Posts Tagged ‘video games industry’
Michigan Grandfather Says Videogames Cause Deformities
There are dozens of arguments that have been made by the anti video game camp. Some point nervous fingers at any tenuous link between video games and real world tragedies, others blame them for obesity or the short attention spans of current youth. A Michigan grandfather is accusing video game controllers of seriously warping the hands of children due to their soft bones being unable to handle the ’strong repeating forces’ inflicted upon a child’s hands while gaming.
He says that children under eight shouldn’t be allowed to play video games and that children under five shouldn’t be allowed to use crayons. As you might expect, he hasn’t gotten much support for his movement yet, possibly because in a display of incredibly paranoid thinking he accuses the government of being persuaded by the video games industry to drop a bill designating money for the study of children’s health, including the effects of video gaming.
Last I had checked the US economy was suffering and every government body was operating with lower budgets and while I’m sure billions of dollars are still being devoted to research, children’s hands likely isn’t high on the list of priorities. If there’s really an issue with children playing too many video games and injuring themselves, we should get them back out doing safe hobbies like climbing trees and playing football. Nobody ever got hurt doing that.
UK Ad Campaign Sparks Uproar
Video games are a pretty popular scapegoat these days and the UK Government has taken its own crack at them. The USA isn’t the only country with an obesity problem: the people of Great Britain are equally fond of deep-fried foods and high calorie diets. The campaign is trying to encourage children to be more active, but it doesn’t pull any punches in doing so. The controversial ad depicts a young boy sitting holding a Playstation controller with the text “Risk an early death: do nothing”.
The ad is part of the ‘Change4Life’ campaign and it has sparked a furor amongst the video games industry, who feel that their economic contributions to the British government should garner them some respect. Formal complaints have been filed and legal action may be taken against the UK government by Sony, who say they were not consulted regarding the use of the Playstation controller in the advertisement.
Despite how inflammatory this particular advertisement is, the overall scope of the campaign doesn’t seek to villify gaming; its overall emphasis is on more active lifestyles and eating better.