 |
 Bungie vows never to follow the Activision route and charge extra for online multiplayer
(1) (30/07) 'You should never have to pay for core entertainment, for core enjoyment' |
| Saw II, Castlevania and Def Jam playable at Eurogamer Expo
(2) (28/07) Konami brings out its big guns |
| We Rule updated yet again
(2) (27/07) Reap that shit up |
| Street Fighter X Tekken footage lets Ryu and Chun Li face off against Kazuya and Nina
(3) (27/07) No neurons harmed in the making of this gameplay footage, thankfully |
| The Nintendo Wii can survive bolts of lightning, the wrath of Odin
(0) (27/07) 360 and PS3 not so fortunate, as one gamer discovered after a lightning strike |
| LittleBigPlanet 2 Comic Con gameplay footage looks brilliant
(0) (27/07) It's bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy fun fun fun fun fun! |
| Codemasters shoves new EGO 2.0 engine into "new blockbuster project"
(0) (27/07) "F1 is just the tip of the iceberg" says Codemasters VP Gavin Cheshire |
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glol at a certain tag.
Funkyd - In response to: Bungie vows never to follow the Activision route and charge extra for online mul
- 4h 0m ago.
Still loving this. Perfect antidote for bloated games.
Arcade games FTW! :-)
Ace Grace - In response to: Hydro Thunder Hurricane Review
- 8h 27m ago.
Still need to finish the first Saw. Got stuck on an utter bastard of a puzzle (time limit, it wasn't a mind bender)).
T'was mostly shite, but it almost got a few things right....
repairmanjack - In response to: Saw II, Castlevania and Def Jam playable at Eurogamer Expo
- 1day(s) ago.
Yeah, definitely, thanks. I shall email you tonight. I gave up around six months ago of just not being able to sort it out....
kentmonkey - In response to: Walker - a retrospective
- 1day(s) ago.
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#1 - Anon - on 18/01/2010 at 01:10 wrote:
#2 - SlamBliss - on 18/01/2010 at 02:04 wrote:
#3 - Haroids - on 18/01/2010 at 02:30 wrote:
1. It's the mothers fault.
2. The kid has issues.
3. Video games are really evil and caused the kid to be demon possessed.
I'm pretty sure it isn't CSS's fault. -_-
#4 - NewYork - on 18/01/2010 at 07:59 wrote:
Heads in the sand, gamers.
#5 - HairyArse - on 18/01/2010 at 08:14 wrote:
#6 - peej - on 18/01/2010 at 08:29 wrote:
TBH it would be stupid to claim that Counterstrike wasn't an influence on this guy, but on the flip side - anyone still playing that shit has to be a little deranged in the first place, so it's just the catalyst for flipping the switch in the guy's head.
It's becoming less of an argument that videogames don't have a negative influence, but again you have to balance that out by cherry-picking news stores to find all those with the taint of violent gaming-as-influence about 'em. Like you said, NY, you'll barely ever seen positive videogame-related stories making the news compared to stuff like this
#7 - NewYork - on 18/01/2010 at 08:36 wrote:
Did that UK teen really learn to fly a plane with the help of gaming? Doesn't really matter - gamers were happy to read that news, either way. Why didn't anybody respond to that story with "well, clearly this kid is just a naturally talented flier; I don't see what gaming has to do with this"?
Just for the record, of course I think this kid is mentally deranged and gaming just happens to be part of the story. Gaming often is part of these "lonely teen kills people" stories because guess what lonely teens do with all their spare time. The thing I have a problem with is the double standard among gaming enthusiasts: they won't have a bad word said about gaming, and will do their best to dismiss any link between gaming and negative effects, but they'll happily lap up any mention of gaming and positive effects, even though the link is just as valid in either case.
#8 - peej - on 18/01/2010 at 09:08 wrote:
On the flip side, the press know it generates controversy and presses the right button on the section of society that reaches for the torches and pitchforks every time something's seen as an insidious external influence, particularly on the young.
Can't really see what the solution is though.
#9 - Joe F Ugly - on 18/01/2010 at 13:00 wrote:
Well riddle me this Batman, how many stabs does it take for someone not to have mental health problems? What, did he just go like three stabs too many or something? I'm not one of those "experts", but I'd say that one stab would be enough for me to declare that kid's state of mental decline.
#10 - Mat - on 18/01/2010 at 15:14 wrote:
17 is a lot of damage, and A LOT of anger usually not seen by mentally healthy people.
Gamers defend games, because they're gamers. Its not that hard to figure out.
What most gamers are saying is they along with millions of others have either played violent video games, watched destructive/sexual media, and/or listened to less than wholesome music and they haven't gone on to be be murderers, rapists, drug users/dealers.
If this kid wasn't addicted to video games, he'd be addicted to some other medium and the sensationalist media would tie his actions to his whatever he was addicted to.
#11 - Hey - on 18/01/2010 at 15:42 wrote:
#12 - NewYork - on 18/01/2010 at 16:15 wrote:
Speculative thinking which completely sidesteps the fact that people become addicted to games by virtue of the addictiveness of games. What exactly would the lonely, introverted teen have been addicted to instead?
Maybe he'd have turned to television or books or DVDs, but it would be silly to claim that any of these are as addictive.
Maybe gambling or drugs. These activities tend to be controlled legally. Even if the youngster was able to gamble, that is an activity that requires you to step out of normal life to take part. You don't accidentally become a gambler.
Gaming, for all its addictiveness, is different in that it is readily available, in the home, and from a young age. Parents certainly wouldn't allow their young teens to gamble, yet they happily allow them to play WoW.
Of course he turned to gaming and the internet. To claim that he'd be addicted to something else if these weren't around requires a stretch of the imagination.
#13 - peej - on 18/01/2010 at 16:24 wrote:
In this case though it is indeed a bit of a stretch to imagine an alternative universe where games like Counter Strike did not exist, and another massively popular pasttime, media influence or other contributing factor led to a mental breakdown and eventual homicide.
The problem is, the solution is seen as a blanket ban of violent games or in some extreme cases a blanket ban of gaming in its entirety. There doesn't seem to be much offered as a halfway house for people who genuinely claim an addiction to gaming and want a cure, unless you're talking about expensive therapy / rehabilitation.
What bothers me about the way these stories are reported is that the background is comfortably not filled in, in order to heighten the sensationalist nature of the stories. They could've been arguing for ages, there could've been heightened emotional and angry exchanges on both sides before the guy snapped. But that wouldn't make for a neat game-orientated killing story, that would merely serve to offer padding around the story's central and rather shocking outcome.
#14 - HairyArse - on 18/01/2010 at 17:55 wrote:
#15 - NewYork - on 18/01/2010 at 18:12 wrote:
A lot of people are saying "why blame the game" when it could have been one of many factors, or that they should examine what caused the kid to get addicted to videogames, because that's the real problem.
But this too is a misguided assumption that every negative article about gaming is out to blame games as the root cause. Why can't we look at gaming as a symptom? Why can't we admit it is a common symptom seen in these cases? Of course it is rarely the root cause, but if I know someone who is addicted to gaming I won't just leave them be because gaming addiction alone isn't the root cause of bad things (and I disagree with that).
People should be able to admit that whatever was going on in this kid's life, socially or mentally, his gaming addiction was a major symptom, a big part of it, and a glowing red sign that something is wrong. Gamers seem to want to sweep that under the carpet and act like the gaming part is circumstantial.
#16 - Max - on 18/01/2010 at 18:43 wrote:
#17 - x - on 18/01/2010 at 19:13 wrote:
#18 - Anon - on 18/01/2010 at 19:31 wrote:
#19 - rara - on 20/01/2010 at 09:30 wrote:
#20 - JEEZY - on 20/01/2010 at 23:06 wrote:
Just my 2 cents. I am a gamer, and I defend games, and I think this guy was mentally ill in the first place.
#21 - cs nerd - on 20/01/2010 at 23:44 wrote:
People don't look at it as just a game anymore. They take the game seriously like a sport.
If that's something that he accels at, his parents should have supported him.
So what? he missed 200 days from school. What does that say about the parents?! What kind of parent allows their kid to stay home from school without punishment the first time that happens?
The parents must be clueless about how to raise a child.
#22 - Namebro - on 21/01/2010 at 04:50 wrote:
He's a dirty romanian! Scum of the earth, simple as that.
Those gypsies will stab babies over a can of expired tuna, without thinking twice or even showing it to them lol 10/10 bud.
#23 - GOD - on 21/01/2010 at 06:22 wrote:
#24 - bubba - on 21/01/2010 at 18:44 wrote:
#25 - anon - on 16/03/2010 at 14:52 wrote: