Wal-Mart gaming blog holds 'green gaming summit'

We couldn't help but feel a little guilty as we read about a recent "green gaming summit" held by Wal-Mart's gaming blog, Check Out. Perhaps it was the revelation that our consoles, which we constantly leave running in case of emergencies, waste as much energy in a year as six refrigerators. Perhaps it was the knowledge that our towering stack of plastic game cases released more greenhouse emissions during their creation than the average mid-sized car. Perhaps it was the fact that we read the article by light provided by a stack of burning tires and cans of hairspray that we keep in our foyer.

The meeting of minds, which in addition to the retail behemoth's ludological division had representatives from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Activision and Electronic Arts in attendance, resulted in the discussion of new industry practices that would focus on environmental sustainability, such as cardboard game cases and reduced-power standby modes for consoles. We suggest reading Check Out's write-up of the summit for a highly interesting (if not slightly inconvenient) read.