SUMODOWNLOAD

Let’s hear if he’s got a better reason than those people who claim to be “experts” in linking violent games to youth violence.

Superintendent Bill Harrison, one of New Zealand’s leading police and national manager of police youth services, has a theory on the connection between violent video games and youth violence. According to him, since the release of the Xbox 360 on June 2005, newspapers cited that a 25% increase of youth arrests in New Zealand occured.

But that’s not all. He has first hand data after watching his son play a specific game on the Xbox 360.

“It was desensitising him to violence. It was shifting his norm about how he would deal with conflict.”

“You see these kids - their hands are wringing wet with sweat because their bodies are taking in what’s going on on the screen and they are acting it out.”

In the end, Harisson called for a planned government study in including the effects of violent games to youth violence.

W-h J: Makes sense if you, as a parent, says to your 5 year old kid that killing cops in video games is the right thing to do while playing GTA. But knowing many people who grew up playing violent games while having a sound mind, “experts” need to try harder to prove there’s a real link between youth behavior to violent video games.

News: Dog raids petshop after watching Droopy, the Master Detective on Cartoon Network

Mom: Dang, I knew Droopy was a bad influence! Timmy, you won’t watch Cartoon Network now got it?

(Source: GamePolitics)

After Final Fantasy’s Fanfest at Anaheim Hilton, South California, Gamasutra got a nice scoop on the developers’ future plans on making an MMO.

Looks like they’re torn between making it the next Final Fantasy Online or a completely new one.

“As you might already know, members from the current FFXI team are working on a next generation MMO, but it still hasn’t been decided whether that’s going to be a game in the FF series, a continuation, or a totally new game. said Square Enix’s vice president and producer of Final Fantasy XI Hiromichi Tanaka. “We are working on it, but it hasn’t been decided that far yet.”

One of the interview’s highlights was when the FFXI team was asked if games like World of Warcraft affected the number of players of FFXI. It seems like they’re confident with the MMO they made.

“Actually, we haven’t been affected that much by WoW. When FFXI hit its peak users was about the time that WoW was released, and when it was released we didn’t see a big reduction in the players. It’s pretty much been about the same.”

More from the team: “We feel that with a lot of MMORPGs on the market, players have the choice of the one they want to go to and they’ll try them out and then they’ll stick with one — and we see that people who chose FFXI have stuck with it.”

Read the full interview here.

W-h J: I wonder what made them think twice in continuing their under development game in attaching it to the legendary Final Fantasy series? Unless it’s an original concept, I can’t help but wonder if they’re really unaffected by WoW’s popularity.

(Source: Gamasutra)

Remember our last article about Nintendo’s Wii Zapper getting flamed by extreme conservatives?

What are they gonna say after seeing this newly released Nintendo Wii gun called “Perfect Shot” made by Nyko? Prolly something like this:

Let’s just forget about them and rejoice over this new paraphernalia for the Nintendo Wii. Just imagine playing House of the Dead with two Perfect shots. Sweeeeeet!

Perfect Shot won’t reach stores on the holidays though. Available for $12.99.

(Source: Engadget)

You gotta be kidding me.

Noted as the “Grand Theft Auto” for girls by its publishers, “Coolest Girl in School” lets you experience the dark side activities in high school like stealing, drugs, spreading gossips, lies, cutting classes, flirt with guys, etc. in a girl’s point of view.

A lot of violent reactions are coming out from media watchdogs. Holly Owen, the creative director for Coolest Girl in School, beieves that her game is being “unfairly demonized.”

“We have had a lot of press and, unfortunately the game has been misrepresented in some articles.” said Owen. “It is … a very tongue-in-cheek look at the perils of the quest for cool in high school.”

Female gaming expert at Concordia University Christine Daviault wasn’t really happy with her reply though:

“I just don’t think most people will see it as tongue-in-cheek. (Youth players) are at a crossroads in the formation of their personalities and a game like this basically fosters a warped idea of what constitutes success and how to get it.”

“The tween and teen girls who don’t already engage in this type of behaviour may think it’s an interesting fantasy for a short period of time, but I don’t think it’ll keep their attention for very long,” she says. “For a fantasy to be successful, it needs to make you feel good. And I think this game is too corrosive to have that effect.”

Same with Anastasia Goodstein, a noted youth media consultant:

“Coolest Girl In School sounds a lot like high school. Do girls need to play a game to remind them of high school’s depressing social hierarchy?”

W-h J: This time, I gotta agree with those experts. The difference between Grand Theft Auto and The Coolest Girl in School is that Grand Theft Auto somehow still have censorship in it by being rated by the ESRB and can still be filtered by being sold to people below 17. On the other hand, almost everyone in this planet, including a 7 year old, has a mobile phone.  In other words, this game can be played by almost anyone. Yes, even by high school girls who’re having their lunch breaks at school.

Another thing is that Grand Theft Auto may be a game of violence but at least it doesn’t say that stealing cars is ok or killing cops are cool (though you can because of the freedom given by the game). But in this mobile game, you ARE cool when you do these dark activities in school. 

There are big differences between the two games. Don’t get confused just because both are controvercially connected.  If only this game was carried in a platform and not in a mobile phone, my opinion will be slightly different. 

(Sources: Canada.com, GamePolitics)

(Agent 47: Tsk.  Should’ve stuck to games)

Usually, video games that are made movies (and vice versa) turn out bad.

Hitman is no exception.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie site version of Gamespot, things don’t look really well with what the critics have to say.

Some words from veteran reviewers:

From Terry Lawson of the Detroit Free Press: “While Hitman is decidedly more watchable than Resident Evil and most previous video-game movies, it shares its forerunners’ lack of interest in storytelling or logic.”

From Brian Orndorf of Efilmcritic.com: “An overcooked time killer that finds bad acting, bad direction, bad cinematography, and bad screenwriting in a furious race to dominate the running time. I’d call it a four-way tie.”

From Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywoord Reporter: “The formula is not that far removed from James Bond except there’s a hole at its center. Agent 47, played by a virtually expressionless Timothy Olyphant, is a soulless, emotionally dead protagonist.”

From Jack Mathews of New York Daily News: “As cold as it is dumb.”

Overall ratings from Rotten Tomatoes look really bad. Only 6 out of the 48 noted critics gave it a fresh rating and as a whole, the site gave it a 3.7 out of 10.

W-h J: Aliens v.s Predator the movie, Spiderman 2 game, Transformers The Game, Street Fighter the movie, Street Fighter the game, Harry Potter gamess, Doom the movie, Tomb Raider the movie, Batman Begins the game, and the list goes on…When will they ever learn how Mortal Kombat pulled these things right?

(Sources: Gaming Today, Rotten Tomatoes)

In a month or so, Nintendo will grace us with their upcoming grandaddy of “mish-mash of characters in a fighting game” Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I’m giddy as hell but since Nintendo hasn’t been liberal with the release of names of the playable characters, people have been speculating, nay, HOPING, that Nintendo will put in certain characters to make the game hellamore awesome.

Of course, yours truly has been speculating on who SHOULD make the cut. And whether you like it or not, I’m gonna share it with you. Bwahhahaha! (Also, I’ve included people/characters that will NEVER make it to SSBB)

1.) Son Goku

Wouldn’t it be AWESOMELY LEGENDARY if Goku was a playable character in SSBB? Him AND his blonde, chunky-haired alter-egos. He’d rip Mario and half and spank Bowser like a little pipsqueak.

2.) Jack “The Man” Thompson

LET ME EMPHASIZE THAT I AM NOT A FAN OF THIS MONUMENTAL LANDMARK OF GAMING IGNORANCE. Hear me out first: so you’re playing SSBB right? Won’t you like it if one of the players took one for the team and played as ”The Man” so the other 3 can button-mash him to gaming oblivion? See?

AND NOW, THE BEST SSBB CHARACTERS YOU WILL NEVER SEE. (Boo)

1.) Samwell

Special Move: The Chocolate Kiss

2.) Master Chief

Special Move: The Rage Quit

3.) Steve Stifler

Special Move: The Fist Yourself

and the last…

but certainly NOT the least…

4.) Chuck Norris

Special Move: Game Over