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Reader Comments (88)

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:23PM (Unverified) said

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Live freely or die trying...heh... We are still all responsible for our own actions. And if kids want to imitate others than there is not alot you can do against teens and the such that most adults have not already done.

I don't know...but what do I care what they do. Now I am interested in this 'Alcho-pop' stuff.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 3:03PM (Unverified) said

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@Lavat: "I don't know...but what do I care what they do."

Well there's the problem. It's not so much what you care about "they" do but what YOU and the people directly around you do all the time that might need to change. If you tell a drunk the reasons why they should stop drinking, they won't listen because they ignore you. If you tell the drunk mother of two children to stop boozing she will ignore you. Then years later their kids have grown up used to the image of people slouching on the sofa watching TV while getting wasted and think it's completely normal (since they saw it every day -replace sofa with club/party/fraternity). Then their drunk mother will start complaining about why nobody keeps her kids from drinking. That's as retarded as it gets.

I'm not saying ban alcohol, that doesn't work. I'm a pot smoker myself and it's nobody's business what I do. But I don't walk around in TV shows and in the movies and whatnot to promote my habit like the pharma companies and the alcohol and tobacco industry does.

We all have a responsibility in society otherwise this whole co-existence scheme will collapse. It's not only an American problem. I'm from Germany, home of the world renown Oktoberfest. Our politicians are in the media waging a war against 15 y/o getting drunk and drinking themselves into a coma. These are the same people that meet on the worlds largest beer lobby festival once a year to get hammered in their native costumes. Notice the bigotry? The former minister of Bavaria said (transliterated: You can drink half a gallon of German beer ~5% Vol. and still safely drive a car if you stay at the Oktoberfest long enough). This only goes to show that in some societies like yours and mine alcohol is mystified and glorified to an extend where it's consumption becomes all but mandatory to have a "normal" social live. I stopped drinking alcohol all together and I get dirty looks all the time and people behave like I'm a fascist or something.

Same goes for the US, you have a "war on drugs" but you TV stations are flooded with ads for "prescription drugs" the only difference is one is taxed, the other isn't.

It's this ambiguity that drives people like me and those binge kids crazy. If you make up rules, stick to them. On the one hand drunks are laughed at and they are dubbed the scum of society but then you watch MTV Rehab and celebrate all their addictions (Hey look at me I'm losing weight with a cocaine diet just like Nichole Richie). I'm not saying you do that but an apparent majority does it because they all share your view of "What do I care?". If you don't care for the people around you and the downfall of society then at least care about yourself, will ya?

Sorry for the rant but I can't stand the uninformed-ness of people in this matter.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 8:52PM (Unverified) said

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I do care for myself. I care for myself so much I help relax myself by getting bum drunk.

But to quote Max Stirner, "The divine is God's concern; the human, man's. My concern is neither the divine nor the human, not the true, good, just, free, etc., but solely what is mine, and it is not a general one, but is -- unique, as I am unique. Nothing is more to me than myself!" (Swiped that off of wikiquote...Seems easier to copy and paste then copy from the book).

So yea...I don't care about the...Social order or what not...I really have no idea what that is by the way. But I can say that it is a good day when I am kicking my feet back with some gin and Pall Mall cigs.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:01PM quickshade said

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I see how Illinois is playing this off, pass some of the dumbest laws ever so that no-one talks about our governor who tried to sell a senate seat, insulted everyone around him and worst of all has a 4% approval rating.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:09PM (Unverified) said

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Smirnoff Ice isn't alcohol, it's a really tasty soda...

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:10PM Mr Khan said

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Might as well cover all the loopholes, i don't really see the problem

Of course, i have less tolerance for underage drinkers than most, but that might be due to the 18-year-old partiers that live just down the hall from me at school.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:15PM (Unverified) said

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I think that they are misguided in their ban. Instead of banning the depictions of Alcopop from video games, they should just go ahead and ban Alcopop altogether. That way, people may actually try a decent beverage, like an ale or a stout...

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 3:23PM chispito said

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(beer snob alert)

A stout is an ale.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 11:10PM (Unverified) said

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lol, yep. I meant to say a lager or an ale, for some reason, I have stouts on the brain...
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:28PM jhowlett said

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i like alcopops. i like soft drinks and i like to sometimes get a buzz on so they fit. i sometimes mix them with a little hard liquor before taking straight shots of the hard stuff. i kinda want a drink right now

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:38PM Jerk Face said

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It's always Happy Hour somewhere.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 7:50PM (Unverified) said

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I only drink on special occasions. Like when I wake up in the morning.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:27PM hbi2k said

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Jeez, guys, overreact, much? Five bucks says the real concern this bill is aimed at addressing is the promotion of alcohol in concerts, and the whole video games thing was just tacked on the end of it.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:35PM vidguy said

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I'm pretty sure this is one of those preemptive strikes the legislature takes every once in a while. See, they didn't just ban the depictions in games but also theater performances and concerts. There may have been a problem with a Dora the Explorer show, "Now brought to you by Zima!" or something similar. If the state felt it needed to address the problem, I can see the logic behind the inclusion of video games, another medium that reaches young children. It's also an easy pass since a lot of legislators have video games on their long list of thing that are "the devil."

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:45PM (Unverified) said

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Once again good people, this subject comes down to the root of all problems of children: Upbringing.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:13PM (Unverified) said

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Hmm... i certainly don't remember the last time i was playing a T rated game where my character popped open a smirnoff ice...

besides, the only concern there is trying to hamper underage drinking, and that is NOT going to happen, i don't care what you do.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 1:54PM (Unverified) said

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I live in Illinois and all I have to say is WTF!?

Our "current" governor is teetering on being thrown in prsion for taking bribes, and did I mention he would sit next to our old governor, Gov George Ryan?

Why do our politicians care about this bull? They should be concentrating on eliminating the incredibly corrupt politicians that make up 95% of the Illinois state government!

/rant over

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:48PM (Unverified) said

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I'm from New Jersey. You want to throw down when it comes to corrupt politicians?
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 3:31PM (Unverified) said

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O RLY? I live in Ohio. Our corrupt politicians go all the way back to the 18th president.

Your move, pal.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 4:14PM vidguy said

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I'm from Chicago and let me say, don't expect anything better from our next president.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 5:49PM nsdcx said

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@vidguy

Amen to that.
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Posted: Jan 5th 2009 2:11PM Duke said

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You have some tough proving to do if you think you can out corrupt Illinois and Chicago in particular. Hell, if an alderman is unhappy with you your trash starts piling up. The Cook County board president dies and they pretend he's alive so he magically can more or less will his seat to his son. The mayor and the governor are at war. The state police and Chicago police are at each others throats. Our governors seem to plan prison terms as if its a job requirement. Etc, etc...
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:00PM Professor Lario said

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Ah, they always pick on video games don't they. I'd like to see them apply this rule to all other forms of entertainment and see what the reaction is.

Games, just as movies and television shows, are rated. Please watch, play, purchase, and enforce accordingly.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:03PM Huey2k2 said

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Never in my life until this very moment have I heard coolers being called "Alcopop".

When I first read the title I had no idea what it even meant. Weird.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 8:45PM MED said

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same here but im canadian aswell. maybe its an american thing.
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Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:14PM (Unverified) said

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what children's games feature alcopop?

I don't remember ever seeing pikachu slamming a hard lemonade

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 2:31PM (Unverified) said

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Seriously, first they have the balls to unconstitutionally try to regulate game content, now they just try to fear monger? I don't play many "E" rated games that are specifically targeted at children, but I will bet my collection of PS1 games that High School Musical didnt include a beer pong minigame or Dora the Explorer didnt unwind from a hard day of explorin' by cracking open a nice cold bottle of Mikes Hard Lemonade. I mean really, who has even played a game involving alcopop product placement? The closest thing I could think that might involve it would be GTA (rated M for MATURE) or Saints Row (rated M for MATURE).

Seriously, this is stupid as hell. Even Forrest Gump thinks this is a dumb thing to do. Not even Sam Dawson would try to pass this law.

Also, lets be honest here, if your child is persuaded to do things based on what (s)he sees in games, then you fail as a parent.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 3:08PM (Unverified) said

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Good. Ban them from kids games.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 3:58PM kmcroc said

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i want to be a politician so that way i can waste tax payer money on shit that we don't need or better yet tell everyone that what their doing is wrong while i myself continue to live outside such beliefs .vote for me i know what is better than most parents , i know what is good or bad for everyone .witless in illinois

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 6:10PM (Unverified) said

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Your tax dollars at work.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 4:38PM The Albatross said

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I'm against the uselessness of this, but not against the essence of prohibiting advertising in kid-centric videogames of adult products.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 4:47PM adv2k169 said

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So Joystiq wants E rated games to have ads for Beer in it ?

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 5:09PM (Unverified) said

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I could go for a Smirnoff right now.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 8:20PM PhydeWice said

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That's like someone that doesn't smoke making a New Year's resolution to stop smoking.

Posted: Jan 4th 2009 10:00PM (Unverified) said

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Thank the Maker! I'm so sick of Lego Batman going, "Timeout kids, Batman needs a Mike's Hard Lemonade." Just let me play the effing game!

Posted: Jan 5th 2009 1:26AM Saria the Cat said

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Totally weirded out by all these boys trying to prove they're classy/expert/macho drinkers. I don't know any mature adults that try to one-up each other when it comes to drinking or drinking knowledge.

Posted: Jan 5th 2009 3:08AM CommissarXiii said

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My guess is this legislation is meant to be a small chink in the game industry's legal armor - a precedent on which to found and justify more damaging lawsuits.

Hopefully Illinois will continue to stray from relevancy, banning in-game advertisements of laudanum, tiger prostitutes, even laser combs.

Posted: Jan 5th 2009 10:33AM c0bra95 said

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"Alcopop"? I guess I'm out of touch, again. *Sigh* Time to hit the search engines . . .

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