Kotaku: Drugs

What's a Blob Without His Boy?

Mike Fahey — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:20:00 EDT

How about a productive member of society? Splitting up the dynamic duo from A Boy and His Blob seems to have worked out for at least one of them. More »

When You're a Rock Star, You Snort Cocaine off Space Invaders

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EDT

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Noel Gallagher, the former Oasis songwriter, probably doesn't remember most of the 1990s. He was out of his mind, doing drugs—maybe even doing them off a glass top Space Invaders arcade cabinet. More »

If Anyone Needs Me I'll Be Growing and Selling Pot on Facebook

Mike Fahey — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:20:00 EDT

While there are several Facebook games that involve growing and distributing marijuana, only one is the official game of the Showtime original series Weeds. It's okay to grow and sell pot when Mary Louise Parker is involved! More »

If You Want to Stay Up Playing Xbox Games, Don't Snort Ritalin

Luke Plunkett — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 05:30:00 EDT

A teenager from The Hutt Valley, New Zealand, was last week trying to stay up late playing his Xbox 360. Instead of doing what normal people do, and drink a ton of coffee, he got smart and tried to snort some Ritalin. More »

The Video Game That Wants to Invade Mexico

Brian Crecente — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:40:00 EDT

A video game built around an investigation into a series of brazen attacks by a Mexican drug cartel, which culminates in an attack on U.S. soil, may sound like a timely take on the escalating violence in United States' border towns. More »

Drinking And Gaming Can Kill a High Score

Mike Fahey — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:20:00 EDT

In this alcohol-soaked edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Ducce wonders how many of you break out the booze when it's time to get your game on. More »

Singapore School Girls Make The Right Choice About Meth

Sam Winstrom — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT

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Is someone in your family acting strange? Did they leave a note laying around about buying a lot of ice? Maybe they're planning a surprise party! Or maybe they're on drugs. Luckily, The Right Choice was made to help you get to the bottom of such mysteries. More »

These Drugs Were Smuggled In A Wii

Stephen Totilo — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EDT

Late last year, authorities from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency released the photo here. It shows a bundle of drugs, unsuccessfully hidden inside a Nintendo Wii and intercepted in Newark, New Jersey. More »

A Psychoactive Drug That’s Spread Through Unprotected Sex with Men

Joel Johnson — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:20:00 EDT

You're a nefarious supervillian and you want to transform this city into a hive of mind-controlled minions. But you also need the element of surprise. Two new scientific studies offer a possible solution: behavior-changing proteins in sperm! [io9] More »

Swedish Teens Trade Energy Drinks For Cocaine

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 03:00:00 EST

According to Swedish reports, cops in the city of Helsingborg suspect that fifteen teens have moved beyond energy drinks to stay awake while gaming and are snorting cocaine. Apparently, these youngsters have too much money. More »

Pot Man And The Video Game Characters A Rapper Identifies With

Mike Fahey — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:20:00 EST

Are Mega Man's battle chips the same thing as a rapper's weed and alcohol? Houston-area rapper A.D.D. talks about the video game characters that inspire him, name-checking Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, and Tomba. Tomba? More »

"Problematic" Gaming Linked To Depression, Drugs, And Fighting

Mike Fahey — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:40:00 EST

In a survey that's sure to be taken the wrong way by somebody, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have discovered links between "problematic gaming" and negative health behaviors like smoking, doing drugs, and fighting. But first, good news! More »

Robbers Didn't Only Get Game Schwag, They Scored Marijuana

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:00:00 EST

A twelve-year-old boy was left at home while his parents were out shopping. Robbers showed up and not only stole his video games, but also medicinal marijuana. More »

Nintendo Characters Covered In Plastic And Strung Out On Crack

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:00:00 EST

That "on crack" bit isn't me being rude. That's what the guy who made these figures said — that they look like they're on crack. More »

Cops Zap PCP-Using Rock Band Enthusiast (With Video)

Owen Good — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 19:30:00 EST

From the University of Maryland comes this tale of holiday cheer - starring GameStop, Rock Band 3, a guy on PCP, cops, and the requisite taser. More »

Cop Tosses Tripping Gamer to the Floor, Makes Him All Laggy

Brian Crecente — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EDT

Not all Halo: Reach midnight launches went according to play. Take for instance this one in Winona, Minnesota's Gamestop which was plagued not only by an inebriated gamer and a handsie cop, but LAG! More »

Stolen Console Leads Cops To Meth Surprise

Owen Good — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EDT

A Florida woman swiped and pawned her roommate's console, and when the cops came over to ask questions, they noticed a "large white chemical cloud" wafting out of the house. Better living through chemistry! More »

Mario Moves Up from Mushrooms

Owen Good — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:00:00 EDT

This isn't run-of-the-mill blotter acid, this is some kind of souped-up Scandinavian hallucinogenic called Bromo-DragonFly, and as you can see, a new product needed a familiar pitchman to get a beachhead in a new market. More »

How Much Cocaine Is Two Hours of Gaming Worth?

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:30:00 EDT

Have you just been gaming for the past two hours? You just did the equivalent of a line of cocaine, says UK counselor and therapist Steve Pope in the Lancashire Evening Post. More »

Weed + Rap + Chrono Trigger

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 01:30:00 EDT

Many rappers rhyme about marijuana. But how many of them do it to the Chrono Trigger soundtrack? More »

Four Year-Old Gets Game, Finds Bag Of Weed

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:30:00 EDT

A four year-old boy in the United Kingdom was chuffed to bits when his dad bought him an Xbox 360 game. He wasn't quite sure, though, what to do with the bag of weed he found inside. More »

Mario Creator Was Influenced By Easy Rider

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:00:00 EDT

Ah, Easy Rider. The film that depicted the rambling adventures of motorbike drug dealers through the American South, Southwest and West. The film's production and film itself were heavily laced with marijuana and LSD. More »

From Productive Writer To Cocaine Addict, Just Add Grand Theft Auto

Mike Fahey — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:20:00 EDT

Tom Bissell was a productive, healthy, and somewhat disciplined young award-winning author, before his passion for Grand Theft Auto helped transform him into a cocaine-addled gaming addict. More »

Yale-Developed Game Teaches Young Children To Avoid HIV

Mike Fahey — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:20:00 EST

The National Institute of Health is granting Yale associate professor Dr. Lynn Fielin $3.9 million over five years to develop a game aimed at helping children aged 9 through 14 say no to sex, drugs, and other HIV-transmitting behaviors. More »

Sex, Drugs, But No Violence: A Porn Game With A Message?

Brian Crecente — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST

Video game developer Andrew Hall makes no bones about his lifestyle or the game he helped make that revels in it. More »

Blizzard Helps Cops Track Down WoW Fan, Suspected Drug Dealer

Brian Crecente — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST

Wanted on drug dealing charges, Alfred Hightower skipped the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest. But he didn't stop playing World of Warcraft and that's how police caught him. More »

Rare Sighting: Pro-Marijuana Reference In A Video Game

Stephen Totilo — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:00:37 EDT

As I played the upcoming Grand Theft Auto-like iPhone game Gangstar: West Coast Hustle earlier this week, I tuned the radio to 42.0 and got a surprise. More »

Man Destroys Wii, Threatens To Kill Wife, Burn Down House

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:00:00 EST

Forty-six-year-old Edgar Montalvo of New Britain, Connecticut held his family hostage and threatened to torch his house. It all started with the Nintendo Wii. That, or the heroin. Yeah, probably the heroin. More »

And The GTA Chinatown Wars Outrage Begins

Mike Fahey — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:40:00 EDT

It was only a matter of time before Rockstar's Nintendo DS offering Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars fell under the scrutiny of international anti-everything groups, and what better place to start than with the "ever reputable" UK news stable, The Sun, where the news of GTA DS's drug selling mini-game isn't going over so well. More »

Parents Fear GTA More Than Sex And Alcohol

Mike Fahey — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Back in my days as a teen, my parents weren't afraid of anything as far as I was concerned, but not all 15-year-olds are 6'6" with a goatee. Today's parents have plenty to worry about in fact, though a recent survey performed at the family-focused consumer game site What They Play seems to indicate their priorities are a bit out of whack. They asked a series of asked over 1,600 respondents what they’d fear the most if their 17-year-old were to participate in a sleepover. The results, picked from single answers only - no multiple choice here - indicated that while 16% were concerned about pornography and 14% about beer, 19% voiced concerns that their child might end up playing Grand Theft Auto. More »

Expert Weighs In On FPSBrain Gaming Enhancement Pills

Mark Wilson — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:40:55 EST

We let you know about the first official gamer-focused performance enhancer on the market, FPSBrain, earlier this month. The product makes bold claims, promising a "remarkable increase in perception and reaction capacities." Now MTV has called in an expert to evaluate the product. The verdict: FPSBrain pills are basically like energy drinks without as much caffeine. But that doesn't mean that they are the epitome of health. According to dietitian Danielle Marzano, such a product could be detrimental if taken in high doses or mixed with energy drinks: More »

Performance Enhancers Come To Gaming (Officially)

Mark Wilson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:00:42 EST

Let's be honest, we gamers have been abusing performance enhancing drugs for some time in liquid form— Jolt, Mt. Dew, coffee, tea, me—but a German company named Tomarni thinks they can do one better and make this whole craze official with their new product FpsBrain. More »

Video Games Treat Pain Better Than Meds?

Mark Wilson — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:40:59 EST

Canada's universal healthcare has one catch: patients can go for a long time before seeing specialists—apparently years. That's why at least one Canadian researcher is studying drug-alternatives to pain management. And in a recent study, researcher Simon Fraser found that subjects playing fully-immersive games (they tested a 3D skiing title) reported less pain than the subjects taking drugs. More »

Video Games = Crack Cocaine

Mark Wilson — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:20:25 EST

Father Raymond J. de Souza, a columnist for Canada's National Post, recently wrote a scathing exposé on the dangers of video game addiction. And in this provocative piece, de Souza explores his own troubled past with his own dark demon...known to some as Tetris.

I learned the truth about video games the hard way, and so this is the lesson I offer for free: Don't play video games. Don't own them. And for the sake of all that is good and holy, don't buy them for your children...

Manila Mayor Hates Games (Basketball and Hookers, Too)

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:00:54 EDT

Retired cop and current Manila mayor Alfredo Lim is cracking down. On everything. Shortly after the incumbent took office the summer, he demanded that internet cafes prohibit children from accessing games from 7am to 6pm in hopes of preventing children skipping school. Now, he's out to ban games he views as violent altogether. Says Lim: More »

Sloppy Seconds - Haze

Mark Wilson — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 20:20:23 EDT

"So, I just want you to know that I'm here with the angle of what makes Haze different than just another first person shooter." Free Radical Lead David Doak nods politely. More »

Mentally Ill Addict Hears GTA Voices, Kills

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:40:18 EDT

The Evening Standard is reporting that a diagnosed schizophrenic teenager who was under the influence of drugs killed a 51 year old grandmother after "'gangster voices' from the ultra-violent computer game Grand Theft Auto had set him on a mission to stab a black woman." More »

Quebec Uses Gaming To Warn About Drugs, Sex and Gambling

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 09:00:51 EDT

Potions that cure herpes? Amnesia spells that help you pickpocket? If only! Canadian resident Frederic sent us a link for Quebec campaign to curb drugs, unprotected sex and gambling. The campaign is called "You Only Have One Life" and incorporates gaming so that the kiddies get the message. (The kiddies love gaming, or so we hear.) There's a website, which has all the spots. Basically, they show young people getting into trouble and then making Final Fantasy-type reference like that they're going to reset their health or take a potion. Fairly sophisticated and slick as hell, but still guilty of showing gamers out of touch with reality. For our non-French speaking readers, Frederic was kind enough to translate the clips. All of them at that! Hit the jump for that. More »

College Bookstore Pushing WoW on Innocents

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:00:21 EDT

University is hard. You must study and learn. Instead of just selling things like books that help students do that, this unnamed college has filled its display case with World of Warcraft. What's next? Bongs, obviously. Brian Ashcraft More »

Japan Still Lining Up For DS Lites (Yes, STILL.)

jeansnow — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:22:37 EST

Eds note: Our man in Tokyo Jean Snow brings word of just how insane getting a DS Lite is More »