Hahaha - did you tell him it was a statue of Barney the dinosaur and he was administering kisses?

I suppose you're right - but then, I didn't support the pictures of war injuries above. Survival of the fittest? Morality? These pictures are not really appropriate in this discussion.

As for the feined moral outrage - when we invite something into our homes as we do TV shows, computer games or movies, we normally know what we are letting ourselves in for. Posting the link to those pictures without much warning is a bit of a cheap shot.

The biggest insult is, it's as if we gamers cannot distinguish between reality and fiction. Something the anti-gaming lobbies treat as gospel. War is war, games are games.

During WW1, the factions in the trenches stopped on Xmas day for a cease-fire. One side started having a kick-about (can't remember if it was the English or the Germans), the opposition forces saw what was going on and joined in.

Say what you like about war and about civilization - ultimately it's one team against another, but humanity still exists between foes even in the gravest of situations. It's why the cold war ended with it's most spectacular of treatys.

I was holding out for GT5 and thinking of maybe Wipeout HD, but Dragons Age is now gonna be my game for this weekend (and probably up until the all-mighty gamesfest of Chrimbo), so cheers.

Morality of a character can only really be gauged by a players own actions. When a game comes along that refuses to include a morality bar, but instead shows you the shaping (or mis-shaping) of your deeds complete with NPC feedback acutely specific to your actions, I will be convinced.

Morality in game is only as good/bad as your options - let's see something that gives us unintended yet logical conclusions to our actions be they good or bad. Then let's see the NPCs change not just tolerance or behaviour towards you, but change their agenda In terms of the overall plot also.