On Atari's Australian website, hidden away down the botto of the page is a little button called FAQ.
Now normally, this is the place you look if you've got a problem, but Atari have very subtley added a few FAQs in there that tackle some very contentious issues head on.
What questions are they answering? well here's a few of the choice ones...
Is it true that playing computer games is anti-social?If anything, Atari are to be congratulated for making the first move in attempting to answer these are other questions that are growing in prominence in parents minds.But you are encouraging children to stay indoors and play computer games rather than playing sport and having physical exercise?
But Atari take on the biggie, the one which many publishers would run a mile from if they were ever asked it...
Now I'm not going to quote Atari's answers here as I feel that for them to have taken these steps is deserving of you going and having a visit yourself.Are you worried about the correlation between increased violence in the community and the playing of computer games containing violence?
You can view the questions and Atari's answers here.
Interestingly, the UK site has nothing of this kind that I can find, so maybe it's something coming for the future? Surely Atari UK can't be blind to the current media focus on childhood obesity.
Now, if you've had a look at the answers, you'll see that some of them skirt the issue rather than tackle it with an honest answer, but as there has yet to be some proper research into the causes and effects of the subjects of those questions, how can a clear answer be given.
At least this is a step in the right direction, which for me, shows a mature and responsible attitude to gaming.