This Week In Gaming: Valve Takes Over Your Living Room And Malaysian Politicians Make Stuff Up

Hello everyone, first off, apologies for my lack of updating this blog for many months now. I’ve been very busy with my other writing pursuits but I am now going to try to re-establish a weekly posting schedule for Inner Thoughts of a Quiet Gamer.

In this new weekly feature, I will be covering the latest announcements and happenings within the gaming world which I feel you need to know about. Below each section, I’ve included a handy source link in case you’d like to learn more about a particular story. For more pressing news, reviews, and opinions about the gaming world, be sure to head on over to VGU.TV where you’ll find more work by both myself and my fellow writing compatriots. And now, on to the news!

Hypocrisy And Hyperbole: Why Our Country’s Efforts To Vilify Video Games Angers Me

hypocrisy

the condition of a person pretending to be something he is not, especially in the area of morals or religion; a false presentation of belief or feeling. — hypocrite, n. — hypocritic, hypocritical, adj.

hyperbole

1. an obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “She’s as big as a house.” Cf. litotes. — hyperbolic, adj.

Before you read the rest of this blog post, I want you to look at and study the two definitions above very carefully.

Gazing Into The Abyss: The Ugly Truth About Violent Video Games

Which makes more sense to you? That violent video games are responsible for the violence in our culture? Or that violent video games are a reflection of our violent culture? It’s a tough question to ask, probably even tougher to answer, but it’s still an important question to ask if we truly want to open up meaningful discussions about video game violence and its connection with real-world violence.

It’s Official: Video Games Are Witchcraft

At least as far as an organization in Southington, Connecticut is concerned. According to a recent article by Polygon contributor Brian Crecente, a small group known as the SouthingtonSOS, based in the small Southington community roughly 30 miles from where the Newton Sandy Hook Massacre took place, is holding an event that they have dubbed the “Violent Video Games Return Program”  on January 12th.

The Thin Line Between Offense And Offensive

After reading Stephen Totilo’s article In Defense of Offense: Why We Gamers Shoot, which was featured in the New York Times, I admittedly had mixed reactions and feelings. In the article, Mr. Totilo, who is also the editor-in-chief for the popular gaming website kotaku.com, explains why big blockbuster games like Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 are such a big hit amongst the mainstream gaming community.

However, I found it odd that Mr. Totilo also failed to address why it was exactly he had chosen to “defend” the appeal of shooter games, and instead chose to use language that could give critics of these games more (pardon the wordplay) ammunition. Shooting games are constantly “under fire” as it were for promoting violence and glorifying war since rarely do such games offer any other path besides “shoot and kill everything that’s trying to do the same to you.”