'Tis the season to take up the virtual machete - that is, unless you are under the age of 17. With three major gaming consoles hitting the market in the last 13 months, consumers are ready to shell out top dollar on this season's hottest and most violent games.
As the average age of a video gamer increases, so does the adult content in video games. In "Dead Rising," a particularly violent Xbox 360 game about zombies, the grass turns from green to crimson as players eagerly trample bodies with a lawn mower, severing necks and limbs. Other weapons of choice include a machete and a wooden bench.
In "Gears of War," another Xbox game, the weapon is none other than a gun, but it's also got a chainsaw attached so gamers can hack victims into tiny pieces.
"It's like, what is the most gruesome way to die?" said Ashley McShane, a Washington Semester student, after viewing a montage of clips from this year's most violent games.
Blood, guts and gore are only part of the reason games are labeled M for mature. Games using raw and sexually explicit language, as well as women wearing next to nothing, are intended for an older audience. Games modeled after movies "Scarface" and "The Godfather," both of which received R ratings from the Motion Picture Association of America, reflect adult situations.
"Saint's Row" is one of the more provocative games this year. The first mission is to rescue kidnapped prostitutes and bring them back to the head mistress at the brothel. The game prompts "Pick up ho." The other mission, should the player dare accept it, is to protect a drug lord so he can complete drug transactions - but don't cross his path.
"You think you can rob me?" he screams. "You stupid (expletive) backstabbing piece of (expletive)!" He fires more bullets with each word.
Although the average age of a gamer has gone up, more than half of all video gamers aren't yet out of high school. This year's barrage of blood, swearing, weapons and scantily clad women has Sen. Joe Lieberman concerned that the younger crowd is getting their hands on the violent games.
"Over two thousand studies indicate that media violence has adverse effects on many of our children, including desensitizing them to violence and making them more prone to violent behavior and more tolerant about it," Lieberman said at a press conference Wednesday.
According to the 11th annual report card released by MediaWise, a coalition of advocacy groups that study the effects of violent media on children, the largest retailers are not to blame - parents are. Best Buy, Target and Wal-Mart were 100 percent successful in preventing minors from purchasing games rated Mature. Specialty retailers prevented transactions only 50 percent of the time.
"What we have found in this year's report card is that there is a weak link and the weak link has to do with us," said Dr. David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family.
"We can't just always point to sectors of the industry. I think we also have to step up and take our responsibility to do what's best on behalf of our kids."
In a survey of 1,400 families and schools, MediaWise separately asked parents and their children if they followed the video game rating system. The two groups had a different picture of what was going on. Of parents surveyed, 73 percent said they used the gaming ratings, while 30 percent of children said that their parents followed the ratings. Children were also playing video games twice as often as their parents realized.
"I can't see how any parent lets a six-year-old become exposed to such sexually explicit language," said Andy Chow, a Washington Semester student.
Gavin Linderman, a media consultant at the Tenleytown Best Buy, agrees that parents don't pay attention to the rating system.
"Parents go for the most popular games," Linderman said.
"I've seen 10-year-old kids ask for 'Gears of War' and their parents will buy it for them," he said.
