The most biased TV video game debate ever

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Watch a horribly ill-informed gaming discussion and feel the bile rise

Must…resist urge… to scream… until lungs collapse. If you’ve not watched the violent video games corrupting children ‘debate’ that aired on UK channel ITV recently, grab yourself a paper bag to breathe into. You’re going to need it. Riddled with inaccuracies, the thinly-veiled witch hunt on the Alan Titchmarsh Show against CVG editor Tim Ingham would be hilarious if it wasn’t so maddeningly ill-informed. So join us as we pick the woefully-researched bones out of one of the most biased pieces of game-bashing TV we’ve seen in years.

Right, watched the above video? Good. Told you you’d need that bag. Remember: long deep breathes. First off, Alan, we should point out that there’s no such thing as Call of Duty 2: Modern Warfare. Hey, it’s an understandable mistake. Hell, it only had the biggest, most profitable entertainment launch of all time.


Above: Call of Du... what's that say on the autocue?

Next, we have Kelvin Calder MacKenzie, whose former tabloid rag The Sun regularly pumps out this sort of considered, impartial journalism…


Above: Quite

MacKenzie goes on to claim the tragic case of James Bulger’s murder in 1993 was tied to the fact that John Venables (one of his killers) was influenced by violent games. Admittedly, a very difficult and painful claim, the accusation is still entirely false, as the killer was said to be influenced by video nasties like Child’s Play 3. Again, though, these were unsubstantiated claims made by the court judge at the time. Claims that were almost instantly refuted by the then UK Minister of State David Maclean.


Above: MacKenzie made some bold claims, though not all of them were accurate

David Meikleham
David Meikleham
Google AMP Stories Editor

David has worked for Future under many guises, including for GamesRadar+ and the Official Xbox Magazine. He is currently the Google Stories Editor for GamesRadar and PC Gamer, which sees him making daily video Stories content for both websites. David also regularly writes features, guides, and reviews for both brands too.