I remember running Wolfenstein for the first time, and being impressed by the graphics, the action, the mazes, and so on. But the violence bothered me a little. Now we have CGW actually highlighting these games as the top shareware games to download. If 'popularity' is defined only in terms of the number of people involved, then AIDS is becoming increasingly 'popular', as are crimes of murder, guns in schools, drugs, etc. But we at least make an attempt to counteract those by finding positive alternatives.
Violence begats violence.
There are enough studies already that show the increasingly negative effects on young people from the growing violence in video games. They're all the same, except that the background story, scenery, or character names have been changed. I'll bet they'd be pleased. We have also featured games that produce more thought than adrenaline. Test Your Brain With Our Puzzling Downloads.