Tech: Game Politics and the Big Three Gaming Blogs

If you're into video or PC gaming, you probably already read Kotaku, Joystiq, or Destructoid. These are big blogs with literally thousands of readers, so you get new posts by the hour. They can also cover, by their very nature, video game related news that the commercial sites like GameSpot and IGN won't touch with a ten-foot pole.

Most notably, almsot every gaming blog approves of the total lambasting of one Jack Thompson, perhaps America's most visible private critic of violence and sex in video games. Let's face it - most of the gamers out there played so-called "mature" games like Doom and Grand Theft Auto way before they were 17 years old, just like most of those gamers probably saw "Terminator 2" or "Speed" before they were 17, too. And it's not just violence - I'd wager a good portion of teenage males have caught sight of the b00bage out there on the Web.

With that being said, Thompson (who might be disciplined by the Florida Bar) is important because he keeps gamers aware that there are other, more insidious, less stupid people who will try to put harsher limits on games than there are on movies. The specter of Thompson, who unites gamers from all corners of the hobby, can thus only be a good thing IMHO.