It's impossible to see why it should be any different. The double standard for games versus movies, particularly when perpetuated for the purpose of political gain, is galling.

I hope it sparks outrage. Otherwise the game builders haven't done their job. And if you don't like that, go to the local hobby shop, buy an acre of bubble wrap and put your precious fragile children in it.

After Tipper, er, Hillary, deals with GTA4 I hope she petitions Francis Ford Coppola to re-edit The Godfather. That film is waaay too violent for young & innocent eyes.

Videogame censorship is the kind of thing that can goose Clinton's base, but it is exactly the kind of thing that turns off young male voters. If somehow Clinton wins the Democratic nomination it will only solidify the ire and distrust that men, and especially young men feel toward her. She will need young people if she wants to beat McCain, but calling for videogame censorship is a vote killer for people under 30. Young liberals may not go to McCain, but they may not vote at all.

To some people I am sure this sounds ridiculous, that a videogame could seem more important than so many pressing issues, but considering that videogames represent huge investments in social time and money for many young people, it's like launching an attack on people's free time itself.

There is simply a misunderstanding as to who video games are for. If we told casinos that they couldn't serve liquor at the poker table, on the theory that games are for children, we'd be laughed out of town. Some parents don't realize that video games are no longer targeted at the youngest set, and that 18+ men (and women) spend a lot time and money on such games. I think this is the fundamental misunderstanding being exploited by the censorship groups.

On the flipside, the gaming industry is not doing a very good job self-regulating. Many game shops ignore the labeling, and the game companies do nothing about it. While I strongly disagree with the way the MPAA acts, I think they do a good job of controlling their outlets.

Jazz music isn't like the songs you grew up with. Jazz music is being played in illegal speakeasies, by black people, and the so-called "musicians" make up half of it as they go along.

Wait, what?

Oh, let me try again.

Rock 'n' Roll "music" isn't like the jazz you grew up with. The dancing is so lewd! It'll encourage all the children to neck and engage in heavy petting, and it may well lead your daughters to trouble. Plus, it's a well known fact that rock 'n' roll leads to Satanism.

What? Never mind.

Punk rock isn't like the wholesome rock 'n' roll you grew up with. Most of the performers can't sing or play musical instruments. The lyrics are so un-American! I know your parents were crazy when they said rock 'n' roll will lead to Satanism and drug-use, but punk rock really will lead your kids to Satanism and drug use!

Hip hop, though, that's going to wreck the kids. Wreck 'em.

We aren't talking about music at all?

Well, video games are totally different from movies, are totally different from television shows, are totally different from radio programs, are totally different from movies, again, are totally different from theatrical plays, are totally different from mystery plays, are totally different from performances back when the whole chorus sang together, and we liked it just fine.

If you can find a new form of media that didn't provoke a massive reaction from the previous generation, I'd be shocked.

Has there been anything more controversial than the Guttenburg Bible?!

There are certain forms of entertainment—video games, comic books, cartoons—that are thought of as the property of childhood. Parents might think "Oh I don't have to monitor this" or "I don't want to monitor this, I shouldn't have to, I've got enough responsibility on my plate." But the fact is, all three of these genres have been co-opted by adults and utilize material that is not for kids.

I understand parental outrage. This is adult material in a form kids and teenagers gravitate to. They love the bright colors and fast action and simplistic, easy-to-follow pleasures of all three genres. So it's something like dangling the forbidden fruit before their eyes.

Yet if adults want to co-opt these forms of enteratainment—or more likely loved them as kids and still want the pleasures of them, but altered to fit their adult sensibility—there's not much anyone can do about it. Nor should they, really. As long as adult material is kept out of kid's hands, there really can't be an issue.

Games are participatory. Movies are not.

Movies do not reward you for the bad behavior of the characters. Games do.

I agree that censoring games is ridiculous. And I agree that these games are different from the games of the past, and targeted differently as well.

But they are not the same as a movie, and arguing that they are is both incorrect and uneccessary.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a video game developer. That doesn't mean I'm out to get your children - in fact I don't support letting children under the age of 13 play ANY video games, and children older than that should not have TVs or video games in their bedrooms - TVs, computers, and consoles should be in a public area of the house with access strictly limited.

It's not that I think the kiddies will be traumatized if you let them view violent games. What they will be is fat. There's a national epidemic of obesity among young people and it isn't Mickey D's fault - we had Mickey D's when I was a child, and in my time fat children were extremely rare. That's because in my time children went outside to play and ran around in circles until they fell over.

Simple rule about video games, parents: KICK 'EM OUTSIDE! "Mom, can I buy Grand Theft Auto?" "NO! Get your buns outside and I don't want to see you again until sundown. Go build a treehouse, ya bum!"

There, see how simple that is?

We shouldn't be surprised that Hillary pretends to care about this topic - she's had years of sharing space with Tipper Gore, the yippy little dog who first determined that we were all going to Hell in a handbasket if rap lyrics weren't censored. That Al Gore had the lack of judgment to marry Tipper is a serious black mark against him, way worse in my opinion than Obama's choice of a preacher - at least Obama didn't MARRY Rev. Wright.

I do not want a yippy little dog who thinks government should Protect the Childrun by restricting adult access to video games in the White House. If you like your personal freedoms sunny side up with a side of raunchy, violent humor, you don't either.