They may only be virtual dogs engaged in virtual fights to the death -- but somehow even virtual dogfighting seems really creepy and wrong. Last week. a new app available for the Google Android, called Dog Wars, created quite a bit of controversy for its realistic depiction of dogfighting, spurring animal rights advocates to urge Google to drop the app. And they did -- but not for the reason you might think; the game was "removed based on a trademark infringement complaint." Well, the game's makers seems to have sorted out that issue: dogfighting is back on the Android market, just under a different name.
When animal rights advocates caught wind of a new app available on the Android market called "Dog Wars" it seemed inevitable that it would be taken down rather swiftly -- after all, the game has been described as a way to learn "how to breed, train, fight, medicate and kill virtual dog." Even Michael Vick, a former dogfighter himself, offered a statement to condemn the game which he says attempts to "glorify this form of animal cruelty."
Sure enough, Google pulled the game citing copyright issues. Just a few days later, however, the game was made available once again on the Android market, but this time under the name 'KG Dogfighting'.
The game's creators, Kage Games LLC, told the Los Angeles Times in an email that the app is intended to be some sort of education tool -- not just a grisly way to pass the time on your smartphone.
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