The video games industry has received an enormous amount of criticism for the violent content in a variety of its titles, and a new statement from a California senator has gamers of this and next-generation in a bit of a stir.
According to a report from VG24/7 yesterday, California state senator Leland Yee said gamers have got to stop talking about this subject because they do not have any credibility, which is interesting coming from a politician.
"Gamers have got to just quiet down.
"Gamers have no credibility in this argument. This is all about their lust for violence and the industry’s lust for money.
"This is a billion-dollar industry. This is about their self-interest," Yee said.
In a response to some of the criticism that has been going on lately, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, Kate Edwards, said it is unfair to judge an entire industry based off of a handful of games.
"It’s important to point out that some of the most popular video games in history are all titles such as 'Wii Sports,' 'The Sims,' 'Super Mario Brothers,' the 'Pokemon' series and 'Tetris.'
"So while the games containing more violence get the attention, they’re not a reflection of the game industry as a whole, just as a single genre of film, TV or literature doesn’t represent that medium as a whole," Edwards said.
Senator Yee or any other politician who wishes to flap their gums around about this subject should think twice because there are millions of people who would dispute the things being said.
There is more to gaming and most people, like Yee, don't take the time to realize it.
An example happened just a few weeks ago with Bungie sending out a care package of "Halo" goods to a young family because their young boy was about to go through liver transplant recovery. Bungie obliged to the father's request and sent the family some gifts.
The father expressed his gratitude by saying, "My family can't thank Bungie enough. I know that they have had a huge impact on how well my son has been recovering after his surgery."
Things like this tend to get overlooked by people. This was a time when a family needed a pick-up and a former developer of "Halo" games, violent ones at that, reached out to help comfort a family.
And by the way, perhaps Lee and others should just wait for the $10 million violent video games research project to carry through before saying consumers of an industry have no credibility.
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