Android Market gets its dog fighting app back

In the wake of the uproar over whether or not Michael Vick had truly paid his debt to society, Kage Games' Dog Wars was disappearing from the Android Market after many complaints and a petition that garnered over 40,000 names. As part of his new found love of dogs, Vick himself had joined up with the Humane Society, asking for the removal of the game from the Android Market. The initial response from the games' developers was that the free speech that allows critics to complain about the game, is the same free speech that allows the company to produce the game and keep in on the Market.

Eventually Dog Wars was removed from the Android Market. But now, after a few months of absence, the game is back with a new moniker. Now called "KG Dogfights", the goal of the game is the same, just with a new name. You raise a virtual dog, train it, feed it, and then fight it against other players' virtual Rovers. The new game has more advanced features, more training levels and harsher training methods like the use of whips. Other "interesting" features include a wide selection of drugs (like steroids for your pooch) and guns for your shootout with the made-up F.E.T.A (hmm, rhymes with PETA). According to the game's developer, the inclusion of F.E.T.A was done to teach game players "there are consequences to dog fighting in real life."

To quiet the critics, Kage Games promises to give a portion of the $4.99 purchase price to the Humane Society. This will allow guilt-ridden purchasers of the game to feel like they are doing something positive to contribute to the welfare of dogs, even while learning how to turn man's best friend into a trained assassin. And if that doesn't keep the critics quiet, the developer adds that just because something is illegal doesn't mean that you can't make a movie, a song or a video game about it. Besides, with the game, real dogs aren't being harmed at all.

Still, there are those who say that even though real animals aren't being hurt, the game is teaching people to be mean to animals. And because it is not as cartoonish as, say, Angry Birds, some still would like to see this game banned. To those people, the developer says that what is great about Android is that it gives the ultimate responsibility whether or not to download a game to the phone's user, not faceless, nameless corporate executives working for the carrier or the app marketplace. 

source: AndroidMarket