http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/blog/article/1970/

A new Department of Health advert shows a child holding what appears to be a PlayStation 3 Sixaxis pad and bears the unequivocal warning “RISK AN EARLY DEATH. JUST DO NOTHING”. Shocked? You surely should be…

Further cementing the apparent link between videogames and a premature demise - i.e. yours! - the ad is backed by the heavyweight likes of The British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research and Diabetes UK. So there must be something in it, right?

Well, British society, if we’re to believe the scaremongering tabloid reports, stands on the verge of an obesity epidemic, with all the associated health risks bound therein. However, the last time we looked videogames were not to blame. At the very least not exclusively.

After all, the advert might have been more appropriate if it showed a family parked slack-jawed in front of the telly, as many millions are every night of the week - and have been doing long before games ever came to prominence. But that’s just not as emotive or sensational, is it?

Nope. Games, in spite of the great strides the industry has made to get its consumers, singing, dancing, exercising and flexing their grey matter, are an easy target, plain and simple. And now it appears playing them could lead to some properly life-threatening diseases!

The UK games industry has rallied to its own defence, with trade magazine MCV lodging an official complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, and Sony stating that they are considering legal action, but it remains to be seen whether it’ll change any deeper-held prejudices. Put another way, we doubt it’s the last time we’ll see games scapegoated like this. http://4yourkids.org.uk/




This seriously annoys the hell out of me!!! Im to annoyed to make another comment.

And what would they rather have that child out doing? That may sound rather bad of me, but if they are in front of a tv with a playstation on at least you know where they are and what they are doing and who with.

You can't just open the door and say off you go anymore.

That is the same point I am thinking Cyn. Nowadays its different then back then when you just let your child roam the streets and parents only comment was "be home when the street lights come on" Now you have to worry about child snatchers and molesters out there and knowing that your "son/daughter" is home safe having fun is more important to parents then having to worry about who is out there stalking your child.

Bad for your health but good for your intellect? Ah, the conundrum.