New Jersey parents fret over Wii's 'gun-like' Zapper (Joystiq)

[R.O.B.]

Filed under: Culture, Nintendo Wii

New Jersey's The Star-Ledger ran a poll on its "Parental Guidance" blog earlier this week, asking its readers to comment on Nintendo's Wii Zapper, a peripheral meant to house the Wii remote and nunchuck in a vaguely rifle-like shape. Describing it as a "gun-like remote" and a "wand in the shape of a weapon" certainly didn't help matters, as the poll was duly inundated by parents wary of their children becoming vicious, gun-toting mini-gangsters.

One reader inadvertently praised Nintendo's clumsy plastic shell design by failing to discern a difference between it (see above image) and a real weapon. "Great, this is what we need. Children with guns learning how to aim and shoot. Then we can sit back and wonder what is happening to our country with kids killing kids......what's next?" A fair question to ask, especially when you're a powerless parent forced to sit back and wonder "what is happening" in a world where video games poison our armed children. Not that the Zapper can teach anybody to operate a gun on the outset -- it's really more of crossbow training tool.

Another parent was a little more introspective and wondered, "What kind of message are we sending as parents when we buy these things for our kids?" Aside from highlighting mommy's inability to say "No, you can't have that," past experience with the Zapper would reveal the message to be a compelling argument for hunting ducks and, failing that, any stupid-looking dogs in the neighborhood. Kids shoot the darndest things.

[Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

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[retrogamer88]

Where the hell is Jack Thompson? He should be here any minute...

[Pegasus]

Jesus H. C... What's the matter with these people? Light guns and the like have been available for video games for over two decades. This is nothing new. Naturally, everyone who played a game like Duck Hunt has gone out and shot people, right? ... But, really. Wtf?!?

[DEMON212]

I really wish people like that would just STFU.

Bring on March 15th NJD *****es!

GO, LANCHE, GO!

[Veszerin]

R.O.B., I am for the first time, disappointed with your work.


Who cares about New Jersey?
Who cares about the kids that probably haven't played anything made before 2005?
And for the record: My parents wouldn't let me play Mortal Kombat until i was 9 years old.
Now i'm 19, they still don't want me playing GTA. oh well.


Damn, it would suck to not play anything made before 2005....thats a crapload of great games...oh well.

[Veszerin]

I would like to..announce something.

I have always been disgusted with ESRB's rating system.
I think it's, for lack of a more appropriate word, ****ing insane.

Mortal Kombat for example. a MATURE 17+ rating. I mean wtf. I had classmates when I was 6 playing this game.

Street Fighter, a Teen 13+ rating. I played it when i was 6.

And i'd like to announce my astonishment that nearly every RPG nowadays has a Teen 13+ rating. ZOMG FANTASY VIOLENCE! WHAT WILL WE DO! WE HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE OUR TIME! FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

[Pegasus]

While the old Mortal Kombat games may look like nothing much today, they were pretty much the goriest games available, at the time. It well deserved the M rating.

[Veszerin]

Originally Posted by Pegasus

While the old Mortal Kombat games may look like nothing much today, they were pretty much the goriest games available, at the time. It well deserved the M rating.

not when my classmates were playing it all the time and ended up just fine.

[Pegasus]

That's not the point, though. Never mind.

[Pit 42]

How ridiculous is this? Just because you can point and shoot a gun doesn't mean you'll end up being a gangster. I believe ploice weild guns, and I'm quite sure they're not gangsters. Paintball pros weild (paintball) guns, and they're not gangsters.