Top 10 Worst Violent Video Games
 

Yet another attempt at blaming video games instead of bad parenting. What I don't understand is how Postal 2 didn't make it higher than Half-Life 2. What the heck is Half-Life 2 doing on that list, anyway?

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2004/11/23-65

And in case that link didn't work.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/tech...94/detail.html

Shadow Heart?

I assume they mean Shadow Hearts. By this, I also assume they mean Shadow Hearts: Covenant.

Sheesh...if you are going to put a game on your kill list...at least put the right title on there.

It's in alphabetical order, so we don't know which one is where, Just that they are the top ten.

How can they put a game that hasn't even been released yet on the list?
And what the hell is Gunslinger Girls 2?
How could they not have found more games more violent than Halo 2?

I think Gunslinger Girls 2 is a game only available in Japan.

PvP said it best:
Apparently, kids go into the future and/or to Japan to buy games, and this is a huge epidemic.

That would be Penny Arcade.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20041201l.jpg

You know that list is just going to make a bunch of people go out and get Gunslinger Girls 2.

Hey Kids! Today, we're going to learn how to make an angry ban list of videogames that none of us have ever played! Yay!

First, find the most violent and obvious titles that you can. Manhunt and Postal are good examples of this, and so is Hitman: Bloodmoney. It's not even out yet, but you can bet from the title its going to place the welcome mat down for satan in our children's souls!

Next, find the most obscure but incredibly violent and mature-themed videogame you can. If you're having a hard time, don't forget that you aren't limited to this hemisphere. Japan has some of the most depraved games ever created, so when in doubt, look for something rated H! (I'm just guessing this about "Gunslinger Girls" so forgive me if I'm completely off).

Now, our ban list needs a kicker, a game that everyone is playing. This game doesn't need to be very violent, in fact it can be quite tame in comparison with all the other games on the list and even off the list. All that you need to make sure is that the game contains a gun and that everyone owns it. Halo 2 is a perfect addition for this, but don't forget Mario Sunshine! He could put an eye out with that water-sprayer thing!

Now, just mix all these things together along with the ignorant notion that only children play video games and with parents who don't take responsibility for not being involved in their childrens lives, and you've got a delicious decadent moral group! Hooray!

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Allright, I'm fine with the rating system. It works. Why do we need anything else, it's pretty obvious that most of these games aren't meant for kids. I don't think they should be advertised to kids, but I'm pretty sure they aren't. I've yet to see an ad for GTA: San Andreas during Power Puff Girls reruns, but correct me if I'm wrong.

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This comes off as a kind of angry pointly post, so I'll try not to be so stupid and to clarify my position here. I don't think violent games should be directly marketed to children. I don't want to see ads for Gunslinger Girls in the middle of spongebob. Still, I think the current rating system, paired with a little bit of research with the parents, is good enough. Sure, you can't stop children from going off on their own and buying a game, but you can punish them for it, and it's kind of hard for them to get to the store without a car or other form of transportation.

The average gamer these days is 27. The audience has matured, and this is no longer a "toy" market, its an entertainment market. I say parents should look into videogames in the same way they look into movies and even books.

So I'm not saying that the parents have sole responsibility, nor am I saying that the corporations have sole responsibility. The companies have the responsibility not to market games to children who shouldn't have them, and parents have the responsibility to look into what their children are doing and make sure its fine with them. I know a mother who lets her child play GTA: vice city. She watches him play and sees what he's doing (this is a really young kid). But she really doesn't mind. She just makes sure that her child knows that this is all fantasy and not reality.

If you think about it, the whole book banning argument is the same as the video game arguement.

Well, actually, you should read the article that goes with the list. You'll find nobody is pushing for these games being banned. I actually agree with a lot of stuff in there. The article is addressed to parents and grandparents who are buying games for children. They want better signage about the ESRB rating system (it should be noted that they didn't actually say ESRB, probably because they haven't looked into it) and they want 'M' games to be placed away from other games and they want clerks to refuse to sell 'M' games to children. I agree with all this stuff. Kids shouldn't be playing these games. You might say, "But the signage for the rating system is fine already! Why separate the games when they're clearly rated on the package? Etc!", and you raise a good point. But we have to face the fact that a lot of people are dumb, ignorant, or both. If they weren't, we wouldn't have notices telling us not to stick electric drills up our nose or not to fold up a baby carriage with the baby still in it (I'm serious here!). If we don't want kids with dumb/ignorant parents/grandparents to fall through the cracks, we have to make it painfully obvious that 'M' means 'don't buy this for you 10-year-old'. SO painfully obvious that 'M' games probably should be on a higher shelf and clerks should refuse to sell them to kids.

Regarding the clerks, there's been an issue about that bugging me lately. You always hear them say that when they refuse to sell a game to a kid, the kid's mom/dad comes and lays into them, so they don't refuse games to kids. This is ridiculous. WHO CARES if the parents are angry. Selling 'M' rated games should be treated the same as selling tobacco. If you're too young, no tobacco/game for you and screw anyone who doesn't like it. If parents WANT their kids playing an M game, THEY can buy it themselves and take responsibility.

There's a couple things I don't like about the article. They say the ESRB system is vague, for example (which it isn't) and one of the people, 'Dr. Martha Burk', thinks the games shouldn't be sold at all (screw that!). The rest I pretty much agree with though.

(and the list IS pretty ridiculous. A game from Japan?? Doom 3?? What is Doom 3 still doing on that list?? But that doesn't affect the point I'm trying to make in my post.)