Under Aged Gaming
Gaming has over the past decade and a half become more and more popular. No longer is it seen as a “Geeky” thing but rather a cool thing to be into.
Which is why the Designers, Developers and Publishers (DDP) have continued to move with the times and continue creating games that are becoming more and more realistic.
For the majority of Gamer that plays these games the age rating isn’t such a problem since the majority of Gamer is 18+. This being the fact the DDP have directed most of their games at this audience, leaving the younger generation to more appropriate gaming. Movie tie-ins, racing, sports and some platform games are but a few examples.
So why is it then that the Board that gives out the recommended or official age rating is wanting to ban many of these games that are so good?
The Rockstar Series of Gran Theft Auto is the most obvious one of choice to use as an example of game that has been on the board for being banned many many times. Mainly due to Jack Thompson. An American attourney that if given his own way would have Video Games banned completely it seems.
Games like Hitman Blood Money, Gun, Dead Rising, Resident Evil Series and 2007’s Game of the Year: Gears of War all come with OFFICIAL ratings of 18+ (Adult rated) which should tell the buyer that it is a game ment for ADULTS and NOT Children.
Why is it then that so many parents who buy the games for their children, don’t pay attention to what the game content is?
For example:
GEARS OF WAR:
Came out on what Epic called “Emergance Day” 17th of September, was really good fun on Xbox Live (XBL) until come 25th December when all the kids opened their 360’s and put in Gears of War….
Either this is poor judgement on the parent or that they don’t care what their kid gets up to.
The people that suffer for this incompitance are the true Gamer who works hard for the money to pay for the Games that they want to play, that are directed at their age range.
Manhunt 2 on PlayStation2 (also on Nintendo Wii) is no longer coming out has it has been deemed too violent for people to play. I personally don’t think that it is the real reason. I think its an excuse (a bad one at that) for a game that is clearly aimed at ADULTS to be banned for the fear of kids getting hold of it and copying the Game’s content due to bad parenting.
This doesn’t mean that everyone is a bad parent. They could be the best parent in the world but I think that they should pay more attention to what their children are playing rather than just giving them the game to keep them quiet.
August 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Now give me a Hell Yeah
August 9th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Next year they are gonna try and ban gta4 cos of all the stabbings in london , am i the only one who thinks that in the time spent developing manhunt 2 all those people working not one of them thought “bit violent best check first”