Microsoft have no doubt sat down with a cup of tea this morning, picked up their Sun newspaper only to find the title ‘Death by Xbox’ emblazoned across the front of the national rag.
Sadly 20 year old Chris Staniforth died from deep-vein-thrombosis (DVT) also commonly seen on long-haul flights. The article reported that Chris was spending 12 hours a day gaming and due to the online service LIVE. His father commented saying his son was “sucked into” multiplayer online.
This is of course as tragic a death as any, but The Sun wasted no time in putting the death soley down to the gaming side of things. They even commented saying “in recent years it has been increasingly been seen among those who sit for long spells in front of computer screens”. As said above DVT is seen in long-haul flights and any other activity where the person is still for long periods of time, but sadly The Sun has chosen to highlight this death & attack the gaming industry.
On the flip side Chris’s dad is launching a campaign to raise awareness of DVT, but is not laying any blame on Microsoft.
“Kids all over the country are playing these video games,” he told The Sun. “They don’t realise it could kill them.
“I’m not for one minute blaming the manufacturer of Xbox. It isn’t their fault that people use them for so long. But I want to highlight the dangers that can arise.
“Playing on it for so long is what killed him – and I don’t want another child to die.”
A statement from Microsoft said: “We recommend gamers take breaks to exercise as well as make time for other pursuits.”
This story comes amidst a series of articles from the Sun attacking games including the teenage asthma sufferer who died from a heart attack whilst playing the Xbox and they also put an editorial up about the effect the 3DS has on gamers health.
