I'm writing this post before watching the vid.. the state of my mind is normal (well... as normal as usuall) will see how much that shit will depress me.. :/

If videogames were banned, my theory would be that violence would see a small increase. Many people use games to channel aggression, not encourage it. I use games as stress relief. If I have a bad night at work, I'll put in a game with lots of fighting and feel better.

But these people are like the villagers of Salem. Anything they don't understand is a witch that needs to be burned. It's pathetic that no matter how far we come as a species, most of us still haven't evolved past the dark ages.

ok it really made me feel sad..... freedom of choice?? well how about you keep talking about whatever you want to talk about and let others make/play games... ?

I didn't know about this before I saw the arricle. That said, I care about this as much as I did when I didn't even know it existed. So I'll just be playing games instead of caring how the rest of the world perceives them.

HAHAHA! Good way to shift the blame assholes. As soon as all these stupid old fucks die and replaced by video game players, video games will be treated with respect.

Fuck no. I worshipped Satan years before games were invented.

@jim Sterling

You allways have to screw my day up with your stories :P ??


so sad... sooo sadd.. need a pill, yes!

Seriously, stop!

Honestly, I'm sick of seeing this. Passing the blame is never going to end. It's obviously your fault or the governments fault or gods fault or anyone that isn't me. We all know that violence has been around for centuries before us. Animals are violent and they run on instinct.

Honestly, I'm sick of seeing these headlines, so could we go... like a week without them? Please?

Also, Pong killed my grandmother.

I love how they show clips from Abe from Oddworld. You know how violent that game is...

@The Incredible Edible Egg: No, no, and no again!

We can't sit back and just allow people like Thompson and the videogame opponents to just keep on doing this crap and spouting there ideology of fear and non-acceptance. It's our duty to never forget these things. If we don't, we will be the ones that will be saying in 10-20 years: "Yeah, it's a shame they started to ban those games so long ago, but how were we supposed to know where it would end up?"

Although it gets tiresome, getting tired of it now is like rolling over and letting these kinds of people cash in on our apathy. They expect us to get tired of it. They expect resistance to slowly wither away under the banner of "can we just talk about Galaxy now?". The games industry as an entertainment industry has grown large enough to fall victim of the same kinds of attacks that all media in general have been enduring ever since they existed, and this industry will grow ever larger.

How can we expect to keep enjoying our luxury of playing these kinds of games when one side is always attacking them, and the other side only gives up more and more?

But yes, I'm tired of this crap too... Yet we must keep on fighting the good fight! To the barricades, my brothers!

Oh wait, this wasn't about the media rolling over and selling the war in Iraq back in 2003?

wait a sec.. :P flying sim isn't violent... so you become violent when you play non-violent games.. we all need to buy manhunt 2 ;P

Please note:

While the trailer may be horribly sensationalist, the documentary itself isn't.

What, video games are what caused 9/11 and Columbine(and likely WWII) !?!?! I'm trading in my 360 today, I'll have no part in this...

I would laugh at the melodrama and dismiss this for what it is
Right-Wing-Propaganda but this is getting ridiculous. It wont be long before Jacky and his pals start really campaining and some Big Shit Politician who's running for office will want to tack on some bill to restrict the videogames industry. Or worse invade our privacy by profiling online videogames player that like a particular genre of games too much.



I mean the goverment is already scanning our Phones, What we look at in our search engine and libraries. Seems the net logical state. I know I sound like a nutjob and this is way over the top. But look at that Trailer Brothers and ask yourselves isn't THAT shit over the top and they sound like nutjobs?

Ignorance unattented spreads.

It's just plain trash recycled with the same video games are the devil argument we have heard before nothing more nothing less.

this video ANGERS MEEEEE.

That's the whole point though ActionBastard.

There ARE no SIDES to this. There is only one side, and that side is that videogames have nothing to do with any illegal actions whatsoever.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.
Film doesn't kill people, people kill people.
Video games don't kill people, people kill people.

And what makes people kill people? Bad parents that fail to teach children that murder is wrong. Everything else is premeditation, and therefore the murderer's blame alone.

I know nobody is going to read this, just like nobody has responded to the previous two comments on the topic, but it still is worth pointing out. While the trailer is sensationalist, the movie is, apparently, quite balanced and represents both sides well. The trailer seems to be made to draw in people who are already anti-videogame and then surprise them by actually giving them a balanced documentary.

Henry Jenkins is a far more wordy and informed man on the topic than I am so I'll just link to his two posts about the movie. http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/11/moral_kombat.html and http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/11/why_you_should_see_spencer_hal.html

I'm too disgusted to come up with any comment of substance. I too threw up in Chad Concelmo's mouth.

@Dryvby
lol. wut? What FBI "discovery" are you talking about? Don't tell me you believe that Loose Change nonsense, because I think it's quite obvious at this point that no aspect of the U.S. government can be that hyper-competent.

@Electrolemon
Fuck Joe Lieberman btw

"We are what we pretend to be"

AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAH, honestly the dumbest thing ive ever heard!

Action Bastard: It's a shame that the trailer was cut this way in that case, because the tone it takes is going to repel more viewers than it will draw in. The only exposure most people are going to get to this film is that trailer, and they instantly alienated a huge segment of their audience by making it look like a propaganda piece.

Action: I'm definitely going to watch the whole thing and maybe even do a review. But that trailer does nothing but make me think the pro-side is going to be woefully under-represented. The thing looks like an attack, and that trailer literally does nothing but shit on games.

I look forward to seeing is Spencer Halpin can do more than present the easy, biased side.

I gotta agree with Jim here, in that he can only bring us what's out there. This trailer exists to promote the piece, and while it may not be representative of the film's true intentions, it's not Jim's fault that whoever threw it together screwed the pooch in that respect.

Think about the potential damage this trailer could do if shown to people who don't know too much about gaming and don't care to educate themselves. They're going to see the hobby portrayed in a negative light, and like any mindless asshat, won't care to follow up to see if the information they've been given has any real merit.
And even if the film itself treats both sides of the argument fairly, giving them both equal time and attention, those who's impressions of the topic have been colored by this trailer are going to go into the film with a negative mindset, and are less likely to view it objectively than if they had viewed a trailer that didn't sensationalize things so terribly. They're likely to go into it thinking that games are bad, focus on the parts that reinforce the trailer's message, and probably won't bother to pay the other side of the topic all that much attention.

That's not fair, that's plain bullshit, and that's why this trailer is damaging and wrong. Hope that clears it up for you.

Old news is old.