Microsoft Giving Parents More Control, Breaking Noobs' Hearts Worldwide

Today, Microsoft announced their new parental controls for the Xbox 360. Previous controls allowed parents to restrict their kids from playing certain games by blocking games according to rating and also restricting online play and activities. This was an effective way to make sure your kids didn't play mature rated games or profanity-laden multiplayer online games without your permission. The new controls take things a little further. The one that I think will incite civil war in many homes is the Parental Timer, which will allow parents to restrict the amount of time per day or week that their child can play. They will also be able to set curfew times on the Xbox 360 as well, so the kids don't play too late. I am sure I dont have to explain to you how badly some kids are going to take this, but I really worry for the parents haha. Of course there will always be those people that will blame all of kids bad behavior and penchant for violence on video games. I am an avid gamer and only occasionally feel like meleeing people in the back hoping to instantly end their life and my anguish. I would not attribute that video games though. Absolutely no correlation.

There have already been at least 2 stories the past week that were outlandish. One child actually attacked his mother after she detached the wireless networking adapter from his Xbox 360 and prevented him from playing Halo 3 online. He chased her around the house looking for the adapter and when he could not find it, proceeded to punch her in the face. She called the Sheriff over and when he and his deputies showed up, they had trouble getting into the boy's room. When they finally got in, the boy punched one of the deputies right in the face before being subdued and handcuffed.

The second story is a little more serious. A kid from southern Maryland tried to hire a hitman to kill his parents after they confiscated his Playstation and banned him from watching TV. Little did 16-year-old Cory Ryder know that the 'hitman' was an undercover cop recruited by his mom for some sort of sting operation. Apparently, Ryder offered up his dad's pickup truck as payment for the deal. Now one would think that video games would be to blame here but apparently this child had a history of bad behavior, just nothing THIS bad. You gotta love those Playstation fanboys...fanatical commitment.

See now this kid has some problems. Not even cheaters in Halo 2 can bring out the devil inside of you like this. Warning: This video contains quite a bit of cursing.