August 2010 – the latest newsletter from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in the US provides a brief outline of some recent studies which were unddertaken by Dr Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M Universtiy which called into question research findings that perpetuate some of the misconceptions about computer and video games.

In June, the Review of General Psychology published Dr. Ferguson’s study titled “Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games be a Force for Good?” Ferguson conducted an in-depth analysis of existing research on the impact of violent video game play on aggressive behavior. He found that many of these studies were marred by inconsistent findings or weak methodology and had not been sufficiently scrutinized by the broader scientific community. He also noted that the violent crime rate has dropped dramatically at the same time that video games have gained in popularity, suggesting that “the violent video game issue is a crusade in search of a crisis.”

To read on, click here

In this opinion piece for The Punch, I give my thoughts on R18+ being an issue about adults, respond to some of the ACL and YMA comments and welcome Prof Anderson’s support of an R18+ classification.

Dr Christopher Ferguson , co-author of the paper Much Ado About Nothing: The Misestimation and Overinterpretation of Violent Vido Game Effects in Eastern and Western Nations: Comment on Anderson et al. (2010), discusses with Peta Waller-Bryant from 2SER his views on Anderson’s metastudy on violence and video games.

You can listen to Peta’s interview here:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayFYWibyHBM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOZ1O1Q5xvk

For those who want to read through Chris Ferguson and John Kilburns’ paper, you can find it here.

Hat tip to Aaron John from Grow Up Australia for getting this interview up on Youtube.

FAMILIES are turning their backs on violent video games in record numbers.

Almost one in three video games sold – in what’s turning out to be another record year for games – is family-friendly.

For every fighting game sold, seven family-friendly titles are being snapped up, the Herald Sun reports.

Read the Full Story at news.com.au