JUST LIKE RELIGION makes for good [yet terrible] wars, violent and banned games make for good business. It might sound odd, but it’s a fact.

There is this opinion by those who crow about violent games endlessly that their misguiuided, but well-meaning, witterings will in some way hurt the offending game. Wrong. It just generates a ton of publicity that will attract buyers that might not have even heard about it, or were in two minds about it in the first place. Banned movies and books do a roaring trade so why shouldn’t games? I give you the Hot Coffee Mod in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Exhibit A. Sales there weren’t what you’d call ‘slow’.

There’s a truism in news and it reads: bad news is good news. It forms the basis for every single news programme and newspaper in the world. Any decent news editor knows that a drop of misery goes a lot further than a pint of happiness. It’s why stories about daring animal rescues and octogenarians running marathons only get aired on what’s referred to as a ‘slow news day’. These are the days when news editors court eternal damnation by fervently praying – silently - for a nice little four-lane motorway collision, armed shootout, secret sex tape or, the Church having a holy fit over a computer game. And why not? After all, we all know that violent games are formed from pure evil, the crystalised sweat collected from Satan’s ball sac during some unholy sacrificial rite involving virgins and donkeys. OK, maybe not donkeys but the rest is true. Gospel. They are the sole reason for the downfall of the nation’s youth, apparently, if you listen to the detractors.

This week we had the double-header of the Church of England (CofE)frying Sony’s ass again over the PS3 title, Resistance: Fall of Man, while a revised (i.e. very slightly less sadistic and bloody) version of Manhunt 2 was again rejected by the BBFC. The ban stays. The church is still miffed because the Manchester Cathedral pops up as a location in Sony’s 1950 sci-fi, alien invasion shoot-em-up for the PS3. Apparently only Manchester kids are allowed to tote guns to church, not little green men. The Church got an apology or two but also wanted cash for its anti-violence youth programmes to make up for the, er, trauma it suffered. It’s still waiting so, this week, it called on BAFTA to remove Resistance: Fall of Man from its 2007 games nominations list. The fact that the game was voted onto the list by normal, church-going folk seems to be lost on the (CofE).

As for Manhunt 2, it claims the dubious honour of being the first game in a decade to be banned by the BBFC. This time around it’s because Manhunt 2 is a very sadistic, bleak and incredibly violent game. The last time was for Carmageddon where blocky, pixellated pedestrians could be run over. That time, the ban was beaten by reducing the realism slightly and changing the colour of blood from red to green – no, really, that’s true. In Manhunt 2’s defence, the company want an ‘18’ rating – similar to the adult rating it has been given in the US. Many gamers here want the choice. Considering that the average age of gamers in the UK is 28, I can see why. After all, we are adults. It works for movies, so why not games? Some say it’s because movies are passive while games are interactive, making you the sadistic killer. Whatever.

The problem is down to stupid parents, dodgy retailers, weak punishment and a lack of education about what games are all about these days. For instance, the same parent that stops their kid renting or buying a 15 or 18-rated DVD movie will blindly buy them a game with the same rating on it. I’ve seen it happen and so have you. The classification symbols used are the same on a game box as the ones on a DVD box so what’s the deal?

OK, some parents don’t really care, and that’s that. The old saying ‘kids should be seen and not heard’ applies and if a computer game keeps the rugrats from interrupting Trisha and Dr. Phil, so be it. They will never be changed. They are the minority.

Others hear the words the ‘computer game’ and recall dim memories of innocent things called Donkey Kong, Galaxian and Space Invaders. This archaic view of games obviously affects their eyesight because they blindly pay for whatever game Little Johnny hands them in the shop. That’s an education problem. If the government want to get involved, then this the place to do so. Start educating parents – starting in the schools - about how games have changed and that those little red symbols that say ‘18’ on the cover are not just decoration. The world has moved on from Pac-man and there’s a whole nation of kids out there more familiar with automobile carnage and blowing characters heads-off with a Mac-10, than chomping little dots.

I don’t agree with the BBFC ban because as an adult I have earned the right to choose. The fact that there is a ban speaks volumes about the holes in the system – from poor education to lack of fear among retailers about selling certain games to minors. A ban says ‘We’ve failed’. I have no interest in playing Manhunt 2 and, never did, but I would like the choice. Sadly, the only thing all the damning media coverage has done is make me curious to see what all the fuss is about.

I won’t pay full price but, thanks to the outrage, I might just find it winking at me from a bargain bin next year. Now that’s sad. Who says bans are bad for business? µ