For the record, let me say that I hate shovelling snow. It sucks, its a useless job (you shovel it and its covered back up 10 minutes later) and worst of all, your parents, of course, are crazy about having it done. Now onto the real subject of why i'm typing now. This rant rated For extreme political views, bashing of stupidity, and to make fun of the dumbest organization to ever exist (ESRB) -= Initialzing rant engine v .0982a =- I just dug up this little article from Slashdot (cool site. If you use the internet and never heard of it, you should be shot!) Quote** WASHINGTON (AP) -- Video games that have players shoot rival gang members, watch bare-breasted women and recreate the assassination of President Kennedy were criticized Tuesday by advocacy groups that said, at the least, they should be kept away from children. In issuing its annual report card on video games, the National Institute on Media and the Family urged the industry to educate parents better about ratings and asked retailers not to sell such games to younger teenagers. Unquote** Another group of reactionaries tearing video games for inciting our children to violence. How Quaint. Moving on: *** "This segment of games keeps getting more realistic, and they keep pushing the envelope," David Walsh, the institute's president, said at a news conference. "The problem is that these games are the ones that are particularly popular with kids, particularly teenagers." ** Uhh.. read the above part. Does that not kinda contradict the entire point of selling these games to not sell them to the people they're most popular with?? *** Another group of church and civic leaders, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, also urged video game makers to place tighter restrictions on the sale of violent video games to children, including having retailers place them in locations less accessible to children. ** I dont think that some religious group has any business saying how games are to be sold. Remember this phrase throughout what i'm saying here "ITS ONLY A GAME!" "Place them in locations less accessible to children??" Um, IMNSHO, games go with the rest of the games, reguardless of content. Where you gonna put em at? In the liquor section!? *** Like others on the group's list, the games are rated "M" for mature, which means retailers are not supposed to sell them to people under 17. Walsh said some of the games should be rated "AO" or "adults only," which would limit purchase to those 18 and over. Many stores will not carry games with that rating ** I can see "not supposed to sell them to people under 17" but this is the business of the retailer selling the games. Defintely not the business of some religious group, and sure as hell not the government! Reminds me of the smoking ban ya know? Its all crap! I think if i run a restaurant (or a bar (!)) that i should decide if people can smoke in it. NOT THE LEGISLATURE! Further we read and we see that games like GTA:San Andreas should be getting AO ratings?? When most stores wont carry them? Ok then, rate all the games where stores won't carry them, then an entire industry will collapse because some people cant keep their nose where it belongs! On a side note, when Halo 2 was released on the 9th, ya see that little black-and-white abomination carrying the letter M on the corner of the box? Yeah. Somehow i was allowed to buy this game, nevermind the fact that i'm only 16 years old and the clerk didnt even ask for ID. IMNSHO, the first thing that wal-mart has done correctly. This will become a moot point for me next month as i turn 17 on december the 29th, but for those of you out there who ARE deprived of some of these amazing games (Really, halo 2 is worth the price of an xbox alone, its just that good!), please support the publishers and go buy them online where there is none of this age verification BS (You can get a free bank account with a visa check&cash card almost anywhere thats accepted almost everywhere, (including online!), but get the game somehow. But, if blood, the S*** word, or aliens getting killed offends you, then miss out on it. Your only cheating yourself. *ahem* Getting back on topic: *** ...the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association has pledged to create tougher standards by December to forbid the sale of mature games to children. ** Whaa!? Now instead of urging retailers not to sell the games to younger ones, now its "forbid" ? And who defines how old a "child" is? Ridiculous. *** "The fact that the assassination of President Kennedy, which broke our hearts and altered our history, could become the subject of a video game from which people are making money is just outrageous, it is despicable, it's unbelievable," Lieberman said. ** Nobody's making you play the game, Lieberman. If you dont like it, dont download it!!! ** The "JFK Reloaded" game, released Monday to near universal condemnation, is available only by downloading from the Internet. Lowenstein said the game does not come from a mainstream company and agreed that its subject matter was inappropriate. ** Last i checked, its not your job to determine what's "appropriate" and what isnt. Again, if such a thing offends you, i suggest you don't download it. But leave the rest of the free world out of it, buddy. Yes, the JFK assasination was sad. Yes it did change history forever, no i'm not oblivous to the fact that this will horribly offend some people, no i do not question the motives of the people making this game. But, heres my philosophy in a nutshell. If you are offended by it, stay away from it. If others like it, mind your own damn business! ++++rant engine offline+++general protection fault+++++ What?! Honestly i need a new rant engine, this POS breaks down whenver i start to really get going :P Oh well This is Tsukasa, signing off Oyasumi -TK