UK Columnist: "Xbox is Crack for Kids"

Amidst increasing attention from parents and researches alike on the effects of video games on children, a journalist for The Times took another shot at the industry in a scathing piece, titled "Xbox is crack for kids," published this Saturday.

"[Video games] are Satan's Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain," wrote The Times reporter Janice Turner, who apparently is not aware that you can also play the regular, heavenly version of Sudoku on the Nintendo DS.

"Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life," claimed Turner. In the piece, she also admitted to being boggled by the "unfathomable black magic" that powers technology and noted that her own children are not allowed to play video games.

Though Turner's comments may seem extreme, the question of whether video games play a negative role on child development has been a hot topic as of late.

Educational psychologist Jane Healy recently made an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to support her idea of a gaming age. Last week, the Chinese government referred to online gaming as "spiritual opium" while discussing its plans to increase online censorship.

"It reminds me of rats running in a maze," Healy said of young children playing video games.

"Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators' brains," concluded Turner. "And they play them--beepety-beep--on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused. And their parents never seem to say, hey, this is the bit where you pick up a book."