@Aeonia92 Not really. Dark Souls is one of the most over-hyped series I've ever seen. The original Dark Souls had little to no plot, an exaggerated level of difficulty because of clunky controls and the lack of save points, terrible graphics, and plenty of other flaws. From what I've seen of Dark Souls II, it's basically just a prettier version of the first.

@cashx002 Meh. Me and my friends were playing gory video games long before we were old enough to actually buy them, and we turned out all right. The rating system is just a handoff to the moralizers in our society.

@rawkstar007 Not really. There are actually people making this argument in light of the recent shootings since the guy played 'violent video games'.

@ChrisJ2004 @jts1891 Right. For the last two generations, developers have been pushing for realistic, open worlds in games with the best tech and software they had available at the time. Yet it's only been in the last couple of years that people have really started complaining about 'budget costs'.

Why is that? You've got ballooning salaries for executives and all the costs for advertising. As gaming has become more mainstream, typical corporate greed has slunk into the industry.

@hector530 @jts1891 @WraistlinGill So people say. Doesn't stop it from raking in more sells than any other series.

@hector530 @WraistlinGill It's amusing. It's like all the people who hate on COD. Apparently, when a game is massively successful, it means it's mainstream and not for real 'gamers'.

@WraistlinGill Uhm, right. Katamari and Ico were niche games for a relatively small demographic. That group is hardly the 'life force' of gaming.

This is amusing. Let's face the facts. Game Makers have always tried to be on the cutting edge of graphics. This is not a new thing. The tech and software behind today's games isn't any more expensive than those that made games in the past in their hayday. So what's behind all these massive budgets? I'd say it's probably the massive paychecks for CEO's and other useless employees. And then you've got the advertising costs.

@anon5743 Violent people will do violent things regardless of the method they use. Not long ago in the US, a college student in Texas went on a rampage with just a knife and injured 14 people.

If it wasn't a gun, it would have been something else. While I do think weapons should be kept out of the hands of the mentally ill, 'gun control' won't fix violent crime.

This guy pisses me off. He talks about his 'research' but ignores all the other studies that have shown no link between aggression and gaming. Next, he talks about 'restricting' gaming based on his own erroneous conclusions. And of course, while he admits the role mental illness played in this tragedy, he still wants to insist that video games somehow contributed to it. All I have to say is this dude needs to look at the real facts

What do all the mass shooters in recent history have in common? They were all mentally ill and came from troubled backgrounds. They all went untreated. This guy belonged in a mental hospital, but because of our country's stigma against mental illness, he was left alone till his insanity caught up with him. Instead of talking about 'restricting games' to 'prevent violence' he should be talking about mental health care reform.