Nancy Pelosi, who is a House Minority Leader, has come out in support of videogames and has stated that they aren’t the sole reason for violent behavior in America.

The entire topic has been blown out of proportion after the Sandy Hook Shootings, where the shooter was believed to be a fan of Mass Effect; a videogame developed by EA.

In an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News, she had a lot to say, and revealed that study into the violent behavior due to videogames isn’t necessary.

Wallace asked her a question: “As part of your plan, you call for more scientific research on the connection between popular culture and violence. We don’t need another study, respectfully. I mean, we know that these video games, where people have their heads splattered, these movies, these TV shows — why don’t you go to your friends in Hollywood and challenge them? Shame them, and say, ‘Knock it off?'”

Pelosi replied: “I understand what you’re saying. I’m a mother. I’m a grandmother. But the evidence says that in Japan, for example, they have the most violent games than the rest and the lowest mortality from guns. I don’t know what the explanation is for that except they may have good gun laws.”

You can watch the whole video on Huffington Post.

Thanks, Polygon.

There’s a stigma associated with a bad act, and if it is destigmatized, well it becomes a normal thing.

In the recent wake of Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, videogames have taken the blame due to some connection with the person who did the horrible act. Naturally people want the government to take some action and recently president Obama urged the Congress to grant $10 million for studying the relationship between violent videogames and violence.

In a related peice of news, the connecticut governor has said that videogames destigmatize violence at a event last weekend. The event was called US Conference of Mayors.

“If we spent as much time and energy on destigmatizing mental health treatment as we do in the proliferation of these video games that destigmatize violence, we as a society would make great gains,” he said.

“Why do we do that? When we’re willing to destigmatize violence and willing to bring it home to your living room or your den and put it on a 50-inch screen [and play games that award points for] when you hit someone with your semiautomatic and more points depending on how many times you hit someone with your semiautomatic, where is the social value in that? Is this the kind of thing we want to be involved in as a nation?”

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Via Ctpost.

“With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

“All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy,” Obama said.

Déjà vu anyone?

Last year the President spoke out against video game, calling them a ‘health concern’. You can see just what GamingBolt thinks of that in our editorials.

Got an opinion? Voice it in the comments below.

– Barack Obama

So videogames are a health concern are they? Is anyone else getting positively sick of people constantly bashing video games?

I know I am.

The mass media loves to demonise video games. And while that on it’s own wouldn’t really bother me (more for me, ho ho!), it’s the people that clearly know nothing about games. Take the recent Alan Tichmarsh show, involving a debate about the ethics of videogames and their effect on children.

Update: This video is no longer available.

Wow, what a great opening Alan. Barely 10 seconds in, the host demonstrates quite clearly that he knows nothing about video games. Call of Duty 2 Modern Warfare? At least get the numbers in the right place. He then proceeds to list off a couple of M rated video games to have released in the last 6 months or so.

But guess what Alan- 95% of video games are not rated Mature! Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the show the other members of the panel do their very best to pull imaginary numbers out of their arsehole (don’t listen to the woman, no studies have ever conclusively proved a link between addictive/violent games and behavioural issues in children).

Another example was back in 2006, when shortly after the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas many US politicians started pointing nasty fingers at video games too.

And naturally, middle class parents are at it too.

Is anyone noticing a trend? All the anti-video game arguments love pulling a couple of trump cards. The first is the hyper-controversial Grand Theft Auto series. ‘You can let prostitutes service you and then kill them to get your money back!’ Oh no, the humanity. Maybe if you took one look at the front cover of any GTA game you would see it is rated M, or 18. For those politicians/hosts/parents that cannot understand the bright red ring with the number 18 printed on it, this symbol means it can only be legally sold to those over the age of 18 (or 17, if it says M for Mature).

And more recently, the major trump card has been the No Russian level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Yes you shoot civilians. But you can also skip it. This level is less of an exercise in brutality than it is a slightly abstract look on the ethics of war. Innocent people die every day. Just because it’s in a game doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to go batshit crazy, but nor is it an excuse to brush off the horrible things that happen to people in wartime. But it’s not like Modern Warfare 2 is the first media form to demonstrate the killing of civilians on a more simplistic level. Films (The Hurt Locker, Blood Diamond, Hotel Rwanda) have done it countless times before.

And why are we all picking on the gaming industry? Surely even the ability to blow someone’s head off in a colourful mess in an alternate universe where it is clearly not reality is better than this (NSFW).

Update: This video is no longer available.

It’s a funny thing that these videogame bashers never talk about the bonuses of gaming though. For one, gaming is not the lonely habit of some spotty teenager who sits in a basement all day long. Online games can be very social, and give you the ability to be a good sportsman. You will never always win, and you have to deal with this regularly as a gamer.

Competetive games also encourage teamwork. Look at Battlefield: Bad Company 2. No team will ever win without a mixture of classes all working together. Without medics to heal and revive, engineers to repair and snipers to spot, you will quickly be overrun.

Gaming is also a way to relieve stress. It has been shown that a 15 or 20 minute game session can help you relax by taking you to a fictional world where worries are few, and consequences are, frankly, inconsequential. You can read up the study here. But I don’t want to lower myself to the level of our Alan Tichmarsh friends by endlessly pulling studies and statistics out of thin air. Anyone can do that.

Naturally some games are very simple shooters, mindless games with little depth. But others, particularly strategy games such as Company of Heroes, Men of War and the Total War series reward tactical thinking and quick judgement, while a game like Halo rewards fast reactions.

It’s really unfortunate that most of the people in power these days feel that just because they’re surrounded by armed guards that they can sling mud at any topic which takes their fancy. How many politicians have even played a video game before? Oh sure, there are physcos, there are atrocities, and the media loves pointing out that just because someone has been near a videogame in the last ten years it means that’s why they murdered someone- but take a step back. Videogames aren’t evil, they aren’t a health issue- but like everything in this world, they need to be controlled and taken in moderation.