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If there's one barrier between the conception of games as a modern genre of artistic entertainment and that of them being a silly, violent distraction for kids; it's maturity. By this we don't mean swearing, sex and violence, but something which will treat an adult audience with respect, telling an intelligent tale with rounded, interesting characters who you can genuinely care about. If games are ever to be truly respected in this manner then it'll have been titles like Mass Effect 2 (ME2) which began to bridge the gap. Make no mistake, for all the flashy spaceships, rattling guns and odd aliens, ME2 is most concerned with it's characters and in trying to making you sympathise with their hopes and fears as much as possible.

As voices of the games industry, we are the first to admit that there are violent videogames around and that the interactive nature of this medium provides a unique opportunity to take personal responsibility in carrying out acts of decapitation, maiming and murder. Doom was a horrific slaught'-em-up back in its day, while Mortal Kombat relished in its variations on carnage and the less that can be said for Carmageddon and Postal the better. Importantly though, these games are in the minority in an industry which churns out thousands of titles a year, with around 3% (in 2007) of those being video nasties. For every game that takes ultraviolence as a means to replace gameplay, there are ten that use violence as means to illustrate moral choices (the Fable series being one example), or to show a clear separation between good and bad in a plot. This tactic has been used in all kinds of media over the decades, and if anything it promotes virtuous living and responsible choices due to the playable character always being the hero.