So frustrating. So overwhelming. There’s just too many states/countries gunning for the game industry. How can so many people be so clueless about an industry, a form of culture/entertainment?

The inclusion of drugs in NARC has gotten some extra attention from the politicos. What they don’t bother to realize is that NARC kinda sucks (nevermind the fact that it actually includes a strong anti-drug message). In the end, the market and consumers’ dollars are the ultimate censors. I doubt many studios will be pursuing NARC-like games in the near-future.

Further, providing parents with actual tools to assist in monitoring/controlling their kids’ game playing habits seems like a better approach than outright government intervention and legislation (where they decide what’s good and bad). Like, since when are politicians the golden standard of good morals ;)

Finally, it boggles my mind to see Sony cave in to threats from Bangladesh. We are fighting so hard to protect the creative freedoms of developers and then they go and agree to remove references that the Bangladesh gov “doesn’t like”. That was an odd/surprising move, and I suspect Sony’s just using it as a good excuse to the delay the release of the game…

Would be nice if publishers didn’t so readily squander developers’ creative rights so quickly.

Humorous aside: Here’s a quote from a recent episode of King of the Hill:

“The boy’s got no fight in him. I don’t get it. He spends five hours a day playing violent video games. What’s the point if they don’t have any effect on him?”