Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. "Automatic weapons fire is the overture?" "As it often is in life itself, Mr. Duke." Don't say we didn't warn you.

I return from a quite enjoyable 4th of July extended vacation - thanks to AK and Jeremy for doing such a great job in covering for me.

Also, it occurred to me over the 4th that I'm way out of practice in playing long, intense video games; my skill at said games isn't that bad, but I've forgotten how to blink properly.

You've probably noticed it yourself - if you're really into a non-stop flight simulator or racing game that demands your constant, uninterrupted attention, your eyes are likely to be so fixated on the screen that you quite simply won't blink for minutes at a time, and'll have the bloodshot eyes to prove it the next day. RPGs don't have such a problem, for the most part, since there are constant segues and dead spots where you'll turn away to take a breath of air and blink, but something like Starfox'll do it, no question.

In the future, I'll just have to remember to blink more often, but in the meantime, I'm gonna be looking into getting one of those eye-spray machines from A Clockwork Orange.

Onward.

I think you might have missed Nich's point yesterday - he was saying that, yes, it's the creators who make such stuff who we should question in this political climate. There's legitimate arguments on both sides of the line, but I think Nich had a solid point in that making a game like State of Emergency right now is somewhat like shampooing with chum right before you take a dip in shark infested waters.

And yeah, the comics code is voluntary, although at the time it was introduced, it was voluntary in the same way going to Australia was voluntary for condemned prisoners. The comics industry at the time embraced it to avoid far more damaging legal and financial consequences, although the ramifications hampered the industry for years - Marvel Comics only stopped publishing under the code this year, for instance, and back in the 80's stuff like Watchmen had "For Mature Audiences Only" on the covers in big letters.

The ESRB system, in comparison, is very mild. Nobody's saying that such and so content can't be in a game, only that it should be clearly marked if it is. The actual process by which the games are rated might leave some room for improvement, but the standards are pretty decent.

In the meantime, stop and thing for a second: just as games like Thrill Kill don't help gaming's image any, neither does writing stuff like "I thirst for the blood...", even satirically. Gaming doesn't need pissed off fanatics, it needs calm, reasonable people who speak in civil language, as much as anything to show that video games don't create a mob of violent psychotics.

That's a remarkably cogent analysis of the situation with regard to gaming's relationship with other media types. (In other words, makes sense.) Following up on your ideas about how games stand in relation to comics, movies, etc, it occurs to me that the situation is much like the early environmental movement, where people were encouraged to think globally, and act locally.

Think about it: a single development team might be tempted to push the envelope a bit and rake in a little extra cash, but they might find the market a little less hostile in general if they, and others like them, held back from the extra bit of gore and sex. Likewise, we as consumers could help things out if we leaned more towards Mario Kart than Mortal Kombat - one purchase might not make a difference, but 100,000 definitely would. And as with movies, something like Reservoir Dogs looks a lot less threatening if there are family-friendly alternatives like Babe.

I can't find much to argue with here, except that there might be a difference between self-censorship and a modicum of civil restraint. Overkill's all well and good, but there are times when a single sniper shot will do just as well as a bloody hail of gunfire.

In that vein, I think it's important to bring up the extent to which something like State of Emergency's satire, and the extent to which it's meant as a cathartic release. Let's not kid ourselves: there's a great deal of over the top humor in some of these games, but a solid part of the enjoyment comes from taking things very seriously, and acting in ways you can't in real life. What the hell, you know? Smash that guy's head like a pumpkin, run that school bus off the road.

Drew himself said Sunday that he plays such games to get away from reality, and that's fine - most evidence seems to suggest that no amount of Quake will make you use a nail gun that way for real, and however many Columbines games get blamed for, more people are still killed every day because of far more serious social ills like drugs and poverty. All I'm saying is that we can't afford the luxury of pretending there's absolutely nothing wrong with over the top games, because we'll all be better off if we recognize them for what they are: an off shade of white in a world where the real monsters are pitch black.

And here's the flip side of the above argument - just as not all games are completely innocent, not everybody who plays such games is a raving psychotic. Gaming's greatest power is to make the impossible possible, in a much more immediate and personal way than books or movies or anything else ever could. Games can let you fly, travel back in time, shoot lightning from your fingertips... given that kind of potential, isn't it understandable that people would also want to steal cars and personally dispatch various pet peeves with shotguns and missile launchers? Just like the violence in Goodfellas doesn't signify America's complete and total moral decline, Max Payne isn't going to turn America's youth into total moral nihilists. We just have to understand how much is too much, and how much is enjoyable.

Fear not Ian, there are many options available to those yearning for more effeminate GBAs. Aside from the obvious import route, you can customize your system yourself with any number of flower/unicorn/Hello Kitty decals and stickers. Or better yet, decorate your GBA yourself with hand painted daisies and butterflies by using your favorite nail polish in new and exciting ways! The sky's the limit when it comes to having a Game Girl Advance!

But in all seriousness, I do have to wonder why decorated GBAs and consoles haven't caught on more in the US. Sure, it costs more, and I personally prefer a more elegant, unadorned look, but how many "battle damage" He-Mans and GI Joes got sold during the 80's? Who wouldn't want a "trashed" GBA with holes in the casing and wires hanging out (as long as the holes weren't anywhere near sensitive areas and the wires were unattached to anything electric)? There's got to be more interesting ways to make a Game Boy look cool than to put Pikachu on it for the 1000th time.

Indeed, most of the preliminary reviews, while not always great, have been pretty decent about the movie, and it looks like it'll do fair to middlin' in the US. Which brings us to our topic for tomorrow.

Closing Comments:

Tomorrow being the last day before the FF Movie opens up nationwide, your topic is twofold. First off, let's hear some guesswork on how you think the film will do withe the mainstream audience from a qualitative perspective. Second, give a concrete guess as to what the domestic box office gross will be a month after the film opens; that is to say, when the weekend box office tallies come in Sunday evening, August the 12th, how many millions of dollars total will the film have earned? Just give one single number, no ranges please. I'll keep everybody's entries on file regardless of if you get printed tomorrow or not, but I won't accept entries after midnight CDT, tomorrow night. Whoever's closest will get some sort of prize, depending on how generous I'm feeling. That's it, get cracking.

-Chris Jones, going with a respectable $72 million