California Tries to Ban Violent Video Games to Minors-Thank God they Failed

I head about this proposed law yesterday while listening to KGO 810 and I commented promptly as to how I believe parents are responsible for what games their children buy, not the gaming industries, the stores or even the government.

The two laws were passed in 2005, but have not been enforced yet.  Luckily, the U.S. Court of Appeals are debating if the laws were unconstitutional, despite how it might protect children from the horrors of video games.

One of my greatest fears is how laws pass “for the sake of the children”.  This is not only a dangerous tactic but a useful one as well.  I’m glad I have freedom of speech here in America and I understand it only reaches to protecting me from my government, not my work or any other private industry.  This proposed law obviously stretches to a violation of freedom of speech, even if it only proposes banning “M” rated game sales to minors.

My question is always, “What’s next?”  It seems well and good at first, protecting the children, but what is the governments definition of violence?  The video game industry already has a very harsh rating system in place to inform buyers what the ratings mean.  But, I fear if a parent if offended to how Mario smashes goombas Nintendo may have a problem with even their “E” rated games.

 

Another issue is how people presume violent video games induce violent acts.  However, there is no actual study, other then through correlation, as to how video games affect violent tendencies.  It is also very difficult to perform a random study, because people will not play a video game unless they want to, so it defeats the purpose of random selection.

With all of the acceptance and tolerance thrown around about religion, sexual preferences and other social issues, I wonder if privacy, free speech and safety are balanced now.  I think people are so concerned about being safe we forget how quickly we are loosing our Bill of Rights. 

It may just be video games for now, but I really try to think as to how it could change the larger picture of freedom of speech.  The government would love to chip away at it because it is the people’s greatest weapon against politicians. 

So, all I can say is write to the California legislature, including the governor, and tell them how you feel about these laws.  Also, don’t forget to write to your own State legislature about this and tell them you are thoroughly against any such laws prohibiting freedom of speech, even if it is for the sake of the children.

Children do not stay children forever, so don’t reduce their rights for limited safety.

E-Mail Schwarzenegger NOW! 

Remember NiGHTS?

Quickie: Don’t Buy

Remember Nights, on the Sega Saturn? I used to spend hours at Sears playing the game and having no idea what I was doing, but it was fun to have the almost unlimited freedom to roam a beautifully mystical world with a character that looked like a jester in a purple leotard. Well it’s back on the Wii…

BORING!

I just wanted to fly, I loved flying in the game, but you have to play as a pre-teen running around collecting her Ideya…sounds like idiot to me…

But even when you have the chance to fly you have to Dualize with NiGHTS…it sounds like a sex term and instantly looses its innocent charm.

When you do have to play as the human they walk around like ducks and are horrible to look at. Your only weapons are the Blue Chips and it’s all timed so you can’t focus on the games beauty at all…and there isn’t very much, because the landscapes look like they took a Picasso painting and put it through a shredder.

I found myself pressing (+) at every cut scene, unfortunately you can’t skip. I don’t need all of the whiny drama or storyline to make the game better, it actually made it worse because the characters were as thin as paper.

Personally I can do without the story altogether and fly, by jamming the nunchuck stick to the right…yes…they even ruined the enjoyment of flight by making it as restrictive as a nunnery.

What is the point of having flight in a game if there is no freedom in it? It’s like giving a child a bike with flat tires; too much effort to ride, so they just leave it to rot in the sun and rain. It’s the same with NiGHTS, no freedom equals no enjoyable play.

It was repetitive and felt like a never ending torture flying through loops and chasing down keys for a pointless mission from the horrible storyline. The freedom was lost from the Sega Saturn I’d experienced and turned into a suppression via Nintendo.

One boss, Bomamba, was such a pain in the butt I just gave up on the game. You had to roll all the kitty heads…that’s right heads…into little holes in a certain amount of time…and there were many stages of ulcer causing pain.



I must have tried for two hours to complete this boss, but those kitty balls just wouldn’t fall in, especially if there was a hill to roll over.

The developers were trying too hard to add sense to the NiGHTS universe. Honestly I would have been satisfied with a little prologue and a simple storyline of saving children’s dreams or something but instead the player was given flat character children, boring levels, complicated bosses and limited flying, which killed the game ultimately.

Don’t try, don’t buy, it will just make you cry.