Games are getting more mature that is a given as every day the medium exists it is growing up. Though gaming is still very juvenile as while gaming has been around since the late 60’s early 70’s modern gaming started around the turn of 3D gaming Playstation/Saturn era. This leaves gaming being a mere 15 years old a child in life terms so yes games are still going to lack maturity in tackling more adult themes. For years games have been seen as children’s entertainment but the sudden shift over the last 10 years to more mature gaming hasn’t been so subtle. The likes of GTA and Manhunt were based on shock factor a very juvenile way of getting attention and it worked so much so many games do it, Ninja Gaiden 2 with it’s excessive blood and Saints Row with it’s gratuitous praise of drug use and mindless petty violence. Gaming is still an immature child parading under the face mask of an adult.

We are slowly adjusting Quantic Dream on Playstation 2 and Xbox showed that maturity has a place and that deep stories could exist on a console with violence and sex and not be in anyway gratuitous. They are following up next year with Heavy Rain on Playstation 3 pushing those themes further in an adult direction but in a sensible and refined fashion. More signs of this shift in maturity came with Six Days in Fallujah one game dropped from a publisher for being so mature; something that wasn’t meant to be fun it was merely a case of telling the truthful story of what our soldiers went through in Iraq.

Is this the brick wall of using the word “Game?” As to me the word game evokes fun, laughter and enjoyment. For many modern video games they fit that criteria as they are fun and are often funny, but there are games now that don’t want to be fun they want to be taken seriously like an Oscar nominated movie. In this case should the term “Interactive Media” be used to advertise more mature games? They will still have the same 18/M rating and still be played on the same consoles but they won’t be called games. Right now with the term game ignorant parents and politicians are quick to attack a medium still enjoyed by millions of children. Will a change in name for those that are that dark and are that mature stop the attacks?

Something has to be done as games are slowly maturing but the industry and the media is not ready for it, we have not the methods in place to give these seriously risqué forms of interactive media a chance to thrive without risk of bans and protest. I understand that we will never fully stop parents buying their children these things and with that there will always be some controversy. Hell maybe instead of "Interactive Media" it has to have an "Adult" prefix almost like pornography. I am up for anything that will allow games to mature without risk of prosecution for doing so because of children and idiotic parents.