Game Decisions

Donovan and I have been having discussions the past few weeks about the status of video games today. He said he wasn't sure he wanted to buy the next xBox just to get the few games he thought would be good. I, of course, said that I wanted to play Oblivion so badly, that I'd buy the console just for that game.

Don made a comment last night about how a lot of the games he sees information about for xBox 360 are really violent or even openly demonized. At the time, I thought he was exaggerating a little.

Yesterday, Don got the newest issue of his xBox magazine. The disc it came with had previews for some of the games that will launch with the new xBox. I was very excited to see that there was an interview with one of the producers of Oblivion. Now, I've been reading all the reviews I could get my hands on for this game, and before I watched the interview, I was under the impression that it was in the same realm as Morrowind: Not too violent, skill and story based, and very much a fantasy laced with comical creatures as well as some darker ones (the "darker" enemies were part of the story line, and were that way only because of catching a disease.).

However, the producer gave some details that disturbed me. I understood that the concept of the game was that "Oblivion" is supposed to be hell, and that monsters are coming through it, but I thought it would be more similar to Morrowind, in that if you killed the main enemy, the monsters would be "healed". The producer actually used the term "demons" in describing the monsters, which made me a little sqeamish. He also said that the fighting is "much more violent and bloody". He added that you can "enter hell, or Oblivion" and fight the "demons" there. I think that statement really cemented my decision not to buy the game.

The latest xBox magazine is flooded with ads for new games. One such game that Donovan and I were really disgusted with, is based on drive-by shootings. You're a "gangsta" and you and your friends actually drive by enemies houses and other places they might be and shoot them. Come on, that's really sick.

It's weird; I've never been of the mind that a video game can influence you. But think about a 12-year-old kid playing a game about something that kills people every day. I think last night for the first time I could literally see that the world's standards are sharply decreasing. It's pretty scary.