The kid was 12 years old or maybe less. When the teller behind the counter informed the mother that the game is for adults only she froze for a brief moment before agreeing and then proceeding to buy it anyway.

All that information was entered into the Game Stop database just in case someone asks why they sold this game; similar to buying cigarettes.

For me this was unimaginable — why did she still proceed with the purchase? It’s like getting porn DVDs, alcohol or cigarettes for your kids! Any parent out there agree?

Incidentally, I’m not a journalist, I’m just thorough and honest.

I think this is the key thing that far too many non-gamers don’t get: Fantasy and reality are two independent things. In the real world, soldiers don’t regenerate health, they aren’t skilled in dozens of different guns, they don’t reload after every third shot. In the real world war is brutal, hellish and well… not fun. In fantasy war is awesome. War is made of win and nothing is greater than a good battle with EXTRA violence. (Okay, maybe not extra, but you get the point: violence sells). But the thing is… we all know that it’s fake. Honestly, how is it realistic for there to be something like 500 “militia” armed with SMGs, Shotguns and Rifles in the slums of Rio, Brazil? How is it possible for Russia to invade the EAST COAST just as British and America forces attack the Russian West Coast with commandos? It. Doesn’t. Happen. But it’s darn cool. I mean, let’s face it, fighting through the White House and flying a helicopter around the DC is darn cool. Seeing the Washington Monument in flames and the White House reduced to Ashes is neat, in a sort of depressing way.

Another thing that I find funny, is how much people criticize games like Modern Warfare II, GTA: San Andreas (Hot Coffee, people?), but then games like Dragon Age: Origins and Fallout 3 haven’t really received much (well-known) criticism. Dragon Age: Origins is violent, grim, gritty and well… very Mature. Fallout 3 is the same, if not worse: Sex, Language, Drug Use, and humans exploding into gore. So, why exactly do these games not receive critism? Because they’re not “real”? Come on, Russia invading the East Coast is hardly “real.” SAS forces running amok in Rio being chased by “200 militia” and killing DOZENS of said militia hardly strikes me as an everyday, run-of-the-mill SAS operation. Modern Warfare II is a fantasy game. Now, if this was Iraq or Afghanistan, and they did their best to really remain realistic, then I wouldn’t mind the criticism, but this game IS NOT realistic. So why the criticism?

And while I’m talking about video games, what is up with singleplayer FPS games these days? CoD 4 has a 10 hour campaign, and it appears Modern Warfare II has a shorter one! I won Crysis in like a week (during school!). It appears that the traditional linear FPS game is just… dead in singleplayer. Actually, this appears to be a cause of a very deadly disease that Video Gaming has recently received: graphics.

See, ten years ago, good graphics were… Half-Life. And I’ll be honest to say that game had BAD graphics compared to modern times. But the truth is, I played that game, and once you start playing, it doesn’t matter! The game is still AMAZING. It has GOOD gameplay and FUN levels, once you start playing, you won’t care that the game really shows its age, graphically.

But then you have games like Prototype, which, despite me having a good computer that meets the minium requirements, doesn’t run very well on my computer. The same can be said with Assassin’s Creed. Now, the really funny thing about this is that both of these games, as far as I can tell, are games that do not appeal to me at all. I’ve never been a fan of the “run around the city” “freeform” games like that. I prefer the more RPG freeform games. But, the point is, these games were huge. People love graphics. They’re obessesed with graphics to what I consider an unhealthy level. I didn’t realize this until someone else told me, but this overreliance on graphical power has detracted from video games on the whole, in my opinion. Actually, I just remembered something I heard a long time ago when the PS3’s graphical power was unveiled. This Japanese guy said, “The PS3 is great. Those graphics are great, but to develop that level of graphical realism will cost lots of money and take lots of time.” He didn’t sound very exicited when he said this and I kinda agree with him. I’d rather have Half-Life Gameplay and Half-Life Graphics instead of Call of Duty 4 Gameplay (fun, but SHORT) and Call of Duty Graphics.

It would seem, sadly, that I am the exception to the rule. I prefer long singleplayer games. RTS, RPG, Long, Linear FPS games (Far Cry 2 was okay, but I prefer CoD4, honestly. CoD4 was cooler). *sigh* such is life.

Most of us have always played games and kept up with the latest technology and games.

This obscure picture of every gamer is fat a nerd and is anti social is nonsense. Media is to blame always looking for a scapegoat.

Any person who is going to kill somebody is not going to be stopped by getting rid of the video games…

Most people that blame video games have never actually played them and are ill informed. This sterotype needs to be wiped clear because it is totally wrong.

I’m currently 18 going on 19 and I would tell any one who asked that I found video games to be an incredible stress reliever. I’ve found that when coming home after a long day at high school where everyone is in their own little cliques, and all the gang activity going on, I feel much better after turning on some Halo, or some other first person shooter and going to town on them with the first weapon I pick up. Granted I realize I’m a little more aggressive verbally, but I would never actually start beating some one up for no reason as most of these studies seem to show.

I’ve found that by actually playing these games I’m less likely to hall off and start punching some one because they annoy me.

And as far as anti-social goes, most of us that are were anti-social long before we ever touched any games. In fact I didn’t even get my first game untill I was about 9 and that was an N64 by then I really didn’t have many friends.

Currently I have plenty of friends, all of them being gamers, and most of which have many other friends. In fact if it hadn’t been for games I would have never met some of my pin pals I talk to over the internet. I talk to a few people over in the UK quit often, I have a friend over in Japan, and one in Germany that I talk to and play games with all the time.

Through most of these internet video games I’ve even learned a bit about their society and how they live. I knew that cultures were different, but until I actually started talking to them I never really knew what life was like outside the US.

A lot of people think I’m American, but I’m not. Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bred…

In “The Times” newspaper there was an article on a recent study that showed that children who did not play video games were very often socially stunted and even bullied.

As for violence in video games, it is true that violent kids often play violent video games. This is because violent kids are attracted to violent video games. The kids are violent in the first place because they have bad parents.