Of 1254 participants (53% female, 47% male), only 80 reported playing no electronic games in the previous 6 months. Of 1126 children who listed frequently played game titles, almost half (48.8%) played at least one violent (mature-rated) game regularly (67.9% of boys and 29.2% of girls). One third of boys and 10.7% of girls play games nearly every day; only 1 in 20 plays often or always with a parent. Playing M-rated games is positively correlated (p < .001) with being male, frequent game play, playing with strangers over the Internet, having a game system and computer in one’s bedroom, and using games to manage anger.

The California state bill that would prevent violent video games from being sold to minors and establish a California-mandated game rating label system has been ruled unconstitutional by a district court -- as predicted last year by Game|Life and pretty much anyone with a brain.

Authored by assemblyman Leland Yee (now a state senator) and signed into law by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill would have made it illegal to sell games described as "violent" to anyone under the age of 18. It would also have required all such games to carry a label on the package with the number 18.

Boys who play video games on school days spend 30 percent less time reading and girls spend 34 percent less time doing homework than those who do not play such games, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

But they said video games do not appear to interfere significantly with time spent with family and friends.

"Gamers did spend less time reading and doing homework. But they didn't spend less time interacting with their parents or their friends, nor did they spend less time in sports or active leisure activities," said Hope Cummings of the University of Michigan, whose study appears in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The study comes as U.S. doctors voice growing concern about the long-term effects of video games.

Spencer Halpin has been working on Moral Kombat, a documentary on video game violence, for a long time. He's finished the film and has posted this trailer for it on YouTube. Spence, the brother of Entertainment Consumers Association founder Hal Halpin, interviewed me for this film a while back at the Dice Summit in Las Vegas with a green screen behind me. I talked about the loss of my brother to real-life violence and how I can reconcile that with playing violent games. He's made the film a visual wonder by splicing in game footage in the background behind the interviewees. What's cool is not just the discussion but the melding of visual images that relate to what the interviewees are saying.

Ronald Moten, co-founder of Washington, D.C.-based Peaceoholics, who has not seen Bully, likens it to alcohol or tobacco. He says his non-profit group, formed to help reduce juvenile crime through intervention and community outreach, plans to hold protests in hopes of keeping the game out of stores.

"We don't want the game to come out at all, we don’t think there is a purpose for this type of game," said Moten, whose group protested in front of Rockstar Games' New York offices last year after the initial announcement. "I think we can stop it from coming out. If it does come out, we can get the stores that sell to stop selling it."

Rockstar Games already was in political hot water last year over the hidden sex scandal surrounding Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas when the company announced Bully in May 2005. The one-sentence description of the game sparked protests in the U.S., Australia and Britain.

The Miami-Dade School District passed a resolution earlier this year calling for Rockstar to not release the game and asking local stores not to sell Bully if it is released. The game was also added to the school district,s list of prohibited software. CNN,s Lou Dobbs called it "another disturbing example of our culture in decline." In Britain last December, the House of Commons condemned the game and some members called for it to be banned.

The Entertainment Software Association on Monday announced the launch of a new political network for video game players called the Video Gamer Voters Network.

The website was created for American adults to take action on policy issues affecting the computer and video game industry.

"With over seventy bills to restrict game sales to minors already pending in state legislatures across the country this year, it's time for gamers to make their voices heard loudly and clearly, to let politicians know that they will no longer stand by and let games be the scapegoat for larger social problems," said ESA president Doug Lowenstein.

"Gamers can join together through the Video Game Voters Network to send a strong message to politicians to let them know that gamers care, that they vote, and that they will no longer tolerate these unconstitutional, unnecessary, and uninformed attacks on this important form of entertainment."

Games featuring graphic scenes of cannibalism, "F.E.A.R." and "Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse," were among the 12 "games to avoid" listed Tuesday by the National Institute on Media and the Family.

"It's something we've never seen before," said institute president David Walsh, warning that today's games are "more extreme" and more easily available to underage kids than ever before.

1. Far Cry (M)
2. F.E.A.R. (M)
3. The Warriors (M)
4. Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (M)
5. True Crime: New York City (M)
6. Blitz: The League (M)
7. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (M)
8. God of War (M)
9. Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (M)
10. Urban Reign (T)
11. Conker: Live and Reloaded (M)
12. Resident Evil 4 (M)

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (E 10+)
2. The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (E 10+)
3. Peter Jackson's King Kong (T)
4. Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (E)
5. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (T)
6. Sly 3: Honor Amongst Thieves (E 10+)
7. We Love Katamari (E)
8. Sid Meier's Pirates! (E)
9. Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX3 (E 10+)
10. Backyard Baseball 2005 (E)

In "Stubbs the Zombie," the lead character eats the brains of humans as blood splatters across the screen.

"It's just the worst kind of message to kids," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., who joined institute officials at a press conference announcing the group's 10th annual video game report card. "They can be dangerous to your children's health."

Research on media violence also revealed, that perpetrators go unpunished 73 percent of the time in all violent scenes. "Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict. Whereas, seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior", says psychologist Elizabeth Carll, PhD, co-chair of the Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media.

Studies on learning also show that active participation may influence learning more than passive observation. "Violence in video games appear to have similar negative effects as viewing violence on TV, but may be more harmful because of the interactive nature of video games," says Dr. Elizabeth Carll, who is a private practitioner in New York and a past president of the Media Division of APA. "Playing video games involves practice, repetition, and being rewarded for numerous acts of violence, which may intensify the learning. This may also result in more realistic experiences which may potentially increase aggressive behavior," added Carll.

Rockstar was not available for comment, but Bullying Online said it had been told previously by a company spokeswoman that the game should not cause concern.

She reportedly said its content would be no worse than the Just William series, Richmal Crompton's tales about a mischievous young schoolboy which was turned into a teatime television drama.

Rockstar has invited Bullying Online to New York to see the game for themselves.

Last week youth group Peaceaholics staged a protest outside Rockstar's headquarters there in protest at plans to release Bully.

Welcome to the fictional Bullworth Academy where you play a troubled schoolboy named Jimmy in reform school who tries to stand up to bullies, gets picked on by teachers, plays pranks on annoying kids from all over campus, and even tries to pursue a love interest.

"Revocation of a classification means the computer game cannot be legally sold, hired, advertised or exhibited in Australia from the date the decision is made," the statement said.

"Businesses that sell or hire computer games should remove existing stocks of this game from their shelves immediately," said Des Clark, director of the government-funded classification board.

"Businesses that sell or hire computer games should remove existing stocks of this game from their shelves immediately," said the director of the ratings board, Des Clark.

"Parents are strongly advised to exercise caution in allowing children continued access to the game, particularly if they have might have access to the 'Hot Coffee' modification."

The Hot Coffee modification was created by a Dutch fan of the game, who found a way to unlock explicit sexual scenes in San Andreas.

"The release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was widely anticipated, but an adults-only rating would have severely limited its sales in retail outlets," said Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan.

"It appears that the publisher has blatantly circumvented the rules in order to peddle sexually explicit material to our youth, and they should be held accountable. A company cannot be allowed to profit from deceit."

The vote follows calls by US senator Hillary Clinton for an investigation into who put the sex scenes into San Andreas.

Take-Two spokesman Jim Ankner acknowledged in an Associated Press interview that the questioned scenes were created by Rockstar programmers. "The editing and finalization of any game is a complicated task and it's not uncommon for unused and unfinished content to remain on the disc," he said.

In a statement, the president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board said the sex scenes were programmed by Rockstar "to be inaccessible to the player."

But ESRB chief Patricia Vance also acknowledged that the "credibility and utility" of the industry-run board’s initial "M" rating had been "seriously undermined."

Many retailers sell "M" rated games, which "may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older,” according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board, but won’t sell "AO"-labeled games at all.

"So far we have learned that the "hot coffee" modification is the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes in the official version of the game," reads the statement. "In violation of the software user agreement, hackers created the 'hot coffee' modification by disassembling and then combining, recompiling and altering the game's source code. Since the 'hot coffee' scenes cannot be created without intentional and significant technical modifications and reverse engineering of the game's source code, we are currently investigating ways that we can increase the security protection of the source code and prevent the game from being altered by the 'hot coffee' modification."

Clinton, a vociferous critic of violence in the media, will be joined by David Walsh, president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family; Mary Bissell, fellow at the New America Foundation; and Kiersten Stewart, director of public policy for the Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Clinton is expected to call on the FTC to determine who is responsible for the Hot Coffee mod, a modification that unlocks sexually explicit minigames in Rockstar's recently published PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

While the game is rated M, and therefore not readily sold to those below the age of 17, the mod is easily available online.

But, no matter how you look at it, this game is not intended nor designed for those with a biblical worldview. For everything that the game does right, the ends are not justified by the means. Because this is a site that reviews games based on the content of it, not on the quality of it, God of War receives a 37 (F) for explicit violence, sexual situations, and mythological references.

Just to warn any parent out there: this is an extremely mature title, with plenty of characters getting ripped in half, impaled or beheaded (this is only some of the gory ways that people can die in this game, and it's not even Kratos' doing). Aside from that, there's also some nudity scattered throughout the game and mild sexual situations, such as Kratos leaving a bed with two topless women in it or the Athenian Oracle who wears a see through blouse.