PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has identified Fable II as the most animal-friendly game.
The group hosted its sixth annual Proggy awards for companies, people and products for animal-friendly activities.
The game was given the 'Most Animal-Friendly Video Game' award because of its vegetarian stance. "It's a vegetarian's dream come true… In this virtual fight between good and evil, characters powered by tofu are just as powerful as their meat-eating counterparts - and are more fit and attractive to boot," according to PETA.
"Featuring a strong pro-vegetarian theme, eating a plant-based diet helps you rack up 'purity' points, whereas eating meat makes your character fat and evil. A fun and innovative game, it's also an effective tool that teaches gamers the real-life benefits of a vegetarian diet."
PETA recently criticised Cooking Mama for using meat in the majority of its recipes.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has criticised Majesco Entertainment's Wii and DS series Cooking Mama for using animals in its cookery mini-games.
The campaign group has launched a dedicated website titled Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals to encourage Majesco to include more vegetarian recipes in future titles.
The site includes an unauthorised flash-based game in which players decapitate a turkey, pluck its feathers and then cut out its giblets in preparation for a meal.
PETA said in a statement: "If Mama knew what happened to animals on factory farms, she very well might want Majesco Entertainment to make a new Cooking Mama game that is much more animal-friendly."
The group welcomed the upcoming Gardening Mama title but added that "we'd love to see a more vegetarian-friendly Mama as well".
I have to agree with you Captain... I do not condone animal testing. But I do eat meat and know many people who have tried to be vegetarian and were told they could not, for health reasons. Not all humans were made to be vegetarian. We are meat eaters and need natural foods, including meat.
These PETA people sometimes do more harm than good. They make themselves look like mental cases and then people don't listen to the good stuff they have to say and do.
Not since we were pitted against Nazi attack dogs when we first escaped from Castle Wolfenstein 17 years ago have we seen such barbaric treatment of dogs in video games as we did in Call of Duty, World at War. During the course of the game, you are forced to shoot attack dogs and you can actually unlock a "reward" that allows you to unleash a pack of attack dogs on enemies. In a post–Michael Vick world, you'd think that Activision Blizzard, which publishes the popular game, would take abusing dogs for entertainment purposes more seriously.
Fortunately, some students at a Massachusetts high school are not keeping quiet about their disgust with Activision. Breanna Lucci serves as president of the Animal Rights Club at the Academy of Notre Dame (NDA) in Tyngsborough. The following is from the Lowell Sun's interview with her (via GamePolitics.com):
"Killing dogs as a form of entertainment … over and over again. That's one of the objects of the game," says Lucci, 19, a senior at NDA. "Parents need to know what they are buying their kids. Killing animals should not be a form of entertainment."
. . .
"My little 12-pound Pomeranian, Winnie the Pooh, is sitting next to [Lucci's brother as he plays the game], and I'm thinking, 'This looks horrible!'" Lucci says.
Lucci then adds, "My brother is a sweetheart. He won't be killing dogs after playing. But some people might."
To help the folks at Activision Blizzard learn about the ethical treatment of animals (something we're sorta experts on) we're offering to let them take PETA's "Developing Empathy for Animals" seminar free of charge, and we're sending a package of dog-friendly Nintendogs games to their office.
With a little Nintendogs influence, perhaps the next Call of Duty game will have you unlock achievements for petting the dogs you encounter and going on walks or playing Frisbee with them.
