Violent Video Game Makes it Real

Since I study the cognitive processing of media, I try to avoid making prescriptions about ratings and what content should be allowed. As a good scientist, I believe that it is my job not to "have a dog in that race." I will leave it to policy-makers to interpret my results.

But a wire story in the Columbus Dispatch caught my attention today. The new "The Godfather: The Game" video game recently released by EA features controller feedback such that the player can "feel" a person's heartbeat as they strangle them.

Wow. Talk about first-person!

You can read more about first-person violent video games in: Schneider, E. F., Lang, A., Shin, M., & Bradley, S. D. (2004). Death with a story: The effects of narrative on cognitive and physiological responses to video games. Human Communication Research, 30, 361-375.

If you PROMISE not to violate copyright law, you can find the PDF to read here.