Crikey! Watch out chums! You're heading for A&E!!
Okay, a quick one for the sake of a hearty pre-Xmas day laugh: The Sun 'newspaper' and Fox News are claiming that admissions to hospitals in the UK due to Wii-related injuries have increased by 100%. Yes, readers, one hundred flipping per cent. This claim the two News International outlets means that 10 people per week are using up hospital time and resources due to video game-related trauma.
10 flipping people per week!
Well, we know the track record of Fox News when it comes to getting video game news on the money. You don't? Then check out this story regarding sex, gaming and Fox News experts.
But surely The Sun - august organ that it is - wouldn't be citing pointless and possibly wrong statistics just prior to Xmas? Too right readers, it quotes an actual real life doctor. Dr Dev Mukerjee (a specialist in Paediatric Rheumatology) at the Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, states, "There has been a 100 per cent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis".
The News International outlets are capable - through Murdochian magic - to extrapolate this figure from one hospital to mean that 10 flipping people per week in Britain are being damaged by Wii! And it's not only Wii-itis that's to blame. Fox News one-ups its dead tree stablemate by claiming, "Another common injury is dubbed Wii-knee, blamed on the bending of the knee from the Wii-Fit game...
"In extreme cases, the kneecap can be dislocated or pop out of joint".
Oh the humanity!
But hold on one second... a 100% rise in admissions says the good doctor? Didn't one of the News hacks think to ask: 'Over what period doc?' or 'From a base of how many Dev?' before extrapolating this to 10 people per week in the entire country? Also, of course, the fact that nobody provides a statistic for admissions caused by Wii-related injuries in any of the countries constituting Britain, let alone the entire state is also a wrinkle in the story.
So, we've contacted the good doctor to ask him to clarify the figures as quoted. In the meantime, we'd suggest that you go and play with a tomahawk and a small child - we can reveal that fewer than two people per week are admitted to hospital in Devon with tomahawk and small child-related injuries.
10 flipping people per week!
Well, we know the track record of Fox News when it comes to getting video game news on the money. You don't? Then check out this story regarding sex, gaming and Fox News experts.
But surely The Sun - august organ that it is - wouldn't be citing pointless and possibly wrong statistics just prior to Xmas? Too right readers, it quotes an actual real life doctor. Dr Dev Mukerjee (a specialist in Paediatric Rheumatology) at the Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, Essex, states, "There has been a 100 per cent increase in patients complaining of Wii-itis".
The News International outlets are capable - through Murdochian magic - to extrapolate this figure from one hospital to mean that 10 flipping people per week in Britain are being damaged by Wii! And it's not only Wii-itis that's to blame. Fox News one-ups its dead tree stablemate by claiming, "Another common injury is dubbed Wii-knee, blamed on the bending of the knee from the Wii-Fit game...
"In extreme cases, the kneecap can be dislocated or pop out of joint".
Oh the humanity!
But hold on one second... a 100% rise in admissions says the good doctor? Didn't one of the News hacks think to ask: 'Over what period doc?' or 'From a base of how many Dev?' before extrapolating this to 10 people per week in the entire country? Also, of course, the fact that nobody provides a statistic for admissions caused by Wii-related injuries in any of the countries constituting Britain, let alone the entire state is also a wrinkle in the story.
So, we've contacted the good doctor to ask him to clarify the figures as quoted. In the meantime, we'd suggest that you go and play with a tomahawk and a small child - we can reveal that fewer than two people per week are admitted to hospital in Devon with tomahawk and small child-related injuries.
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