Bad Economy? Not for Video Gaming!

The US video game industry continues to grow despite the bad economy. Though spending cuts are prevalent in all parts of life and in all kinds of industry, the video game industry grew 13% from January 2008. The industry now sits at $1.33 billion strong. This growth is well above the the overall consumer spending growth rates.

  • Is anyone concerned how gaming spend is going up in a time when spending is being cut elsewhere due to economic troubles?
  • What does this say about the culture we live in…
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Teenager Kills Mother, Shoots Father Over Halo 3

Daniel Petric Kills Mother, Wounds Father
Daniel Petric Kills Mother, Wounds Father

Daniel Petric, a teenager from Ohio was charged and found guilty for aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder for killing his mother and wounding his father in Oct 20, 2007 because they wouldn’t let him play Halo 3.

Daniel was 16 when he snuck out of the house to buy Halo 3 after his parents told him he was not allowed to play it. His father, Mark Petric 45, forbade him to play it because it is very violent in nature and sexually explicit. Halo is a violent first person shooter. He was caught with the game on his way back and his father put away the game in a lockbox in their closet. Unfortunately this is the same box they kept their 9mm handgun.

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Online Gamers in China must Register with Real Names

Soon, all online gamers in China must register with real names rather than made up game alias. This is a mandatory program that will be implemented for anti gaming addiction monitoring purposes.

Is online gaming addictive? Numerous studies and tests seem to support this case as massive online multiplayer games are becoming more popular both for children, teens and adults alike. Not only are more people playing, but many are spending countless waking hours building up their online characters.

Game addiction has become a serious problem all over the world. The Chinese government has concluded that this problem has become severe enough that they will soon require those playing massive multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing games must register with their real names when creating new accounts. Users will registers their names along with government issued ID cards. Zhang Yijun, the director of General Administration of Press and Publication’s technology and digital publication department, said personal information would become a requirement for those register for online games.

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Health Warning Labels for Video Games – Congressman

California Congressman Baca
California Congressman Baca

California Congressman Joe Baca has brought forth a bill which would require video games to have a health warning. This warning would warn the consumers that playing the game could have adverse and dangerous influence on the user.

All games with an ESRB rating of Teen (T) or higher would be required to carry a label that says “WARNING: Excessive exposure to violent video games and other violent media has been linked to aggressive behavior.”

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