Rockstar Braces for Impact Over GTA IV

Dan Houser, writer for GTA IV, stated in a Yahoo interview that he's, understandably, certain that this installment of the series will bring as much or more trouble than the last ones. He especially fears that the drunk driving and strip clubs are going to cause the most trouble, besides the whole batch of old features to the game. Houser said "I expect [controversy] because we've had so much of it in the past. I wish people would treat video games the same as other media. They seem to not want to do that for reasons that I don't understand. It's a convenient enemy for people." Grand Theft Auto really seems to me sort of mellow compared to some games out there now like Saint's Row, but GTA is cursed to receive the public outcry, as is anything put out by Rockstar until, I don't know, they release a Reading Rainbow game series.

All Together Now: 1/26/08 - 2/1/08

1/26/08 - Cooper Lawrence apologizes for her role in the FOX Mass Effect scandal.

1/27/08 - My most popular post by far, a list of the last year and a half's studies on gaming's effect on humans.

1/28/08 - Jack Thompson is revealed to think the Mass Effect scandal is silly and contrived.

1/30/08 - Grand Theft Auto is being blamed again for violence. Hardly news, is it?

1/31/08 - Cooper Lawrence sticks by the University of Maryland study she cited, which is a good idea for her because the study can't be read without paying for it.

The Never-Ending Story: Cooper Clarifies

Cooper Lawrence has talked to MTV, now, and she sort of backs down but is still really irritating ("Expert Backs Down..." shouldn't be the title of an article about the fact that she wasn't an expert, but anyway). She stands by the University of Maryland research she cited that no one had ever heard of. You can't actually read the research without being someone or paying, though, so I still can't ascertain whether she was fair about it or not. Gamepolitics.com now has a poll asking if gamers should forgive Cooper now, and I'm still torn in a way. There's not a whole lot of material given in the MTV News report, but it doesn't sound as apologetic as I'd like it to be. I wouldn't keep "reviewing" her books or anything, but I seriously doubt, if it were actually possible, that a gamer apology would be appropriate as of yet.

GTA Blamed Again for Violence

Grand Theft Auto is clawing its way back into the news with the new installment due out April 29th, and old people are coming out of nowhere to bring up all the same old points.

Here's another example, Dan Dougherty, some neighborhood-level anti-crime (who isn't?) "Gang Resistance and EXILE director" said some very familiar things about GTA, as well as rap music. "In Grand Theft Auto, you score points by killing cops, stealing cars and beating prostitutes," he said, which mirrors some other old and incorrect claims I've heard before. There aren't even "points" in Grand Theft Auto, but yes, there is a good bit of potential car-stealing and cop-killing. Anyway, there's a gang problem in his county, which the article attributes at least a bit to the prison population there, but as I'm proving, that's not what makes it into the headlines.

The Never-Ending Story: Jack Thompson Weighs in on Mass Effect

The Mass Effect saga is never-ending, and it still has several conflicts yet to resolve. Today's a big celebration for me as well, given that I'm just now mentioning Jack Thompson for the first of what will surely be a thousand times on this blog, given its subject. In case you're not aware, Jack Thompson is a Florida attorney who's likely the biggest enemy of gaming ever, given his many (failed) lawsuits to supress gaming, particularly anything to do with Grand Theft Auto. He recently arose from his coffin to comment on Grand Theft Auto IV as its release date was finally announced, and today he took a surprising position on the Mass Effect controversy.

Through email correspondence with Brian Crecente at Kotaku, it has been revealed that Jack Thompson is sort of defending Mass Effect. The emails are really brief, as you can read from that link above, but Jack says that "The guy [Cooper Lawrence or the original conservative blogger guy?] who shot his mouth off about it had no idea what the Hell he was talking about." He then adds "This contrived controversy is absolutely ridiculous." This took the socks off of Brian Crecente and the rest of the gaming world, just the fact that Jack makes sense on this issue.

In much less surprising news, Hal Halpin of the ECA has sent a letter to FOX demanding that they recant on the many errors in their broadcast. Yup, he would do that, wouldn't he? Barely even news. Sorry to end things on that note.

Studying Studies: 25 Things Games Have Been "Proven" to Do

Here is a nice master list of video game studies and research, archived by their general conclusions. As you'll see, the studies very often contradict one another. This is organized to be as ironic as possible, by the way, not by date or something useful like that.

Video Games:

• Force children to imitate games negatively
• Damage brain functions, affecting emotional control
• Increase emotional arousal and decrease self-control brain activity
• Raise the risk of aggressive behavior
• Increase aggressive thoughts, but not behavior
• Can make you drive more aggressively
• Teach both aggression and more useful things
• Have absolutely nothing to do with aggression
• Make only aggressive kids more aggressive
• Make only angry people more aggressive
• Do not cause youth violence
• Can be healthy for some children, even violent games
• Are less emotionally involving than film and television, meaning violence is less upsetting and immersion in the world is actually less complete
• Improve visuospatial cognition (better understand what you're looking at, basically)
• Increase equality in spatial skills between men and women
• Give you less time to study
  
• Cause minor drops in time for reading and homework
• Have great educational value
• Lower your school grades (or at least your perception of them)
• Teach tolerance of the vast diversity online
• Make you less likely to own a pet
• Could cure acrophobia
• Fulfill your psychological needs
• Give you a sense of freedom and accomplishment
• Can treat ADHD

Be sure to visit those links for real details, but those are all the headline-worthy conclusions those studies showed. I suspect I'll expand this list in the future or make another post with just a list, because just comparing the conclusions side-by-side is mind-boggling.

I've Got to Admit, It's Getting Better: Cooper Lawrence Apologizes!

We Win! Hooray! Huzzah! Cooper Lawrence said she misspoke and now that she's "seen the game and seen the sex scenes it’s kind of a joke." In a good way, I swear. Just read the New York Times article for all the real information. I'm just here to rejoice, basically. Otherwise, everything on the Mass Effect story is still the same, with FOX offering EA a chance on TV, and EA still not sure whether they should accept or not.

Hooray again, whoo!