As GamePolitics alerted you to late Tuesday, yesterday’s Fox & Friends morning show aired a segment covering Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The short segment was introduced by host Steve Doocy, who began, “A popular new videogame actually allows you (points at camera) to be a terrorist and kill people.” He asked, “Is this fantasy game just a little too real and is it appropriate?” before kicking off a “fair and balanced” debate on the subject with Jim Steyer of Common Sense Media and John Christensen from SlashGamer.com.

Steyer was concerned about the age of the person playing the game, while a flummoxed Christensen attempted to explain the context of the scene in question.

Doocy followed up with the question, “Is it ever appropriate to simulate killing people?”

Steyer replied, “We live in a world of free speech so you can create these games. The issue for violent videogames is there’s no question that there is a correlation between videogame violence and screen violence and aggression in real life. The American Academy of Pediatrics just came out with a statement about that. The violence is the issue… you need to use common sense in terms of using games like this.”

GP: Of course, other researchers have refuted a suggested link between violent games and aggression. Overall, a less than engaging debate. What do you think?

Thanks KayleL

Funny stuff, but what else would you expect.

Looks like Infinity Ward provided some assistance as well.

Last December GamePolitics reported on Pamoja Mtaani, a PC game developed through a partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive, North Carolina-based Virtual Heroes (creators of America's Army) and The Partnership For an HIV-free Generation.

The game's title translates to "Together in the Hood," and Pamoja Mtaani aims to help players learn skills to negotiate difficult issues such as crime and HIV in some of East Africa's most impoverished areas.

GP reader Wai Yen Tang dropped us a line to say that a video report on the game and how it is being used is now available on YouTube.

Outspoken God of War designer David Jaffe posted a video rant against used game sales on Saturday, but apparently removed it from YouTube the following day.

We caught up to Jaffe's video yesterday morning while scanning our daily RSS intake (left). By late afternoon when we checked back to gather some quotes for this article, it was gone. In its place was a YouTube message reading, "This video has been removed by the user."

A short time later, when we looked again, we couldn't even access his blog. A system message from Blogger read: "This blog is open to invited readers only."

It's unclear why Jaffe's video was taken offline or why he locked his blog. While Jaffe's video argument against used game sales was punctuated by occasional f-bombs, that's not unusual for his freewheeling commentaries. Prior to being locked, readers of Jaffe's blog were engaged in a lively response to his video, both pro and con.

The used game issue is a passionate one indeed, and Jaffe has addressed it previously on his blog. For his part, Jaffe takes the standard industry line that games are bad for developers and publishers. In the deleted video, he said (we're paraphrasing from memory here) that he didn't begrudge consumers the right to buy used games, but that game creators deserved a cut of used game sales. He said that some have defended used game sales by comparing buying a used game to buying a used car. However, Jaffe said that was a bad analogy because while playing a used game is the same experience as playing a new game, driving a used car is a different experience from driving a new one.

GP: Hmmm... We tried to reach Jaffe via Twitter to ask him about the missing video, but it appears that his Twitter account is no longer active. We hope that Jaffe has not decided to stop interacting with gamers. While we don't always agree with his rants, they are provocative and entertaining.

Anti-piracy marketing campaigns are sometimes creepy (such as this video which suggests that your mom will be manhandled by the police if you engage in file sharing).

But the Business Software Alliance, which primarily watches out for abuse of productivity-ware, has come up with an antipiracy ad that is actually fun to watch. The parody of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" series features a would-be pirate humorously caught in a sting. BSA exec Peter Beruk commented on the video:

It uses comedy to convey what is a serious message. It’s experimental.

Via: Wired's Threat Level

Part 2 of Video Games are Dead, Scott Steinberg's short documentary look into the future of the game biz, has dropped.

While it's unclear why this needed to be a two-parter, there were a couple of good lines:

We have too many people who have a love of money in our industry. We need more people who have a love of art, who have a love for the act of creating games.  -Chris Taylor, Gas-Powered Games

 

Game publishers and the retailers, they should come to some kind of agreement about how to make [used game sales] happen so it doesn't really hurt the developers. But at the same time consumers have their own rights and to pull games out of the reach of many consumers is actually not a good idea. -Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat

Catch Part 1 here...

Earlier this month GamePolitics reported on a study which suggested that excessive video game and T.V. time may be contributing to reduced vitamin D levels in children.

Funny man Stephen Colbert, however, may have the answer. In the clip at left, Colbert recommends using the "VaxBox 360" to play Tan Theft Auto, thus soaking in gobs of vitamin D-producing UV rays.

Okay, so it's funnier when Colbert says it...

If you want to skip ahead to the game-related bits, they begin at about 3:45 into the clip.

Via: Kotaku

The video game industry experienced a near-fatal meltdown in the 1980s. In today's uncertain economic climate, could it happen again?

Tech journalist Scott Steinberg examines the issue in part 1 of Video Games Are Dead.

The video is also available on Facebook, where it has generated a lively discussion.

Steinberg interviews a number of game industry and media types in search of an answer:

• Michael Capps, Epic Games
• Michael Pachter, Wedbush-Morgan
• Jesse Divnich, EEDAR
• Chris Kohler, Wired
• Hal Halpin, ECA
• Derrik Lang, Associated Press
• Mike Snider, USA Today
• Jason Della Rocca, Perimeter Partners
• Peter Wanat, game producer
• Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games
• Lorne Lanning, Oddworld
• Cliffy B
• Raph Koster
• Greg Zeschuk / Ray Muzyka, BioWare
• Nick Torchia, Warner Bros.
• Cevat Yerli, Crytek

When we last heard from Joseph DeLappe, the artist/professor was was participating in online matches of the Defense Department's own America's Army game as a means of protesting the war in Iraq.

Now DeLappe and machinima artist J. Joshua Diltz have collaborated on 6 Days in Call of Duty 4. The anti-war video project combines a static view of CoD4 multiplayer action with a mobile cam. The kill count scrolls in a separate window. Diltz describes the project, which incorporates the recent Six Days in Fallujah controversy in its title:

"6 Days" is an experimental documentary that examines the consequences of a military conflict that rages over a period of six consecutive days in a virtual game world.  Through the lens of both a static and roaming ground camera, the movie captures both  visceral action and a sobering body count.

Based in the game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", the film pays homage to the lives, both military and civilian lost during the Second War of Fallujah.

Download a copy here...

Partially via: Kotaku

President Barack Obama's admonition to parents to "put away the Xbox" has drawn a response from Microsoft.

Obama made the remarks on Thursday evening during a speech he delivered at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. Here's what the President said:

To parents, we can’t tell our kids to do well in school and fail to support them when they get home. For our kids to excel, we must accept our own responsibilities. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour. It means attending those parent-teacher conferences, reading to our kids, and helping them with their homework...

...and here is Microsoft's response, as reported by the Associated Press:

We agree with President Obama that it’s a time for families to work together so that kids use media in ways that are safe, healthy and balanced. Xbox 360 is the only console gaming system that has a timer feature allowing parents to set time limits for their kids, as well as parent controls to enable parents to set limits on what their kids are playing and watching.

In addition to his debate with Mark Methenitis at the recent SGC09, disbarred attorney Jack Thompson engaged in an open forum Q&A session with attendees.

Thompson, who was paid $2,000 to appear, was on his good behavior for the event. That said, the questions from the audience were largely softballs.

The video offered by SGC09 is an edited version of the session.

The video game violence episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit! which originally aired last week is currently posted on YouTube in three parts.

Given the title of the series, need I say that the videos may be NSFW?

UPDATE: The videos have been removed from YouTube.

FPS fans will appreciate this one...

Via: boingboing

The top dog at U.K developer A-steroids, creator of Underworld: Sweet Deal for the iPhone, is worried that his company's game is going to be rejected by Apple over its drug-dealing theme.

As readers may recall, this is a bit of an ongoing saga. GamePolitics reported in December, 2008 that A-steroids had renamed the game, originally called DrugLords, in an effort to avoid an App Store ban. A few days later, an Englishwoman who lost her daughter to heroin abuse called upon Apple to ban the game, whatever its title.

Apparently the issue is still up in the air, based on an e-mail GamePolitics received today from Andrey Podoprigora, Head of Studio for A-steroids:

We have recently released our first game on the AppStore - Underworld: SweetDeal. The game was previously known as DrugLords, location-based MMO about dirty trade...

This week, we have submitted the game in it's original drug-trade setting to the AppStore. We were hoping that after the iPhone 3.0 came out with it's parental controls improved, there is a chance for the game to finally come through.

Now, we have got an update from Apple, saying they require "unexpected additional time for review". Which is sort of bad because we are already familiar with responses like that - in December, 2008 this led to months of silence and then ended up as a reject. Would be sad if it means nothing changes in Apple's app reviewing policy.

Over at Law of the Game, gamer/attorney Mark Methenitis writes about his recent debate with Jack Thompson at SGC09.

Mark also notes that video of the debate will be available at the ScrewAttack site next week. Along that line, ScrewAttack Program Director Craig Skistimas told GamePolitics earlier this week that video of Thompson's open forum Q&A session will be available as well. Here's what Mark had to say about the debate:

For those who didn't make it out to SGC, the event was outstanding, and the entire ScrewAttack crew deserves any and all praises you may have seen on their forums about the event. I also really appreciate Jack for making the trip out to the convention and participating in the debate.

In the meantime, Mark points to a clip of the debate's final seven minutes as well as some on-camera, post-debate comments he made to Late Night JengaJam.

We have read some reports of late that German officials have banned the public display of Counter-Strike, forcing the cancellation of gaming competitions.

While information to that effect is sketchy so far, such a ban would be consistent with our May report on the forced cancellation of a LAN event in Stuttgart which featured Counter-Strike and Warcraft III competitions.

German gamers aren't taking these repressive measures lying down, however. An estimated 400 gamers assembled for a June protest march in Karlsruhe. German gamer Matthias Dittmayer e-mailed GamePolitics to let us know that more gamer demonstrations are planned for later this month:

Because of this [censorship] there was the (as far as I know) first demonstration of gamers in Germany with up to 400 gamers. The next 3 demonstration in Cologne, Karlsruhe and Berlin are announced for  the 25th of July.

If you illegally download software or music, your mom will be wrestled to the ground and arrested by a SWAT team - for cooking pasta.

That's just one of the apparent messages in a modern-day update of 1992's Don't Copy That Floppy.

The Software & Information Industry Association, which created the video, explains (sort of) in its YouTube description of the video:

Check out the trailer...anti-piracy hero MC Double Def DP will return in the summer of 2009 to drop some more knowledge on would-be pirates in the sequel to 1992's "Don't Copy That Floppy! Brought to you by SIIA (formerly SPA)

Via: ZeroPaid

Just in time for the July 4th celebration, Crispy Gamer has posted a terrific compilation of fireworks scenes from video games.

Check out the video here.

So you'd like to put on a July 4th fireworks show for your crew but lack the...

1. money
2. permits
3. pyrotechnic expertise
4. all of the above

No problem. As Oh Gizmo reports:

Sega’s got a new projector coming out... it will project a pre-programmed fireworks show on the ceiling or walls of your home, and that you’ll be able to design your own show from a library of 55 different virtual pyrotechnic displays. It will be powered by 3xAAA batteries so the projector is most definitely portable, and it will retail for about $160.

Unfortunately, the device won't launch until August, so this idea will have to wait for your Independence Day, 2010 bash.

Via: Gizmodo

Give the creator of this YouTube vid an A for effort as he stretches to pull in patriotic elements to what amounts to video reviews of a pair of NES titles:

• Xenophobe

• Golgo 13