The Games News

In the ongoing study of violence caused by video games, a growing concern has been whether or not children have been more or less susceptible to the dangers caused by increasing violence in video games. While most have begun to believe that video games are bad for children which cause them to become more violent as they grow in age, others believe that video games are actually good for children. With most violent games receiving higher ERSB ratings (Mature and Adult ratings) and retailers being fined if they sell to minors, most individuals under the age of 18 are being restricted to purchasing or renting games that are designed for their age group. Most of these games have to do with some sort of sport or they have a cartoon-type of look and feel to it. With restrictions continuing to grow and the threat of fines for illegal distribution looming, children should be able to play video games without the thought of unnecessary violence polluting their experience.

Generally the first instinct for millions of people worldwide is to turn on electronic games when they want to be entertained. Entertainment is nowadays a fast growing industry with millions of subscribers from different countries. Now TV is no longer the main attraction and a good game can be more captivating than any TV network. The good games are involving interactivity, strategy, thinking, and in many of them a basic story line is followed. The games are not just for young boys but also for girls, and their main advantage is the interactivity. The quality of TV is going down too much and in those conditions 2 in 5 in 10 adults turn their attention to electronic games. Video games are the highest form of art mankind ever has made, because they combine everything: music, art and feelings are melted together and the best part is that you are actually in the game. Movies, no matter how good they get, are not interactive. In video games you actually are in the story instead of just watching it, and people are starting to finally realize the advantages of that.

World of Warcraft Patch 1.10 has banned over 5400 accounts while other 10700 accounts were suspended. It is well known that Blizzard has a very aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft and those account were closed for participating in activities that violate the game’s terms of use, including several third party programs to farm gold and other items. The suspensions were annoying, but they deleted all the accounts that had every trade skill at 300 on various characters with the associated playtime. The position adopted by Blizzard might seem odd but in a multiplayer game it is not fair to obtain any additional advantages. In this way the game play could be altered and Blizzard’s position was taken especially to protect the commonwealth for each and every gamer.

According to the New York Times’ study, 65% of women between 25 and 34 years old and only 35% of men in that same age are playing video games. However there is a big difference because while women choose to play so-called “casual games” found on Pogo.com, MSN.com, or Yahoo.com, men chooses portable players or consoles for playing games.

With different gaming preferences, many people believe it’s because women wants less competitive and complicated games because features violence - the games that men enjoyed.

According to a recent study by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) the adults spend more time playing games than teens. The CEA Study sees that adults will buy 19 million Next Generation consoles the first year. The study also reveals a substantial number of adult gamers, particularly those within the 25-34 age range, are interested in creating a dedicated gaming room. However, the survey results also suggest female gamers outnumber male gamers in the 25-34 age category due to high rate of online games.