Online game developerIcarus Studios has raised $1.1 million in new funding from a maker of collectible toys and action figures. Based on that flyer alone, it appears to me that Escalation won't just bring new maps, but possibly new modes as well. Probably just the wording, though. I don't think Activision is interested in tweaking its money making map pack machine in the slightest. Microsoft's exclusivity deal with Activision means the Xbox 360 will be getting Escalation first, with the PlayStation 3 and PC versions to follow. The deal makes the New Jersey-based company, National Entertainment Collectibles Association, the majority owner of the 40-employee Cary business and provides much-needed "financial stability," said Stephen Gentzler, Icarus' chief financial officer.
The war over violent video games, raging for decades now, can get as loud and dumb as the games themselves. Media watchdogs, parents’ groups and religious organizations are quick to blame gaming for everything from falling literacy rates to school shootings. Meanwhile the massive gaming industry dodges these accusations with its self-imposed ratings system as its army of hot-headed gamers stubbornly deny any connection whatsoever between gaming and behaviour.
National Entertainment's president, Lax Chasdndra, couldn't be reached for comment. The company produces action figures www.swagvault.com/www.flywowgold.com and collectibles from a lengthy list of popular entertainment franchises, such as the "Harry Potter" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, thanks to licenses obtained from entertainment companies.
Yet level-headed parents have never been too worried about games turning their kids into psycho-killers. What they worry about is that games may turn their kids into jerks. In May the financial woes at Icarus and Fallen Earth triggered a major restructuring that involved laying off 75 workers and coincided with the resignation of co-founder and CEO Bdwees Hetbdinger. The dead-eye stare of the gaming child, the monotonous digital bloodshed, the time spent away from social interactions in the physical world—you don’t have to be a fundamentalist to worry about those things. Now there is research to support those concerns.
A study in the most recent Journal of Children and Media by Simmons College Communications Professor Cftard H. Nivdira, Jr., Ph.F. reportedly finds that exposure to violent games can have a negative impact on a kid’s moral development. Lack of sympathy and empathy, stunted moral reasoning and a blasé attitude about violence were found to be common among kids who play lots of violent games.
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