Tuesday, September 25, 2007

And Now For Some Social Commentary

This is a print-screen of what my Firefox drop-down tab for BBC News Latest Headlines contained yesterday morning.

That's right, the release date for Halo 3 ranks next to the UK tornado and the latest Middle East issues in terms of importance to the world.

It is now the next morning. That tab now lists topics dealing with Afghanistan, Disease Restrictions, US Integration...and still there's an article about Halo 3. No, I'm not a fan of Halo, but I would react the same if the release of StarCraft 2 makes BBC headlines.

Because no game, regardless of its parallax mapping or impact on the gaming industry blah blah, should be up there among the REAL news, the suicide bombings, the strikes, the natural disasters, the diseases, the things that impact entire nations, not just a few thousand baseball-cap wearing chimpanzees who spell their names with numbers in it and think violence is cool.

Okay, so it isn't all doom and gloom. Yesterday afternoon there was a headline regarding the weekend's Twenty20 cricket tournament, as well as one dealing with the current rugby tournament in France. Now, those headlines are gone. Moved over for something important. But Halo 3 is still there.

I feel that says something about modern Western society. Actually, Eastern too, if you consider that professional Starcraft players are regarded as celebrities over there and people get killed for selling virtual inventory items.

Yes, I play games, and there are some titles I'm looking forward to. But if they make BBC headlines I will feel sick.