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Australian Road Safety Authority Criticizes Racing Game
Thanks to the Sydney Morning Herald for their story revealing Australian road safety authorities are trying to pull the plug on Project Gotham Racing 2 for Xbox, claiming the real-life Sydney course in the game is "undoing a lot of the effort authorities are putting into road safety." According to State Labor MP Paul Gibson, chairman of the Staysafe Committee: "This game sends the wrong message to young people. It is actually glorifying speed and power. It is clearly an inappropriate depiction of speed behavior. If I had my way I would ban it." A spokesman for Microsoft responded: "It is not about driving on the streets, it is purely a racing game. The streets are blocked from other traffic and there are no pedestrians. All we are doing is taking the geography of Sydney and turning it into a race track."
Please...speed and power have been glorified since cars were invented...did we forget the GTO's and Mustangs of the 60's? this game won't make kids irrisponsible drivers any more than doom makes them kill or Pacman makes them crave candy and run away from ghosts...
Hopefully, some right-minded person in Australia will take the reigns and end the tyranny of Pac-Man.
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
how SHOCKING.
i wonder if arnold movies send the wrong signal too, glorifying killing and mayhem.
virtual mayhem is much better than real, live mayhem. what if it was an imaginary city the track was set in? what real difference there would be? except that they wouldn't get huge extra free advertising from biggots like this? grimm stories glorify violent revenge too, they must be bad as well.
actually if it's realistical enough it provides an incentive to not do it in real life(as you end up being a murderer of innocents and trashed by a truck in mere minutes, after which the game burns).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Look at what the 60's generation has done since the tookover the political enviroment. Things have gotten worse.
Power corrupts.
Maybe which should rename "video games" to "reality". It is really hard to tell the difference.
Seriously, games are an escape. It is a virtual environment to do things that you may not necessarilly be able to do in real life. I have never been able to do more than 110 MPH in a car in reality but it is fun to do in a video game because you don't die when you crash that high speed car.
I've also chosen not to join the mob, pickup hookers, kill people on the street and steal cars. Though, it is real fun in a video game since there are no consequences.
Maybe they should make games about sitting in front of a cumputer, in cubicle and being the low man on the totem pole. I'm sure that would sell quite a few games.
Soothing be productive lights and pretty be happy colors... and the gentle sounds of the be complacent ocean..
There now.. isn't that better than be accepting those nasty old violent thought games...
You've achieved a productive happy accepting citizen rating.. a shiny gold star will be mailed to you shortly..
The real truth is, it's just like anything else. People react differently.
I grew up playing video games and watching movies where there were fast driving, fast women, and law breaking. (Smokey and The Bandit *shame*) I grew up, got a car, and proceeded to break laws like crazy flying through the country, where I lived.
About 6 months after I got my license taken away for "reckless Endangerment", my friend gets arested for "Felony to elude a police officer in an automobile". He grew up on the same movies as I did.
On the other hand, I watched action movies just as much as driving movies. I have not shot at anyone, have not killed anyone, have not held up a bank, and am not a fugitive from the law.
When it all comes down to it, it's all about your own moral base. What do you think is right, what do you think is wrong, and what do you just not care either way on.
Banning things with a high demand is silly too. We can see that banning certain drugs has kept the US city streets free of drug users. Prostitution is full under control, there are no murders, and nobody ever speeds.
Pretty Pictures!
We had better ban Flight Simulator too, in case people get the idea that they can actually crash planes into things without any consequences!
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
"This game sends the wrong message to young people. It is actually glorifying speed and power. It is clearly an inappropriate depiction of speed behavior. If I had my way I would ban it."
Someone call Bernie Ecclestone and cancel the next Australian Grand Prix.
Why is it that idiots like this get a soap box on Slashdot?
Oddly Draconis
Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.
Or substance abuse.
Or intolerance.
Or civil disobedience.
Or anything that disagrees with one or more branches of government.
Or the manx tt, a motorbike race on normal roads around an island.
And of course, any WRC rally has sections on normal roads.
"This game sends the wrong message to young people. It is actually glorifying speed and power. It is clearly an inappropriate depiction of speed behavior.
I love these guys. While this subject (and others like it) will be debated about until the end of the civilized world, I don't think the important point is ever going to come to light: the difference between a cause and a correlation. I don't mean to portray mass media or videogame makers as blameless, but honestly, they are largely giving the public what they want. Some people like games (and movies) where you speed around in cars, and do absurd things you could never realistically do yourself in real life. It's a form of escape.
Some people are quick to argue that this sort of game encourages the same behavior in real life. I'd argue that the fantasies people have about this sort of thing create a need for these games, and software devs and movie producers are more than happy to cash in.
Take a look at some of the more absurd games that have been created in response to things people like to do. We have a bazillion low-quality "Deer Hunter" games (Huh?), and Paintball PC games, which, when you think about it, is a simulation of a simulation. It's no surprise to see the GTAs or the Gran Turismos of the world being so successful.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
Indycar is like open wheel Nascar. F1 is much better. Crap, everyone else in the world gets cool racing (touring car, observed trials, WRC, etc.) and we get Billy Bob's Go Fast, Turn Left Extravaganza.
At least US Superbike is still tolerable.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
um... Mad Max?
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Risk - Its lifelike depiction of the globe and glorification of "world domination" may be a severe liability to Hasbro worldwide.
Monopoly - The day someone is inspired by the best strategies in this game will be the beginning of the end of mankind. Encouraging housing shortages, anticompetitive behavior and beauty contests are not desireable behaviors in our landlords.
Hungry Hungry Hippos- In today's world of fast food franchises being sued for causing obesity, any game encouraging eating all you can outside of a thirdworld country is asking for trouble.
Hi Ho Cherroy - Sure, most people think the most dangerous aspect of the game is children choking after actually eating the cherries. But they neglect the greater social consequence of stealing poor American farmer's fruits!
The game of life - Its encouragement of heterosexual marriages may be approved by the President, but that won't stop gay right's activists from petitioning stores to stop carrying it!
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