No, really.

Someone has actually conducted a study to demonstrate that using the Wii remote does not make you any more psychotic than using a normal game controller.

That's a relief, I was worried that all this Wii gaming would turn me into a mad axe murderer

While it's easy to joke about these studies, it's good to have some evidence to counter the more knee-jerk paranoia out there about violent games.

It is also reassuring to see that the study was well designed. The researchers used a significant sample size of 118 people, split between men and women, who each played both Manhunt 2 and Tiger Woods Golf. This is a well controlled and designed study which appears to have taken most factors into account. As an on again, off again student of psychology, I have often lamented the poor quality of many of the more fear-mongering studies into violent video games. It's nice to see someone applying some calm logic to the field.

The study also concluded:



This will not come as a huge surprise to many. While many in the media have been keen to blame violent media, films and games for violent behavior, there is significant evidence that those who are affected are predisposed to violent and psychotic behavior.

In psychology, cause and effect are rarely as simple as they appear. Naive interpretations, of data or anecdotal evidence, are rarely correct. Unfortunately, I doubt that this will do much to drown out the nearly 30 year old chorus of simplistic media stories, blaming every one of the world's ills on video games.