PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release on February 27, 2006

Contact: William J. Smith (718) 556-7150
William.Smith@rcda.nyc.gov

D.A. Donovan: “Retailers Need to Pull Video
Game Encouraging Graffiti Vandals”
Calls on Retailers to Stop Carrying Atari Video Game “Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure,” Game Mocks Law Enforcement Efforts to Target Graffiti Vandalism

STATEN ISLAND, NY - Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. today released a letter to electronics retailers in New York City encouraging them to refuse to stock the Atari, Inc. video game “Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure” which was released in the United States on February 14th for the PlayStation computer entertainment system and Xbox video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

The District Attorney, in calling for retailers to remove the game from their shelves, cited detailed reviews of the game and “screen shots” available online, describing the game as Marc Ecko’s attempt to, “promote and inspire the crime of graffiti, while mocking the efforts of law enforcement. This is a crime which costs New York City homeowners and businesses millions of dollars in property damage each year.”

In the letter, District Attorney Donovan condemned what he felt were attacks directed at the attempts by the Bloomberg Administration, NYPD and the City’s prosecutors to tackle graffiti vandalism. Referring to a February 14th press release, the District Attorney wrote, “In a thinly veiled press announcement heralding the release of the game, Atari Inc. and Mr. Ecko clearly mock the efforts of our City in opposing his event last year and combating graffiti vandals.”

Last August, District Attorney Donovan joined with City Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., Mayor Bloomberg and other city leaders in condemning a “graffiti block party” Ecko’s company held in Manhattan which featured known graffiti vandals spray-painting mock New York City subway cars. When details of the game were released last summer, Councilman Vallone called upon the Atari corporation to cancel its release and proposed a boycott of the company. “Clearly a threatened consumer boycott was not enough to get Atari to do the right thing and cancel this game. I am now calling on local retailers to do the right thing and refuse to sell this game in our city,” stated District Attorney Donovan.

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Click here to view the letter.