have video games gone too far ?

The Weapons of Manhunt
We lock up and load the arsenal of deadly weapons from Rockstar's latest.
November 13, 2003 - Let's talk about survival for a second. If you were being hunted in a beaten down city, hunted by killers who can practically smell your fear, how would you defend yourself? Stones? Boards? Glass? Your bare fists? What exactly do you feel comfortable with? It's not a pretty question, but Rockstar's upcoming game Manhunt addresses these very questions by putting you in this situation.

One of the most essential aspects of the gameplay, besides sound, is your choice of, and skill with, weapons. There are three classes of weapons, one-offs, melee weapons, and firearms. James Earl Cash, the character whose role you take on, can carry any one of these three classes at a time. Part of the game's strategy is to give gamers the small but oh-so-important choice of which weapon to pick.

To use the one-offs and melee weapons as part of stealth kills, players must pay attention to the lock-on system. It works for all three classes and for fist-to-fist confrontations. To initiate a lock, simply press L1. A lock-on icon will appear around the hunter's head or body. When aiming a gun and the lock-on system is initiated, shots will go to either the hunter's head or body depending on the distance (you can switch from head to body and back by snapping the right analog). When fighting with melee weapons or fists, the lock-on will always appear around the hunter's head.

So, what are the weapons like? Below is a partial list of weapons for Manhunt.

One-off Weapons
One-off weapons are objects that can be carried in Cash's pocket. Though they can only be used once, they can be found readily in most scenes.

Plastic Bag: To you it's an everyday household item. It holds groceries, or even your take out dinner. But to a hardened hunter/killer, it's another weapon in his arsenal. The plastic bag is the most silent executor in the game.

Wire: Used for strangling opponents, it's nearly silent and quite deadly. This weapon is a simple mode of killing; the weapon is made of two handles joined by a sharp wire. Used by sneaking up behind a victim and pulling the wire over his head and onto his neck. The wire squeezes the life out of victims, and in extreme executions will take a head right off.

Glass Shard: With quick thinking and a steady hand, a piece of glass becomes a deadly weapon that can open your victim's jugular. These can be obtained by breaking windows or mirrors, and provide a relatively quiet execution.

Melee Weapons
Melee weapons are can be used over and over, and more importantly, they can be used in stealth kills.

Machete: Designed to cut through thick vegetation such as sugar cane or jungle undergrowth, it also lends itself well to use as an offensive weapon. This is the favored weapon of the Wardogs.

Baseball Bat: Used for more than just sports, this weapon is the favored tool of the "Hoods." Two quick swings to the head and they're out.

Meat Cleaver: Probably one of the more brutal weapons in the game, this handy tool is weighted to cut through bone in a single motion. To witness just how brutal this weapon is, perform any of its executions.

Hammer: Made out of galvanized steel, this is a deadly tool that can provide a killer headache.

Sickle: The preferred weapon of the "Innocentz", the sickle is used in much the same way as it was in the French Revolution… grotesquely. A single swoop action can inflict unmentionable damage on your victim.

Firearms
Firearms are by far the most efficient and convenient way to eradicate your foes. But since they aren't at all quiet, you could alert nearby hunters. The guns in Manhunt require ammo and must be reloaded in realtime, an action that is best done under cover and out of earshot.

9mm Pistol: Starkweather's personal henchmen, the Cerberus, and Carcer City SWAT teams carry the 9mm. This potent weapon has an extremely fast rate of fire for a semi-automatic pistol.

Sawed-Off Shotgun: This is a shotgun with barrels cut short, the goal being to spread the pellets out as rapidly as possible for close-quarter use. The powerhouse of short-range weapons, the sawed-off 12-gauge can sever a man in half with a single blast so devastating that it hurls the recipient backward. The damage from this weapon is rapidly reduced if the target is more than 15 feet away.

Assault Rifle: Starkweather's hand selected henchmen the Cerberus are equipped with these potent rifles. The weapons are fully automatic, and are highly accurate even and can be used for both sniping and suppression fire..

Tranquilizer Rifle: These guns are the same types used by zookeepers and big game hunters. The extremely powerful .50 caliber immobilization darts are filled with Rompun and Ketamine, dosed to immobilize primates and small mammals. This dose will temporarily immobilize a human being. However, if the victim is shot in the jugular, they will be near death.

ironically there is a growing number of people who want to ban games like Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City and Manhunt

[Rufus Rhastus J]

It's just more liberal excuses for bad behavior! Like: " I'm sorry, I was drunk!" Duh, don't remember, same shizzit! Excuses, the game is just that, a game.:nod:

Teenager denies video game inspired him to slay friend

quote:
"We'd like to see everybody who has one of the [games] turn them in, like they do with rifles and pistols. "

Boy who killed girl: 'I did her a favor' - Teenager denies video game inspired him to slay friend

Though an alleged teen killer claims a popular violent video game had nothing to do with his murdering a young girl, the victims father and others are convinced Grand Theft Auto III inspired the boy to bludgeon and stab his friend to death.

Dustin Lynch allegedly stabbed JoLynn Mishne in the side with kitchen knife after bashing her with a bedpost. Her father, Mickey, found her in a pool of blood on her bed with a pile of clothes heaped on top of her.

The then-15-year-old Lynch, a runaway, had been staying with the Mishnes in Medina, Ohio, for about a week after JoLynn, a high-school junior, begged her father to let him stay with the family, the Cleveland Scene weekly reports.

During his week's stay with the Mishnes in the fall of 2002, Lynch reportedly played the video game GTA III for hours at a time. It is a violent crime fantasy in which players earn rewards for assaults, carjackings, and murder, the Scene reports. The game has been highly successful, winning numerous game-of-the-year honors and becoming the best-selling game of 2001.

The violent nature of the game and critics' contention that youthful players act out what they see has fingered GTA III in the Lynch case.


'Grand Theft Auto Vice City' sizzles with violence (Rockstar Games)

In October, attorney and activist Jack Thompson filed a $246 million lawsuit against Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., GTA III designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart, in connection with a Tennessee case in which two teenage stepbrothers killed one person and injured another by shooting rifles at passing motorists, the Scene reported. The teens claimed GTA III as inspiration.

"I think the video game industry is about as evil as any entity in America is," Thompson told the paper. "I'm out to take their money from them – and it's blood money, in some of these instances – and give it to the people who have been harmed by them."

Thompson contacted JoLynn's father, Mickey Mishne, upon hearing about the girl's murder. After learning about the game and recalling Lynch's behavior, Mishne became convinced the boy was inspired by GTA III. Lynch's favorite GTA III murder weapon reportedly was the baseball bat.

Mishne likely will be a part of a civil suit targeting GTA III.

"We are on a crusade," he told the paper. "We'd like to see everybody who has one of the [games] turn them in, like they do with rifles and pistols. We want to put them out of business."

Dustin Lynch, sitting in jail awaiting his murder trial, recently responded to several written questions from the Scene.

When asked why he killed JoLynn, Lynch responded, "I killed JoLynn for my own personal satisfaction. I yearn to see blood, it's a need or an addiction and also a fetish. I'm just obsessed with it all."

Though Lynch could possibly benefit from claiming he was a victim of the video game, he is denying that's the case.

"Old man Mishne and whomever else believes that GTA III influenced me to brutaly [sic] kill JoLynn ... they are all idiots!" Lynch wrote to the Scene. "I killed JoLynn Mishne for my own personal satisfaction, not because of a video game," adding that he "did her a favor and satisfied all my needs while doing it!"

Lynch, now 17, claims to have begun thinking about murder at an early age: "Ever since I was 6 years old, I've wanted to kill someone," he wrote. The teen claims to have killed 35 people, though there is no evidence backing up his assertion.

The alleged killer is scheduled to face trial as an adult on Jan. 12 and faces up to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

"The only people I care about is Adolf Hitler and myself! Heil the fuehrer! Hitler is God!" he wrote to the paper.

The young man says he's not afraid of prison, hoping to get his high-school diploma and write a book while there.

"I might be small, but I know how to handle my business," he writes. "I'm a 'Lynch,' it runs through [our] blood. Just like jail!"

Lynch claims he'd like to be executed eventually.

"When my book is complete and I'm ready, I'm going to kill someone else so that I can get the death penalty. I took so many lives and I'm just curious to know what it's like to be dead. Is there an 'after life'? etc. I want to die by lethal injection. I think that is better than any other method (ex. – killing myself, or by some horrible death). …"

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, says in the past two months, her son has attempted suicide at the jail, refused to cooperate with his attorney, wrote incriminating letters to Mickey Mishne and stopped communicating with her.

Asked if he was disturbed, Lynch wrote to the Scene: "I AM NOT DISTURBED AT ALL! Like I said, I have certain needs, desires and a fetish. Cutting myself is a fetish. I feel so powerful when I do it, kind of like I'm on coke. Each slice I take is like hooting another line! I'm fascinated by the sight of blood, and when I'm locked up the way I am the only blood I can get is my own."


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/a...RTICLE_ID=36095

personal responsibility is rapidly becomming a quaint notion of the past...why take the blame when you can blame an inanimate object instead..file a lawsuit against the manufacturers..win or settle out of court..either way have enough money to pay off the house and liar..I mean lawyer..live high on the hog for a year or two and then go broke

I just got this videogame

http://www.rockstargames.com/manhunt/

[SPOCAHP ANAR]

The game itself isn't directly involved, yet it is. It is a psychological problem in which the child is suffering from some sort of detachment or neglect from society. It (the game, music, or movie) is a trigger which sets them off.

It is more of a problem of bad or incomplete parenting in which the child does not have a healthy family life. However this isn't to say that the media outlet bears no part in this as we are who we are because of our environment and thus the stimuli we are exposed to shapes us into the person we become. However the game is just that, a stimulus. People react to stimuli in different ways so it isn't all that clear as what role the stimulus plays as the stimulus is usually just a small part in shaping the individual's psyche.

However should the stimuli become a defining characteristic in shaping the person's psyche then it would certainly play a larger part in controlling the decision making processes.

This is just basic Psyche 101. However conservatives have long rallied against Hollywood about the content of their movies/programming. A play that both parties seem to be using to gather support from the sheeple.

[Rave]

I can't speak for Manhunt,but I play and enjoy the games of Max Payne,Chaser,Return to Castle Wolfenstein,and they are first person shooters.
I figure if folks don't like a game don't buy it or trade it in on Simms or something.
As far as concern goes,carjacking,child molestation,rape and murder concern me more than the contents of video games.

[Dale]

I looked and looked for violence in my PGA Golf game, my Microsoft Flight Trainer game, my NASCAR game and my Cardoza Casino games but I'll be darned....couldn't find any.

Now, my TNT hunting game I get to shoot wabbits, elk, Bambis, and turkey though.

Gawd, I hate that violence and I'm ashamed I play the game.

http://www.vgcity.com/reviews/237.html

The eerie setting of Rockstar’s Manhunt leaves you battling away hordes of enemies in a bleak, corrupt world of death and deceit. The sheer gore of this almost insane game keeps you killing for thrills, and not so much trying to survive. Manhunt is by far the epitome of what all governors and statesmen complain about when they discuss the violence in video games and other entertainment methods. Never has there been a game with as much gore, and violence then this.

[myarmor]

For a while now I could tell you like GTA3 there Logansdad. Your Avitar shows that.
But as far as Manhunt is concerned, it's just part of fulfilling consumer demand. Gamers that played pong and up to Sonic and Mario, are not 5 and 12 years old any more. The gamers that played all those innocent games have not stoped playing games. Most gamers are now 18-30's and don't want kid stuff. They are demanding more mature-grown up-content.
Look at cartoons. There is a reason that Japanese Anima is so popular today. And why the Cartoon Network is showing a lot of "Mature" cartoons later at night.
Me personally I won't buy it. But that is my decision as is the right to buy it for the audience that it is intended for. And it is intended for the older, more mature audience. Not little 5year old johnny.

Originally Posted by myarmor

For a while now I could tell you like GTA3 there Logansdad. Your Avitar shows that.

that's Fido from GTA3 up there wearing them out with the shotgun

[Dennis]

I play FPS games all the time
Halo, BF 1942, SOF, SOF II, Quake II, Quake III, MOH AA, MOH Spearhead, All the Half lifes.

The FPS games help the player think tactically (situational awarness)
they teach reloading and finding and fireing from a covered position.
the Idea that you must make shure your oponnent is down and no longer a threat before moving on.
the idea that fleeing and maintaining your health points is some times a better choice than going in blasting.
There are all sorts of things that these simulations make the player think about.
it sharpens the decision making process.
the judgement in reality is what that child lacked
I cant speak to the idea that computer simulations in virtual reality caused the kid to loose or never develop a reality based value system.
Who knows is it possible? shure should we bann computer sims?
Impossible.
absolutly impossible
The internet genie is out of the bottle and No one can put it back in,................ no way........ no how.
Should parents PARENT their children?
YUP
was it a horrific mistake to let their child "spin out" playing computer simulations?
Absolutly
But then any interested parent could have seen that.
We cannot change the world it will march on to where ever in the hell its going.
We just have to live in it.
The parent of that kid that is now on a crusade to bann video games is trying to salve his concience for not being a good parent to his child.
he is getting a lot of attention but is fighting to change something that is unchangeable.
kinda like prohabition in the thirtys
ya cant uninvent alcohol, ya cant uninvent Nuclear bombs ya cant uninvent firearms
The idea that it would be possible to uninvent computer simulations is silly and childish.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
also known as:
Grand Theft Auto: Sin City


Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas -- a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs, and corruption. Now, it's the early 1990s and Carl's got to go home: his mother has been killed and his family has been torn apart. And so begins the third PlayStation 2 chapter of the multi-million unit selling franchise, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Boasting a world that five times larger than Vice City, San Andreas introduces a host of new features that including eating food to survive, the freedom to completely customize your character with tattoos, clothing, and haircuts, a brand new vehicle physics engine, the long-wanted ability to swim, and overhauled graphical presentation.

[dinengurth]

It's not the video games making the kids do these stupid things, it's the fact that the kids themselves are imbeciles. How weak does one's mind have to be to actually believe what goes on in a video game is entirely applicable to real world scenarios. That's where lack of parenting comes in to play. If parents would discipline their kids and actually teach them something, this wouldn't be a problem. But why do that when you can blame a game company for an "evil" product and get millions in the process? Stupid shite like this really burns me. What is this world coming to when you can't smack your child when they need/deserve it w/o defending yourself in court? People are just too soft these days.

Rockstar Games' cornerstone Grand Theft Auto series returns for a third run through the 128-bit generation, with this violent, mature-themed third-person shooter and mission-based driving game. Set in the early-1990s gang culture of "San Andreas," a fictional U.S. region modeled after California, the adventure plays out across the entire virtual state, with action centered in its three main cities: Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), San Fiero (San Francisco), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Like it's immediate predecessor, Vice City, San Andreas strives to provide a wide, deep foundation for its free-form criminal gameplay by setting the story in a slightly exaggerated representation of a familiar (if not glorified) American subculture. As Vice City seemed inspired by Miami Vice, and the pastel-decked, "me generation" ideals of the early 1980s, San Andreas is set in a time and place suggested by films like Menace II Society and Colors, where riots eventually brought a whole city to a halt and awakened new consciousness across the country. Players take the role of a young man named Carl "C.J." Johnson, who thought he had escaped the gangland lifestyle by moving away from his Los Santos home. When is mother is murdered, he returns to the neighborhood of his childhood, only to become embroiled with threats and danger from all sides. Because of his family and friends who remained in Los Santos, he's considered an enemy on sight to rival gang members. Even worse, perhaps, the corrupt local law enforcement frames him for a crime he did not commit. To clear his name and save his family, C.J. sets out on a long journey that will lead him all across the state. More than any earlier GTA game, San Andreas features strong elements of role-playing and character development, encouraging players to customize their version of C.J. as they play through his adventure on their own terms. Unlike the protagonist of GTA 3, or Vice City's Tommy Vercetti, C.J. isn't really working for some underworld organization or crime boss mastermind -- he's out to take care of himself and his own family. He is not driven by the immediate promise of wealth or promotion; his goals are far more personal. He must steer the direction of his exploits, to follow them to a satisfactory end. Also in the theme of giving more control of over the lead character's development, players will take care of C.J.'s day-to-day needs. When he is hungry, he'll need to eat -- perhaps at one of San Andreas' fast food chains, like "Cluckin' Bell," or "Burger Shot." If he doesn't eat, he'll become thin and weak, but too much fast food without any exercise will cause him to grow fat and slow. Players can also choose the clothes that C.J. wears, and have him get customized tattoos. C.J. has to come up with any money he needs for these things on his own, however, since there won't always be some boss character waiting to pay him off as he completes his missions. One way to scratch up some quick cash is by robbing homes at night. When he puts on his ski mask, C.J. enters a stealth mode, and is more likely to be able to sneak into a house, nab some valuables, and head off to the local fence before the residents even wake up. Overall, San Andreas is in the same format and style that won millions of fans for GTA 3 and Vice City, but it features a number gameplay adjustments and improvements. In addition to C.J.'s stealth mode, he can also swim; a wrong turn off the pier will no longer result in an instant trip to the emergency ward, and if all else fails, the protagonist may even be able to evade pursuers by taking a quick dip. The game's targeting system has also been adjusted. Using both analog sticks, players take more complete control of C.J., and can have him run and strafe, and shoot in almost any direction, even while moving in another. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

[Shaun]

I stopped plying video games when I was a kid --- now I do use a flight simulator to practice my instrument flight but that is for training

you're missing out..

[Shaun]

I prefer reality like hunting and shooting

I can't hunt, shoot and fish everyday though