I hope I'm not turning into a fuddyduddy.
My boy shouted me upstairs yesterday to show me a new behicle he's unlocked on the PS2 Simpsons Hit & Run game.

This we bought him as it is packaged as a game for age 7+.

It only struck me yesterday the amount of violence in it - where you can actually get out of the car & go and kick other characters to the ground, stamp their heads etc.
As well as being able run over them.

All this and you get financial rewards into the 'kitty' to buy a bigger harder vehicle.


Please tell me I'm being old fashioned worrying about this? :suspect:

Maybe it's a sign of the times, remember when we were kids? a little man running in a dark room, chasing ghosts, eating magic pills to repetetive electronic music? hence the rise in car-jacking and violent crime.

:D I had a mental picture of a typical rave with your description!

So there you go :hihi:

I have played games all my life from the humble begginings of manic miner and jet set willy on the spectrum the latter being a man running around a pschyadelic mansion being chased by large feet and other weird monsters, I played violent games and still do I have never jacked a car or felt the need to 'smash someone face in' games are no more violent in my opinion looney tunes and nobody takes offence with them. In fact if I feel stressed after a hard day at work or just with life in general I go online play a coupe of games and use this as stress relief have done for years and works quite well.

If he enjoys the game let him play it I have played simpsons hit n run its a great game lots of fun and laughs.

I have a 3 year old son and I encourage him to use the PC, actually he is better on it than my mother is he plays lots of games on the NickJr and CBeebies web sites, when he gets a little older I will buy him a games console of some type.

Posting your message shows you care and I have every confidence that you will give your son a solid upbringing so dont worry he will be fine.

I play a lot of playstation myself, I own simpsons hit and run and other games like it such as GTA San Andreas. I would be careful about what you let your son play, to be honest. Simpsons hit and run is ok, but some of the others like Manhunt are very graphic. I think the key is to let him play what you think is suitable but try in other areas of his life (as I'm sure you do already! please don't think I'm trying to lecture you!) to make him aware of the consequences of bullying and irresponsible driving and stuff like that.

I worry for a friend of mines child, he just sits playing those games all day long, with no structure to his life - a bit like me but I'm old enough to blame myself, hehe - and he comes running up to me going "Yeah yeah yeah. I've completed the bit where you have to run over that blind bitch and steal her car, yeah yeah, can't wait til I get a car" etc...its a bit worrying!

Originally posted by soupy
I have played games all my life from the humble begginings of manic miner and jet set willy on the spectrum the latter being a man running around a pschyadelic mansion being chased by large feet and other weird monsters, I played violent games and still do I have never jacked a car or felt the need to 'smash someone face in'
by contrast i hardly ever play and im forever jacking cars and commiting random assaults - so its swings and roundabouts. So hes probably better off playing at it!!:thumbsup:

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
It only struck me yesterday the amount of violence in it - where you can actually get out of the car & go and kick other characters to the ground, stamp their heads etc.
As well as being able run over them.

I don't think the game is as violent as you may fear.

Yes, you can 'kick' characters gently, after which they'll fall to the ground and roll over a few times; as for driving over people, they always get stuck under your front bumper, so you'll only ever succeed in pushing them around the screen.

The game doesn't glamourise violence in the same way the GTA range of games does. There's no blood and there's even an element of humour when you 'kick' certain characters suchas Grandpa Simpson - yes, he starts complaining :roll:

Neither does the game 'reward' violence against other characters. You get awarded the odd coin for driving into another vehicle or piece of scenery, but most coins are found when interacting with the environment.

As a parent of a young children who play Simpsons: Hit and Run, I would say the game appears to be a lot less violent than the cartoon. There's no swearing and sexual content in the game, despite the efforts of the producers to gradually increase those vices into the later series' of the cartoons.

Originally posted by craig266
Maybe it's a sign of the times, remember when we were kids? a little man running in a dark room, chasing ghosts, eating magic pills to repetetive electronic music? hence the rise in car-jacking and violent crime.

I wonder where you got that from :rolleyes:

Cheers everyone.
I guess I'm not usually this pc (if at all ever :hihi: ) but it was just...
I dunno - can't explain this one - like a sixth sense of foreboding?

:suspect: <= me :rolleyes: :D