Call it overstatement.

Call it hype.

Call it a public relations ploy.

But also call it true?

An Electronic Arts press release promoting the release this month of the PC version of BioWare’s roleplaying game “Mass Effect” suggests that gaming is part of green living:

Popular video games such as the upcoming release of “Mass Effect” for PC, offer consumers over 50 hours of entertainment. Compared to other things that you can get for $60 these days, video games like Mass Effect provide more value for your dollar. Going to the movies costs $10 for two hours of entertainment. For $60 at the movies, you would only receive 12 hours of entertainment, which is 4 times less than a video game such as Mass Effect. For that matter, $60 won’t even get some car owners a full tank of gas, which would likely only last a week. Why not stay home, save the environment, and play “Mass Effect”? [Emphasis Added]

Now clearly the person writing this release was trying to get my attention. And they did. But is there any wisdom to these words?

Update: Greenpeace Responds… see the bottom of the post.

Late last month Nintendo was slammed by the environmental group Greenpeace in a report about the green-ness of major electronics companies.

Nintendo, the report stated with exclamation, is the “first global brand to score zero across all criteria!”

The standards the company failed at?

Nintendo was bottoming out in a ranking of “the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TV’s and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.”

But what of the widely-reported low power consumption of the Wii? Nintendo’s claim to print instruction manuals on recycled paper?

Not a factor. According to Greenpeace’s toxic chemicals standards, Nintendo deserved a zero.

I asked Nintendo for comment, and weeks later they have given me one:

Read more…

Over at MTVNews.com I posted a report about what happens when video games and a giant oil company mix. The result, somehow, is an eco-friendly aspect to the gameplay of “Sim City Societies.”

You could go to the News piece and read about just what the BP (formerly British Petroleum) company had to do with EA’s “Sim City” spin-off.

Or you could find a story about how the involvement of BP in the game initially really put off the one of the game’s developers.

Actually, that’s from my article too. So is the question — answered — as to why BP didn’t get involved in the auto-pollution part of the game.

I think people on all sides of the energy issue might by surprised by this story. And you thought “Chibi-Robo” was the only game that had gone Green.

When I first heard that the Nintendo DS’ new “Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol” title was going Wal-Mart exclusive, I assumed that meant the game stunk.

Why would Nintendo limit the game’s sales potential by blocking it from the store shelves by all but one retailer? Even if they’re limiting it the the nation’s biggest?

I really liked the first “Chibi-Robo“ on GameCube — the only cutesy Nintendo-published game I’ve encountered that involves keeping two parents from getting divorced — so I was concerned.

Plus, I live in New York city, where we have no Wal-Marts.

So I contacted Nintendo to see what was up… and I played the game to see if it stunk.
Read more…