'Tis The Season For Outdated Warning Lists
There are a number of traditions which have become staples of the Holiday Season, things which essentially mark the official start of Yuletide fun. Salvation Army Santa Clauses. Black Friday. Carolers in Victorian outfits singing in malls. Mothers brawling in the aisles over toys. You get the idea.
Here in the gaming industry, this time of year means two things: a slew of great games released in November (which begs the question: do we obliterate our bank accounts by spoiling ourselves or our friends?) and idiotic warnings from politicians and advocacy groups about violent video games. The warnings tend to come out in a list form, designed to warn parents about games that they shouldn't buy for little kiddies based on mature content. While it's a noble sentiment to get parents more involved with what their kids are playing, one has to object to the piss-poor research that actually goes into these things.
This year proves to be no exception, as Detroit's Top Prosecutor, Kim Worthy, has released her third annual list of the top ten violent games for parents not to buy. The list, while not as hysterically out of touch as some previous ones, is still worthy of nothing but contempt:
1. Grand Theft Auto
2. Manhunt
3. Scarface
4. 50 Cent Bulletproof
5. 300 The Videogame
6. The Godfather
7. Killer-7
8. Resident Evil 4
9. God of War
10. Hitman Blood Money
While I wouldn't want young kids playing any of these games, only two of them were actually released this year(300 and The Godfather's PS3 build). Not only that, but some of these games were pretty weak, so nobody bought them when they first came out, let alone up to two years later. Seriously, I don't know anyone who actually bought the 300, Bulletproof, or Scarface because the initial reviews kept us all away from them.
This kind of laziness is offensive, not only to gamers, but to parents as well: if a politician wants to claim that they're working to protect one's children, shouldn't they at least make the effort to ensure that their information is up-to-date? To use an extreme example, if a list of pedophiles in my city was released, I'd want the list to be as current as possible as opposed to two years out-of-date.
If Worthy wants to claim that none of the games on her list were big holiday sellers, she can, but it won't be because of her efforts. It'll be because people already own most of them.
Prosecutor warns parents of Top 10 violent video games [The Detroit News]
[via GamePolitics]
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Miscellany on 4 December 2007
· Comments (8)
Other stuff like this: 300, alarmist, bulletproof, detroit, gta, hitman, killer 7, kim worthy, manhunt, prosecutor, resident evil 4, scarface, the godfather, violent video games
i bought 300 for my PS3...
granted, it was the movie and not the game, but does that still count as buying for your console?
;)
Manhunt wasn't released this year?
I bought Scarface... =(
I bought Scarface, and I enjoy it, but yes, your typical anti-violent game BS.
@Lydecker: Manhunt 2 was released this year. As was God of War II. But, she doesn't name those sequels and names Hitman: Blood Money, so it's probably safe to assume that whoever put this list together only knew about Manhunt and GoW by general name.
No Silent Hill? :O
Hooray for Killer7 being mentioned by someone!
I really don't see what makes this list so laughable. Specific names were left off of sequel titles presumably because they wanted to warn against the entire series. And I see no claim made that these games are very popular, only that they are very violent. Some of the statements made in the linked article are absurd, but the list itself seems normal. It's like you just want to find everything wrong with anything "anti-game".