The Sun newspaper, Britain's number one for cowboy builders, dole cheats and racists, has apparently reported today that videogames are responsible for the dramatic decline of the intelligence of kids from this once great nation.

Infact, the opening statement is SO loaded, I'm surprised there isn't already an angry mob with pitchforks and flaming torches waiting to lynch an unsuspecting game devloper.

"“Kids hooked on computer games have sent England plummeting down world league tables for reading,”

Well, that's some GREAT unbiased reporting, there. All this because England's children are now apparently fifteenth in the world for reading ability and an investigation has reportedly discovered that "more than a third of ten-year-olds spend at least three hours a day playing videogames".

So this, really, is more of the same. Yet more fuel to the fires of ignorance that the mainstream media WILL insist on bringing against the gaming industry. Yet again, it's quite obviously a case of the parents not raising their children to take more of an interest in the books they're apparently now snubbing in favour of games. Or at the very least, make them play Morrowind, or something.

I'd just like to stand as living proof against the above theory. I spent far more than three hours a day on videogames when I was younger, much like I do now. I'm also the proud owner of two A*'s at GCSE level for both English Language and Literature, and a B at A-Level (The grade there actually dropped because I was drunk, for most of it). How did I achieve this marvellous miracle when, by all reckoning, I should currently be drinking cider in a bus stop? Simple. I was read to as a young child.

No more than about half an hour a night usually, but through this introduction to language, I picked up literacy a lot earlier than my classmates. That's what these kids need; not to be told that they just can't play games.

Oh and finally, the Sun's really doing itself no favours. If there are no illiterate children growing into illiterate adults, no-one will read their newspaper.

Sourced from Gamer.tm.