Matthew "MJP"
News Monday, June 22nd 2009

2 Comments

Game Politics has pointed out that President Obama has mentioned videogames three times in the past ten days. He hasn’t exactly had anything positive to say on the matter; claiming that they have a negative effect on children’s health and education.

Peter Moore, President of EA Sports, has written a response of sorts on his official blog:

It may be time for the President and his family to put their Wii to good use and fire up the 30-Day Challenge with EA SPORTS Active. This is a “game” even the President may not want to “step away” from.

I was hopeful when I first saw that Peter Moore had responded to Obama’s comments, until I read what he had to say. I hoped that someone in the industry was actually going to defend videogames in some manner as Obama has been talking about them quite a bit lately. Instead, Peter is just using this as an opportunity to promote another generic exercise game for the Wii. Thanks a bunch, Pete.

He goes on to say:

I’d be willing to bet there are more consoles getting far more use in American homes than there is exercise equipment, so it’s up to us to continue to use the platform for good.

So this new game is using videogames “for good”. That’s fine and all but what does that make every other EA Sports title that isn’t geared towards fitness? Using videogames for bad?

I don’t agree with the idea that videogames are inherently bad for children. We already have idiots like Jack Thompson saying that Grand Theft Auto is “the greatest attack on children since polio”. It’s clear that these anti-videogames people don’t need any more encouragement, especially not from the President, and when people in the industry respond in this manner it’s a little annoying.

It would’ve been nice if someone as high up in the industry as Peter Moore could’ve said something helpful in response to Obama’s comments but I guess I had my hopes set a little too high there. All that needs to be said is that it is possible to encourage children to be healthy and educated without having to discourage the use of videogames, yes, even the ones that aren’t exercise programs.