Dr. Phil, purveyor of daytime television self-help advice, is taping an episode focusing on videogame violence today.
The show will feature an as-yet-unnamed “game violence specialist” and will look at the effects of videogame violence on young children. Early reports indicated that Hal Halpin, President of the Entertainment Consumers Association, might make an appearance, but he was later told that the show was opting for the “violence specialist” instead. Rumors of Jack Thompson filling that role proved to be unfounded, as Thompson posted on GamePolitics that he had initially been asked to appear, until “they decided to take the show in a different direction.”
Dr. Phil has become known as an anti-videogame activist, claiming in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech killings that “the mass murderers of tomorrow are the children of today that are being programmed with this massive violence overdose.” It was determined soon after the killings that the perpetrator was, in fact, not a gamer.
Taping of the episode takes place today, but no air date has been set.
