Well, he has his own oppinion on the situation (as ignorant as it may be). He just needs a reality check is all.

Doesn't California have a MASSIVE homeless problem right now? Or that failing trash service issue and countless other problems that have yet to be addressed? Isn't it his job to deal with issues in his cities that physically affect the quality of life for his citizens instead of wasting time informing people of some sort of Videogame boogy-man that's going to creepy into their childrens' brains?

Impeach him. For the love of all that is holy, IMPEACH HIM, California. This bull-shit-spouting, money wasting, moron needs to be out of office, NOW.

If there is ANY hope for American politics, it should happen.

@Gray17

Forget Metroid Prime, he includes Super 3D Noah's Ark by using that statement.

"And the other to Pandralisk for not mentioning religion once in his rant."

... at least, not in this thread

how's that saying go now? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" I believe is what I'm looking for.

who the hell acually wants manhunt. it sucks. I dobt many ten year olds want it much less herd of it.

I would love to know if those are real statistics, or just made up to sound good.

My list includes a 360

assassins creed limmeted

mass effect

bioshock

gears of war

random other one.

I will be TRAINING all holiday

Ah, where to begin on this? I'm really not sure...

"Eighty-seven percent of children between 8 and 17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults."

Wait...who's fault is it that these kids play these games in the first place? Oh, right, the parents. Which means either they don't have a problem with it/their kid is mature enough to handle it, or they don't give a shit. Moving on...

"It is vitally important that parents and grandparents consider the content in video games before making holiday purchases. Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games."

Can't be trusted? What the hell do you want it to do, reach out from the box and slap the hands of children who try to touch the game case? It's a friggin' rating, it does the same thing that movie ratings do - that is, SUGGEST a RECOMMENDED age for the content in the game. Relativity aside, the final judgment call rests with the parents, as per usual.

"Unfortunately, some parents don’t realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities."

The hell? How many top-selling games do this? I can't remember the last torture sim I played. And outside of the occasional GTA rampage, the last time a game even offered cops as (potential) enemies. But seriously, this is another God-awful example of stereotyping popular games as "Grand Theft Auto and ONLY Grand Theft Auto" - I'm really getting sick of this stereotype, too. I have enough to put up with without an additional stigma being attached to me because I'm a gamer.

"Avoid the “first person shooter” and “third person shooter” killing-machine games."

I don't even know what to say to that.

"Discourage games that reward the player with more points or new scenes for anti-social and violent behavior."

Because the addiction to the sweet sensation of earning "points" transfers over to reality so well. I love scoring points off of random acts of violence in the real world.

Sigh. I can't wait until the people wearing suits in government and law positions are the ones who grew up playing games.

Whatever happened to the good old days of Politicians wasting tax payer time and money by literally doing nothing, instead of just pretending to do something?

"It is vitally important that parents and grandparents consider the content in video games before making holiday purchases."

Common sense! This had me thinking that Yee was promoting sensibility and responsibility in choosing media for kids without bias against games. Then he continues...

"Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games."

How can it not be trusted? It tells you exactly on the box what is in the game. I suppose it doesn't matter how good something is, if you have a grudge and have your mind made up to dismiss it or disapprove of it, you will. Parents should be watching the content of the games anyway, but the ESRB ratings are the first source of information and a parent with any brains or sense of responsibility will be able to make a good decision based on them alone.

"Unfortunately, some parents don’t realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers"

I will admit that I have actively participated in killing cops in GTA (how can you inactively participate?), but I have never been rewarded for it.

"maiming elderly persons"

What game is this?

"running over pedestrians"

Running over the pedestrians in GTA, once again, does not reward you in any way.

"and torturing women and racial minorities."

Now it was just misinformed up until this point, but here is a complete out and out lie! I have NEVER played any game in which you torture someone, much less be rewarded for it. Maybe some tasteless person with too much time on their hands might knock up some flash game like this, but to my knowledge, NOT ONE game that is ESRB rated and sold in stores allows the player to torture women and minorities.

"Avoid the “first person shooter” and “third person shooter” killing-machine games."

Killing machine games... That sounds like the people who decried rock and roll as corrupting their children. It makes the man sound old and out of touch. Wait...what?

"Discourage games that reward the player with more points or new scenes for anti-social and violent behavior."

Screw the reward, kids should not be playing ANY game that features violent scenes. By this statement, would a film where Person X tortures a victim in a gory scene, but is then caught by the police and jailed for life be acceptable for kids? He doesn't get rewarded for his behaviour! In all of the GTA games, the more violent and anti-social you are, the more difficult it is to play the game. The same in Bully.

whose retarded children actually want Manhunt?

well i guess Yee has brainwashed his kids into being little anti-christs just so he can use them as an example of how children shouldn't be...

At least he understands that M-Rated games are directed towards adults and not children.

The rest of this is just pure shock-inducing dribble and lies for the ignorant to misinterpret. Kids want Manhunt 2 for Christmas? On what planet?

Education for the parents is the issue. Nearly there with this sentiment, but again, rounded off with poor thought out arguments. Also, i would like to know in which game you are rewarded for the running over of pedestrians. In fact just once i would like a critic to come out and say which game does all these things, as i don't know and feel that a great gaming oppurtunity must have passed gamers by, but the critics got a copy and played it to death.

"It is vitally important that parents and grandparents consider the content in video games before making holiday purchases. Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games."

The ratings system can be trusted, it's just that all these asshole parents don't bother reading it and would rather blame the industry.

Do any of the parents that I presume the likes of Yee and the Keith Vaz ever feel slightly patronised when the obvious is stated to them? "don't buy the game with the M/18 rating, because it may not be suitable for your children"

I'm sure that this easy point scoring is good for their profile, despite the fact that it brings absolutely nothing of worth to the table, as far as the debate goes, but really, they're treating their audience like they're complete cretins.

"...many top selling games..."

I see Yee hasn't stoppes lying to advance his own agenda. Unsurprising.

Many??? How did Manhunt 2 all of a sudden become "many games"?

How about these press types give every other State Senator of California the same amount of free campaign help on pork-barrel issues? His primary goal is for CA voters to know who he is.

@Buckeye, how much do you think he cares what any of us have to say? Just think about it for a few minutes.

So instead of taking an opportunity to educate people on THE OBVIOUS RATING system, Yee decides to tell people that the system "can't be trusted."

Probably because it involves looking at a box and reading a few words I guess. Yes, damn the evil ESRB for trying to force people to read. The nerve!

"Eighty-seven percent of children between 8 and 17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults."

...The hell did the number "eighty-seven" come from? Ten bucks says he pulled this right out of his rear. I also find it funny he has 17 year olds on that list...because the last time I checked, M-rated games were made for those who are 17 or older...

"Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games"

Why the hell not? The ratings specifically suggest what age a person must be to play the games. Just about any title with blood or graphic violence is directed towards the older (17+) Crowd. It's not like the ESRB goes around labeling games such as Assassins Creed or Bioshock with frickin' E-ratings.

"Unfortunately, some parents don’t realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities"

What...WHAT?!

Games never really "Reward" you for violence. You don't get any frickin' cookies for killing virtual people for god's sake.

1. Rewards for killing police officers/Running over pedesterians

This seems heavily directed towards the GTA series (And probably Manhunt)

a. If your idea of an award in GTA for killing a police officer is having MORE POLICE OFFICERS HUNTING YOU DOWN. Then sure, that's a real damn good reward. Because, obviously anyone in real life would totally enjoy having the police, the FBI, and the damned US Army trying to kill you... If you actually play GTA, there will be many times you wouldn't want to harm any virtual people especially when you're trying to do a mission, becasue the game basically punishes you by sending cops to arrest/kill you. (And the same thing goes for the pedestrians)

b. The "police officers" in Manhunt 2 aren't even the protect and serve officer. They're bloody corrupted, gosh, I don't even think they're "real" officers. I'm not 100% sure of the whole Manhunt story. All I know is that they're either fake or corrupted to death.

2. Maiming elderly persons?

...huh? What game rewards you for "maiming eldery persons". Hell...what game even gives the player the option to "mame eldery persons". I seriously think you're just trying to make yourself look good for the oblivious people out there...You don't have a damn clue at all...

3. Torturing women and minorities?

...
...
...
WHAAAT?! I don't even know what to say... That comment was unbelievely false it's just...amazing...

I'm shocked...

And you know what, I'm african-american myself, I'm pretty sure I would notice a game where you're able to basically express your hatred towards people such as myself. Oh Yee, this is low. This is really, really low.

I question whether or not you're talking about Resident Evil 5 or not, because if you are, all I'm going to say is "LOL"

"Avoid the “first person shooter” and “third person shooter” killing-machine games.

Discourage games that reward the player with more points or new scenes for anti-social and violent behavior."

*Sigh* I'm in pain from all the face palms I did in this whole article... I can't go on...

killing machine games...

...

@Papa Midnight
Not a damn bit.

@ Hackangel, Acebuckeye13

I think he's talking about GTAIII - SA? There are 'elderly' character models in the game, and I suppose you can 'maim' them with the gore cheat (blow off their limbs). I don't think any of the GTA games are top selling at the moment, but from a top selling games of all time they are way up there...

@ Benji

I really want a copy of Battle Raper 3! I have no idea how you rape a battle (do you play as a hippie?) or battle rape (involves armor?) but I need to find out :-)

...and just when I thought Yee sounded like an 'OK' game critic.

What the hell dude, what the hell?

Leland Yee will NEVER quit, so this doesn't surprise me at all. He is an enemy of the video game industry and will be until the end of his political career.

You should all move to Canada. The biggest political contraversy we see up here is just how much and how many subsidies Quebec should be giving game developers.

Manhunt 2 is freely available to not buy. First Person Shooters are rightfully disliked for their boring and repetitive gameplay, not their violence.

In this country we like our violence in games not reality. We want to bring fighting back to Hockey and pull guns off shelves.

Do you see the difference?

Hey Leland, why don't you worry about your own kids instead of everyone else's. Oh wait of course, you're a nanny-statist who believe the government knows best and should regulate every aspect of our lives and our children's lives under the guise of protecting us from ourselves. Fucking Fascist!

Meh. Pretty much the eact same thing he said at this time last year. He might as well do a recording and play it once a year before the Christmas shopping season begins.

It's basic common sense; just don't give your kid a game that isn't age-appropriate for them. Duh.

Then again as Solomon Short once said, "Common sense isn't."

As a parent of a 6 yr. old boy & a 8 yr. old girl I know where Senator Yee is coming from in regards to parents being aware of what is actually in the content of a game your child plays. I think it's good to see someone at least trying to get parents to pay attention. I've been a gamer since I could hold a controller & I encourage my kids to play also. Personally, I see a difference between the average FPS shoot-em-up game & a game like GTA. I've made sure my kids know the difference between video game violence & life itself but there are obviously some games that kids should not be playing. Some games are just way too disturbing for kids. It doesn't mean that they shouldn't be made or sold, just not for kids. Not every parent is like me & actually plays the games & knows the games that I let my kids play. Too many parents are "too busy" to pay attention to content. They just buy whatever their kids ask for to make them happy. Senator Yee just seems to be trying to get the ever-increasing amount of ignorant parents to pay more attention to what their kids do, people like Jack Thompson generalize & are just ignorant idiots trying to make a name for themselves.

"Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games."

Only if a parent lacks the basic judgment and cannot understand that MA games are designed SPECIFICALLY FOR ADULTS. I'm so tired of people bringing up the damn children in a context where CHILDREN DO NOT EVEN COMPRISE THE LEGAL INTENDED AUDIENCE. Seriously, to hell with all of these snot-faced children. Shove a copy of Highschool Musical and Hanna Montana between their fingers and limit their consumption to products that are NOT INDENDED FOR CHILDREN.

Leave adult gamers, and our insanely violent, tasteful, and sexual, games alone. Stop infringing on our rights as free consumers on the absurd grounds of "for the children."

Reading that made me think of an old saying:

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Naturally, the press release contains all three.

I seriously doubt that any kids have Manhunt 2 on their christmas wishlist. I doubt that anyone of any age does.

@Thefremen

I'm sure alot of kids have Halo 3, Bioshock and Mass Effect on their list.

It doesnt help that all 3 of those titles are marketed in a "kid friendly" fashion. Sun shining.. kids singing.. people killing and fornicating with aliens.. whatever..

Thats just an opinion

Hey, parents, Leeland Yee here. If you don't want to be a full parent and KNOW what your kids are doing and playing, just don't buy anything seemingly violent.

The alternative, no matter how much work it may be, would be to actually participate in your child's life...

Just trying to help out here...

-Leeland Yee

I can see now why Glenn Beck, author of the book An Inconvenient Book, (which deals with common sense answers to problems) is eating the state of California on the book cover.

http://tinyurl.com/2wgmq3

Hi All, I am new to the site but I can't resist posting my thoughts on this, hope to hear what people think about them.
(It is early AM here so forgive my ramble and possibly weird circular logic)

This press release serves absolutely no point other than to keep posturing for his constituency. For years politicians have been calling for better devices to help parents unfamiliar with games evaluate content to better make purchases ('Cause the ESRB isn't to be trusted, ya know?). Their logic being that gamer parents, or even one step removed from that, RESPONSIBLE parents know how to evaluate content (Or at least do research), but the average parent who is inexperienced with games is somehow going to be duped by a vast conspiracy, that is the ESRB, into buying violent games for children!!

Lastly, in his press release he clearly states kids prefer M games, which are intended for adults, games that were rated M by the ESRB. He promptly turns around and says the ESRB can't be trusted! What's a parent going to be thinking after that? If they cannot trust the rating then that means maybe that M game is really okay for little jimmy or jane...

So here's what gets me... Yee, and other politicians, base all of their failed legislation and chest thumping on the second group I mentioned, the group that knows nothing of games, who won't do basic research (ask a friend or a store clerk if the internet is too scary), and who probably buys what their kid wants without second glance.

The problem is thus (I know, I ramble, but here we are) In his press release, clearly for the gaming uneducated, presumes gaming knowledge!! While it may seem like a simple concept to all of us, but parents who can't figure out if a game is violent and inappropriate for kids probably doesn't know what an FPS is (much less their ass from their face). If the ESRB is truly broken like Yee claims, what tools does Yee suggest they use, their good judgment?? Wait, that would put us right back at square one with parents buying violent games for kids!!!

The "I know best" has been done LY. JT beat you to it.

Does anyone know if 2008 is an election year for Mr. Yee?

"The rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games."

This is why he's a politician. With a little word tweakery he can turn the statement that the pro-game people repeat all the time into one that's anti-industry. Yee, we've been saying the same thing all along.

Niether Yee nor Thompson is a threat to the gaming industry. I'm not worried.

@ Mattie

I agree. On top of that this is a chance for pro-gamers to make a statement. LY's biggest stance is "ultra violent video games should be banned because I said so." This guy needs to be voted out, making a clear statement by the gamer community that this BS will not let you keep your political office.

All I get from this is that because I'm a white male, non-police officer, that is to old to be considered a kid, but to young to be considered elderly, then it is perfectly ok for people to kill me and others like me because we aren't female, officers, or a minority group. I'm just getting tired of hearing this crap lately. He's scrambling for votes and to scare the people into believing him instead of actually asking people. I've made plenty of people mad at the store I work at because I refused to sell them a game, even though the CHILD had lied to his grandparent to try and get the game. Even went so far as to tell me to shut up while I explained it to her. That has nothing to do with the games he plays...and has everything to do with him being a brat of a kid that should be whipped by a parent/grandparent for the crap he was pulling. My child ever tries that, and he won't be able to sit for months. :)

Eighty-seven percent of children between 8 and 17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults.

Ok, my son is 7...so he's a year younger than what they are looking at, but he will tell anyone that his favorite games are any of the Halo games, or Resident Evil, etc. Does that mean that I am letting him play these games at all...nope. He's 7 and knows that I ENJOY THESE GAMES. Like most children at that age, they want to be like their parents sometimes and will say whatever makes them sound like us. His favorite color is green...because mine is. His favorite car is a Green 00 Beetle...because it is what I drive. The list goes on and on. Children want to be like adults so they want things that are for adults. We just make the decisions on what they can and can not have. It's called being a parent. And no matter how much politicians and stupid (makes me ashamed to live in the same state) lawyers try to say that they know what is best and what the children should play or do, they can stay the hell away from me and my family because that job belongs to me, my wife, and the childs family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc). We know what is best for them because they are more than just blank statistics that they are making up in their heads to scare us all.

Apparently Mr. Yee has absolutely no clue of how the ESRB works. Its a guideline for parents to use, allowing US AS THE PARENTS to make decisions on whether to buy the game or not.

"Unfortunately, some parents don’t realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities."

Because they haven't read the ESRB rating most likely. So instead of saying "Parents, to know what your kids are wanting or trying to get this holiday make sure you read and understand the ESRB rating on the back of each game. Its your choice as the parent, so know what you are getting." Noooo he goes on a fear mongering rant of how the ESRB failed. How has it failed? How is a rating stamped on a game failing the uneducated parents from simply grabbing what a kid screams for? Yes, it's the ESRBs fault that parents can't take two seconds to flip a game over and read :roll:.

I say Mr. Yee has failed the people of California. He has failed to give them the straight facts of how a VOLUNTARY rating system works and help educate parents on this and other tools of how to select games for their kids. He has become obsessed with attempting to destroy the ESRB and suspiciously right after his recently failed bill which was deemed UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Its situations like these that the gamers of California need to stand up and speak against folks like him.

Its funny I see him constantly berating the ESRB over its ratings but he seems to content with letting children pick up the latest copy of SAW 3, Hostel or one of many, many, many other R rated movies that show,say and act out far worse situations than any video game out there.

He is starting to sound so Thompsonesque. So dramatic, so doomsday and so very, very wrong.

Oh and I would love to see the source for this comment:
"Eighty-seven percent of children between 8 and 17 years of age play video or computer games and about 60 percent list their favorite games as rated M for Mature, which are games designed for adults."

My favorite games are MapleStory and SSBM >_>

And I plan on getting ManHunt 2 or Scarface this season so screw off.

So don't play Manhunt 2, because:

Unfortunately, some parents don’t realize that in many top selling games, the player actively participates in and is rewarded for violence, including killing police officers, maiming elderly persons, running over pedestrians, and torturing women and racial minorities.

Wait, now who can't be trusted to accurately tell parents what in the games? Yee can't even get his facts about Manhunt 2 straight.

Seems to me like he pulled out a past press release from when he was criticizing GTA, and just used "find/replace" with Manhunt 2...

What's truly disgusting about this man (as well as, most unfortunately, just about every other politician), is that he clearly knows what the truth is, but it doesn't suit his intentions to speak of it publicly, so he chooses not to do so. Truly disgusting.

And that's about all I have to say about Assemblymen Pee.

@Soul

You mean M is for people aged 17 and up. AO is the one for age 18 and up.

Too bad Leland Yee isn't urging parents not to buy their children plastic toys made in China that have actual harmful effects on the children. Oh wait, Yee had a bill before him that would have outlawed a certain chemical from being included in toys and other child-related items and Yee voted AGAINST it, apparently receiving campaign contribution from a group that opposed the bill.

Too bad Leland Yee isn't urging parents not to buy their children ultra violent movies and music CDs with warning labels on them. Oh wait, Yee received campaign contribution from the MPAA and the RIAA, and nothing from the ESRB (what a coincidence that he always blasts the ESRB and not the MPAA and the RIAA, even though the video game ratings are enforced much better than the other two ratings systems).

@Gray17: Oh yeah, my bad :p .

@Todd

What survey did he refer to when he said Manhunt 2 “is on many children’s wish list”?

Beats me, and we probably don't want to know which dark crevice he pulled that one from.

I can't find anything talking about it being a priority buy for little kiddies...

One thing I noticed in Yee's press release:

"Avoid the 'first person shooter' and 'third person shooter' killing-machine games."

Why does he specify "first person" and "third person"? Why can't he just say "avoid all shooter games"? Are there any other points of view in shooter games or any game? It's not like there are "seventy second person shooter killing-machine games" or "three thousand five hundred twenty sixth person shooter games"? All games are either first person or third person, so specifying that is rather redundant (and rather ignorant as well).

Can anyone in cali send Yee an E-mail?

I tried, but it said I couldn't because I wasn't in Cali.

Yee seems like a reasonable person, I think we might be able to get an honest response from him, that doesn't involve insults being thrown.

@Gamer81:

Why does he specify “first person” and “third person”? Why can’t he just say “avoid all shooter games”? Are there any other points of view in shooter games or any game? It’s not like there are “seventy second person shooter killing-machine games” or “three thousand five hundred twenty sixth person shooter games”? All games are either first person or third person, so specifying that is rather redundant (and rather ignorant as well).

Well, there's all those "second person" shooter games.

@Hackangel:

I thought Postal 3 wasn't out yet? :P

@Mister Angry:

"1. Rewards for killing police officers/Running over pedesterians

This seems heavily directed towards the GTA series (And probably Manhunt)"

Don't you know? Manhunt 2 and GTA are the only games that exist! The only games!!!

"2. Maiming elderly persons?" Hell…what game even gives the player the option to “mame eldery persons”.

I think it's called 'The 11:00 News' Occasionally they'd have that level on it once in a great while. Can't seem to control the character, it must be a bug.

@Gray17:

Probably not, Rockstar didn't make it.

Hey Yee, do you want to know why ANYONE AT ALL played Manhunt?


You told them not to.

@point09micron

"Second Person Shooter: you control the character but don’t actually watch the action. Everything going on is described to you in text."

And which game on the market would this be - Grand Theft Text? :)

Once I get Ghostbusters next year, I'm going to train all year how to use a proton pack. *Snickers*

Honestly though, how the hell did this guy ever get into office? He's stupid, pretty stupid and of course, he lied, he lied so much about the games and pulled all this information out from where Jack gets all of his, his ass.

I think I've figured it out. They are attacking Manhunt 2 so much, not because of the content, but because so few people want it anyways. If only a couple thousand units are sold, then the politicians can declare it as a success. This will set a standard at which they will point when they attack other games. We don't have a bill of rights anymore anyways.

I say just to piss them off, we all buy 5 copies of Manhunt 2. Of course, we send the shattered disks back to the R*, so they don't view it as a success leading to Manhunt 3.

@Hilaryduffgta:

Its going to be sweet, and if what these politicians say are true, and you can train on video games, you'll be able to bust ghost in no time. *Grins* That'd be pretty cool if it was true.

But of course, politicians like Mr. Pee here are well known liars, only he's not as insane as Jack Thompson, so likely, his sorry butt won't get kicked out of whatever job he has right now.

@las, attorney

I'nm Californian. I've been trying to get the morons out of office in this state for a while. The problem is, in my experience, the higher the population, the higher the percentage of idiots. And California has a lot of population.

Does this clown do anything besides denounce video games?

To whoever is referring to Leland Yee as "Pee":

How old are you, 12? Grow up.

When I was kid I liked the games that had my favorite kid characters like mario, donkey kong. Then as I got oldder I played games that were for teens and on such. My mother taught me the difference of reality and tv, games when I was still watching teenage muntant turtles and sesame street. I know I am not a violent person most people are shocked if I get mad, even a little bit.

@LeonaVanRain:

When I was kid I liked the games that had my favorite kid characters like mario, donkey kong. Then as I got oldder I played games that were for teens and on such. My mother taught me the difference of reality and tv, games when I was still watching teenage muntant turtles and sesame street. I know I am not a violent person most people are shocked if I get mad, even a little bit.

Funny, when I was a kid, I liked games that either directly or indirectly violent (by indirectly, I mean... maybe the game wasn't initially intended to be violent, but I could figure out how to make it violent.... like driving backwards in a racing game to see how many cars I can take out before I die). I had little interest in games like Mario or Donkey Kong (unless I could make them violent).

Over time, that changed to me just simply trying to step outside of the standard process/sandbox that the developers set forth in their game... intentionally see what limits or boundaries were set, and how well they were set... this more or less was brought on by my desire to do things like destroy racers in a racing game like my previous example explained.

As such, games that challenged me in finding loopholes started to interest me. I also became more interested in just plain figuring out how games worked, tinkering with them, and the like (video game development started me down the path of being a software developer). Games with intentional secrets are one thing. Games with unintentional secrets (undocumented features and/or bugs) were more interesting to me.

It actually wasn't until after I had graduated from High School, and went into the Army, that I started actually, honestly, playing games, just to play games, to more or less be able to relax, and wind down from working all day. Over time, this has actually become more or less what I do with games. Curiously, the games like Mario and Donkey Kong are much more appealing to me now. Games where I enjoy myself when I play them, games that are fun... they are more interesting to me than games that just "look good".

However, as my roommate would confirm.... I still like to "think outside the box" when I play a game. And I still enjoy playing racing games by driving the wrong way. Partially because I'm still a programmer at heart, and a game developer as well.... and I get drawn to the desire to find out what restrictions or boundaries exist in the game.

Yee should play Wii!
Yee should play Wii!

Remember you must shield your children from the evil violent games because they are too stupid to realize that the games are fiction even with your help.

Really though he comes off as an overpotective mom and not a senator here. Although who actually listens to what senator's say you should or shouldn't buy over what their kids say?

Looks like Yee wants a good thing, but every time he opens his mouth to tell us, or uses his hands to type - he spews out something that can barely be taken seriously.

@LeonaVanRain

Nintendo mainstays have always been my favorite. I liked the next Mortal Kombat or FPS as much as the next guy, but Ocarina of Time, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy always go higher on my priority list.

WHAT???????

Listen to me Senator, you may have good interntions but I never see anything positive about videogames in your opinion...

Only negative stuff about videogames,

How are parents meant to know what games they are suppose to buy for their children if you are only going to mention the bad examples???

How about Suoer Mario Galaxy???

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games????

How about Viva Pinyata on the XBox 360???

How about Crash of the Titans or Ratchet and Clank for the PS2????

If you think you know everything about videogames, you don't event know Mario....just shows to everyone who knowns about videogames that you don't know squat about videogames only that you know the violence but not much else...

Your statistics are flawed as you don't know anything about what kids between 8 to 17 want on their christmas lists...

Plus you just point out the bad things and use them for your own argument, you are biased and seriously anyone who knowns about videogames in the media will deffinately expose you for who you are.

Oi...
I am soooooooooooooooooooooo not voting him back into office, and I'm gonna find out whats his address and spread it around to everyone I know... making sure they know not to vote for him and to spam him with hate mail.
Preferably good healthy hate mail, the kind that comes with like brain cells for the one hes missing.

Ya know... its sad...
Very rare do you get to maim people like that... but I think road rash offered that option to "maim" elderly, though they did get off a rebuttle... wacking you with their walking things. But that was waaaay back during Playstation 1s glory days.

@ Oz.

Uh, this guys a Democrat, not a Republican.

Once again, Dennis has not printed the full story becuuse he's the Commisar of Counter-truth.

Yee urges parents to avoid violent video games this holiday season. He CONTINUED his speech to urge parents to avoid many other obvious hazards, parents should avoid:

-Running into trees
-Sharing needles
-Leaving children out in the cold of winter
-Reading the last sentence of a novel first.
-Drinking the bong water
-The entire city of Sante Fe
-Being the only chump who doesn't own Halo 3

The list goes on, honestly it sounds like Yee is pretty bored. But he's a politician: It's his job to be boring
-

Usually, you have to pick apart someone's statement to find the problems. This is the opposite. You have to search through the mass of bullshit to find anything that could potentially mean anything. It's bizarre. Luckily we have people like Yee and Thompson who are nut jobs and not intelligent people who believe more in their "cause" than their publicity.

Oh of course its BS. But its BS hes banking on no one with enough of a voice to be noticed to actualy try and call him out on. So long as no one can make people realize his lies he gets points with the voters.

"The ESRB didn't contribute to my campaign! They shall be....my enemies!
Remember, help fund me, and you're off the list for better or worse."

[...] Leland Yee, the California State Senator obsessed with violence in videogames, has issued another of his friendly warning letters to parents, spreading the word about those evil, evil games and their prevalence during the holiday season. In a rather manipulative statement, Yee was able to insult the ESRB while absolving parents from any responsibility:  It is vitally important that parents and grandparents consider the content in video games before making holiday purchases.  Regrettably, the rating system alone cannot be trusted, so parents should also carefully watch the content included in all their children’s games. [...]

[...] California State Senator Leland Yee (D) has issued a press release in which he advises parents not to purchase violent video games for their children during the holiday season. Yee, who sponsored California’s contested 2005 video game law, is a child psychologist by training. He cited research showing potential harnful effects on younger players: Eighty-seven percent of […] (more game news…) [...]

Heh...does he ever compare his own approval rating to the ESRB's? Does not compare favorably...I think we all know who WE can trust.

Nice to see him pulling some fake statistics. I like this one: for over 70% of children who play Mature-rated games, their parents or another adult purchased the game for the, meaning that his unconstitutional laws would only "protect" 20-some percent of children as opposed to the 70-some percent ESRB ads "protect" by informing their parents.

Yeah, we can make them up too...but that was actually BASED on fact, at least.

I suppose he would be "shocked" to learn that the "ultraviolent" GTAIII punished the killing of civilians and cops, that there was no maiming whatsoever, let alone of children or elderly persons, and that this is true of pretty much every game out there? Oh, wait, he already knows. Not that we should be surprised he's knowingly slandering vieogames.