when me and my brother were little kids, our parents banned us from watching the simpsons for about 6 months. they had noticed that he was starting to get some of barts "eat my shorts" characteristics and being a bit of a brat. during the 6 months of no simpsons, his manners did improve quite alot.

after reading the article, i agree with the closing statement.
my brother (the same one) has only recently gotten grand theft auto san andreas on PC. he now spends most of his time every night on the computer, which is very annoying on my part seeing as we share a computer

Well, I tend to agree with the article. Especially this:

“A moderate amount of violent game play is unlikely to hurt you,” Olson said. “You just need to have some balance.”

I believe "moderation" is key in anything.

I know tons of people (adults and kids) who play these type of games and they are so far from being "violent".

But I also agree with this

They found that video games do not affect all children equally ......

What affects one child may not affect another child - just like adults.

Parents just need to be involved, monitor their kids and practice "moderation"

growing up, violent games and movies were a very big part of what i played and watched, looking at the list of my Xbox 360 games and my large collection of horror movies they still are. ive got 97 horror movies 3 comedies (shawn of the dead, hot fuzz and eric the viking).

much to my mothers irritation i saw movies like The Exorcist, Friday 13th movies, nightmare elm st series at the age of 10-11 im 31 now.

I can say in all honesty ive never had any desire or inclination to emulate any game or movie in all my years. at worst if i do something stupid i say D'OH ! but lets face it theres worse things i could say.

i think it should be down to the individual parent and not upto the nanny state to tell kids what they can and cant do.

im getting tired of these whining parents who are too lazy to take an interest in what their child plays or watches trying to enforce their stupidity onto every one else.

if i wanna hack, slash and blow away zombies/terrorists/mutants/vampires/cops etc then thats my decision and at least im not doing it in real life.

the irony is i dont even like guns

The people who make these statements have probably never even played a video game before. I think the true risks gaming pose are those of obesity and addiction (and that's coming from a gamer myself).

Remember, we're not saying tht violent video games, films, music etc.. affects ALL children but it certainly can have a huge impact on children who live in an already unstable environment. I have played a few games like this and I think the novelty can wear off because I've got lot's of other hobbies too. Staring at a computer for hours on end IS brainwashing. I'm glad Guitar Hero gave kids an alternative.