cannot just blame the media for this can we. It is impossible.
In the end these people cannot blame one influence on a person without blaming another. “Where did we go wrong?” some people ask. I generally like to answer, “At the beginning when they were first born."'

The nature vs. nurture argument is a compelling one. A violent behavior triggered by a book, movie, altercation with a bully or game could be genetically predetermined. It also could be learned if that is the wish of the user. Serial killers often manifest this learning of malice and cruelty through the damage done to animals but also a bad bit in the brain could also be partly to blame. I believe that a mixture of both should be held up when discussing how content is handled. This forces discussion and thought to go into the topic rather than wild speculation and fear naturally.

For me though blame should be dispensed in many cases, if nothing more a means to prompt continuing freedom. For example, take underage sales to minors of game content deemed potentially hazardous due to extreme violence. Some of those youth will react well to the content. Some will feed upon it and avoid other activities that potentially have more beneficial outcomes. A few may prove to learn from the material in ways others activities failed to stimulate them, and others still may grow violent due some latent disposition to act out. A range of other states occur every day. There is blame to be shouldered here, both to the positive and to the negative.

Firstly: the industry and the marketplace owns a major responsibility of furthering the rating and sales policy to dissuade youth from games that were not created with them in mind. If a store sees a problem, they handle it on a micro level. If the industry notices a problem with a chain, then dispense punishments to show the market that rules are rules. Dispense fines to stores, with the money going into funding better education of parents and society, more advocacy, and better rating quality. We need society more educated, especially as technology improves. In severe cases, deny titles projected to be high-selling to the chain or store, forcing them financially to comply. Self regulation is an easily viable way to handle the problem. In my experience many clerks of large chains DO check ids like rabid fiends because they are so used to doing it already and can't risk getting fired. They also advise parents of the content and try to dissuade them from purchasing. Flea market vendors, thrift shop, and garage sale operators on the other hand are a lot less inclined. All places where children probably shouldn't be on their own anyways.

Which brings an obvious and often eased off field of blame: parents, caregivers, teachers, and those with jobs where they interact with children (in papers I have referred to these individuals as parental-agents) own a major responsibility in deciding what content is appropriate for their youth and enforcing it. There are lurking variables here that vastly contribute to how a child reacts to content. Everything from family dynamics, perceived worth, level of attention to child/affection, emotional stability, abstract concept recognition, to a slew of other factors determine how a child will cope with a stimulus, be it a bully, peer pressure, schoolwork, or a game. Does the child understand reality, let alone take actions that fit with our mores? Is the child being made a part of the process, where discussion allows them a broader understanding of society, life and death? Whatever the environment of the child, there has to be more work done by parents/teachers and others to forge a healthy foundation.

Kids have to truly matter again, and not be used merely as tax credits, or pawns in a war against drugs, violence, and all the other moral crusades they are currently being used for. They are a reason to make society better, not a political device to be cast away and forgotten when you've been reelected. Youth are a lot wiser than many give them credit for and internalize all the fake affection and symbolic caring that goes on, making adults who either are wise to the deceit or use it themselves to make it in what they see as a faulty system.

Lastly, blame is due everyone standing around allowing it to continue. Blindly turning of the TV and shrugging it off when their favorite network station parades morons around to waste tax dollars and effort better used at solving real problems underneath it all. Networks airing repetitive trite that is often more fear-mongering and political agendas that actual news. Education systems in such a state of decay that games are seen as the choice of fun entertainment by youth when with a little prodding and a better presentation: science, physical activity, math, sports, reading, writing, and other technologies and hobbies are just as enjoyable and beneficial. People not voting but thinking in the end that "the right thing" will be done, or worse yet not caring what is done while all the same complaining about the horrors and inconveniences. Highest on my detested easily however are any designers, marketing hounds or industry people who personally would market to children if they could, be the product an illegal drug, a violent game, a cheap toy, or a cigarette. This scum is no different than politician they are fighting against over censorship and regulation. They are even worse in my opinion.

I, like others am glad there is a healthy range in software being sold, everything from E to AO. I look forward to where technology continually converges, when a game is no longer a mere game and television and movies are somewhat different as well. Education, medicine and science are all benefactors of the technology used in games, further honed by the advancements in the videogame industry. Thank you for all the comments people.

Hasn't Nintendo dropped support for this title ...

"But exposure will take a toll on his life somewhere, probably in interpersonal relationships. These are subtle effects. They take time to surface. A teen isn’t going to notice them."

The potential effects of the Nintendo Wii on a child's brain are horrifying! The scariest thing about it is that there ARE NO SYMPTOMS, OR WARNING SIGNS, OR ANY EVIDENCE THAT IT'S DOING ANYTHING TO YOU AT ALL. That's what's so scary about it.

Kid's are a lot more resilient than people give them credit for. I just don't buy this argument that scary movies can ruin your child forever. That every bloody shootout or fiery helicopter explosion you see on the screen erodes away your humanity.

Violent acts are usally the result of anger or frustration, not playing Mortal Kombat with your friends. Nobody can hurt a child as much as a bad parent can.

Coming from the same mind set that calls pushing a mouse "gun training", really people get over you selfs and look at the history of the "anti pseudoscience mob" ,theater was bad because common folk would not understand it books where doubly bad because of that and giving knowledge to the common man radio was a villain in its day as well as dime store novels,TV,films and comics follow your fing history games are merely the newest scapegoat for societies busybodies to have a "new" hobby with.

A few of you have made mention of reading, or watching a movie and acting it out as a child. Anyone who grew up with Atari has done this. Played war, fought, tried to be like Bruce Lee, TMNT, or Rambo. The fact is we all had parents that taught us the difference between a game and real life. Between a story and fact.

One of you reference how similar a tennis stroke is to a wild knife slash. Well tennis was developed to help train knights. It helps with eye hand coordination and arm strenght. It develops good sword play. Tai Chi is typically used as an exercise in our society but it is actually one of the most powerful Chinese Martial Arts. Violence is innate in our culture. It is our parents and mentors that have to teach us the difference between right and wrong. A discipline in morality is greatly missing because the Hippie generation is too afraid of violence, too afraid of saying what can and cannot be done. Too afraid of being something other then a victim.

It's time for Baby Boomers to realize that they were/are the worst generation.

Analogy time:

How is the Wii's controller on FPS games any different to a steering wheel/pedals on 'street-style' racing games?

Going by what this person is saying, any driving game that can have a steering wheel attached to it should receive a higher rating than those that can't...

Ban steering wheels! they make people dangerous drivers!

You know what people? Censoring and banning are the worst things to happen in this world, it can also cause people to commit murder in order to "silence" the people who don't agree with their views. Just like Hitler did of course.

Really, this is like saying Guitar Hero can teach you how to play guitar, or that light gun games fire a gun, despite the lack of range and windage adjustment.

Ah, the mystery of my swordsmanship has been solved! It turns out Twilight Princess taught me how to use a sword! Next I will learn how to do headshots and roundhouses with RE4.

Problem is, people go by what 'appears' to be the case incredibly often.

Take a 'Mosh-Pit' at Metal concerts. Most of the people dancing in the Mosh-Pit are just out having fun, the 'Pit' is an environment where certain rules apply and others don't. Some people in the pit get carried away and don't even operate within the usual rules, these are 'Griefers' for want of a better word. Now you get the people who are worse than that, they have trouble telling where the boundary of the pit is, and continue their behaviour outside the pit, despite the fact the vast majority of people know where the line is.

Now, you don't get more 'interactive' than dancing, but if someone headbutted you in the face for no reason, do you think the defence could, in any way, claim that 'repeated headbanging movements made in a Anger-filled musical environment' could be used as a defence to that persons' own choice to headbutt you? They could try, but I get the feeling it would be taken a lot less seriously by the Media than someone saying 'I was told to use the controller like a knife, I used it like a knife, and now I know how to use a knife.'.

It's actually an oxymoron, it's like saying that you can learn to bowl using the Wii controller. If that's the case how come so many TV's have ended up damaged because people HAVE tried to use them like the real thing, and ended up regretting it? You can't learn how to Bowl on the Wii, what you can do is learn how to play Bowling on Wii with it.

so,that means that there going to pull zelda of the shelves from stores, and kids are already hacking and slashing with links sword. Metroid your target pratice. wii sports, your really swinging really hard. does anybody see the trend that the nintendo wii is going for. by the way this is a sarcastic comment. :)

This is so upsetting.

All these people ever do is talk about the negative effects. They set up senarios that ARE possible, but they are a very very small percentage of the player base.

Sure, you WILL have someone play a game, flip out and try to imitate it. It happens with movies, with books, with imagination. HOWEVER, the facts are clear that these people were messed up to begin with and that video games, while a factor, did not play a significant role.

Yet, we still see people ignorantly bashing and slashing at video games. The government needs to stop busting our chops. We have to stop this shit. First, its video games, then its going to be movies, and so forth until the government starts making our choices for us.

Manhunt 2 is an adult game. The only way a child would ever be able to get this is if the parent is dumb. The Wii has parental controlls that a parent can place to prevent games like Manhunt 2 from being played. That rules out the child getting the game without the parent knowing. Secondly, any responsible parent would be able to prevent and punish their child for playing such a game.

I hope all parents that are going along with this video game bashing understand that the government is actually claiming your bad parents. Since, you know, they are making the decisions for you.

Big Brother is here to help!

*puts tin foil hat on*

so they couldnt thing that violent games come out on EVERY system!
besides im sure nintendo will draw the line. it would be a VERY BAD move if they put manhunt with a AO rating

"It’s not the dedicated game stores that aren’t carding kids, it’s big chain stores like walmart, and bestbuy that don’t do it all the time…"

That would explain why they don't want AO games then, pft.

A lot of us (gamers/supporters) are missing the point. It's not all about these people not knowing what they are talking about. It's about these people finding things that are offensive to themselves and actively trying to take them away from everyone else. Like many of you said or are implying, "THIS GAME ISN'T FOR KIDS," these people are not concerned about that. These are the people that are quick to point out that a person that plays video games have the potential to hurt/kill innocent people. But they are not thinking about how television (certain programs not necessarily violent) affects people more.
For instance, when I was in school and Columbine occurred everyone was afraid of that happening in their school. Some kids even tried imitating the situation across the country. But how did we all here about Columbine in detail? The news media. In every bit of detail told the story of the kids and how they obtained the guns and practiced shooting (in real-life). But we cannot just blame the media for this can we. It is impossible.
In the end these people cannot blame one influence on a person without blaming another. "Where did we go wrong?" some people ask. I generally like to answer,
"At the beginning when they were first born."

@jakethe8lf

In 4 consecutive places. On the front of the box, on the back of the box, on the disk itself, and when you boot up the game, five if you count in the TV commercials for the game.

@Gil

I've mention the idea of being 'trained on Wii' a few times myself. But I always figured they'd blame a shooter first. Hell. I'm kind of surprised they let Red Steel slide, and nobody's jumped on the Wii version of RE4 with it's new wiimote aiming system.

Again we see the implication that videogames are "kiddy" toys. I doubt these people are even aware that someone under seventeen cannot buy an M rated game without being carded. Sure there are slip ups from time to time, but then again underage teens sneak into R rated movies all the time.

A tennis stroke, is basically the same stroke as a wild slash of a knife. The difference is not much. That's kind of like saying it's okay for a swing of a baseball bat, but then think about hitting someone in the back with an ax. It's still about the same motion.

So basically, most of those researchers (except Finklehor) are saying that violent video games can affect someone in some way.

Well, no s***, Sherlocks. Media in general is SUPPOSED to elicit a response from the viewer. Nobody wants a game, book, or movie that makes you go "meh." But that's still a long way away from proving violent games (or any violent media) will make you predisposed to violence. I'm just glad they all agreed on that (except that fool Micheal Rich).

I understand there's concern with the interaction of a video game murder. Although it wouldn't make someone a killer, it definitely could leave an emotional scar on someone depending the context. To me, that's not that big of a deal considering some of the parents leaving much bigger scars on kids.

Here's the thing that I do not understand, "It's a learning mechanism." Ah, it's only a learning mechanism if a kid has no idea that a gun can kill or a saw can tear bone. I'm 100% certain that no murder went to a training camp as a kid to learn how to kill. Someone can argue military, but how many murders are done by ex-marines, ex-navy, etc? I certainly don't know, but I doubt it's very high.

Everyone was thinking it.

I know I was, at least as the reason why people (nongaming people) seemed more against the Wii version then others.

You know, back when I was a kid, a friend of mine and I both enjoyed reading fantasy books. For a while, around the time of eighth grade, we would go at it with sticks in my back yard having "sword fights". After a while we got some wooden swords instead of random bits of tree.

Both of us have yet to try and chop someone up with a real sword for the fun of it. So I rather doubt that video games are going to have a greater impact than play fighting.

And again, it's still a controller.