Bloody video game OK for kids says rapper 50 Cent

NEW YORK - Rapper 50 Cent, once shot nine times on the street in a gang incident, said on Tuesday parents should buy their children his new video game, rated 'mature' for blood, gore and sexual themes, and use it as a teaching tool.

The industry rating for "50 Cent: Bulletproof" means it has been deemed "not suitable" for those under the age of 17.

"Just because it is rated mature doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it for your kids," said the rapper, whose given name is Curtis Jackson. "Play the game and explain to them what they are playing."

In the game, released just weeks after the popular rapper's movie, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," hit the screens, 50 Cent is depicted making his way through New York's underworld with armed guards and guns blazing.

Last summer the American Psychological Association, responding to studies showing that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior in children, adopted a resolution recommending that all violence be reduced in video games and interactive media marketed to children and youth.

The rapper, who has a 9-year-old son, defended violent video games as entertainment. "I think everyone knows that a game is a game. There's the part where you actually press start on the controller - after that you are playing a game."

The culture is rife with violence, in movies and in music, he said. "The person that's influenced by a video game can be influenced by anything," he said.

"If we have to take away video games, then we have to think about other things," he said. "And then we have no entertainment because we might influence somebody who's crazy."

- REUTERS