GeekSugar

What Is the Best Video Game of the Decade?

GeekSugar — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:30:51 PST

It was pretty hard to narrow down the top games of the year, so imagine how painful it was to pick just a choice few games of the decade! It's almost impossible to cast one game aside for another, but ruthless decisions must be made. So out of these fine titles here, tell me what is the best video game of the decade?

And don't stop here - check the rest of my Best of 2009 polls, too!

The Sims (2000)

24%(108)

Halo (2001)

9%(40)

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

5%(24)

World of Warcraft (2004)

19%(84)

Resident Evil 4 (2005)

2%(10)

Wii Sports (2006)

8%(38)

Rock Band (2007)

10%(46)

Super Mario Galaxy (2007)

7%(30)

BioShock (2008)

4%(17)

Mass Effect (2008)

4%(18)

Metal Gear Solid 4: Rise of the Patriots (2008)

4%(17)

Uncharted 2: Among Thives

5%(22)

Total votes: 454

Daily Tech: Wii Fit Plus to Be Available In the US on Oct.4

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:11:55 PDT

Do You Blame GTA For Teen Killing Taxi Driver?

GeekSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:30:56 PDT

In another round of GTA related crimes, a Bangkok teen has been sentenced to death after stabbing a taxi driver multiple times. His reason? He wanted to see if it was as easy to steal a cab in real life as it is in the controversial Grand Theft Auto game.

The 18-year-old student, who is known to be quite the obsessed GTA player, says that he didn't really mean to kill the victim, that he only started stabbing the driver when he began fighting back.

I know GTA has had a bad rap from the get-go, but I'm gonna put the blame where blame is due on this one: the kid with the knife. Do you blame GTA's influence for this incident?

Source

Thai Teen Kills Taxi Driver, Video Game Pulled Off Every Shelf

LibertySugar — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:30:18 PDT

The strikingly violent video game Grand Theft Auto IV will no longer be sold in Thailand, after a teenager murdered a taxi driver while trying to bring the virtual violence into reality. Video retailers have pulled the game off the shelves, and replaced it with other games. As for the teen who played the game for hours a day over a few years span, he now faces a possible death sentence.

Bangkok's police chief said that the teen wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game. He said the boy planned to use the stolen money to play the game at arcades.

While I have a low tolerance for violence (I closed my eyes during most of The Dark Knight), I can't decide if I think Thailand is overreacting to this individual's crime. To see what experts might say,

read more. Some empirical research has shown that high levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school, and violent criminal behavior. I wonder which is the cause, and which is the effect. Still, other research maintains that there is no connection between violence and gaming. If the distributors of Grand Theft Auto start self-censoring, will movies, cage fighting, and other forms of violent entertainment be expected to follow?

Teens Blame Grand Theft Auto For Their All-Night Crime Spree

GeekSugar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:00:39 PDT

It seems that this little video game out in the world known as Grand Theft Auto tends to get people riled up - just check the comments on this post and that post, and it turns out that the game also riles people up in the real world, and has turned into an inspiration of sorts.

Just ask the group of teen boys who went on an all-night crime spree of mugging and bashing cars with baseball bats and crowbars. After they were apprehended, a police spokesman for Nassau County, New York, said that the boys admitted they were "emulating the character in that Grand Theft Auto game" (oh, that naughty Nico!).

I've got my bucket of popcorn ready to see how this case and its defense plays out. What do you guys make of all this?

Source

Which Is Worse in a Video Game: Sex or Violence?

GeekSugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:05:58 PDT

By now, it shouldn't surprise you that the cornerstones of the hugely successful video game franchise Grand Theft Auto are sex and violence. The San Andreas version's hidden sex scenes even spurred a class-action lawsuit, where offended buyers could sue, but what the lawyers in this case were most surprised by were how few people actually cared about the scenes - only 2,676 filed claims (of the millions of GTA consumers).

Maybe they were more perturbed by the senseless killings of innocent randoms? Of the dialogues I have heard on GTA, more people cite the extreme violence of the game as what bothers them, over the tasteless sexuality portrayed in the game. While I'm a little more disturbed by people using avatars to mindlessly blow the heads off others, I also wouldn't want my (imaginary) young kids watching sex scenes in their games (especially in the nature of GTA; you know what I'm talking about).

A few months ago, I did a poll asking whether sex and violence in games bothered you or not, which turned out to be somewhat of a three-way split among, "Yes, it does," "No, it doesn't," and "I love sex and violence!" Now, I'd like to find out which is the worse offender. So, you weigh in: Which bothers you more, sex or violence?

Source

Grand Theft Auto: Soccer Dads and Happy Lads Edition, II

GiggleSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:00:00 PDT

It's official: The G-rated version of Grand Theft Auto is a hit and Conan's back with more. He maintained the setting and atmosphere of the original game, but tweaked the values and motives of the players - just a bit. The result is quite lovely. Everyone acts with a little more . . . Sense and Sensibility. Now who wouldn't want that?

Grand Theft Auto: Soccer Dads and Happy Lads Edition

GiggleSugar — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:00:00 PDT

Grand Theft Auto, the ridiculously offensive and violent video game that scores big with kids and grown buffoons alike, released its fourth edition this past week. Much to my delight, it's a keeper! I had a hunch that all the needless bloodshed, prostitute abuse, and vulgar language would get old and eventually give way to something a little more happy-go-Tootsie. All our players need is a fresh set of linens and a decent meditation spot. With these things, they're good to go eat their soy dogs in peace.

Violent Video Games For All?

GeekSugar — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:39:24 PDT

The US Supreme Court ruled today that it is unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment to ban children from buying violent video games. In a 7-2 vote, the court overturned a California law banning the sale and rental of violent video games to anyone underage. Video games like Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto were singled out during the trial for the violent first-person perspectives that have become commonplace in many games.

In the court's majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia referred specifically to the dark folk tales children have read for generations as a precedent for First Amendment protection of sometimes questionable media:

Certainly the books we give children to read-or read to them when they are younger-contain no shortage of gore. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, are grim in- deed. As her just deserts for trying to poison Snow White, the wicked queen is made to dance in red hot slippers “till she fell dead on the floor, a sad example of envy and jeal-ousy.”

The other side of this issue will point out that video games are a very different and immersive medium from literature, one in which the player experiences police chases and shoot-outs in a lifelike environment. What's your take on this heated issue, should the government put an age ban on violent media?