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The scene is a crowded shopping mall. A girl in a mini skirt runs up to a passer-by and delivers a punch so ferocious the passer by is decapitated. Blood fountains from the neck of the falling corpse, as the head hit the path the girl picks it up and uses it to bludgeon another onlooker.
If you thought this was a scene from the latest horror film then you would be wrong, this is indeed a scenario experienced during the play of State Of Emergency. Once again public concern over increasingly violent and anti-social games was revisited after the release of the new controversial Hooligans: Storm over Europe hit the shelves under a storm of protest from football association chiefs.
With missions involving storming onto the pitch, fighting in gang wars, looting shops and attacking police it is no wonder it is causing such an outcry. It portrays Nazism and just about everything else society condemns. But is this game any worse than what we are already treated to?
The fact is that most parents are unaware of the kind of games their children are playing, even though they will be the ones used to get the game due to its 18 certificate. They are a far cry from our gaming roots, with the colourful and cheery environments of Sonic and Mario being replaced by grey amoral worlds featuring urban terror and weapons replacing the old flying cap and spin attack with the pistol, flame thrower and rocket launcher.
Indeed this world where you must loot, kill and maim is now the No 1 entertainment among our popular society, and indeed even I are tempted back to my PS to have a quick blast on GTA. However this world where the anti-hero is now the protagonist is not perhaps the best of situations, as victims fall to the ground with severed limbs, and innocents plead for mercy a chillingly realistic soundtrack adds to the inhumanity.
Perhaps the most chilling tale is that this really happens on our street, the new generation is the most violent ever and research showed that from a sample of 204 children a considerable majority found they had become more aggressive after playing such games. Further research by Nottingham University found children as young as 4 who were allowed to play these games showed a dramatically high level of aggression.
As such American experts believe that videogames are more dangerous than films, which are simply viewed. But what sort of material is having this effect on our younger games players, and even some teenagers (like those ones you see in the shopping centre wearing baseball caps on their head at a 60 degree angle).
The critically acclaimed grand theft auto 3 has received both praise and infamy from its reviewers, boasting ultra realistic visuals and as much violence as you care to unleash. The game unwittingly goads you into curbing normal moral standards and shooting a punk in the street (a) To see what happens and (b) because you can without being prosecuted. It is genius.
In Max Payne we are presented with the pretence of conventional morality. The protagonist being a New York cop seeking revenge on the junkies who killed his wife and child. However displayed in one shot of its celebrated visuals we see a close up of a golden bullet slowly and majestically tracing a path through the air like an instrument of beauty before finally making impact in the tender flesh of its target.
Our children are being reared on the savage fare that is our anything goes society. We appear appalled and bewildered that street crime seems to be spiralling out of control, and become scared that we will be the next victims. War is in our nature, we do not need to showcase or glamorise it.
Thanks for reading. CM
Peace out.
If you thought this was a scene from the latest horror film then you would be wrong, this is indeed a scenario experienced during the play of State Of Emergency. Once again public concern over increasingly violent and anti-social games was revisited after the release of the new controversial Hooligans: Storm over Europe hit the shelves under a storm of protest from football association chiefs.
With missions involving storming onto the pitch, fighting in gang wars, looting shops and attacking police it is no wonder it is causing such an outcry. It portrays Nazism and just about everything else society condemns. But is this game any worse than what we are already treated to?
The fact is that most parents are unaware of the kind of games their children are playing, even though they will be the ones used to get the game due to its 18 certificate. They are a far cry from our gaming roots, with the colourful and cheery environments of Sonic and Mario being replaced by grey amoral worlds featuring urban terror and weapons replacing the old flying cap and spin attack with the pistol, flame thrower and rocket launcher.
Indeed this world where you must loot, kill and maim is now the No 1 entertainment among our popular society, and indeed even I are tempted back to my PS to have a quick blast on GTA. However this world where the anti-hero is now the protagonist is not perhaps the best of situations, as victims fall to the ground with severed limbs, and innocents plead for mercy a chillingly realistic soundtrack adds to the inhumanity.
Perhaps the most chilling tale is that this really happens on our street, the new generation is the most violent ever and research showed that from a sample of 204 children a considerable majority found they had become more aggressive after playing such games. Further research by Nottingham University found children as young as 4 who were allowed to play these games showed a dramatically high level of aggression.
As such American experts believe that videogames are more dangerous than films, which are simply viewed. But what sort of material is having this effect on our younger games players, and even some teenagers (like those ones you see in the shopping centre wearing baseball caps on their head at a 60 degree angle).
The critically acclaimed grand theft auto 3 has received both praise and infamy from its reviewers, boasting ultra realistic visuals and as much violence as you care to unleash. The game unwittingly goads you into curbing normal moral standards and shooting a punk in the street (a) To see what happens and (b) because you can without being prosecuted. It is genius.
In Max Payne we are presented with the pretence of conventional morality. The protagonist being a New York cop seeking revenge on the junkies who killed his wife and child. However displayed in one shot of its celebrated visuals we see a close up of a golden bullet slowly and majestically tracing a path through the air like an instrument of beauty before finally making impact in the tender flesh of its target.
Our children are being reared on the savage fare that is our anything goes society. We appear appalled and bewildered that street crime seems to be spiralling out of control, and become scared that we will be the next victims. War is in our nature, we do not need to showcase or glamorise it.
Thanks for reading. CM
Peace out.
I actually think that games like GTA3 and State of Emergency are much more "childish" than games like Mario or Sonic.
Beating people over the head with limbs and blowing bystanders up with grenades is fun for about five minutes then it becomes really juvenile in my opinion.
I want to play "proper" games with interesting gameplay that is varied, unique and magical.
For me, mindless killing just becomes pathetic after a while.
ICO came out on the PS2 yesterday - now this is wonderful game. Simple, enchanting and brilliantly playable.
I hope this modern trend of ultra-violent games doesn't mean that games like ICO become more and more of rareity.
That would be very sad indeed.
Beating people over the head with limbs and blowing bystanders up with grenades is fun for about five minutes then it becomes really juvenile in my opinion.
I want to play "proper" games with interesting gameplay that is varied, unique and magical.
For me, mindless killing just becomes pathetic after a while.
ICO came out on the PS2 yesterday - now this is wonderful game. Simple, enchanting and brilliantly playable.
I hope this modern trend of ultra-violent games doesn't mean that games like ICO become more and more of rareity.
That would be very sad indeed.
The scene is a crowded shopping mall. A girl in a mini skirt runs up to a passer-by and delivers a punch so ferocious the passer by is decapitated. Blood fountains from the neck of the falling corpse, as the head hit the path the girl picks it up and uses it to bludgeon another onlooker.
If you thought this was a scene from the latest horror film then you would be wrong, this is indeed a scenario experienced during the play of State Of Emergency. Once again public concern over increasingly violent and anti-social games was revisited after the release of the new controversial Hooligans: Storm over Europe hit the shelves under a storm of protest from football association chiefs.
With missions involving storming onto the pitch, fighting in gang wars, looting shops and attacking police it is no wonder it is causing such an outcry. It portrays Nazism and just about everything else society condemns. But is this game any worse than what we are already treated to?
The fact is that most parents are unaware of the kind of games their children are playing, even though they will be the ones used to get the game due to its 18 certificate. They are a far cry from our gaming roots, with the colourful and cheery environments of Sonic and Mario being replaced by grey amoral worlds featuring urban terror and weapons replacing the old flying cap and spin attack with the pistol, flame thrower and rocket launcher.
Indeed this world where you must loot, kill and maim is now the No 1 entertainment among our popular society, and indeed even I are tempted back to my PS to have a quick blast on GTA. However this world where the anti-hero is now the protagonist is not perhaps the best of situations, as victims fall to the ground with severed limbs, and innocents plead for mercy a chillingly realistic soundtrack adds to the inhumanity.
Perhaps the most chilling tale is that this really happens on our street, the new generation is the most violent ever and research showed that from a sample of 204 children a considerable majority found they had become more aggressive after playing such games. Further research by Nottingham University found children as young as 4 who were allowed to play these games showed a dramatically high level of aggression.
As such American experts believe that videogames are more dangerous than films, which are simply viewed. But what sort of material is having this effect on our younger games players, and even some teenagers (like those ones you see in the shopping centre wearing baseball caps on their head at a 60 degree angle).
The critically acclaimed grand theft auto 3 has received both praise and infamy from its reviewers, boasting ultra realistic visuals and as much violence as you care to unleash. The game unwittingly goads you into curbing normal moral standards and shooting a punk in the street (a) To see what happens and (b) because you can without being prosecuted. It is genius.
In Max Payne we are presented with the pretence of conventional morality. The protagonist being a New York cop seeking revenge on the junkies who killed his wife and child. However displayed in one shot of its celebrated visuals we see a close up of a golden bullet slowly and majestically tracing a path through the air like an instrument of beauty before finally making impact in the tender flesh of its target.
Our children are being reared on the savage fare that is our anything goes society. We appear appalled and bewildered that street crime seems to be spiralling out of control, and become scared that we will be the next victims. War is in our nature, we do not need to showcase or glamorise it.
Thanks for reading. CM
Peace out.
If you thought this was a scene from the latest horror film then you would be wrong, this is indeed a scenario experienced during the play of State Of Emergency. Once again public concern over increasingly violent and anti-social games was revisited after the release of the new controversial Hooligans: Storm over Europe hit the shelves under a storm of protest from football association chiefs.
With missions involving storming onto the pitch, fighting in gang wars, looting shops and attacking police it is no wonder it is causing such an outcry. It portrays Nazism and just about everything else society condemns. But is this game any worse than what we are already treated to?
The fact is that most parents are unaware of the kind of games their children are playing, even though they will be the ones used to get the game due to its 18 certificate. They are a far cry from our gaming roots, with the colourful and cheery environments of Sonic and Mario being replaced by grey amoral worlds featuring urban terror and weapons replacing the old flying cap and spin attack with the pistol, flame thrower and rocket launcher.
Indeed this world where you must loot, kill and maim is now the No 1 entertainment among our popular society, and indeed even I are tempted back to my PS to have a quick blast on GTA. However this world where the anti-hero is now the protagonist is not perhaps the best of situations, as victims fall to the ground with severed limbs, and innocents plead for mercy a chillingly realistic soundtrack adds to the inhumanity.
Perhaps the most chilling tale is that this really happens on our street, the new generation is the most violent ever and research showed that from a sample of 204 children a considerable majority found they had become more aggressive after playing such games. Further research by Nottingham University found children as young as 4 who were allowed to play these games showed a dramatically high level of aggression.
As such American experts believe that videogames are more dangerous than films, which are simply viewed. But what sort of material is having this effect on our younger games players, and even some teenagers (like those ones you see in the shopping centre wearing baseball caps on their head at a 60 degree angle).
The critically acclaimed grand theft auto 3 has received both praise and infamy from its reviewers, boasting ultra realistic visuals and as much violence as you care to unleash. The game unwittingly goads you into curbing normal moral standards and shooting a punk in the street (a) To see what happens and (b) because you can without being prosecuted. It is genius.
In Max Payne we are presented with the pretence of conventional morality. The protagonist being a New York cop seeking revenge on the junkies who killed his wife and child. However displayed in one shot of its celebrated visuals we see a close up of a golden bullet slowly and majestically tracing a path through the air like an instrument of beauty before finally making impact in the tender flesh of its target.
Our children are being reared on the savage fare that is our anything goes society. We appear appalled and bewildered that street crime seems to be spiralling out of control, and become scared that we will be the next victims. War is in our nature, we do not need to showcase or glamorise it.
Thanks for reading. CM
Peace out.