All I have to say about this article is, that pretty soon, they're going to try to ban peeing because we use our genitals to do it. ash Father, son team up to battle offensive video game music |
By VICTOR REKLAITIS
/ Register & Bee staff writer
Jan 19, 2003
Since his discovery two weeks ago, Mike Hawker and his 12-year-old son, Chris, have gathered about 250 signatures on a petition and formed a protest organization called Parents Against Tony Hawk.
The petition asks that either the songs be removed from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of video games or the games be removed from store shelves. Most of the signatures have been collected at Charlie's Stop & Shop on Franklin Turnpike, a convenience store owned by Hawker.
"What they're doing is getting it by the parents," Hawker said of the games, which feature skateboarding legend Tony Hawk on their covers. Many editions, including those owned by the Hawkers, have a "T" for teens label in the corner of the cover.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board determines the rating, and also warns on the back of the game covers that the soundtracks contain "mild lyrics."
"If you put Tony Hawk on the cover and say it's mild lyrics, it should be mild lyrics," Hawker said.
The songs that upset the Hawkers include "Blood Stains (Darkness Version)" by the band Agent Orange. The Agent Orange tune is one of more than 30 songs on the latest edition of the game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.
"Sometimes I'd rather die / but someday I'm going to change my mind / sometimes I'd rather kill," the band sings.
Within the game, the title of the song has been changed and is listed as "Speed Kills (Darkness Version)."
The songs can be turned off during game play, and expletives are bleeped out of songs such as Public Enemy's "By the Time I Get to Arizona." In Pro Skater 4, players can also view and listen to the soundtrack without actually playing the game.
Hawker said other songs featured on the games such as "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden, "Yer Country" by U.S. Bombs and "Drunken Lullabies" by Flogging Molly are satanic, anti-American and anti-Christian. He also objects to "Blood Brothers" by Papa Roach, which is on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.
"It's our nature to destroy ourselves / it's our nature to kill ourselves / it's our nature to kill each other / it's in our nature to kill, kill, kill," are some of the lyrics for "Blood Brothers."
The video game industry responds
A spokeswoman for Tony Hawk deferred questions about the video games to Activision, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that has produced all four games.
When asked whether music by groups such as Agent Orange should be put in video games that children play, a spokeswoman for Activision deferred questions to the ESRB.
"That's what the role of the ESRB is going to be," said Maryanne Lataif, Activision's vice president of corporate communications, in a telephone interview.
The ESRB, a regulatory organization established in 1994 by the video and computer games industry, maintains that its ratings are appropriate.
"After reviewing the soundtrack for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, which does not include profanity and explicit images, ESRB's raters determined the 'mild lyrics' content descriptor was most appropriate," said the board's president, Patricia E. Vance, in a statement Friday.
The board has two content descriptors for background music: "strong lyrics," which are defined as "profanity and explicit references to sexuality, violence, alcohol and drug use in music," and "mild lyrics," which are defined as "mild references to profanity, sexuality, violence, alcohol or drug use in music."
Three raters review each game, reading lyrics and looking over actual footage of game play that includes extreme content.
The "T" for teen rating, displayed on games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, indicates that the board believes they are suitable for people 13 years old and older. Hawker explained why he bought the games for his 12-year-old son.
"This is the best-looking game out there. It still is," said Hawker, adding that many other games have violent images on their covers. He argued some songs on the Tony Hawk games encourage suicide and are not appropriate for teens either.
"Taking a gun and shooting yourself is not a good idea at 13 or 14 or 12," Hawker said.
Hawker's son, Chris, who attends Westover Christian Academy, stressed that he liked the video games and would just like the soundtracks to be changed.
"Any kind of music is fine, (but) I don't want the word 'kill' in any of the songs," Chris said.
Contact Victor Reklaitis at [email protected] or at (434) 793-2311, Ext. 3088.