Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Right wing hack prefers Hollyoaks to ICO

A hack writing for The Times, accused video games as highly addictive - the equivalent to Satan's Sudoku, and that she would never ever purchase a Xbox, PS2, GameCube and portable gaming consoles for her kids. Because apparently kids spend 5 hours a day staring at their DS and PSP, playing games that has no character development or plotlines, and it is the fault of the evil creators brains. While I agree that some games lack a decent storyline (e.g. Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy), to say that she actually prefer her kids to watch hours of hours of repressive and downright trashy British soaps like Eastenders and Hollyoaks is downright amusing, or a desperation in her part to prove an invalid point. Like any other entertainment industry, video game are available with a wide variety of subjects - much like books and films, and not the black and white situation she accuses the industry of being in.


According to Ms. Turner, Hollyoaks is good for children...

Much like her other anti-video gaming Times buddy Emma Mahony, Janice Turner has taken a line that if her children ends up spending too much time playing video games, it is the fault of the industry. Never did she once, like her colleague, own up and admit that if their children play too much video games, or play the wrong video game - it is their own fault to supervise them as parents should. But then again, like many people nowadays, it is far easier to blame society for any ills their children could theoretically suffer from - rather than looking in the mirror. Yes too much gaming is not good, but to say that video gaming is the root of all evil isn't proper journalism - it is typical scaremongering. Why not sit down with your children and play with them or are you one of them technophobes who just can't accept change. Or is Hideo Kojima's intricate plots in Metal Gear Solid series too much to take in for such close-mindedness?


... but games like ICO, which features a storyline that encourages the player to think outside the box are like 'crack'

As a Eurogamer commentator perfectly summarised - this is yet another right wing hack one again proclaiming his or her preference for the 'good old days'.

3 comments:

RichardAM said...

I have nothing but love for Ico, and as an experience, it definitely deserves your attention a lot more than other trivial examples of culture or art. With Hollyoaks in the same line there's no comparison, and maybe if columnists, MPs et al actually opened their eyes a little, the art and appeal of videogames would soon win them over.

Until then, it's going to be the same "me too" attitude forever.

EvilRedEye said...

Ah, but Ico doesn't have any hilarious incest plotlines, does it?

Jon Choo said...

Hollyoaks has that?

/records

The time when BBC move their video games coverage from 'Tech' to 'Entertainment' is when the media finally realise that video gaming has caught up with other mainstream entertainment form.