150°

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to meet with video game industry reps to discuss gun violence

Polygon writes:

"In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, Vice President Biden and his task force are examining legislation that would ban assault rifles while also looking into the role of violent movies and video games in the mass shootings."

SilentNegotiator4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

Banning one-type of semi-automatic weapon and restricting video games.
PROBEM SALVED, MERICA.
/s

There's still a major lack of scientific connection between game violence and tendency towards ACTUAL violence.
They're always doing tests like (2 actual examples) seeing how long a person honks a horn or if they'll come up with more violent solutions for a FICTIONAL character to solve a problem.

PopRocks3594141d ago

The problem is a lack of knowledge and education, I think. Or at least the start of it. I do believe in some amount of gun control, as in making it a little less easy for the average Joe to buy one off the street.

Seraphim4141d ago

the problem is the media. Monkey see, monkey do. Want 5 minutes of fame? Grab a gun and shoot some place up then kill yourself leaving nothing but questions for the media to talk about for the following weeks...

In all honesty there is no real solution to the problem at the hand. The background checks and waiting periods are suffice. If someone wants a gun they will go find one. In many instances it seems the guns being used are not in fact owned by the crazy prick shooting up the place. And you sure as hell can't screen mental health. Even a nut who's depressed, suicidal, etc can easily get around some questionably ethic test should one be implemented. Quite frankly a good start to solving this problem is not reporting it & covering it for weeks, months of New Channels.

morganfell4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

Is he going to meet with the auto alcohol industry since traffic fatalities kill more people than handguns every year. Oh wait, no political grandstanding in that venture and it doesn't make him feel safer about taking other people's hard earned money.

insomnium24141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

@Seraphim

How about a total ban on handguns. Make it a $10k fine (for the poor) and a $1000k fine for the rich AND a year in prison should you ever be seen carrying a handgun ANYWHERE.

I would like to see what would happen to the gun crimes.

If it doesn't help ban all the guns (rifles included) and double the fines and jailtime.

I like dishing out penalties to stupid folks.

Nodoze4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

Insomnium it appears YOU are the stupid folk here. Why should law abiding people who carry firearms for their protection be imprisoned and fined.

You would make a fine Nazi. For that is exactly what they did to people.

NEWS at 11 Spoons make people fat!!

Scizz4141d ago

@Seraphim The internet eliminates the chance of it not being reported.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4141d ago
ifistbrowni4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

my argument has been the same for this for awhile now:

Canada and the U.K. watch/play the same stuff as us americans and listen to *almost* the same music. To say that any media sources have anything to do with mass shootings is silly (to me).

I hardly hear (practically never) of mass shootings in canada/u.k. meanwhile in america it is a by-weekly thing; the only real difference: gun laws.

Now all you pro-gunnies can come in and say how taking our guns away is against the constitution, but no-where in this post do i actually say "take our guns," i just think there needs to be some major restrictions like:

All magazines/clips (?) that hold more than 5 bullets are extremely illegal. If you need more than 5 shots for hunting or self defense, you shouldn't have passed the required test for a fire-arm.

^Epic wall of text, that no one will read.

Not that i care about disagrees, but it'd be interesting to hear why. Not looking to argue, just would find it educational to hear "the opposing side of the argument"

3GenGames4141d ago

Guns are for defense from criminals or in a situation where your life is in danger, along with hunting. If I'm on my roof while my house is getting attacked because my house has supplies in a mass shortage, I need to be able to defend it adequately. Standing on the roof with an 30 round AR-15 would be MINIMUM to defend myself. Actually, it may be too small even. A SAW would be more adequate. So why can't I own these? It's my legal right.

But still, maybe another reason is Canada has better care for mentally ill, and has less population concentration. Yeah, didn't want to touch on that because those are two key factors as well.

The guy that just killed 4 more people in Aurora, Colorado went on a rampage, until he met an officer with an AR-15. There was only one more bullet fired, and that's his into his skull. For a reason.

SilentNegotiator4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

Mass killers like the one at Sandy Hook and Aurora (the main arguments being used to increase US gun control) are prepared. Restricting it to 5 bullets would just mean that they pack an extra magazine in their clip belt.

(EDIT: Uhh.....someone do me a favor. Check if I have 4 comments. Maybe I snapped, but I don't see 4 comments. Just 3. Awwww, maaaaan; I think I missed out on a bubble because when I tried to post one of my comments I got a "something went wrong" message)

Soldierone4141d ago

Assault rifles are a right for protection against the government. If I trust my government, I'd gladly let that right go. With the way things are going, do I honestly want to let that happen? You also have to look at the bigger picture. If taking rights away were so easy, they will do it more often.

I'm not saying everyone needs assault rifles, but there is a reason for the right to be there. You also have to look at all mass killings. There are several that only dealt with bombs and knifes. One of the biggest in history was a person at a school that carefully set up bombs and only used a gun to kill two people and set off the explosives. When people are lunatics, insane, or mentally ill, they will find ways to kill people. Assault rifle or not, it will happen. People need to remember there was already an assault rifle ban, it didn't do anything.

We just ignores alternate routes and instead the politicians take the easy way out by blaming something other than themselves. What they should be doing is taking steps. Take better care of mentally ill, get news in a more positive light, make a better society and give better protection. If none of that works, then jump to conclusions of assault rifles.

MAJ0R4141d ago

The government attempting or threatening to create new laws like this will only make more and more guns sell, thus increasing the amount of guns civilians own. It will be hell trying to take away their guns if a ban does go into effect. You can be sure there will be retaliation by law-abiding citizens who's government attempts to seize their guns. That's why it will never happen. THIS is the way the people who founded America intended. Civilians are in control, not the government.

The absolute most that would happen is a ban on new sales of guns. Even that would be awkward because how would you prevent used gun sale of millions of weapons that have over 5 bullet magazines?

Qrphe4141d ago

Actually, the initial intent when writing the second amendment was so that citizens could at any moment assemble and take action against an oppresive domeatic regime. With that said, we need ways to buy grenades, tanks, jets, else we wouldn't stand a chance against a potential big brother!

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tachy0n4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

how about ESRB does its job?!

check out this video of jesse ventura, everything he said here is true,
wake up people!!

MidNite4141d ago

I only get on N4G on rare occasions to comment thank you, gotta tell you nice Video. I love Jesse Ventura he owned Pierce Morgan on his own show at the end!!!

Kur04141d ago

This country needs to support more mental health above all else. That guy who shot up those kids could've have gotten help before any of the happened. Mental health is a huge neglected issue in the US.

InMyOpinion4141d ago

It's much easier to label them as "evil" and put them on death row.

Nexgensensation4141d ago

Like really! I haven't seen a single "criminal" follow the law. Anytime I watch the news that involve guns like a mass murder, drive by, or a robbery of some sort, the criminal always seem to have a large amount of fire power!

Where does a criminal get all that fire power, with background screening, you must ask yourself how does a criminal get all that fire power?

BY BREAKING THE LAW OF COURSE! LOL

so what is gun control to a criminal compare to gun control to an average joe?

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GreenRanger4141d ago

Why doesn't he visit the irresponsible parents who buy violent games for their children and completely ignore the age ratings on the boxes?

SilentNegotiator4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

I just got a rather odd image of Joe Biden body slamming a few million parents. lol

BoNeSaW234141d ago

Any image of Joe Biden doing ANYTHING is odd.

Double_O_Revan4141d ago

I was amazed when I worked at Gamestop at how many parents would walk to the counter with their 8-12 year olds with GTA in hand. It was only after I told them was the game entailed that they gave a dirty look at their kids and put it back.

But I wonder how often the person at the counter Doesn't explain and educate the parent and it slips by.

Plus, just go online with CoD for 5 mins and you'll realize that 80%+ of the people playing are 15 or younger. Parents are to blame. Stop pushing the blame elsewhere and start taking responsibility.

shutUpAndTakeMyMoney4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

cuz that's harder..

Billion dollar industry + america = not much will happen to it. They sell cigarettes and that is much worse.. More smokers than gun violence in america. Legal suicide.

asmith23064141d ago

I agree but what really pisses me off about these politicians is that they never seem to remember that humans were violent and psychotic way, way back before video games and violent media even existed. Violence is not a product of violent media, it's the other way around. Violent media is a product of us.

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Dan504141d ago

Government can't outlaw/restrict video game sales/content SCOTUS said they are protected speech.

CommonSense4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

Just what we need...more government involvement in everything.

Biden is a liar, an idiot, a hypocrite, and a complete piece of shit (a politician, in other words). Keep him away from the industry!

DivineAssault 4141d ago

smh.. Theres already a rating scale so wtf is the big deal.. Parents need to step up their responsibility to not let underage children play violent games.. Nuff said.. BAD PARENTING

LOGICWINS4141d ago

Theres nothing wrong with underaged well adjusted kids playing violent video games. My parents bought me every single MK game I wanted as kid. 17 years later, I've yet to rip out anyones spine. Exceptions to the rule are children who are mentally ill to the point that they can't distinguish fiction from reality.

AO1JMM4141d ago (Edited 4141d ago )

There is no connection between violence and violent videogames!

There might not even be a bad parenting connection either. This person might just be mentally disturbed.

Show all comments (58)
100°

Former Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider pours scorn on EA's AI dreams.

"They want you to believe the devs under them are super stoked to work generative AI into their processes," continued Gaider, "but I assure you what they took as excitement was really a veiled wail of despair not unlike the time that team was informed of their new 'really cool' live service mandate.".

LordoftheCritics1d 21h ago

Publishers see gaming as another stock market.

isarai1d 20h ago

I think anyone with some common sense knew this, im glad i don't support their games anymore, what a sh!t company.

Psychonaut851d 4h ago

Friends don’t let friends buy EA or Ubisoft.

Chocoburger1d 4h ago

I said this yesterday. AI isn't what we want when it comes to crafting artistry. Alas, these soulless corporate morons don't care about their work, only about cutting corners as much as possible.

120°

Phil Spencer and the Battle for Xbox’s Soul

Has the rapid growth of Xbox made the ship too heavy? Following the closures of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Roundhouse, we explore what the future of Xbox could look like.

LG_Fox_Brazil2d ago

This ship was never meant to sail, this ship was made from the get go to sink as fast as possible. It almost feels that they want to lower the standards of quality in the industry so that they can fit in

rlow11d 7h ago

I disagree, Xbox from the get go innovated and changed the industry. They did a lot of firsts and standardized a lot of others. It wasn’t till the beginning of the Xbox1 era that things started to go south.

Stevonidas1d 3h ago

Yep, although I’d argue it started going to shit when they tried to hock Kinect on their audience instead of continuing to invest in their studios and IPs. 2001-2010 Xbox was peak gaming, though.

rlow11d 2h ago

@Stevonidas
I agree they never should have focused on it after the 360 era. But you do have to remember they were faked out by the huge volumes of Kinects sold. To quote info on Wikipedia, “Project Natal, It was first released on November 4, 2010, and would go on to sell eight million units in its first 60 days of availability.” So if your Xbox and see these huge sales on a peripheral where are you going to put some money? Criticism in hindsight is worthless…..if only we could all see our future. In other wards they had no way of knowing. Plus they had engagement numbers and a lot of signs pointed to people wanting it.

Their biggest mistake wasn’t the Kinect, but unlike Sony after the PS3 debacle. They didn’t double on down on exclusive good games. The other huge mistake was letting Call of Duty go to Sony.

Hedstrom1d 10h ago

Phil wants Xbox to be as soulless as him!

Tacoboto1d 10h ago (Edited 1d 10h ago )

Xbox has no soul and Phil has no confidence, and it's impossible to say either do when they killed Tango and Arkane Austin.

Everything they've said since has only made them look worse to a point that they're actually less competent than Embracer.

Markdn1d 10h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

Whe you release something like the series S and expect it not to hurt your business model, and developers have to have parity with games. Then you know Microsoft don't care. Series s is the final nail that broke developers,

Show all comments (12)
360°

Sarah Bond dodges questions on Xbox studio closures

While on stage with Dina Bass at The Bloomberg Technology Summit the President of Xbox, Sarah Bond, was asked about the Xbox studio closures of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios

2d ago
ApocalypseShadow2d ago

Of course she did. She's part of the problem and will just tow the company line.

VenomUK2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Bloomberg’s Dina Bass could barely read her scripted question without looking at her notes, whilst Sarah Bond who WAS expecting the question spoke without saying anything of substance or answering the question in any meaningful way. Clearly she’s had the same expert PR training as Phil, but this avoidance was disrespectful. In time the short-sighted decision to shut down Tango Gameworks will be seen as of the most notorious examples why Phil Spencer messed up his tenure in charge of Xbox. That’s a fully built out talented team that could’ve been put to work on any project.

Additionally, Phil Spencer should not be using Sarah Bond as a patsy for his mistakes- he should be answering that question.

gleepot2d ago

I think you are all really overselling Tangos value. Hi-Fi rush was a lot of fun. Ghostwire was incredibly dull. Evil within 1 and 2 were just okay.

lucasnooker2d ago

Evil within 2 was incredibly under rated. I thought that game was surprisingly good

NotoriousWhiz2d ago

Someone else said it best. I don't think it was a Phil decision. It was most likely a Satya decision. I think Microsoft is done giving out free money to Xbox.

Cacabunga2d ago

people please boycott Activision Bethesda next release and support Hellblade.
these people mus understand that they cannot treat their fans and employees that way.
scumbags.

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XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

Yikes you don't help Sarah 😬 making a problem worse

Christopher2d ago

She's playing her role. There's absolutely nothing any of them can say other than the truth, this is about profit margins and not quality, so they just don't answer anything and wait for gamers to forget.

shinoff21832d ago

I think news is coming of more ps5 release but they gotta be careful cause Xbox is still sitting on store shelves. They can't get left holding all that stock

Lightning772d ago

Come next month they'll flash nice looking games in our faces and expecting us to forget.

The only thing that'll be going through my mind at their showcase is how many of those studios will get shut down after release.

I'm not joking around either. MS probably expects every game to be like COD and do COD numbers. What a way to destroy gaming for the entire industry because they're dumb af at being realistic in what success means for each game.

-Foxtrot2d ago

Always feels she was brought in / promoted for this. Happened just before things started to be out in motion.

Phil and co have someone to throw under the bus and share the blame with

zaanan2d ago

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

darthv721d 19h ago

....won't get fooled again

Hofstaderman2d ago

Like a deer caught in the headlights.....

notachance2d ago

I always wondered why xbox had multiple leaders with similar titles like Phil Spencer, Matt Booty, and Sarah Bond, like, how many heads do you actually need?

Seems to me it would be more cost efficient to cut 2 of them instead of all those studios.

DarXyde2d ago

Frankly, I suspect she is the most competent of them. I don't mean that I like her more, I mean that she's the best at articulating herself and giving the talking points MS wants to give. The others are starting to sound more like her than her sounding like any of them.

Are any of these people "responsible" for what's happening? No. This reeks of Nadella. But that being said, I don't see any of the Xbox heads stepping down in protest.

"Don't shoot the messenger", sure, but at the same time, the messengers don't seem to take umbrage with the message. Not enough to remove themselves from it, anyway.

CS72d ago

I disagree. Nadella is looking for profit as a CEO should in my opinion.

The problem is Dr. Phil & Co. had 10 years to bring Xbox back on track and have been failing woefully.

Phil needs to sell to Nadella that if we are to make a profit, we need to make great games. And to do that we need employees here for the long haul and the freedom to work on creative projects.

But as Phil said himself he doesn’t believe great games sell consoles.

RpgSama2d ago

Dude, 100%, forgot Major Nelson and Aaron Greenberg, like what is the point for all these suits? They have more C-level executives than games released in a generation.

This is just so they can all pass along the hot potato one at a time and in between all of them can say a lot without actually saying anything, misinformation at its finest.

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