These 10 Games Will Ruin You

[fitbabits]

Drum roll, please...

You've been warned! (http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9826/Family-Media-Guide-Identifies-Top-10-Ultra-Violent-Games/)

Thanks to Team Xbox (http://www.teamxbox.com)

Resident Evil 4 Player is a Special Forces agent sent to recover the President's kidnapped daughter. During the first minutes of play, it's possible to find the corpse of a woman pinned up on a wall -- by a pitchfork through her face.
Suh-WEET! Never mind that every one of these games is rated M for Mature - it appears parents need to be patronized and told how to raise their own kids.

[Nite_Moogle]

File this under the "No Duh" category.

[murpes]

Good list, I agree with the games on it. As far as I can tell they're not calling for government intervention, bans, or boycotts. I don't see why this list has hit every gaming site - there's nothing wrong with a parent being armed (intended) with extra information, above and beyond the ESRB rating. Lists like this don't harm the industry or gamers - or am I missing something here? Does this organization have a history or something?

[Neverborne]

I don't know about you people, but Tetris really makes me want to jab a knife in someone's spleen and take a gun to work.

[txa1265]

The reaction by so many sites is what is causing troubles - a bunch of non-parent 20 somethings rolling their eyes.

This list doesn't say that these games should be avoided by adults, it is just that there are lots of 14 year olds looking to play them, and in the same way you want to know what is in a R-rated film before letting a 14 year old see it, so should you know what is in a M rated game.

Mike

[KarmaGhost]

My local news paper (actually, my paper from back home) had an editorial about how they thought that violent video and computer games should be included on the "Year's Most Dangerous Toys List" that comes out around Christmas time every year. I thought that was taking things a little too far.

[txa1265]

My local news paper (actually, my paper from back home) had an editorial about how they thought that violent video and computer games should be included on the "Year's Most Dangerous Toys List" that comes out around Christmas time every year. I thought that was taking things a little too far.

I think that all depends on the packaging ;)

[Blade]

Resident Evil 4.. yes.. the boxart really stands out to me as "for kids"..

True Crime.. must be for kids.

GTA? Mother fucker, that game is all over the news anyway!

[Rommel]

I fully agree with this list. Open dialogue to concerned parents, allowing them to make informed decisions, is the proper way to remove both the stigma and unwarranted reputation games have developed. Now, I agree that games have done a lot of work andit is the failings of parents at this point - but we can still try to open their eyes. It would help if and when we ever get an honest forum to explain our hobby.

Some of the titles on it should not be played by anyone of course, but that is because some of them are simply awful games.

[Dabombpizza]

I like seeing 50 cent's Bulletproof on that list. Especially after the comments he made here (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3145853).

[bean19]

I think if they want to warn parents, then they should also inform them of the ESRB ratings. There are other games besides these 10 that should not be bought for children and the ESRB rating informs them of this.

What I take exlusion to is the wording from the original story (http://www.familymediaguide.com/features/EditorsPicks/ViolenceUnderTheTree.html) that attempts to discredit the ESRB ratings, and implies that their ratings are superior to those on the box.

Family Media Guide has prepared a list of the Top 10 Most Violent Video Games released so far this year. Utilizing a proprietary audit process, the company's trained video game analysts capture and document instances of profanity, sex, violence, and substance abuse using a database-driven technology employing approximately 4000 rules and algorithms governing millions of potential rule combinations. This data is then analyzed to generate an objective rating, superior to the existing ESRB (Electronic Software Ratings Board) industry association-based review approach which assigns ratings based upon the subjective opinions of three individuals who do not even play the game.
Family Media Guide provided the crucial media content analysis which will be used by the National Institute on Media and the Family (NIMF) 10 th annual Video Game Report Card to be released next week.
Sounds to me like they want the ESRB's money. Which would be a bad thing given the generally sensational explanation of each of these games. As fitabits mentioned, they don't acknowledge that the ESRB has already rated ALL of these games as Mature (and thus NOT appropriate for children), and they focus on graphic descriptions of the violence that could be harmful in and of themselves. I wouldn't want my young relatives even READING their list.

[Schnoogs]

Thank god...I haven't played one game in that list.

Phew....I guess my soul is still safe...

[chloroformcologne]

it seems to me that kids just are itching to play games like this because of all the hype put forth by the media. i mean, resident evil 4 is a great game, and it is totally understandable why someone would hype that game, but narc? come on. i manage a gamestop in austin, tx, and i have actually heard kids tell their mother that they would rather play prince of persia: warrior within over prince of persia: sands of time, because warrior within is rated M for mature and that means that it will be a better game. and the thing is that these parents always seem to buy these games for their children. stupid parents spawn stupid children.

[bean19]

it seems to me that kids just are itching to play games like this because of all the hype put forth by the media. i mean, resident evil 4 is a great game, and it is totally understandable why someone would hype that game, but narc? come on. i manage a gamestop in austin, tx, and i have actually heard kids tell their mother that they would rather play prince of persia: warrior within over prince of persia: sands of time, because warrior within is rated M for mature and that means that it will be a better game. and the thing is that these parents always seem to buy these games for their children. stupid parents spawn stupid children.

Btw, studies have shown that access to violent material has next to nothing to do with violent behavior. Sometimes I wonder if the world would be better off if all the money spent on ESRB ratings was instead spent on reducing poverty, providing more counseling in schools, or educating parents about good parenting skills.

Since videogames have become a household item akin to owning a television, violence among youths has gone down. That's probably due to other factors too. . . but it sure makes the "violence in videogames" scapegoat a weak one.

[Librum]

Hah, forget these games. Ruin you? Why isn't World of Warcraft on here - that will ruin you for sure.

[MasterKwan]

Perhaps I'm a bad parent but, I don't really have any issues with my 14 year old playing these games. Younger, yes but, 14's about the time their eyes have opened and they know what's up with the world. I have more issues with CSI and some episodes of "Law and Order" than I do with these games.

My parents didn't have any booze or porn in the house yet, by the time I was 14, I'd already read a Hustler and had a drink. It's foolish trying to extend "Childhood" beyond what's rational.

By the way, he changed the oil on my truck this weekend and drives me to 7-11 most nights (we live in the country).

Yes, I have more problems with WOW then I do these violent games, I'm getting ready to throw a timed packet filter on the router to limit WOW play. I've already turned his router off more than once (he and my wife share a DSL line while I have a business line).

[JessePeel]

My parents didn't have any booze or porn in the house yet, by the time I was 14, I'd already read a Hustler and had a drink. It's foolish trying to extend "Childhood" beyond what's rational.

I could not agree with you more.

[Jack's smirking revenge]

Phew....I guess my soul is still safe...

For now......- Satan

[51|RandoM]

Thank god...I haven't played one game in that list.

Phew....I guess my soul is still safe...

Not really, you'll probably burn in Hell for NOT playing RE4.

[MasterKwan]

RE4 has got to be up there with my top 5 games ever.

[Worldcrafter]

Btw, studies have shown that access to violent material has next to nothing to do with violent behavior.

Just to play devil's advocate, studies have also shown that children who view violence, will model that behavior. Albert Bandura's famous social learning study demonstrated children will model violent behavior after watching a video of a person acting violently towards a bobo doll.

However, this only shows children emulate violent behavior in the short term, and what people seem to be concerned with is how violent media affects the children in the long term, as they mature. Considering the number of children playing violent video games, if there was a correlation between violent games, and criminal behavior, then we should all be contributing to this website from maximum security jail cells. Since this is not the case, I think it makes more sense that Bandura's study showed children will model violent behavior, but only in the short term, and they don't seem to learn to be violent from this.

It seems learned violent behavior comes from some other source...probably rock, or D&D. ;)

[Ultima Thulian]

I agree with the titles on the list, but seriously, how goddamn stupid you have to be to not know this shit? When a game is called Resident EVIL it's probably not going to about cuddly forest critters and rainbows.

[Worldcrafter]

I was wondering the same thing when the shit storm surrounding GTA was going on. The game is named after a criminal activity, surely that would indicate the game isn't intended for kids. I guess some people don't mind acting dense as long as that means someone is paying attention to them.

[fitbabits]

I was wondering the same thing when the shit storm surrounding GTA was going on. The game is named after a criminal activity, surely that would indicate the game isn't intended for kids. I guess some people don't mind acting dense as long as that means someone is paying attention to them.
Some parents apparently need to be told by like-minded people whether something is morally good for their kids. One less thing for them to worry about, you see. :rolleyes:

[Ultima Thulian]

I think people feign stupidity to relieve them of the responsibility of their actions. People like that piss me off.

[boratika]

I'm all for young people being exposed to less violence, but you don't need these people to warn you, the titles do a pretty good job of that:

Resident Evil 4
Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas
God of War
Narc
Killer 7
The Warriors
50 Cent: Bullet proof
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Condemned: Criminal Origins
True Crime : New York City

Narc is the only one whose title doesn't explicitly state what to expect. These aren't misleading tiles (Halo?).

[The Iron Weasel]

God I just want to go play RE4 again now!

[Schnoogs]

Not really, you'll probably burn in Hell for NOT playing RE4.

HAHA!!

Good point!

[Deadend]

Damn, God of War was an awesome game. But they so forgot to mention that in Killer 7 the girl slits her wrists and there is the talking head who speaks about her murders. Much more disturbing than the Heavens Smiles.

[swiftdraw]

I'm all for young people being exposed to less violence, but you don't need these people to warn you, the titles do a pretty good job of that:

Resident Evil 4
Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas
God of War
Narc
Killer 7
The Warriors
50 Cent: Bullet proof
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Condemned: Criminal Origins
True Crime : New York City

Narc is the only one whose title doesn't explicitly state what to expect. These aren't misleading tiles (Halo?).

You forgot to put "God" in bold...

[Royal Fool]

Really stupid to limit the list to 10 games just so it sounds cool in a press release ("Top 10")...

What about games like F.E.A.R., Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend, Stubbs the Zombie, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Infected (A rather lighthearted game, but the amounts of gore and hardcore music are sure to scare the parents), Need for Speed Most Wanted (Involves breaking the law repeatedly to progress in the game, much like half the games on that top 10 list), Fatal Frame 3, Quake 4...

Stupid.

[Nite_Moogle]

Hah, forget these games. Ruin you? Why isn't World of Warcraft on here - that will ruin you for sure.
QFT
4567890

[TKO]

WTF? If they are trying to inform parents, why are they just regurgitating the usual media misinformation? GTA: "Player recovers his health by visiting prostitutes then recovers funds by beating them to death and taking their money..." Huh? I sure as heck never did this, yet they make it sound like this is what you have to do. (were they *trying* to describe it in the most objectionable way possible?)

I guess "Player recovers his health by eating pizza, then obtains money by extinguising fires in a fire-engine, or rescuing people in an ambulance..." didn't sound hard-core enough, eh? *sigh* Yeah sure GTA ain't sunday-school, but why keep beating it up on the way the game-world's freedom can be abused?

PS: I thought the addition of the pimping sub-game was such fun. What's that? *Defending* hookers in GTA? Say it ain't so! ;)

[TheKeck]

WTF? If they are trying to inform parents, why are they just regurgitating the usual media misinformation? GTA: "Player recovers his health by visiting prostitutes then recovers funds by beating them to death and taking their money..." Huh? I sure as heck never did this, yet they make it sound like this is what you have to do. (were they *trying* to describe it in the most objectionable way possible?)

I guess "Player recovers his health by eating pizza, then obtains money by extinguising fires in a fire-engine, or rescuing people in an ambulance..." didn't sound hard-core enough, eh? *sigh* Yeah sure GTA ain't sunday-school, but why keep beating it up on the way the game-world's freedom can be abused?

PS: I thought the addition of the pimping sub-game was such fun. What's that? *Defending* hookers in GTA? Say it ain't so! ;)

Seriously, the media has taken this one little aspect of the game that is completely optional and obscure and made it out to seam like the sole purpose of the game in anything they ever write about it.

[boratika]

Damn, God of War was an awesome game. But they so forgot to mention that in Killer 7 the girl slits her wrists and there is the talking head who speaks about her murders. Much more disturbing than the Heavens Smiles.

Killer 7 Player takes control of seven assassins who must combine skills to defeat a band of suicidal, monstrous terrorists. The game eventually escalates into a global conflict between the U.S. and Japan. Player collects the blood of fallen victims to heal himself and must slit his own wrists to spray blood to find hidden passages.

Well it sounds like they're making it out to be about japanese suicide bombers, which is more of a hot-button than exploding zombies. But it does say "Player...must slit his own wrists"

It would have been much more shocking if they had metioned orphan organ harvesting and insinuation of paedophilia. Or a scene in which a father is handed his daughters severed head. Maybe getting advice from a gimp.

Unfortunately, I doubt many people would buy Killer 7 anyway. Although now that they have been told not to...

[Hieremias]

I'm all for young people being exposed to less violence, but you don't need these people to warn you, the titles do a pretty good job of that:

Resident Evil 4
Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas
God of War
Narc
Killer 7
The Warriors
50 Cent: Bullet proof
Crime Life: Gang Wars
Condemned: Criminal Origins
True Crime : New York City

Narc is the only one whose title doesn't explicitly state what to expect. These aren't misleading tiles (Halo?).

This may come as a shock, but many parents don't keep up with videogame news. That being true, most of those titles really aren't that objectionable or descriptive. The titles "The Warriors", "Killer 7", "God of War", "Grand Theft Auto" in no way whatsoever even begin to describe the activities contained in the game. Can you give me a very good reason why a parent should be able to ascertain, from the titles alone, that "God of War" is extremely violent while "Rome: Total War" or "Warcraft 3" or "Wings of War" are much less harsh? Get real. You're expecting every parent to keep up to date with videogame news--and yet you slam lists like this that exist specifically to bring that news to the parents.

This list was published by a group who believes (no doubt correctly) that there are parents out there who would like some more info on which specific titles are ultra-violent. A parent who may not have a problem with a "shooting" game per se may have a VERY real problem with beating up prostitutes. And said parents may have a few names (GTA, True Crime, etc) batted around in the back of their mind from a newspaper article they read in July, but this list just makes it easier for them when shopping for Christmas gifts.

And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with objecting to the material in these games.

And this organization is free to publish any sort of review they want. The same freedom of speech that you try to defend so that these games can be published allows anyone, anywhere, to publish their opinions about any of these games. The sooner you and gamers like you give up your childish double-standards on free speech, the sooner the videogame industry might actually start to be taken seriously by non-gamers.

[MasterKwan]

Good parents know what their kids are doing. I've either played or reviewed every game my kid's played. Ditto for books, magazines and movies. The problem with today's parents is, they've become uncomfortable with the word "no". My kid wants a PC in his room, I say no problem. No internet access though. His PC's out next to the kitchen. Being a parent means knowing what your kids doing and telling them no from time time.

Any parent who doesn't track what his kid's interests are, what he's doing with his time, isn't doing a good job as a parent.

[Rommel]

MasterKwan, as a good parent you know as well as I that it takes a mere moment to judge whether something is appropriate. Why? Because you're the one who makes that decision! You don't have to follow a set of a guidelines - you just say yes or no. Friends without good parents are a bit more problematic, save for something that happened to every single one of us at one point or another: "I don't want to see you hanging around that kid again, ya hear?"

[TKO]

Good parents know what their kids are doing. I've either played or reviewed every game my kid's played... [snip] Any parent who doesn't track what his kid's interests are, what he's doing with his time, isn't doing a good job as a parent.
I applaud the steps you have taken. And informative webpages are a definite step in the right direction for less tech-savvie parents. Which is why it pisses me off to see that this 'information' is just the same dodgy hearsay gleaned from tech-ignorant popular press. I mean, please, how hard is it to get info from a *real* gamer or two?

But hey, I shouldn't question them. It's the internet, so it must be true. :D

[chloroformcologne]

didn't shadow hearts: covenant make this list last year and it was only a t-rated, turn-based rpg?

[gesheed]

Games that should've been on the list:

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin monks- The suffering 2 ..
:D

[boratika]

The titles "The Warriors", "Killer 7", "God of War", "Grand Theft Auto" in no way whatsoever even begin to describe the activities contained in the game. Can you give me a very good reason why a parent should be able to ascertain, from the titles alone, that "God of War" is extremely violent while "Rome: Total War" or "Warcraft 3" or "Wings of War" are much less harsh?

So since Warcraft has "war" in its name and has only mild content God of war will be the same? These words should be flag words. As in parents should find out more. And is Warcraft 3 really apropriate?

Poor/Lazy parenting is becoming pandemic (I use the word without exageration) in the USA, with the rest of the english speaking countries doing their best to catch up. Have you noticed how many fat kids there are? Do you realise than pre-teens are getting adult onset diabeties? The generation of people 0-20 years have a higher incidence of chronic diseases than their parents. Baby boomers who had children late and are as such, fairly old, are healthier than their children, who suffer lifestyle diseases. Why? Well, probably their lifestyles. And lets just grab the 0-10 year olds for a moment; How much of their lifestyle is (and more to the point, should be) govered by their parents?

I probably lost you because I was talking obout obesity rather than videogames, but parenting is parenting. Some syptoms are easier to track. Do you think they are isolated?


And this organization is free to publish any sort of review they want. The same freedom of speech that you try to defend so that these games can be published allows anyone, anywhere, to publish their opinions about any of these games. The sooner you and gamers like you give up your childish double-standards on free speech, the sooner the videogame industry might actually start to be taken seriously by non-gamers.

Not me, I'm not. Since my country doesn't have free speech laws. It'd be a bit silly for me to go on about them. So...Um...Yeah. Totally killer Coup de Grâce for your argument right there. Are you maybe confusing me for someone else?

[Ultima Thulian]

Again, as I said before, people (in this case irresponsible parents) feign stupidity to relieve themselves of the responsibility of their actions (or lack thereof). I know games can be confusing for parents, but the ESRB does a great job (just ask Sen. Lieberman, one of the most vocal speakers against violent games) of informing parents about the games. The rating symbols and their meaning is everywhere. On the game (front and back), the manual, the disc, the strategy guide, tv, etc. Hell, they even have Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods promoting the ratings.

Ignorance is a falice excuse at best. It is important for parents to educate themselves so they may better raise their child. Parenting is a tough job, but noone forces you into it, so buck up and quit bitching.