Sigh.
Following Thailand’s ridiculous anti-videogame uproar following the murder of a taxi driver, it seems that the Thai Ministry of Culture has decided to ban five of the ten titles on its plagiarized list of “dangerous” videogames. The following games are now illegal sales in Thailand:
- Hitman
- 300
- Killer 7
- Hitman: Blood Money
- Fifty Cent: Bullet Proof
300? Are you f*cking kidding me? Is the MOVIE it’s based on banned as well? This is some of the most utterly ridiculous crap I’ve ever heard in the field of anti-gaming, and I’ve spoken on the phone with Jack Thompson. Very depressing, and absolutely ludicrous when you realize that all the games on that list have been out for YEARS with no crime in Thailand linked to any of them. If they were so dangerous, why have they caused NO problems before now?
What needs to happen now is for the games industry to sever all ties with the country. While that would suck even more for Thai gamers in the short term, I think this government needs to learn what happens to its economy when the games industry does to it, that which it has just done to the industry. Seriously, screw Thailand’s attitude here. If I lived there, I’d be deeply ashamed.
