Friday Video: games destroyed the World Trade Center

I think the whole thing is ridiculous. But I guess there's always gonna be some form of controversy surrounding something in society, especially something that is becoming as prevalent as video games. It just seems like a scapegoat for people to make it seem like they are doing something good for our country by attacking something that they believe is contributing to the downfall of American society. If it's not violence in video games, it'll be some musical artist with "controversial" lyrics. It just seems to be the American way to blame other things for our problems. And to say that events such as September 11th and Columbine are the sole products of video games is also incredibly stupid.

The people who used fligh simulators used them for a the porpuse of crashing into the World Trade Center!! Does a kid practice killing in a videogame with the anticipation that they will kill people? If so how realistic is it using a contral pad over a custemizable Airplane Joystick? These people are stupid and senetor Leiborman is out to get the game industry because of a personal reason and personal reasons should not be part of politics.

WOW. My hatred of Jack Thompson just multiplied to the power of Columbine ten fold. Honestly, do they really believe the things that come out of their mouths?
Movies are engrossing and portray cop killers. There IS a rating system. Leave something you've never played alone.

It definitely is a scapegoat. Everyone is trying to put blame on the industry when they do not want to take responsibility for themselves or want a quick solution. The trailer shows an extremely heavy bias towards video game violence. It's incredulous to believe that just because a few isolated incidents occurred because of video games means that video games have are bad. There are so many logical fallacies implicit with that idea that it just can't hold any ground. I've done my research on video game violence and the impact it has, and it's a very small factor because there are many other factors that everyone else is ignoring.

they are right "playing video games jacked america up" ... they just forgot something in the sentence....

whack-jobs playing video games jacked america up.

I would consider violence against Jack Thompson a virtue.

That was the most disturbing thing I have seen in a long time. How can they claim there is no rating system? If a 9 year old is playing a first person shooter (which with most 9 years olds wouldn't even be a problem) it's the fault of the parents, not the lack of a rating system. Maybe we should just ban stupid parents who don't pay attention to their kids, not video games.

I saw a clip from Myst 4 in there. Then there were bullet holes in the window... That never happened in the game. Maybe if I play too much Myst I'll end up going to my local highschool and solve puzzles. Those poor, innocent puzzles.

On a more serious note: What about the effects of a president and administration that promotes fear and violence? Where's the rating system for the news on TV? What if I don't want my children to be exposed to the high level of violence in the news alone, not to mention movies and TV. Games have a rating system in place just like movies and television shows do. I feel the it's the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children are playing something that's appropriate for them.

Food for thought: Would you buy hentai for your kids because it's just a cartoon? Would you buy Gears of War for your kids because it's just a game?

God, ya know people like this make the world a horrible place to live. "ZOMG! VIOLENCE! Wait, video games have violence! THERE MUST BE A CONNECTION!" for Christ's sake...if I weren't gay, this would be my most hated political debate (right now, obviously, it's Gay Marrige).

I love how all these guys choose to look at are the violent videogames.They choose not to look at other games like grand turismo or brain age maybe a kid some where played those games and thought wow i want to be a race car driver when i grow up or maybe a teacher,i don't maybe i'm living in a different world.You'll probaly never hear anything like that coming from these videogame haters because it doesn't get them put on tv or re elected which in turn means no money for them.I swear they make me sick sometimes.

I can't even begin to describe the absurdity of this video, but my favorite part is the connection to 9/11. Flight simulators were used to train terrorists. So were books, cell phones, passports, the English language, and the human brain. Should we ban all of those as well? I refuse to believe the people in this video are so dumb that they think there is something inherently evil in learning to fly a plane, and that doing so would cause one to want to kill thousands of people. There is validity in the argument that positively reinforcing simulated acts of violence may encourage an extremely small percentage of the population to act out acts of violence in real life, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. They used Call of Duty as an example of violence in video games, for god's sake! Doesn't our government hand out medals for the type of behavior depicted in that game? Joe Lieberman will never, ever get my vote.

I want to run around stomping on turtles and eating mushrooms because I played "Super Mario Bros"!

i think the video has a point except, an air plane has so many gauges and switches, you cant put those on buttons.
plus do they have video games in Iraq?

I love it how politicians say things that are so absurd and contrary to fact, but idiots of the world choose to believe them just for the fact that people are generally idiots.

That man doesn't know where games will be in 40 years... here's my thought of what will happen: Read 1984, and you will know what happens.

I despise Joe Lieberman as a human being. people are making about violent video games have no bearing on real life. Those hijackers didn't decide to hit the World Trade Center because they played flight sim games, they wanted to do it in the first place and used flight simulators as a tool to meet their goal. Similarly, paying an FPS won't turn little Johnny into a cold blooded killer- he has to want to be that way in the first place.

Oh, and by the way, Joe Lieberman is a fool. I voted for Ned Lamont.

When my dad gave me my car (when I was 16

instead of worrying about videogames (ya like there hasn't been violence in movies and books for the last 1000 years) how about we start worrying about things like gun control and the actual killing going on in, hmm, let's say, Iraq? (among other places). Also, all these religious fellows seem to forget how much war, violence, and death has been caused in the world in the name of religion. I find it extremely troubling that fanaticism seems to be growing not only in other places but in OUR OWN COUNTRY.

A messed-up individual is a messed up individual, and if they use GTA to practice killing cops, they need serious help. The same can be said about someone who simulates shooting people's heads by shooting pumpkins on a fence post. The solution isn't to ban pumpkins.

Great comments, guys. This is one of those things that it's hard for us to discuss without breaking into an utter rage, because for those of us who game, it just seems so incredibly stupid. It SHOULD seem stupid for everyone, but you know how the masses are... buzzwords and headlines, and video games and violence are great for those. People can't handle depth and nuance, and that's why we're scapegoats, just like that ol' "evil" rock music they used to prattle on about years ago.

It's ridiculous, and dammit, this stuff inspires violence, not video games. Please, tell me half the gamers in the world wouldn't bust Jack Thompson in his ever-flapping mouth if they saw him on the street? And not because of any games, either....

grrr.

Wait, you're telling me I can watch people torture people in movies (SAW series) but I'm not allowed to in video games?

idiots plain and simple.

I could just rant on about Lieberman and Thompson (I've always hated those two, but now? Dear god...) but over the past 20 comments, all of you guys have said what I wanted to say. If there's ever something like this on the news where the public has a chance to comment by e-mail or phone, we should all participate in this and even send a link to this very website.

I swear, why would those two dumbasses blame video games? Idiocy, or personal issues? If there's anything that will drive us gamers to kill people, it's not going to be the games, it will be the people like Thompson that say games are bad in the first place.

As many of you are mentioning, video games are being scapegoated. The whole idea of video games being bad because the hijackers used MS Flight Simulator to learn to fly is ridiculous and sickening. That's like saying that books are bad because someone blew up something using homemade bombs they'd learned to make from a book. The murderers of Columbine weren't violent because they were playing video games, but they were drawn to violent video games because they liked violence. That doesn't mean that everyone playing violent video games are ticking bombs.

Simple - ESRB has already given an alternative but it is the parents that should be taking the next step of how, when, and what their kids are playing. I can guarantee that half of the Americans that plays video games are kids if not more, but most importantly that the parents aren't guiding them correctly beyond what the neighbors kids has.

This is what is killing ethical values and family morals, but it is primarily the parents fault because they can start it or end it before hand which determines the outcome. Those adults blaming video games for violent matters they engaged in should be penalized without special needs stemming from the justice served.

CyKiller - coming back soon....

"If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them."
-Asimov

Uh, didn't we determine that the terrorists that flew the planes on 9/11 learned how to fly at a NORMAL FLIGHT SCHOOL IN FLORIDA?

Let's ban flight school. OMG a simulator helped them learn to fly into the WTC. Not the forty hours of logged flight time required to get your license...

Any regulation on video game content itself is unconstitutional. We're going to turn into Germany if politicians have their way. Then we'll be without such masterfully designed games as Dead Rising and Gears of War.

And if half of America plays video games, as the video states. And video games turn people into murderers. That means that half of America has killed someone. Let's not forget that even the government's own statistics show that violent crime is down exponentially over the past twenty years. It's the coverage of violent crime in the media that has raised significantly.

And not only am I surprised to see Myst in there, but Oddworld? Come on, now. Every single day I'm given more reasons to leave the US. If everyone that was sick of how horribly politicians are fucking up this country actually got up and left, there wouldn't be much of a country left anymore.

Another thing. Hasn't the media learned their lesson about using Jack Thompson as a credible source? Certainly not the mother of all his fuck-ups, but certainly the biggest sign that he's talking out of his ass was his appearance on 60 minutes (I think) where he stated that "Blitz: The League is so violent that the NFL won't license it." Oh, yeah. Let's not forget the fact that EA BOUGHT EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO THE BRANDING.

Idiots. All of them are idiots.

While there's clear evidence that whilst playing games you are feeling aggressive emotions (the same parts of the brain are stimulated when being violent in real life as in games) but there's no link between stimulation of the areas and compulsive violent behavior.

THis is a load of bullcrap. Its people like this that try to blame video games for causing violence and not even look even before video games where ever created,we had violence. Its not because of video games, its because of a lack of discipline, lack of responsibility. Look what we are being taught in public schools, you teach that man is nothing but an animal and because that is forced into the minds of youth these days, they don't care a flip if they kill some1 else. they are just an animal right? wrong! So dont blame video games for causing violence, blame the freaking idiots who teach your kids, who teach colleges around America, that your life has no more value then the life of an animal. Sure there are crappy video games out there that probably shouldn't be out, but its your job to prevent these from going into the hands of your kids, ADMIT IT, its your fault if your kids are playing those games, its not the games fault.
And you are what you pretend? I can pretend i am Batman doesnt mean i am batman. What kinda crap is that? Oh its crap from biased people who want their own opinions and don't care to look at other peoples opinions. Jack Thompson, it may seem to many parents that you are doing a favor, but in reality your just trying to blame video games because you personally don't like them. What about television, internet? all kinds of violence and crap can be found there yet you continue to leave that out and just say " video games are the cause of violence" " video games caused 9-11" " video games caused school shootings" when in reality the ones who caused it were the teachers who taught this crap in the schools. YOur such a biased faggot. This is coming from a 16 yeart old who has to tell grown ups how to GROW UP! GAMERS make a video of how video games are NOT the cause of VIOLENCE!

It's the SUBTLE CHANGES

It's the SUBTLE CHANGES throughout OUR lives that people tend to ignore, then all of the sudden, WE WONDER HOW OUR KIDS AND THE REST OF THE WORLD GOT SO BAD !!!!!!!!! Not ONE person is EVER completely RIGHT OR completely WRONG !!!!! It's what type of PEOPLE do WE want to be for the generations to come !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay. I had to stop it. I don't know what crazy world you live in, because that is possibly the most one-sided thing I have ever seen.