Dear friends who like video gaming,

I wanted to write you all because I am feeling a little nervous.  The latest Unreal tech demo came out showcasing what will be the next level of graphics and technology in videogames.  More accurately than ever, it blurs the line between virtual and actual reality.  Amazing lighting, facial and clothing textures, and animation give it the graphical quality of contemporary computer animated cartoons.  It depicts people who look and move with more photo-realism than ever before. It is also brutally violent.

In the trailer, a half man/half alien character sees an elderly person being beaten in the middle of the street by guards that look like a cross between a Storm Trooper and a character from Portal.  He watches the scene from above before jumping from the heights, slamming to the ground and dispatching of the several guards, with a final slow mo bullet through the head of one of the characters, complete with blood splattering onto the “camera” and sound effects in tow.