Today it was announced by the Interactive Digital Software Association, has worked with its members to equip all 72 submarines in the U.S. fleet with a game console and about 20 games each. A very cool way to help support the military.
Each ship received one game-playing console, divided evenly between the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, an IDSA spokeswoman said.
A total of 1,700 copies of games, representing 76 different titles, were donated for the effort from various gamemakers.
Among the most notable titles on the donation list are Electronic Arts Inc.'s "Madden NFL 2002," Activision Inc.'s "Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3" and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s "Grand Theft Auto 3."
A Navy spokeswoman could not immediately comment on whether the Navy had asked for any restrictions on the types of games donated or their content. Of the 76 titles donated, 11 carry "Mature" ratings from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the game equivalent of an "R"-rated movie.
The IDSA said the donations were intended to be group's contribution at a time when industry organizations across the United States are holding fund-raisers and donating time and materials both to victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and to armed forces serving in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Hollywood's movie studios, for instance, have been sending DVDs of movies to U.S. Armed Forces.
"In the weeks after 9/11, like everyone else in the country I think we were looking for something we could do as an industry to make a statement about our commitment to our country and our armed forces," IDSA President Doug Lowenstein told Reuters.
"The response was overwhelmingly positive," he said.
The executive said the program actually took about six months to carry out, owing largely to the logistics of soliciting the donations, coordinating deliveries and getting the products shipped to a central depot.
He also said that after the games and the consoles were shipped to a central military facility, the organization sent an executive to ensure that the right games were matched with the right consoles, to avoid sending out incompatible systems.
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