Fire up the Tivo!

Jason Della Rocca, executive of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) advises that he will appear on MSNBC's morning news with host Amy Robach (left) this morning.

According to Jason, he'll be debating in five-minute segments with Blois Olson of the National Institute on Media & the Family at 9:30 EDT and later with Dr. Craig Anderson of Iowa State University at 10:30 EDT.

Topics will include video game violence and the recent Dawson College rampage. Della Rocca lives in Montreal, where the shootings took place.

This timely comic from Filibuster Cartoons really doesn't need an explanation, does it?

GP: Kudos to Jabrwock for sending it our way...

As the smoke begins to clear on last week's school shooting at Montreal's Dawson College, Canadian media pundits are offering opinions on the relationship between violent video games and the rampage. In the Calgary Sun, columnist Licia Corbella writes:

"You are what you eat. Garbage in, garbage out... if you consume violence, you will be violent... Kimveer Gill practiced what he preached... He acted out on the music he listened to, the games he played... His favourite video game was Super Columbine Massacre RPG..."

"In a fascinating, if not utterly maddening interview... (Super Columbine designer Danny) Ledonne calls his disgraceful, exploitative game 'art' and 'social commentary' ...That someone who would create a 'game' so cruel, insensitive and immoral can then speak of morals is galling and hypocritical in the extreme."

"Is Ledonne partly responsible for Wednesday's mayhem? Legally, no. But what about morally?"
( Read more... )

"The world, as usual, is more complex than we'd like it to be," said Georgia Tech Ian Bogost, addressing concerns that an amateur video game based on the Columbine massacre inspired a 25-year-old man to go on a shooting rampage in Montreal on Wednesday.

Bogost, interviewed by CTV, added, "Certainly, (the shooter) was using media of all kinds to culture his antisocial fantasies. Should we hold (this game) responsible? Clearly, these are overly simplistic explanations."

Bogost has much more on the Dawson shooting on his Water Cooler Games website.
( Read more... )