This week's Economist takes a look at the phenomenon of video gaming, and whether it's a bad influence on the world at large (it's for subscribers only, unfortunately).
The reason for the examination is, of course, Hot Coffee - the "scandalous" sex mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which has been extensively covered in Online, and on our Gamesblog.
As is their wont, the Economist's pointyheads point to the stats - in the past decade, video games sales have almost doubled in the US, while the number of violent criminal offences has almost halved. And it's a rather strong rebuttal of the opponents of gaming.
Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too.
