 | Here We Go Again...Jack Thompson at it Again October 24, 2007 1:50am in thoughts |
 So I was watching an interview on FOX with Jack Thompson regarding Manhunt 2. It was pretty much just as I expected...Jack Thompson putting himself on this giant pedestool claiming the game should be outright banned. He claimed a corrupt ESRB and stores selling these kinds of games to kids as reasons for banning. He calls the fact that Manhunt 2 went from Adults Only to Mature a blatant sign of corruption in the ESRB. Jack goes on to say that because the game can be sold to kids, it should be banned. He says that children should be protected from this. He said kids can go onto Amazon.com and buy the game or go into stores and do the same without a parent. First let's touch the Amazon.com option. To shop at Amazon legally, you need to either be 18, or have a parent/guardian supervising. The conditions of use for Amazon say:
Amazon does sell products for children, but it sells them to adults, who can purchase with a credit card or other permitted payment method. If you are under 18, you may use Amazon.com only with involvement of a parent or guardian. Amazon reserves the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders in their sole discretion.
So if someone goes onto the site and buys something, they should be 18, and if they are, then what is all the fuss about? If they aren't, Amazon reserves the right to cancel orders should they deem the buyer to be ineligable. Now while Amazon cannot physically monitor who is using their site, what parent in their right mind would give their 12 year old a credit card? And in terms of physical stores like Best Buy and GameStop, well that's the store's policy on whether to sell the game or not. So why the hell, Jack, are you going after the game? Go after the stores if you feel so strongly about limiting sales to minors. Jack compares this protection of children to the protection from porn. Okay, adult sites have age checkers to prevent those underage from registerring for their sites. But what about the countless sites that offer free previews or have pictures on their front page. Any unsupervised kid on a computer without some sort of filter could google "sex" and bring up hundreds of thousands of different sites. So Jack, are you going to push to ban all computers? While you're at it, why not ban the entire internet? It still comes down to one question. Where the hell are the parents? I'm not a parent, but isn't it THEIR responsibility to monitor what their children do, play, watch, see, etc? My parents did that to me, and at the time, I HATED it. Looking back at it now, I'm glad they were the way they were. I sure as hell will not let my future kids play certain games until I feel they are old enough. At the end of the day, this is the big thing. The parents should be responsible for their kids. But parents will try to pass off that responsibility to someone else instead of taking responsibility for their kids. I mean the games all have ratings clearly marked on them. E for everyone, T for teen, M for mature. I don't know enough about the inner workings about the ESRB to be able to dispute or agree with Jack's claims of corruption, but looking at the games I own and their ratings; the ratings are pretty doggone accurate. The ratings even give a brief reasoning for the rating. There are also plenty of websites with resources for parents about these video games. The parents need to be involved with what their children play. Banning a game is only going to help parents shrug off their responsibilities. I will say that I have no problem requiring stores to check for ID when buying M-rated games like they do with tobacco and alcohol. The games are not being banned, and you're still having a process to help protect the children. As far as I'm concerned, this would be a viable option to protect the children and the first amendment that Jack seems to be ignoring or at best, twisting it to fit his purposes. Several states have tried this, but seem to have the law struck down by the court systems. Jack, why don't you spend your time lobbying for this instead of trying to ban games. The First Amendment allows for freedom of speech, and freedom of expression. Video games definitely fall under this category. While I do agree with Jack in that children need to be protected, banning video games, or a video game is not the way to do it. Jack seems to have a record of twisting the amendment around to help him attempt to win his arguments. While that tactic may not be unique to him, the First Amendment allows for game makers to make whatever kind of game they choose. In the end, Jack Thompson was just being Jack Thompson. It's a shame because he seems to have a lot charisma about his "cause". If only he would put it towards a more, how shall we say it, reasonable endeavour. You can watch the interview here [Youtube.com] |
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| What Should I Do This Weekend October 19, 2007 5:45pm in life |
 Well the weekend is finally here and now I get to decide how I am going to spend it. I have some plans that may involve going out already set up, but for my time spent hanging around, what shall I do? If the weather clears up, I very well might decide to go for a bike ride, but with the way things are looking right now weather-wise, the bike ride very much looks like it's out of the question. Here are some of my ideas: 1.) Halo 3 - tried and true, whenever I get on live, I always seem to have a good time. I would like to work on getting some more skulls. 2.) Warhawk - I was playing this game last night before and after poker. Didn't thrill me too much when I initially got it, but since playing it last night, it's grown on me. 3.) The Orange Box - I still need to beat HL2. Portal and TF2 are also fun. 4.) Work on the Website - I'm still trying to come up with new things to add to my site, maybe punch out some small bugs I've noticed. 5.) Come up with a new programming project for myself - maybe something using C#, although that would mean that it would be windows based. 6.) World of Warcraft - Haven't touched this in a while, maybe should decide to keep my account or just say goodbye. 7.) Work on my playlists - I have like no playlists on my iPod, laptop, or desktop (all 3 operating systems), maybe its time to work on creating some. 8.) Zelda Twilight Princess - Maybe I can find some way to kill that damned cat, or rescue it. Either way, it's looking to be a relaxing weekend...hopefully I'll find something fun to do. |
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| What the Hell October 18, 2007 12:07am in thoughts |
 So I was playing Halo 3 on XBOX Live, as I have been doing a lot lately. It's a fun game, especially with friends, getting the whole rivalry going as to who's going to kick more ass. Well today I ended up going onto matchmaking alone while I was waiting for my buddies to get on. I was placed in a room with 4 others, an every man for himself match to 25 kills or 8 minutes. All of my opponents sounded like they were barely 10 years old. All of them are using more foul language than I do. What the hell, these kids are less than half my age, and I'm only 23! If I were to say half the things that I heard over the headset when I was their age, I wouldn't be able to talk anymore, my mom woulda ripped my throat out. Then again, my Mom wouldn't have even let me on something like XBOX Live, or even play any game rated higher than Teen. Yet there I was sitting there listening to them trash talk everyone in the room with less than polite phrases and words. While I'm not so much surprised at this, its kind of sad to think that these kids are acting like this. What's sadder still is that some of them probably have little to no idea what exactly the words they're saying truly mean. I'm sure some do, but I'm also sure, some are just repeating what they heard others say. On a side note, despite all their trash talking, I stayed quiet and kicked their asses, I was the first to 25 and the person in 2nd only had 16. Yes, I'm sure beating a bunch of preteens is such an amazing achievement. |
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| Awesome Halo 3 Plasma Grenade Stick October 08, 2007 11:33am in videos |
| I saw this a little while back, thought it was kinda cool.
The person who threw the grenade probably calls that skill. The person who got stuck...well he probably thinks its just luck...and I'm forced to agree. Nice throw, just luck it stuck him. Tags: Array |
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| Stupid Cat October 08, 2007 1:09am in life |
| So I just started playing Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii. Not a bad game so far. But this stupid, good-for-nothing cat won't go back to his owner and I'm pretty sure I got to rescue it. Problem is, I can't pick the sucker up or find some way to lead it back. Stupid cat... Today was uneventful, was at home for my Mom's birthday. Went out to dinner tonight and talked. It was good to be home. Sucks work starts back up tomorrow...where did the weekend go. Hopefully it will be a fast one. |
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