Violence and War Promoted in Video Games and Movies

[FastTadpole]

Originally Posted here in this video reup of the torrent Masonic Illuminati Videogames and the NWO.

.. but hey it's a big topic that needs it's own thread and SEO doesn't pick up our Torrent Comments section.

---

Many times they work directly with military in producing the game. This was boasted by the makers of Call of Duty. I have yet to find a direct link to military funding but there are other ways to push these things along such as corporate investment, corporate advertising windfalls, access to product placements at a discount and military cooperation. A nudge here and a push there and this messed up incarnation of "free market" fascism seems to do the trick in making video games of this ilk super popular, especially among the kidlings and potential military recruitment ages.

Here's an interview:

The Real Soldier Behind the 'Call of Duty' Games
Oct 19, 2010
http://www.aolnews.com/2010/10/19/the-re...uty-games/

.. and if you don't think there is funding for marketing for this glorified recruitment tool in games and movies - well...

War Movies
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Das Boot (1981)
The Big Parade (1925)
The General (1926)
The Ascent (1977)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
The Great Escape (1963)
Platoon (1986)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Avatar (2009)
Iron Man (2008)
Transformers (2007)
Gladiator (2000)
Top Gun (1986)
Thor (2011)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
The Last Samurai (2003)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
300 (2006)

War Movie Franchises
Rambo ..
Predator ..
Terminator ..
X-Men ..
The Matrix ..
Star Wars ..
The Lord of the Rings ..

All with an primary or underlying war theme. Many of the other top movies have to do with cops, terrorism, superheroes bringing justice, crime, gangsters and other violent themes. It all feeds a bloodthirsty public.

Select titles Plucked from IMDB based on popularity (votes) and box office revenue.

Even in TV TruTV for example made a clause in Jesse Ventura's contract that he could not do a show that was critical of the military machine.

You could even reference a huge synergy in promoting war movies, war games and the military recruitment effort directly in Wrestling and MMA. Music goes at it a bit of a different route in promoting Gangsters.

Back onto video games, here's a look at the top 2 selling consoles on the market:

Quote:Microsoft Xbox

Xbox games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

* Halo 2 (8 million)[12]
* Halo: Combat Evolved (5 million)[13]
* Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (3 million: 2.4 million in US,[14] 600,000 in Europe,[15] 5,449 in Japan)[16]
* Fable (3 million,[17] may include PC version)
* Project Gotham Racing (2.5 million)[18]
* Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (1.7 million: 1.59 million in US,[19] 100,000 in UK,[20] 10,515 in Japan)[16]
* Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (1.58 million: 1.48 million in US,[19] 100,000 in UK)[20]
* Counter-Strike (1.5 million)[21][22]
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (1.46 million: 1.26 million in US,[19] 200,000 in UK)[23]
* Need for Speed: Underground 2 (1.44 million: 1.24 million in US,[19] 200,000 in UK)[23]
* Madden NFL 2005 (1.42 million in US)[19]
* Madden NFL 06 (1.41 million in US)[19]
* Call of Duty 2: Big Red One (1.39 million in US)[19]
* ESPN NFL 2K5 (1.38 million in US)[19]
* The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (1.36 million in US)[19]
* Dead or Alive 3 (1.28 million: 1.06 million in US,[19] 217,149 in Japan)[16]
* Star Wars: Battlefront (1.22 million: 1.12 million in US,[19] 100,000 in UK)[20]
* Star Wars: Battlefront II (1.13 million: 1.03 million in US,[19] 100,000 in UK)[20]
* Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (1.13 million: 1.12 million in US,[19] 7,643 in Japan)[16]
* Need for Speed: Underground (1.1 million: 1.02 million in US,[19] 100,000 in UK)[20]

Xbox 360

Xbox 360 video games that have sold or shipped at least three million copies.

* Call of Duty: Black Ops (12 million)[24]
* Halo 3 (8.1 million)[25]
* Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (7.481 million approximately; 6.471 million in US,[26][27][28][29] 87,374 in Japan,[30][verification needed] at least 1 million in UK)[31]
* Gears of War (5 million,[32] may include PC version)
* Gears of War 2 (5 million)[33]
* Grand Theft Auto IV (4.356 million approximately: 3.29 million in US,[34] at least 1 million in UK,[31] 59,893 and 6,210 Platinum in Japan)[30]
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (4.226 million approximately: 3.04 million in US,[35] 78,000 in Canada,[36] 54,742 and 53,722 Platinum Collection/The Best in Japan,[30] at least 1 million in UK)[31]
* Fable II (3.5 million approx. worldwide)[37]
* Call of Duty: World at War (3.35 million approximately: 2.75 million in US,[34] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Halo: Reach (3.3 million in North America)[39]
* Halo 3: ODST (3 million)[40]

Total Xbox 360 games sold as of December 2009: 353.8 million

~wiki

.. and here's an interesting trend in the evolution of Playstation Games:

Quote:Sony
PlayStation
Sony PlayStation
Main article: List of best-selling PlayStation 1 video games

PlayStation video games which have sold or shipped at least five million copies.

* Gran Turismo (10.85 million shipped)[110][111]
* Final Fantasy VII (9.8 million, includes Final Fantasy VII International)[112]
* Gran Turismo 2 (9.37 million shipped)[110][111]
* Final Fantasy VIII (8.15 million)[113]
* Tomb Raider II (8 million)[114]
* Metal Gear Solid (7 million)[115]
* Tomb Raider (7 million)[116]
* Crash Bandicoot (6.8 million)[117]
* Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (5.7 million)[118]
* Final Fantasy IX (5.30 million)[119]

Total PlayStation games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 962 million.[120]
PlayStation 2
Slim and original PlayStation 2
Main article: List of best-selling PlayStation 2 video games

PlayStation 2 video games which have sold or shipped at least five million copies.

* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (17.33 million approximately)[121][unreliable source?]
* Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (14.89 million approximately: 7.14 million in North America, 1.89 million in Japan, 5.85 in Europe)[111]
* Gran Turismo 4 (11.19 million approximately: 2.97 million in North America, 6.36 in Europe, 1.26 in Japan)[111]
* Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (9.21 million approximately: 8.2 million in US,[19] 410,293 in Japan,[122] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Grand Theft Auto III (7.509 million approximately: 6.55 million in US,[19] 358,917 in Japan,[122] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (7 million)[123]
* Final Fantasy X (6.6 million) [124]
* Final Fantasy XII (5.2 million approximately: 2.4 million in Japan,[125] 1.7 million in US,[19] 1.1 million in Europe;[126] 5.2 million shipped)[127]

Total PlayStation 2 games sold as of December 31, 2009: 1.51 billion.[41]
PlayStation 3
It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article. (Discuss)
PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

* Gran Turismo 5 (6.37 million)[111]
* Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (5.20 million)[111]
* Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4.8 million approximately; 3.531 million in the US,[26][27][28][29] 244.578 and 25.268 The Best in Japan,[128] at least 1 million in UK)[31]
* Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (3.8 million)[129]
* MotorStorm (3.31 million)[130]
* Call of Duty: Black Ops (3.269 million units approximately; 3.094 million in the US,[131] 175,813 in Japan[128])
* Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (3 million;[132] 1.97 million approximately; 1.076 million in the US,[133] 706,461 in Japan,[128] 200,000 in UK)[79]
* LittleBigPlanet (3 million)[134]
* Final Fantasy XIII (2.89 million approximately: 1.85 million in Japan, 140,000 in other Asian countries,[135] 828,200 in US,[136] 100,000 in UK)[20]
* Grand Theft Auto IV (2.73 million approximately: 1.89 million in US,[34] 211,240 and 37.306 The Best in Japan,[137] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2.6 million)[138][139]
* Resistance: Fall of Man (2.5 million)[140]
* Killzone 2 (2 million)[141]
* inFamous (nearly 2 million)[142]
* Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (1.977 million approximately; 1.106 million in the US,[143] 122,019 regular and 149,028 The Best in Japan,[128] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Call of Duty: World at War (1.83 million approximately; 1.238 million in the US,[143] 600,000 in UK)[38]
* Heavy Rain (1.7 million)[144]
* Resident Evil 5 (1.62 million approximately: 585,000 in US,[145] 520,564 and 258,961 Gold Edition in Japan,[128] 200,000 in UK,[23] 62,040 in France)[146]
* Heavenly Sword (1.5 million)[147]
* God of War III (1.46 million approximately; 1.28 million in the US,[136][148] 100,000 in UK,[20] 88,956 in Japan)[128]
* Red Dead Redemption (1.35 million approximately, 947,400 in the US,[149][150] 300,000 in UK,[79] 109,340 in Japan)[128]
* Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (1.25 million)[151]
* MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (1 million)[152]
* Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (1 million)[153]

Total PlayStation 3 games sold as of June 30, 2010: 315.3 million.[154]

~wiki

The list is a year old so not to be outdone Call of Duty: Black Ops has now obliterated all other games as the best selling game ever in the USA.

For PC look no further than the World of WarCraft phenomenon that has taken the globe by storm.

For a more updated list of what is being pitched to gamers consult Gamespot's Top Rated lists for XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 video games:

Whether this is purely dictated by the free market or not the slant towards war and violence especially recently has ramped up considerably. By design? Well that's up to you to decide but I have heard some staggering stats like children see over 20,000 acts of violence and over 9,000 deaths by the time they reach 16 years old. Those are old figures from about a decade ago.

The other half of the picture is the blatant promotion of sex, gluttonous consumption and drugs in media. The recent vampire craze seems to combine all quite theatrically in shows like Tru Blood.

Even the truther movement is not immune to promotion of voilence in memes like the Matrix, Good vs Evil, Fight for your Rights and The Answer to 1984 is 1776.

Related:

Why I Don't Support the Troops
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=32752

A Privately Owned Tax Funded Military - Blackwater/XE, IPOA Outsourced Recruitment
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=34645

Related Torrents:

Trigger Happy - The Irresistible Rise of the Videogame
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=22003

Predictive Programming in Video Games Exposed (2011)
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=23981

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=20665

Coast To Coast AM - 07-08-10 - Video Game Addiction
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=18224

ToPpiXX.RADi0 [2010.07.22] Addicting Games - McNathan & FastTadpole
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=34110

Book: Steven Poole - Trigger Happy (2001)
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=21921

Alex Jones - Call of Duty Black Ops Shows "Good Guys" Using Torture
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=21269

RIR - Aaron Franz - The Philosophical Roots of Transhumanism
Technological Revolution, Hope & Dystopia: How virtual video game reality is slowly merging with reality.
http://concen.org/tracker/torrents-details.php?id=23959

[pax681]

i refer to my answer in another thread about this

Pax681 Wrote:Americas Army was designed FOR the military by the devs, it IS used as a recruitment tool.

these video games = programming/training sounds VERY much like that blatant NUTJOB of a disbarred attorney Jack Thompson.(two links). every time there is a school shooting this twat is rolled out and blames violence in video games... all i can say is what about the millions and i mean MILLIONS of people who happily manage to play before NOT going on a shooting frenzy? Thompson has a real hard-on for counter strike and according to him it's to blame for many a school shooting... bollocks.
if someone has that in them they will do it regardless of whether they play FPS games or not. there is absolutely NO proof that there is any correlation or causation between them. the "study" jack thompson always refers to have NEVER been named or shown to anyone so i reckon it's magical numbers/stats he pulls out from his anus.

Also please note that list of games is oddly categorised.. you will find that 99% of those games are ALL cross platform(ie PC,xbox,ps3) this is to maximise the profit. i notice also no Wii games there. FPS do exist on wii or are their games immune??

now i am a first person shooter fan, have been since waaaay back when the original doom, wolfenstein games were out. previous to that there wasn't much of an fps scene at all. then i played many different types of games on the varying computers i had(ranging from a ZX80[yeah i am that old] to an commodore64 to an amiga then pc).

you get the same sort of crap about violent movies... and it's always "oh please think of the children!!!!"

Tim Wrote:Your title is Masonic Illuminati Videogames and I just don't agree that masonic or occult elements in games are down to nefarious influence.
In those cases, it's just awareness of conspiracy culture and spinning a good yarn.

spot on Tim, the developers research and look into what will have mass market appeal
Much of the reason the COD's and such like always sell well is due to the fact the first in the series did well and then the franchise get a rep for sales and thus the push for more of the market gets taken up by the publishers.. the bigger the franshise the bigger the hype and thus the sales.

there are games where this fails and fail in epic fashion such as the recently released Duke Nukem Forever.
i love Duke Nukem 3D way back when and the game to follow it has been the thing to mention whenever the term "vapour-ware" was used.
but gearbox and 2k games bought the rights to it and came up with a STINKER. it's been universally slammed by all reviewers but a few, and who really gives a shit what those industry shills at PC Gamer think.. you never see a bad review there at all..lol

the occult stuff.. well in many cases those are the fantasy RPG games and the MMORPG(massively multiplayer on-line role playing games) and those are pretty much a form of dungeons and dragons which happen to be fully interactive as opposed to rolling many sided dice.
most of the time in those games is spent grinding which is very boring, in order to level up their characters or farming to make in game monies.

finally, if the games are about

RaFTertheONE Wrote:programing the young to accept a police state and much more

then why are SO many of them about anti govt, anti corporate,see the likes of resident evil and oooh look at the logo! it's a Templar Cross !!!

shurely this must be evil incarnate!!! erm.. no it;s just a game where you shoot zombies and problem solve to get through the levels and eventually the game. and GTA.. not exactly a game of a law abiding nature.

Personally i can't wait to see Hellgate back up and online again, it's been beta tested atm(i am one of the testers) and it involves Templars as good guys who kill all sorts of creatues in a journey accross london initially then other cities and they try to enter and then close "rifts" which go into parts of hell.
plenty of occult references in there to probably give a conniption fit or six to some people here.

As i said earlier the only game i know of that IS definitely a recruitment tool is Americas Army and that's hardly a secret.... it's also a crap game imho.

[R.R]

Quote:Violent Video Games Reduce Brain Response to Violence and Increase Aggressive Behavior, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (May 26, 2011) — Scientists have known for years that playing violent video games causes players to become more aggressive. The findings of a new University of Missouri (MU) study provide one explanation for why this occurs: the brains of violent video game players become less responsive to violence, and this diminished brain response predicts an increase in aggression.

"Many researchers have believed that becoming desensitized to violence leads to increased human aggression. Until our study, however, this causal association had never been demonstrated experimentally," said Bruce Bartholow, associate professor of psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...151059.htm

Quote:Violent Video Game Feed Aggression In Kids In Japan And U.S.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2008) — It's not just American kids who become more aggressive by playing violent video games. A new study -- presented last month at the inaugural seminar sponsored by Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence -- showed effects of violent video games on aggression over a 3-6 month period in children from Japan as well as the United States.

ISU Distinguished Professor of Psychology Craig Anderson -- director of the Center for the Study of Violence -- presented the results from the study, which is published in the November issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The research links an earlier ISU study of 364 American children ages 9-12 with two similar studies of more than 1,200 children between the ages of 12-18 from Japan. It found that exposure to violent video games was a causal risk factor for aggression and violence in those children.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...180252.htm

Quote:Violent Video Games Increase Aggression Long After the Game Is Turned Off, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2010) — Playing a violent video game can increase aggression, and when a player keeps thinking about the game, the potential for aggression can last for as long as 24 hours, according to a study in the current Social Psychological and Personality Science (published by SAGE).

Violent video game playing has long been known to increase aggression. This study, conducted by Brad Bushman of The Ohio State University and Bryan Gibson of Central Michigan University, shows that at least for men, ruminating about the game can increase the potency of the game's tendency to lead to aggression long after the game has been turned off.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...094620.htm

Quote:Video Gaming Prepares Brain for Bigger Tasks

ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2010) — Playing video games for hours on end may prepare your child to become a laparoscopic surgeon one day, a new study has shown. Reorganisation of the brain's cortical network in young men with significant experience playing video games gives them an advantage not only in playing the games but also in performing other tasks requiring visuomotor skills.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...095824.htm

Quote:Video Games Can Be Highly Effective Training Tools, Study Shows: Employees Learn More, Forget Less, Master More Skills

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2010) — Long derided as mere entertainment, new research now shows that organizations using video games to train employees end up with smarter, more motivated workers who learn more and forget less.

A University of Colorado Denver Business School study found those trained on video games do their jobs better, have higher skills and retain information longer than workers learning in less interactive, more passive environments.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...171854.htm

Quote:Video Game Playing Increases Food Intake in Teens, Study Confirms

ScienceDaily (May 19, 2011) — The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that almost 18% of US teens are obese. Although most experts agree that our growing obesity "epidemic" is driven by both inadequate physical activity and excessive caloric intake, implementing solutions is extraordinarily difficult.

One area that has caught the attention of health researchers is the observation that trends in video game playing parallel obesity rates on a population basis. Furthermore, several studies have documented a positive association between how much time a child plays video games and his or her chance of being obese. However, correlation does not necessarily imply causality, and controlled intervention studies are required to test whether playing video games causes children to increase their food intake and/or decrease their energy expenditure.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...151253.htm

Quote:Video Games Lead to Faster Decisions That Are No Less Accurate

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2010) — Cognitive scientists from the University of Rochester have discovered that playing action video games trains people to make the right decisions faster. The researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn't just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities like multitasking, driving, reading small print, keeping track of friends in a crowd, and navigating around town.

In an upcoming study in the journal Current Biology, authors Daphne Bavelier, Alexandre Pouget, and C. Shawn Green report that video games could provide a potent training regimen for speeding up reactions in many types of real-life situations.

Video games have grown in popularity to the point where 68 percent of American households have members that play them, according to a 2009 report by the Entertainment Software Association.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...121656.htm

Quote:What You See Is What You Do: Risky Behaviors Linked to Risk-Glorifying Media Exposure

ScienceDaily (Mar. 7, 2011) — Exposure via the media to activities such as street racing, binge drinking and unprotected sex is linked to risk-taking behaviors and attitudes, according to a new analysis of more than 25 years of research.

The connection between risk taking and risk-glorifying media -- such as video games, movies, advertising, television and music -- was found across differing research methods, media formats and various forms of risky behaviors, according to an article published online in Psychological Bulletin, a journal of the American Psychological Association.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201...124812.htm

Growing up, in school I remeber various videogame/entertainment related comedic mishaps; guys shouting 'hadoken' and 'sonic boom' in imitation of their favourite Street Fighter 2 characters which inevitably led to fisticuffs when neither were able to produce a projectile.

I remember the constant repeating of wrestling slogans such as 'Suck it', 'The Rock says', 'and that's the bottom line 'cos Stone Cold said so', 'Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass', 'let's get ready to suck it' and 'puppies'. It then lead to imitations of the various wrestlers finishing moves, and as any good wrestler will tell you, a good finishing move should be capable of being applied to anyone regardless of size - thus they were simple to accomplish moves such as the peoples elbow - and were often 'tried at home' and school due to their ease of execution. At the same time wrestling was going through its gang warfare phase and the kids at school formed their own silly cliques of nWo, D-X, Nation of Domination etc leading to mass brawls and some ridiculous attempts at assaults at dinner times, including hilarious 2-on-1 sneak attacks.

I remember meeting several 'Tony Montana's' due to Scarface's popularity and of course every school has their versions of wannabe rappers and MC's who also congregate into cliques in imitation of their favourite hip-hop crews and engage in associated anti-social behaviour.

I have seen all these things first-hand because at various points in my life, I enjoyed all those things (as entertainment) and still do to an extent. So it obviously goes without saying that these things don't affect everyone, but it is even more stupid to deny that they don't affect anyone. And as long as there is potential for mass influence, they will be hijacked, used, implemented or introduced by the social engineers/manipulators. It is obvious why these things are aimed at kids; it overrides the values instilled in them by their parents (or did in those days, modern parents hardly do this anymore) leading to planned social changes in the future. Bread and circuses have always been used to distract the masses especially in times of hidden peril. Indeed these toys help mask the lack of social and economic freedom and conform to Aldous Huxley's comments:

'As political and economic freedom diminishes,
sexual freedom tends compensatingly to increase.
And the dictator (unless he needs cannon fodder
and families with which to colonize empty or
conquered territories) will do well to encourage
that freedom. In conjunction with the freedom to
daydream under the influence of dope and movies
and the radio, it will help to reconcile his subjects
to the servitude which is their fate.'

http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?t...#pid218370

Videogames also promote multi-tasking abilities as do the modern trends of having the internet on and having several applications open, alongwith the TV on, mobile phone distraction and whatever other things people tend to do at the same time. Thus concentration on one particular task or subject is very hard to do essentially creating a robotic mentality that is modified via inputs - a cog in a wheel - the totality of which contributes to the dumbed-down society we live in:

Quote:'Infomania' worse than marijuana

Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed.

The study for computing firm Hewlett Packard warned of a rise in "infomania", with people becoming addicted to email and text messages.

Researchers found 62% of people checked work messages at home or on holiday.

The firm said new technology can help productivity, but users must learn to switch computers and phones off.

Losing sleep

The study, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, found excessive use of technology reduced workers' intelligence.

Those distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ - more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana, said researchers.

More than half of the 1,100 respondents said they always responded to an email "immediately" or as soon as possible, with 21% admitting they would interrupt a meeting to do so.

The University of London psychologist who carried out the study, Dr Glenn Wilson, told the Daily Mail that unchecked infomania could reduce workers' mental sharpness.

Those who are constantly breaking away from tasks to react to email or text messages suffer similar effects on the mind as losing a night's sleep, he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4471607.stm

Here's an interesting book that goes through some of these things:



Cyburbia: The Dangerous Idea That's Changing How We Live And Who We Are by James Harkin

A quote I found quite interesting:

'But what was it that both McLuhan and the hippies
came to believe in, other than a dense thicket of
cables threaded together with computers like lights on
some gigantic Christmas tree? For McLuhan the birth
of this new electronic medium held out the prospect of
pooling our human consciousness in a single global brain
or global village. At the same time, but for different
reasons, the rapidly advancing technology of
computerisation came as a godsend to many hippies
and former commune-dwellers. The key tenet of the
counter-culture's intellectual heavyweights was that
everything on earth was tied to everything else in an
organic whole - that if only people were put into direct
communication with their peers outside of the reach of
central authority they could enhance this sense of a
shared human consciousness and tune into something
beyond their immediate selves. For both McLuhan the
religious mystic and the electro-hippies, the
communications tie became, quite literally, the missing
spiritual link that could renew their faith and their sense
of purpose. If this was a vision of a new universal
consciousness, it was one tied together not by God or
by Gaia, but by an electronic circuit.' p.68-69

I find the quote interesting because there is a small segment of people out there who are slowly gaining numbers and are promoting similar themes as a way of advocating transhumanism. Basically the Terence McKenna philosophy or the combination of futurism, shamanism, psychedelics, technology, collective consciousness etc. Alongside it of course is a dislike for existing society or people who derive their morals from religion, a general dismissal of 'conspiracy theory' and most importantly the idea that technology is or can be our saviour.

The overall point is that video-games, movies, entertainment etc are or have a segment that is targetted towards children, it basically instills new values for each generation allowing only one potential future to be created - that of the new world order.

PS I noticed Resident Evil mentioned and couldn't help but share the motivations of the bad guy:

[FastTadpole]

Reason for the split was to explore just the straight up violence, leaving the Masonic imagery out of the mix altogether as it could just be part of the marketing ploy to create a buzz, right or wrong, subversive programming or not.

The "oh please think of the children!!!!" is a relevant point since it is being marketed directly to them. My teenage son is allowed in R rated movies and allowed to buy games and they are advertised constantly to the demographic on the internet and everywhere they turn. They are run on the best engines.

Wii was left out because it has an image of family friendly and is a stepping stone to the more hardcore systems. Wii has more of virtual reality hook to rope in the kids and allow gaming into the homes of parents looking for 'safe' alternative to other console gaming systems. Video games do far more than condition children and young adults for war.

More on the social engineering aspect of gaming:

Jesse Schell - DICE 2010: Design Outside the Box - Disturbing Presentation on Gaming Psychology, Technology, Social Engineering and Marketing
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=34080

As for Duke Nukem Forever. It tries and really since the Quake engine game out most FPS are cookie cutter ventures just adding new maps and weapons with some story-line as the nice coat of paint. Not every one of the 1000s of war games no matter the backing is going to be a hit but certainly the influx of war games, particularly of the FPS variety has to send up a red flag as to what started this drive for the market. Now it's pretty much the norm in my town for a kid to have 18 FPS games, a dance or rhythm game and a few sports game in their library.

My sons got their XBOX 360 from their mother and I by the bait and switch tactic of we'll only play NHL '09, Rock Band and Dirt 2 that's all we'll ever need. Since then they have borrowed plenty of games that spill enough blood in an hour to fill up an Olympic sized swimming pool.

Drone Assassin pilots already have a good head start on their training when they step into their cubicle and go get the 'terrorists'. It's as much training and recruiting as it is conditioning to kill in a detached manner.

The evolution of these games is set to be far more immersive and thus encourage detached killing, blurring the line of reality. How long until we have 360 degree 3D virtual reality? Well it's here but not quite affordable to mass market just yet.

In WWII soldiers on both sides had severe issues in killing one another and hid in their fox holes firing off the odd random bullet into the air in long standoffs. They taught them how to shoot, even how to hate but not how to kill is how historians look back at the mentality of soldiers in that era - despite all of the wanton death and destruction.

Video games have found a way around this barrier for conditioning the next generations. Shoot to kill. Get bonus points. Unlock an achievement. A simple Pavlovian reward system reinforced by peers and gaming culture.

FYI: I played Wolfenstein and Doom a bit in the past tried out Dead Space and Halo, was horrified by GTA. I'll stick to my not so violent (or at least not as graphic, more cartoony) favourites - Ice Hockey, Zelda: The Adventures of Link, Zelda: A link to the Past, Heroes of Might and Magic III (and recently V), Qix, Megaman (All of 'em), Bomberman, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Shining Force II, Final Fantasy VI, Uniracers, Super Buster Brothers, Bubble Bobble, Chrono Cross, The Last Remnant, NHL 09, Tetris, Icy Tower, Banjoe Kazooie (and Tooie) and my most recent title World of Goo!

But I much prefer board games (Bandu, Risk, Pictionary, Jenga, Chess, Cards) and sports (Football, Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Hackey Sak, Biking, Snowball Fights, Skiing). I also enjoy Dungeons and Dragons (Paper Based with my buds every Wednesday) and the odd LEGO project.

[R.R]

Quote:The evolution of these games is set to be far more immersive and thus encourage detached killing, blurring the line of reality. How long until we have 360 degree 3D virtual reality? Well it's here but not quite affordable to mass market just yet.

Yeah, this film speculates on the future of gaming:





The trailer doesn't show how the game was only available to billionnaire elites and how the 'characters' were real-life nano controlled humans; either the poor or criminals.

Quote:In WWII soldiers on both sides had severe issues in killing one another and hid in their fox holes firing off the odd random bullet into the air in long standoffs. They taught them how to shoot, even how to hate but not how to kill is how historians look back at the mentality of soldiers in that era - despite all of the wanton death and destruction.

Video games have found a way around this barrier for conditioning the next generations. Shoot to kill. Get bonus points. Unlock an achievement. A simple Pavlovian reward system reinforced by peers and gaming culture.

I think they partly got round the problem by changing what was used for target practice. Instead of the old round bullseye type, it was replaced by a human silhouette helping overcome the psychological issues behind taking anothers life.

Games today are the evolution of this and combined with the findings that games can improve work related skills, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out the usefulness of games in training the next generation of soldiers and hence the insane amount of FPS games available on the market today. The gaming industry is also not immune to the tricks of other industries i.e record execs paying radio stations to play songs they produced or are distributing in order to drive up sales. Gaming magazines (and now websites) are paid handsomely to give games a better 'score' - thus raising their popularity and saleability. Its very annoying seeing another FPS game score 10/10 or close to maximum marks while another game will be criticised for lack of originality. How many times can you machine gun somone down before it gets boring?

This stuff never gets boring though:

[FastTadpole]

Over 17 Million TubeViews of the FPS Style Killing of Kids by Kids. Free to Watch on YouTube, not even a discretion warning.





Yes, fun. woo.

:/

[R.R]

Quote:London riots blamed on video games

By Lexton Snol | PC Advisor | 08 August 11

Quoted in the London Evening Standard the unnamed police constable advised residents in Tottenham: “"Go home, get a takeaway and watch anything that happens on TV.

"These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pacman and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves."

The newspaper reports that the police are hunting mobs of children who joined the riots across the capital “when parts of the city descended into lawlessness for a second night”.

Grand Theft Auto is set mainly in American cities but was created in the UK, with the original release featuring an expansion pack set in London.

The violent game in which players act out the crime-filled lives of various gangsters and lowlifes is frequently blamed for encouraging youths to commit crimes.

The looting and arson that has spread to several inner-city boroughs began in Tottenham on Saturday night, sparked by the fatal police shooting of a local man (reportedly armed with a replica firearm) on Thursday.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said that over 160 arrests had been made so far, and that 16 people have been charged for a range of offences including burglary and possession of weapons.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/game/329...deo-games/

Discussed here:

http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?t...#pid226235

[rsol]

my only point. art emulates life.

From someone has

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Quote:art emulates life.

More of a feedback loop and cross marketing (e.g. sex and vampires Twilight/True Blood) with psychological hooks. /IMO

Advertising works; if not - why is it a multi-billion dollar industry?

[R.R]

Life also emulates art.

Who controls art?

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Good grey matter or bad grey matter.. it certainly manipulates like an addiction according to recent Belgian University research.

Coolhand2120 Wrote:Study Finds Frequent Gaming Changes Your Brain
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday November 16, @06:58PM
from the there's-something-wrong-with-my-brain dept.

Gamers always felt they had more grey matter. The LA Times reports there is now proof: 'Fourteen-year-olds who were frequent video gamers had more gray matter in the rewards center of the brain than peers who didn't play video games as much — suggesting that gaming may be correlated to changes in the brain much as addictions are.

European scientists reported the discovery Tuesday in the journal Translational Psychiatry. Psychologist Simone Kuhn of Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues recruited 154 healthy 14-year-olds in Berlin and divided them into two groups. Twenty-four girls and 52 boys were frequent gamers who played at least nine hours of video games each week. Fifty-eight girls and 20 boys were infrequent gamers, who played less than nine hours a week. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed differences in the test subjects' brains. Frequent gamers had more gray matter in a portion of the brain known as the left ventral striatum, which affects the interplay of emotions and behavior. Previous research identified striatal function as a 'core candidate promoting addictive behavior.'

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/11/16...your-brain

More on this with my Addicting Games Broadcast with 8 year old McNathan (my son) a broadcast we did up in 2010 and that spamtastic list of links upthread. Man, I need a decent mic and a splitter for Christmas.

[Dunamis]

Quote:Are You An Occupier? Well A New Video Game Calls You A Terrorist



“Rainbow Six: The Patriots” a Tom Clancy themed video game set for release in 2013, contains what should be a very controversial storyline. Set in a not too distant future, the game pits the player (leader of an elite anti-terror team) against patriots and occupiers, who are alarmingly labelled as terrorists.

Increasingly the US Government are labelling the politically active and even regular citizens as terrorists. The 2009 Missouri State MIAC report on the “Modern Militia Movement” [1], effectively labelled legal gun owners, Libertarians & Ron Paul supporters, anti-war activists and the very men coming back from those wars, as potential domestic terrorists.

Countless Big Brother style anti-terror adverts and Homeland Security warnings have insinuated that regular daily activities like paying with cash could mean you’re a terrorist.





And officials the world over have had the gall to suggest Occupiers are terrorists [2], without batting an eyelid at the financial terrorists causing the economic recession.

It seems this widening of the terrorist definition is hitting perhaps the most important stage. Entertainment…where the average person’s opinions are formed.

As Edward Bernays, godfather of the Public Relations industry softly puts it:
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.”

Without sounding cliché, how would we interpret a film released during WWII that showed armed German Citizens fighting back against the Nazi party, but where the citizens were terrorists and the Nazis were Germany’s last hope of survival? That appears to be the bizarre propagandist flavour of the latest instalment of the video game series.

“Terrorism has evolved and America is under attack. Capitalizing on the sense of frustration in a nation seemingly corrupted by greedy politicians and corporate special interests, a group of US citizens-turned-radicals, the True Patriots, will stop at nothing to overthrow the government and financial institutions. As a leader of the elite Rainbow counter-terrorism unit, players will be the last line of defence tasked with saving the nation no matter the cost.”

These patriots will be portrayed as gun-wielding, civilian murdering militias rather than peaceful occupiers, but that’s beside the point. It’s the very causes the characters are fighting for that may end up warping the minds of the wider public.

The official trailer for the game has this piece of dialogue from the patriots:
“This is the day we’ve been waiting for. This is for the jobs you’ve streamlined, the debts you’ve collected, this is for the homes you foreclosed on, the bailouts you took. We are the true patriots. It’s time for a new balance of power. You may not answer to the government, but you will answer to us.”





Lets play armchair psychologist for a moment. First off lets admit that the game may have absolutely no baring beyond being a pretty fun shooter. It does however have the potential to be a damaging piece of propaganda if widely received. The Occupy movement and the general counter-culture that is developing around the world are like the game’s counterparts, sick of the corrupt system and the fascist ties between corporation and state; including the bailout and the mortgage fiasco. But generally speaking armed revolution is the furthest thing from their minds.

Although the media haven’t been fair from the beginning, this game could help further tarnish the movement’s image. You’re against the lobbyist controlled Government? You want reforms of the ponzi financial system? You want the bailouts to stop? Then you may be a dangerous terrorist trying to destroy America. As opposed to the real terrorists trying to destroy America. But that’s how propaganda works.

Could it also prompt violent revolution in those with unstable minds? Or Could it act as a release valve, where those looking for change would rather just stay in their rooms and play video games where they’re martyred, rather than doing any kind of real protesting?

It’s too early to tell what impact the game will have, but the word terrorist is getting awfully close to home, and when this year’s NDAA Act in America allowed the indefinite detention of US Citizens suspected of terrorism, it’s a word that needs to be clearly defined!

[1] - The Modern Militia Movement-Missouri MIAC Strategic Report 20Feb09 - http://www.scribd.com/doc/13290698/The-M...t-20Feb09-
[2] Police in City see occupiers as 'terror' risk - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri...72434.html

Source: http://wideshut.co.uk/are-you-an-occupie...terrorist/

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Battleship The Movie: a 90 min US Navy Pentagon Recruitment Ad.
See the credits for the US Dept of Defence at the end.

.. and like the highly promoted movie The Hunger Games doesn't encourage and glorify making it sexy and altruistic.

Also on point is the fact that almost 100% of childrens' cartoons in the past 30 years feature a hero or team that confronts evil with violence of their own or solves problems by employing force, more or less.

Even Care Bears shoot Care Beams to vanquish their enemies.



In a more indirect fashion. Movies like Harry Potter encourage fighting evil with force in a warfare like fashion. I hear the children use increasingly mean (and tortuous) spells to fight against the baddies.

@Dunamis good point with the wrestling which is always the top rated (and longest running) show every week in the US. It features not only violence to solve every problem but often shows brutal gang beatings cheered on by the crowd to give the heels what they deserve.

I think Derren Brown made a point in his telecast of The Gameshow on the hive that is regularly demonstrated week after week in wrestling's pack vengeance mentality.

Kind of makes you question the memes of "Fight the Power", "Fight for Your Rights", "Fight Corruption", "Fight for Your Freedom", "Freedom Fighters", "The Guy Fawkes Approach", "Killuminati" ....