Aaaaand Fox News is back in the news – this time, it’s Bulletstorm’s skillshot system that has their so-called experts all up in a dizzy moral panic.
“The in-game awards system, called Skill Shots, ties the ugly, graphic violence into explicit sex acts: “topless” means cutting a player in half, while a “gang bang” means killing multiple enemies,” writes porn expert John Brandon in the article. “And with kids as young as 9 playing such games, the experts FoxNews.com spoke with were nearly universally worried that video game violence may be reaching a fever pitch.”
Carol Lieberman, one of Cosmo’s “top therapists” and a regular columnist for that internationally-recognised benchmark of credible authority on everything, the National Enquirer, is quoted as saying that, ““The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games.” She doesn’t back it up with any evidence, but it must be true because she said it.
While EA points meaningfully to the game’s M-for-Mature rating, the article quickly dismisses this, claiming kids are playing the games anyway like this is the ESRB’s fault, and not stupid parents.
“Video game publishers traditionally stay glib about the issue of violence,” John adds, in an amazing display of irrelevance.
“Microsoft, maker of the Xbox 360 console, declined to comment. Epic Games did not respond to requests, and the developer did not respond. Remi Sklar, the vice president of Public Relations at Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, which makes numerous video games (though is unconnected to Bulletstorm), offered the following statement: ‘We don’t have a comment for that story.’”
In-game sex scenes largely responsible for increase in rape statistics, says Fox News << Discuss in the forums
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