Reuters
Thursday, Dec 20, 2012
LOS ANGELES - The multi-billion-dollar videogame industry came under scrutiny on Wednesday after Hollywood canceled, postponed or played down a slew of movies and TV shows with violent content in the wake of last week's shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
In Washington, Senator John Rockefeller called for a national study of the impact of violent videogames on children and a review of the rating system.
Although investigators in Newtown, Connecticut, have given no motive for Friday's shooting rampage, some US media have reported that the 20-year-old gunman played popular videogame "Call of Duty" - in which players conduct simulated warfare missions - in the basement of his home.
The gunman, Adam Lanza, killed himself at the scene after gunning down 20 young children, six school employees and his mother.
Rockefeller said he had long been concerned about the impact of violent games and videos on children.
"Major corporations, including the video game industry, make billions on marketing and selling violent content to children. They have a responsibility to protect our children. If they do not, you can count on the Congress to take a more aggressive role," Rockefeller said in a statement.
The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the US$78 (S$95.1 billion) billion US videogame industry, and major videogame makers, did not return calls for comment on Wednesday.
New 'Call of Duty', 'Halo' games rake in billions
Activision Blizzard's latest title in its "Call of Duty"franchise - "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" - hit US$1 billion in sales two weeks after its launch last month.
Other popular videogames include Microsoft's "Halo 4," in which players kill evil aliens. The game racked up $220 million in global sales on its launch day in November.
Mike Hickey, an analyst at National Alliance Capital Markets, said backlashes against videogames were not rare, but he was unaware of an instance of games being pulled off store shelves in the past.
When the Columbine school shooting happened in 1999, there was a similar outcry because the two perpetrators were students who played the shooter game "Doom," Hickey told Reuters.
Executives at Hollywood movie studios and TV networks have mostly laid low this week as Americans seek answers to the Newtown slaughter, and discuss how to prevent similar gun violence in the nation's schools, workplaces and entertainment venues.
However, content seen as sensitive has been pulled from the airwaves, including an episode of the SyFy TV series "Haven"that contained violent scenes in a high school setting, and the premiere next week of a TLC show called "Best Funeral Ever."
Discovery Channel canceled a third season of its reality series "American Guns" about a family of gun makers. Some radio stations stopped playing pop star Ke$ha's bubbly new single "Die Young" to avoid any potential offense.
Glitzy red carpet premieres for violent upcoming new movies"Jack Reacher," starring Tom Cruise, and "Django Unchained"starring Jamie Foxx, were canceled out of respect for the Newtown victims, but both movies will open in theaters as planned in the next seven days.
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