Tag: VIOLENCEINVIDEOGAMES

The Wall Street Journal reports that the FBI has requested 131 messages written by Jared Loughner on the Earth Empires gaming message board. Like many other documents and testimonies recently brought to light, some of the messages help to paint a picture of Loughner as both psychologically tortured and socially wanting. (He began threads with headings like "Would you hit a Handy Cap Child/Adult?" ...

On Monday evening, a 15-year-old boy in South Korea got into a heated argument with his mom. The mother apparently felt that her teen was spending too much time playing online video games, and scolded him. But, instead of just storming off to his room and wallowing in teenage angst, this gamer decided to take things several tragic steps further. According to police in the southeastern city of ...

Media pot-stirrers typically denounce video game violence because of its supposedly negative effects on impressionable children. In California, though, participating in violent games -- even if the violence is only implied -- apparently indicates the presence of dangerous and deep-seated emotional flaws in adults. California's Merced Sun-Star recently devoted an entire column to the 'Mafia ...

The debate surrounding the effect of violent video games on today's youth is a pretty contentious one: some insist that superfluous exposure to violence only encourages similar behavior in hormonally charged teenagers; others argue that a child's behavioral problems have more to do with parenting than what games he or she plays after school. According to a recent study, though, games' effects on ...

Some people take their video games very, very seriously. We thought the kid who hired a hit man after his parents took way his PlayStation was batty, but we've got a new mayor of Crazytown here, and his name is Julien Barreaux. Barreaux had spent the last six months of his life looking for the man that killed his character during a virtual knife fight in the online shooter 'Counter-Strike.' ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... Ashton Kutcher's recent cerebral endeavors have apparently bored Twitosphere simpletons. Britney Spears has actually usurped Kutcher as Twitter's reigning despot, as her followers now represent the largest horde on the site. In response, Kutcher (who just earned himself a slow, dramatic clap) tweeted the perfectly succinct, "I don't ...

Share If you're still blaming 'Duck Hunt' for the fact that your kid grew up to be a serial killer, wait till you get a load of the bloodthirsty games Nickelodeon is now marketing to today's generation of miscreants. The Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has awarded Nickelodeon's AddictingGames.com with the dubious title of 'worst toy of the year,' after tallying nearly 5,000 ...

Finally, The Boy Scouts of America has stepped into the 21st century. According to Engadget, Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and Webelos can now earn a belt loop or pin for playing video games. Of course, with this being a service organization, you don't earn it by racking up a high score. Instead, it's about learning to be responsible and teaching the community about video games. You can check out all ...

Before he began his disastrous gubernatorial term in Sacramento, Arnold Schwarzenegger shot to international stardom on the strength of a Hollywood career defined by a violent onscreen persona. Today, though, Schwarzenegger finds himself staunchly defending a piece of California legislation aimed at limiting the spread of violent media, and the debate has now made it all the way to the Supreme ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/03/22/army-overhauls-basic-training-to-toughen-softer-gamer-generati/'; Share Though critics of video games are forever arguing that playing violent video games leads to violent behavior, the U.S. Army doesn't believe that these games are creating tougher soldiers. According to a report from NPR, the Army is overhauling its basic training program for the ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... Amazon has been steadily unrolling an impressive arsenal of new Kindle apps, and a sneak preview of an iPad version just appeared today. Details concerning a Barnes & Noble iPad app have also emerged, including news that it will feature customizable color fonts and quick "finger swipe" page turns. [From: Engadget] Another ...

Fans of massively multi-player online games (MMOs) frequently receive ridicule for their fervent devotion to online avatars. Rarely do those devoted gamers become so engrossed in their multiple virtual personalities that they face criminal charges, though, let alone negligent death accusations. In a horrific case of Net obsession, a South Korean couple has been charged in relation to the death ...

Studies linking violence and video games are a dime a dozen, but, according to The Washington Post, Iowa State University psychologist Craig Anderson claims that playing violent games definitively leads to violent thought and action. Set to be published in the American Psychological Association's (APA) March journal, his research claims that data from previous studies, of 130,000 people total, ...

Despite the seemingly endless stream of studies decrying the negative repercussions of playing video games, someone will, on occasion, publicly praise gaming's therapeutic and educational benefits. Studies have shown that video games can restore eyesight, and some people have even claimed that playing games has helped them to overcome nightmares and longstanding fears, teach history and proper ...

In light of their alleged emotional ramifications on children, certain video games are often labeled as "dangerous." But it turns out a number of children almost literally lost their lives last year by playing their favorite games, according to the Houston Chronicle. Last autumn, families in areas of Texas affected by Hurricane Ike were forced indoors due to the brutal storm and its messy ...