Free Republic

President Trump on Thursday warned about the influence of violence in movies while discussing school safety and mass shootings, suggesting it could be a contributing factor to recent mass shootings. Trump made the comments during a meeting at the White House on school safety attended by lawmakers and top administration officials, where the president addressed a number of issues in addition to gun violence. "We have to look at the internet, because a lot of bad things are happening to young kids and young minds, and their minds are being formed, and we have to do something about maybe what...

Amid Australia's continuing dispute and deliberation over whether to introduce an R18+ classification for adult games, new data shows overwhelming public support for the measure. The Australian government announced at the end of 2009 that it would begin collecting public responses. At the time, controversial Attorney-General Michael Atkinson -- who has since stepped down -- said he expected "only a small amount of very zealous gamers" to support the R18+ rating. But now that the Federal Home Affairs group has released a preliminary official report, it would seem Atkinson is proven incorrect, with 98.2 percent of Australians declaring they support...

The election of South Australian backbencher, Jon Rau, as the state's Attorney-General (AG) has been hailed a breakthrough for higher classification reform for video games. Rau will assume control of the Justice and Tourism portfolios handed down at a Labor party meeting. Outgoing AG and one of the country’s hardest violent video game critics, Michael Atkinson, announced his resignation Monday after suffering a 14.3 percent swing vote against him in the state elections last weekend. He said he would exit ‘before’ the next election in 2014 to pave the way for new Labor blood. Atkinson has vetoed previous attempts to...

One of the country’s hardest violent video game critics, South Australian Attorney-General (AG), Michael Atkinson, has resigned to pave the way for new Labor blood. The AG resigned despite winning his seat in the recent state election. It is unknown who will replace Atkinson after he leaves office before the next state election in 2014. Games associations aren’t yet celebrating a reform win for the much-debated introduction of a video game R18+ classification, but they do see Atkinson’s resignation as the removal of a major roadblock.

Players of a new video game are reportedly cast as terrorists who murder unarmed civilians in an airport in scenes described as "reminiscent of last year's mass killings in Mumbai". Secret video footage of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was leaked earlier this morning, showing one level where characters wearing body armour over business suits shoot down other characters. The footage of the massacre — described by gaming blog IGN as "some of the most violent-looking and realistic scenes we've seen in a video game" — was published on YouTube but later pulled because of "copyright infringement". It showed...

<p>The release of a sharp-shooting video game has again put a spotlight on a billion-dollar industry and its alleged lax stance on violence and gore. While officials in the Washington, D.C. area hunt a sniper who is shooting people at random, Internet buzz is drawing parallels to the content of Konami's Silent Scope 3 for Sony's PlayStation 2. The game puts the player in the shoes of a government-hired sniper who is commissioned to kill.</p>