Game ratings, for me, are more a guide. If I feel a game is okay, then I'll buy it for my kids. I do not want my kids to get around my filter.

I do not want my kids to get around my filter.
The best solution is to not give them the money to do so.

I disagree with most of you. Allowing impressionable children access to violent games is bad. People now are very vulgar due to the acceptance of vulgar language in our music and on the airways. The point can be made without all the rude and vulgar language. The youth have become desensitized to violence by overexposure. They no longer hesitate to threaten (or do) bodily harm to others. It seems that it takes a death to wake them up. Children (and some adults) need boundaries to protect society. Most teens are almost illiterate because they speak "ghetto" all day every day. We have fallen far behind in education and the workplace due to this lack of boundaries. We all need to protect the youth and support the growth of education. Acting like a punk or a thug only hurts us all. We should not idolize or try to emulate the worst parts of it. We all want a better life for ourselves and our children. The small act of removing violent games from children is no worse than removing a bottle of whiskey from a child.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

"Most teens are almost illiterate because they speak "ghetto" all day every day"

Thats a pretty broad reaching statement. The usage of "Most" in particular makes that statement ridiculous. "Most" teens are quite articulate. You might get me to believe that most are fairly ignorant of how the real world works, but saying that "Most" teens are illiterate is just plain wrong.

"We have fallen far behind in education and the workplace due to this lack of boundaries."

lack of boundaries? Personally I see public schools coddle kids too much from the real world. Public schools today sicken me in their over reaching attempts at being PC.

"We all need to protect the youth and support the growth of education"

Protecting the youth has it's limits. Limits which have been taken further and further every year until you end up with what we have now. Stifling concentration camps, otherwise known as your local public school. Sooner a later a line has to be drawn on what we "protect" our children from and what we let Darwin take care of.

"Acting like a punk or a thug only hurts us all."

Bullying and aggressive behavior has been with mankind from the dawn of time. It's nothing new and certainly not related to an "desensitizing" as you claim it to be.

"We all want a better life for ourselves and our children."

Of course we do, but not at the expense of our freedom. I would argue that keeping those freedoms IS providing a better life for my children.

"The small act of removing violent games from children is no worse than removing a bottle of whiskey from a child."

That's no "small act" as you put it. It's a huge step into censorship with far reaching effects other then shutting off some already unstable individuals from a few over the top games. Let parent's do their job for a change and the government keep it's nose out of my home.

It's called purposeful conditioning. The rich rule the poor through keeping them dumb, deaf, blind, and preoccupied with pure garbage (in whatever form). The world we live in now with big corporations and their government butt-buddies is a virtual minefield for humans ages 1-60. I could elaborate but Betanews' but the storage capacity of Betanews' servers is still too limited.

I have nightmares at night ever since I saw Elmer Fudd blow away Bugs Bunny.

Hollywood has spent a fair amount on going back to "update" old movies to edit out smoking and racial terms that don't fit into today's culture. I'm sure they'll consider going through old cartoons and editing out all the shooting and dropping anvils and axe chopping stuff.

"Mommy, why did the coyote's head flatten out? It isn't like anything hit him."

Boy I hope not, the thought of something like that makes me glad I bought the Loony Tunes Golden Collection

Goodbye legit market.
Hello black market!

Games are always violent. Movies are too. Bambi has death in it where a hunter shoots a deer. It is rated G for all audiences.
The point is for the games to draw a line on how much violence they show. Maybe the biggest problem is not the kids playing the games that go out and kill, but the parents that don't supervise their kids well. They don't teach them the difference between good and bad. They also do not teach the difference between fiction and non-fiction. any kid can go into a library and check out a novel that has graphic descriptions of killing, yet they aren't banning those? How about comic books? The key is parental guidance, not banning media. What is next if they find they can infringe on our idea of entertainment?

BTW, actual war is not the topic, go to mainstream media blog for venting about who is right and wrong.

EU - follow your system for movies. Apply it to your games. Save yourself any more trouble; they're the same.

We do,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEGI

Mhh, following the line US and EU should ban newspapers. Middle East is far more violent than any game I played.
How hypocritical the human being can be?
Palestine is not a game, Iraq neither, please ban the war game for Mr. Bush and Olmert instead.

Following your train of thought I guess we should ban terrorism too, or does that not count?

was that supposed to make any sense?

Of course you should. But I think it this way: Mr. Bush promoted terrorism. If he didn't start one war after another, today the world could be less violent, with less terrorism.
I also think that state terrorism is the worst kind of it. Add obscure economic interests (read oil, etc, etc) and you have the terror world you have today.
Ok, maybe this is not the place to discuss this events, sorry... I can't avoid talking about what's wrong...
All I wanted to say is that the games are NOT the problem.

No, games are not the problem, they are a symptom of a violent society, but your anti-Bush rant (with all the usual trimmings) has nothing to do with anything.

It seems like my english is not good enough: Let me post it short and clear:
Games are not the problem, the government is it.
Wake up!

I think you're a little mistaken here. President Bush did not start the violence overseas. The terrorist groups started the violence a long time ago (not just against the USA) and we finally have a president who is strong enough to say - enough.

Anyone who thinks that if the USA were to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan would immediately stop all of the terrorist activies across the world is fooling themselves. If that were to happen, the activies would increase exponentially because the nut jobs that are these terrorists would see that they can intimidate anyone into doing what they want and they will have free reign to do as they please.

What their version of life is, is something I would not wish on the most disliked person on the planet.

Just look at the facts of how some of the Islamist countries treat their citizens. If you don't agree with everything that their form of belief entails, then you are worse than slime and are harassed, displaced, murdered and defiled.

These are not nice people who want peace. Wake up and smell the coffee, if the USA and it's allies walk away from this, everyone will be bowing their face to Mecca five times a day before long, or they will be put to the sword.

I don't see any benefit for the US stay in Iraq or start another war. All I am seeing is more and more people getting kill every day. The area has been more violent before we got in there. We are creating a civil war in the country. And where it will going to end up? Just look at Korea and Vietnam.

With the money we spent in this way, we can save a lot of hungry people in Africa or other third world countries, and as well as raising their living standard.

Of course, if you are people and companies like Halliburton, then yes, plenty of beneifts for keeping this war going.

I don't see any benefit for the US stay in Iraq ...just look at Korea and Vietnam.
Your examples are flawed, we pulled out of both in the end. Instead of Korea and Vietnam, take a look at Japan...where we stuck around for a long time. Not that I agree with the war in Iraq, but the US has made a mess, so it is its responsibility to see it through.

You do have a good point about the money would have been better spent with humanitarian efforts, as poor living conditions and no future are one of the leading causes of people turning to terrorism. It is kinda hard for self-proclaimed religious leaders to convince people to kill themselves when they have something to live for.

Great idea! A ban on terrorism. Why didn't this come up earlier?
By all means, card kids for games.

I bet you believe everything the Bush administration puts out. You still think they're gonna find WMD in Iraq? Or that the quality of life for your average citizen over there is better off now that they're free?

Ok I get it. Blame the government for everything....fine.

"I bet you believe everything the Bush administration puts out. You still think they're gonna find WMD in Iraq? Or that the quality of life for your average citizen over there is better off now that they're free?"

So rather than question the actual points in his post, you want to redirect to something different? How pathetic.

Wait--the US government, right?

Since you do not speak english "good enough", I'd venture to guess that 99% of what you hear about the US is bullsh$%--or if you are here in the US then you're not a US citizen.

So--are you just anti-US or are you upset that your country was so horrible that you came into the US to complain about its "stupid leader" all day?

In the EU's defense--the very little defense that they have--it is just entering the looking stage at this point. The fact that they are actually looking at it means it is a step farther than the US has gone towards banning 'violent' video games.

Okay, having said that, you guys that read my comments at least every now and then know how I feel about the EU in general, so I need not remind you :)