Brief Commentary...

Being myself a casual gamer as well as enlightened to the "real" world, I have often wondered what type of psychological effects transpire from the modern, highly realistic war-based videogames are having on the public, our youth in particular.  Take for instance this trailer for the yet to be released game 'Call of Duty: Black Ops', which depicts and describes "working the dark side" (to borrow a phrase from Cheney circa 2001) of war and assisinations. 

  http://www.hulu.com/watch/150684/ign-call-of-duty-black-ops-trailer?c=Videogames#s-p1-sr-i4

  Quotes from the trailer:  "A lie is a lie.  Just because they write it down and call it history, doesn't make it true.  We live in a world where seeing is not believing.  Where only a few know, what really happened.  We live in a world, where everything we know, is wrong."

In this next video, for another game set to be released next year entitled Dues Ex.  It appears to depict a chaotic, conspiratorial, technological and corporate-owned future.  Protestors of a human engineering company fight with police and are fired on, meanwhile a hero is called upon to find the 'shadowy forces' orchestrating the showdown.  As flashes of the dollars all-seeing eye atop the pyramid zoom on the screen, the narrator describes how "the enemy is always hiding behind lies" and "corporations have more power than the government now".

http://www.hulu.com/watch/154195/ign-deus-ex-human-revolution-e3-trailer?c=Videogames#s-p1-sr-i4

Also, from 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare', there is a level titled 'No Russian', where the player infiltrates a Russian villain's inner circle to defeat him. The player must act as part of the villain's group, which includes joining them in a massacre of innocent civillians in a Russian airport. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JHvkp3CWJw

Finally, here is the end cutscene from a game called Crackdown, where you play as a police super-agent who gains more power as more chaos ensues.  After defeating the final badguy, the true motives and source of violence are revealed: Agency Boss: "The people had to experience absolute anarchy, before they would accept unconditional control.  You are the portent of a New World Order, agent, this is only the beginning."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg9edhb4OBs

Do games such as these help to shine light on shadowy subjects, or do they further engrain the 'warrior' mentality in our culture?  Especially the impressionable young people. Perhaps both. Such is our zeitgeist...Thoughts and comments?