Midway's Slugfest, Ballers Inappropriate For Kids?

Thanks to ABC News for its article discussing controversy over the content of Midway's officially licensed baseball and basketball videogames, as the story explains: "Nine-year-old Stephane Safar likes to play MLB Slugfest, a video game rated 'E', that is, for everyone 6 years old and older... But then he played it in front of his mother Amy, and what she saw went well beyond real-life baseball, as players punched and kicked each other during the course of the game." Amy explains: "Does he know that that's not really how Barry Bonds acts out on the field? Does he know that Nomar [Garciaparra] can't punch somebody?" Midway's NBA Ballers also comes in for criticism, with Kimberly Thompson of the Harvard School of Public Health complaining: "I think the message that kids take away from NBA Ballers is, it's all about money... Women are objects in this game."

Comments

Re:well...

[NanoGator]

"Saying this game influences kids to act violent while playing sports is like saying that when your friend calls you a knuckle head you poke his eyes out and hit him with a 2x4..."

There was a story a couple of weeks ago about lightning strikes. Somebody in that thread described a friend of his wife's dying due to a strike. I play UT2004 a LOT. The lightning gun is my favorite weapon. Sniping with it was fun as heck for me. (still is! just haven't had time to play...) Despite finding so much pleasure in shooting video game sprites with lightning, reading the "A friend of my wife's was killed by lightning" really jolted me. I found that heart breaking. I have to ask: How desensitizing can games be if I react like that to somebody dying?

I'm at a point now where I don't even think 'scientific proof' will convince me that video game violence is dangerous.

Re:Hrm....

[pudge]

I couldn't care less what kind of racial comments Bird is making

The word is not racial, it is racist. Racial means "of or pertaining to race." Saying Michael Jordan is black is racial. Saying black people suck is racist. Racial is neutral, racist is negative.

FWIW, Bird made no racist comments. He said that basketball is a black man's game, and blacks are -- in regard to basketball -- better athletes. That's not racist, that's being minimally observant.

That's your problem

[duffbeer703]

"Does he know that that's not really how Barry Bonds acts out on the field? Does he know that Nomar [Garciaparra] can't punch somebody?"

If you don't think that the game is appropriate for your kid, don't buy it. Professional sports is a scummy business... maybe kids wouldn't be affected by the portrayal of athletes if we didn't program them to idolize athletes.