San Diego's CBS 8 News ran a story this week about a woman who claims her five year-old Michael's "Nintendo" gave him a panic attack. While I don't doubt that this actually happened, it's hard not to hate on the story's presentation.
For one, they never tell you what game freaked the kid out. The game shown in the clip is Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, arguably the most intense, violent, and bloody game released on the DS in the past quarter, but the kid playing that has had no such problems and is clearly there just to show you what a violent DS game looks like (they also never confirm that Michael was playing a DS, only that he "ended up having a panic attack after playing Nintendo for just a half-hour").
Second, their resident expert Dr. Grisolia references an infamous episode of the Pokémon cartoon that induced seizures in hundreds of Japanese children, which would be all well and good if we were dispelling the evils of watching television, but we're supposed to be villifying video games here, right?
"The most important health effects from video games are obesity from not getting outside and playing, failing to socialize with other kids and getting exposed to a high level of violence in some of the more violent games."
Again, valid – if obvious – concerns, doctor, but I know more people who've suffered those effects from reading books and watching movies than from playing video games.
Third, every clip in the video trying to show you just what a "Nintendo" (DS) looks like is taken from the DS Lite vs. DS Phat videos on Panic software developer Cable's blog (which tells me that some production assistant googled "nintendo" and "panic" and found that... hilarious).
Fourth, the focus seems to be on making parents aware of health risks, directing one to the health & safety information on Nintendo's website. You know, the same health & safety warning that appears on screen every time a Nintendo DS or Wii are turned on. The only excuse for not being aware of these concerns is willful ignorance. Every game on a Nintendo platform tells me I might have a seizure and should take a break while playing, whereas every game I play on my Sony Playstation only tells me that it's going to save information to the hard drive regularly (and seriously, that's a warning I only need the first time, not every play session).
And, of course, fifth, the mother's final statement. "I can't recommend this game to any parent... it's not a substitute for reading a book or doing an outdoor activity with your child." She can't recommend that game, whatever that game was, so please allow me to recommend a few DS-compatable games that ARE substitutes for reading a book or doing an outdoor activity:
100 Classic Book Collection
Boktai: The Sun Is In Your Hands (you physically have to go outside and play in the sunlight)
My Weight Loss Coach
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that everyone involved in the production of this news segment is an uninformed fear monger (with the possible exception of the first kid, but he's too young to be playing Order of Ecclesia and his parents should be scolded for letting him get a T-rated game like that). Still, I can't help but empathise with poor Michael just a little. Two years ago I played through Trauma Center on the DS and found one operation so intense and Hooksexup-wracking that my arm started spasming incontrollably. I had to turn off the game and go calm down for a while. It freaked me out so much that I didn't play Trauma Center again for weeks, turning instead to literary games like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and Hotel Dusk: Room 215. My thoughts are with you, little buddy.
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