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BOYS who don't play videogames at all are at greater risk of getting into trouble than those who play violent games occasionally, according to two Harvard psychologists. The pair also said there was also no evidence to suggest violent games turn young people into criminals or violent people, despite some media reports. "If you look at the violent crime in the US over the past 20 years among teenagers it's gone down, and gone down significantly, and if you look at videogame play, it's gone up," said Dr Lawrence Kutner and Dr Cheryl Olsen of Harvard Medical School in a...

The publisher of "Grand Theft Auto" says the Chicago Transit Authority interfered with its free-speech rights by allegedly removing ads for the latest version of the hugely popular video game. Take-Two Interactive Software wants a federal judge to stop the CTA from taking down ads for "Grand Theft Auto IV." The New York-based company made that request in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan.

Grand Theft Auto IV hit the stores last week like a tsunami, and is expected to become one of the biggest sellers in video game history. Commentators agree that the game, with its sophisticated graphics, sets a new standard for realistic violence and sex. News reports and game-related websites give the flavor of what avid gamers are getting for their 60 bucks. GTA IV opens with an S&M sex scene. Players can gun down ordinary citizens, beat up prostitutes, murder cops and enjoy lap dances from strippers. This mayhem is accompanied by what the Associated Press called a "nearly constant...

This is quite a funny presentation. I'd discuss it but I'd rather you watch instead. Total runtime--5:52. Safe for work. I was hooting toward the end. Click here or at the link above.

Outrage comes easy at the sight of 15-year-old Disney Channel billion-dollar phenomenon Miley Cyrus -- known to screaming 8-year-old girls as Hannah Montana -- appearing barebacked with a come-hither smile in a photo shoot for Vanity Fair. Did no one understand how the slinky satin-sheet photo would be greeted by the eyes of teenage boys -- or men twice her age? Parents are covering the eyes of their Disney-drenched little girls while their role model has a train wreck. Do we need another Britney Spears Show? But teenage boys are going wilder this week over a more dangerous cultural low:...

Grand Theft Auto IV as a test of Christian conscience No doubt I'm going to draw flack for suggesting this, but it needs to be said. Yesterday afternoon I bought Grand Theft Auto IV. And having played it for a few hours, as a follower of Jesus Christ I would like to recommend that my mature brethren in the Christian faith (both spiritually and those who are not teenagers anymore, parse that as you will) play Grand Theft Auto IV as well. And not to gleefully look for reasons to condemn the game either. Why? Because I think that a...

It's the video game that launched a $2 billion takeover war. "Grand Theft Auto IV" is expected to have one of the biggest debuts in entertainment history when it hits stores today. Analysts predict it will ring up more than $400 million at retail in the first week, topping "Halo 3," which in the fall smashed the previous record with $300 million. The "GTA" franchise, which lets players enact a host of criminal activities, has stirred up controversy with its sexually explicit and violent fare. This time, it's also generating corporate drama. With its eyes on the blockbuster game, Electronic...

"Grand Theft Auto IV" hits streets on Tuesday and is expected to race into record books as the fastest-selling video game ever despite being tailed by critics condemning its violent themes. Rockstar Games is predicted to sell at least six million copies of "GTA IV: Liberty City" in its first week, with die-hard fans eager to play the game in which triumph depends on acts such as carjacking, gambling and killing. "This is going to be the game of the year," video game industry analyst Edward Woo at Wedbush Morgan Securities told AFP. Rockstar Games and its GTA franchise are...

Revelations that the March 29 phone call that sparked a raid on a West Texas polygamist compound may be a hoax have led prosecutors to doubt the reason for the original search-and-arrest warrant that granted authorities access to the Yearning For Zion Ranch.

Recently while wandering around the net in search of various game news I came across this reply to a post on Kotaku.com. The reply was in the form of a letter allegedly sent from Jack Thompson to the mother of Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick. Here is that letter: John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law 1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111 Coral Gables, Florida 33146 April 21, 2008 Mrs. Zelnick Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman’s Mother New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediaries Re: Your Son, Strauss Zelnick Dear Mrs. Zelnick: Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t...

ALFRED, N.Y.-- "I took my belongings, walked downstairs and darted as fast as I could and 13 to 15 zombies started running after me," said Rosemarie Fraioli, an Alfred University freshman. Fraioli isn't talking about a dream but real life playing the game Zombies versus Humans. In the game, the humans use Nerf guns to stave off a zombie attack. Tuesday, one of those guns sparked a campus-wide lockdown at Alfred University. "One faculty member saw one of our players walking through an academic building. And we think they just glimpsed one of the Nerf guns and thought it was...

With billions of dollars at stake in the entertainment world's fastest-growing business, the British government is launching a trade battle with Canada over tax credits being used to expand this country's video game industry. For months, British companies have been decrying the exodus of European game developers to Ontario, Quebec and B.C., where tax incentives are attracting multimillion-dollar investments and thousands of highly skilled foreign workers, whose talents are fuelling the Canadian industry's exponential growth. "The Canadians have driven a tank over the French Citroen and have now parked on our lawn," Paul Jackson, head of the industry organization representing...

Hospitals Turn To Wii For Rehab Therapy 'Wiihabilitation' Growing More Popular Among DoctorsPOSTED: 11:07 am EST February 9, 2008 CHICAGO -- It could be called "Wiihabilitation." Nintendo's Wii video game system is now gaining popularity in hospitals and medical centers, which are using the system as part of physical therapy programs for patients. While traditional physical therapy can be painful, repetitive and boring, hospital officials said playing Wii is more fun for patients, to the point that some almost forget they're in therapy. The system's motion-sensitive controller requires body movements similar to traditional exercises, but officials said the game format...

Perhaps you remember in 2006, when Governor Kathleen Sebelius took a stand for gaming legislation that eventually failed to get off the ground, saying "video games and music lyrics promote violence ... Moms and dads shouldn't be alone in their fight to raise children the right way." Perhaps unwilling to learn from mom's example, her 23-year-old son John has created a board game called "Don't Drop the Soap" in which players "fight [their] way through 6 different exciting locations in hopes of being granted parole ... Escape prison riots in The Yard, slip glass into a mob boss' lasagna in...

A man who spent long hours each day playing video games was convicted Tuesday of killing his 17-month-old daughter when she pulled down his Xbox console. Prosecutors believe Tyrone Spellman pummeled Alayiah Turman, cracking her skull several times, while her pregnant mother napped in another room ... Spellman fled the house after the beating... An autopsy showed that Alayiah had suffered a broken arm about two weeks before she died - an injury that city social workers did not see on two visits to the house in late August, when they found the baby well.

The Sierra Club is proposing a tax on video games and televisions with the proceeds going to programs that encourage families to get kids off of the couch and into the mountains. Call it “No Child Left Inside.” Mike Casaus of the Sierra Club says families hiking a mountain trail together are becoming scarce as childhood diabetes and obesity is soaring, which is why the organization is proposing the one-percent tax. “What we would do with this excise tax on tvs and video games and this type of equipment is to tax part of the problem to fund the solution,”...

A Democratic lawmaker in New Mexico wants to tax televisions and video games to raise funds to fight childhood obesity and improve education in the state, officials said Friday. "I have asked our legislative council service to prepare the "Leave No Child Inside" bill and am hopeful that it will be ready for me to introduce on Monday," educator-turned-lawmaker Gail Chasey told AFP. "Leave No Child Inside" -- a play on the federal education initiative "No Child Left Behind" -- is backed by grassroots environmental group, the Sierra Club. "The bill proposes levying a one-percent excise tax on the purchase...

A story in The New York Times yesterday reports that the video game industry has finally woken up and realized that in order to stay strong going forward, it can't rely on 13-year-old pimple-faced kids to promote its agenda. According to the report, Michael D. Gallagher, chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association, the industry's lobbying arm in Washington, told the Times that its political action committee (PAC) will be up and running by the end of March and will represent Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, among others.

I know that they all probably assume they have better, much more important, urgent, timely, things to campaign on, but I sure would like to get their individual takes on the new video game that one company is marketing to fifteen year old boys. It's called "Mass Effect" and it allows its players - universally male no doubt - to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images they wish to "engage" and then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD...

Jack Thompson has issued a press release suggesting the U.S. Department of Defense is involved in an "unholy alliance" with the gaming industry, with the aim of turning kids into violent, remorseless killers. According to a report by GamePolitics, Thompson said he will be training his guns on the U.S. military in the new year as a result of its continued collaboration with the game industry. In a press release, Thompson said one of the results of this partnership is "the increasing number of commando-style assaults by young gamers," citing the recent killings in Omaha, Nebraska as evidence of his...