Video Game Violence, Ratings and Your Children

spec-ops-the-line-violence-headerIt’s just one of those things that we gamers have come to expect. Any time that video games are even tangentially related to a violent crime, the mainstream media will jump on that as a reason for the commission of that crime, regardless of the numerous studies that show no causative relationship between video game violence and real violence.

The latest case of the persecution of video games and gamers comes from Louisiana where an 8-year-old boy shot his grandmother in the head. The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Department have strongly implied that the boy playing Grand Theft Auto IV led to the shooting.

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Explaining Our Video Game Review Scoring

We’re on the review request list for a few upcoming games during the run to the Christmas gift buying season. Since we’re going to be doing more video game reviews over the next couple of months, I think it’s time to explain the video game rating system that we’ll be using. Video game reviews are generally all over the map in terms of what the final score actually means. Hopefully by detailing our system, we’ll help you make more informed decisions when dropping $60 for a game. Continue reading