Kotaku: Stupidity

Brilliant Video Game Thieves Butt-Dial 911 and Brag

Mike Fahey — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:40:00 EST

On December 13 a pair of shoplifters made off with a load of DVDs and video games from a Wisconsin Target store. Then they spent an hour boasting about how easy it was, making fun of other criminals for getting caught. I'm sure the 911 operator listening in on the conversation found it highly amusing. More »

How To Turn a PlayStation 3 Theft Into a Drug Bust

Mike Fahey — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:30:00 EDT

17-year-old Bobby Lee Huffman of Hickory, North Carolina, called the police to his home on Monday after he discovered his PlayStation 3, controllers, and games had apparently been stolen. Then Bobby Lee did something incredibly stupid. More »

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Permanent Save Debacle Likely Won't Happen Twice

Mike Fahey — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EDT

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The uproar over Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D's permanent on cartridge save files has caused Capcom to reconsider doing something quite that stupid in the future. More »

Man Arrested Allegedly Trying To Steal Early Copy of Game At Convention

Mike Fahey — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:20:00 EDT

Atomic Games' Xbox Live Arcade shooter Breach impressed one PAX East visitor so much he apparently attempted to steal the code, and he might have succeeded too, if not for one fatal mistake - telling the developers he was stealing it. More »

Gold, Diamond-Covered PS3 Needs A Price Cut

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:00:00 EST

Let's say the world's most expensive Wii doesn't appeal to you. You figure, "If I'm paying $300,000 for a console, the least it can do is play Blu-Ray". So you instead focus on the world's most expensive PS3. More »

Finally, A Shaving Razor For Gamers

Mike Fahey — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:20:00 EST

Unshaven gamers rejoice, as relief is finally here. Gillette has recently introduced the new Fusion Gamer, finally bringing the science of facial hair removal to our scruffy industry. More »

The "Secret Language" of World of Warcraft

Mike Fahey — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 11:40:00 EST

There are certain subjects the mainstream media should leave to the professionals, and this news report on the secret language of World of Warcraft players demonstrates every reason why. More »

This Is How Game Misinformation Spreads

Mike Fahey — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:40:00 EDT

Wandering through the news this morning, I came across a blog post on The Republican American titled "PlayStation 3 game offends Muslims, creationists". Creationists? Did I miss the part in the bible in which god created sack puppets? Oh no, it's just blogger Tracy Simmons, eschewing the search engine in favor of America's number one news source, random co-workers. More »

Video Games Aren't Real Life, Even For NASCAR Drivers

Mike Fahey — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:40:00 EDT

Most of us out there who have played a racing game for any period time have fantasized about being in the game while we're driving real cars, but the important thing is that we don't act on such fantasies. Tell that to NASCAR driver Carl Edwards, who attempted to defeat rival and two-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson by...purposefully bouncing his car off a concrete wall.

"I planned on hitting the wall, but I didn't plan on the wall slowing me down that much," Edwards said. "In video games, you can just run into the wall and run it wide open. That's what I did, but it didn't quite work out the same as the video game."

*rubs temples* Oh my head. How are we supposed to keep our children from setting people on fire when their role-models decide that driving at top speeds on a crowded raceway is a good time to see how accurate the physics in GRID are? Johnson wins, Edwards hits wall on purpose [HamptonRoads.com] More »

Video Games Blamed in Fiery Motorcycle Crash

Owen Good — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Some idiot in Utah wrecked his so-called "bullet bike" into an SUV carrying a family of four. Everyone's alive, including the no-shirt, no-helmet cyclist, but of course vidja games are the cause. I swear, there must be a check-block for it on police investigation forms: More »

Brownback Blog Late To Handheld Dangers Party

Mike Fahey — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:40:17 EDT

With their candidate on the brink of no longer being a candidate, the unofficial Sam Brownback blog has found some time to try and generate some anti-gaming hysteria, dredging up two relatively ancient stories in the name of ruining Christmas for children across the country. The main gist of the article is the Nintendo DS as a tool for child molesters. It includes video of the news story I dissected back in February and some extremely entertaining propaganda speech.

Introduced in 2004, the Nintendo DS (for Dual Screen or Devil Screen), this game machine has sold some 700 million or so units. That's an epidemic. It's undeniable that it has been a "success" for its Japanese manufacturer, Nintendo (makers of Donkey Kong aka Monkey Donkey, a game in which a monkey kidnaps a young girl to satisfy his bestial desires). It's also been a tremendous success for pedophiles everywhere.

Sports Columnist Says Video Games Desensitize Us To Sports Violence

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:00:49 EDT

Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett suffered a spinal injury during a game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday that left him paralyzed. While the nation sympathizes with Everett's plight and wishes him well, one sports writer took the injury as an opportunity to take a swipe at video games. Bob Molinaro of the Virginian-Pilot had this to say:

This makes me wonder if the catastrophic injury to Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett will make any real impression on the desensitized adolescents and adults raised with the cartoon violence of "Madden '08" or "NFL Blitz," or the absurd blood-and-guts scenarios associated with other Xbox games.

The hell? Did this come completely out of left field or what? Just because we play sports video games we can't tell the difference between a virtual simulation and a real man's pain and suffering? Ug. What's next, a financial correspondent telling us we don't care about the the economy because we are desensitized by the cartoon economics of Sim City? Everybody pile on the gaming industry! More »

Correction's Officer Brags About Brutality On CoH Forums

Mike Fahey — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:40:32 EDT

One Portland Oregon corrections officer is in desperate need of correction, if his posts on the City of Heroes forums are to be believed. In a piece for the Portland Tribune, reporter Nick Bundick exposes the forum postings of David B. Thompson, which range from musings on the joy of tasering people to outright bragging about brutally beating a prisoner and then charging him for attacking him.

He also wrote, "I crushed a dude's eye socket from repeatedly punching him in it, then I charged him with menacing and harassment (of me)." Trafalgar then added, "he took a plea to get away from me. He shoulda picked somebody else to try and fight."

The article contains multiple links to CoH forum posts by Thompson, who reportedly only accesses the forums from his work PC, where he has posted 1,738 messages since January. More »

Call of Duty Beta Signups Return

Mike Fahey — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:40:55 EDT

Ahh, much better. Call of Duty 4 Beta signups are available again until 7PM Pacific tonight. Rather than the boneheaded first-come, first-serve plan they tried before that resulted in nothing but hate (which leads to suffering), this time they are trying something a bit more sensible. More »

GTA Killer Discovers Respawn Glitch

Mike Fahey — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:20:35 EDT

Gregory Colbert, leader of the Nut Case gang that went on a two month GTA-inspired crime spree in late 2002, has discovered a flaw in the real life version of Grand Theft Auto he and his seriously disturbed cohorts were playing. Apparently the respawn point outside the police station is bugged and won't be fixed for 75 years to life, following his conviction for the murder of his partner in crime, Glen Phaso. More »

I'm 'Bout Dat PSTriple (Ballin'!)

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:20:51 EDT

Lord British Burgled By Idiots

Mike Fahey — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:20:17 EDT

You have to be pretty crafty to pull a crime on the likes of gaming legend Lord British. At least crafty enough not to leave pictures of yourselves at the scene of the crime, which exactly what a group of teens did after breaking into a property owned by Richard Garriott last month. After partying on the site, which consists of some cabins and buildings Garriott uses for special events, stealing and/or drinking over $5,000 worth of alcohol, and generally making asses of themselves, the young men and women escaped into the night, never to be seen again. More »

GAME Store Pits PS3 Against 360

Mike Fahey — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 11:20:01 EDT

In the course of reporting on the PlayStation 3 launch in Europe as "Europe at War", Uk Resistance uncovered a very interesting sign posted at the Bluewater Centre branch of popular UK video game store GAME. With the PS3 launch looming on the horizon, someone at the store posted a sign comparing the PS3 favorably against the Xbox 360. More »

More Tales of PS3 Reseller Woe

Mike Fahey — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:40:09 EST

Stories of PlayStation 3 eBay speculators getting shafted never seem to grow old for me. Take the recent article The Globe and Mail, which tells the sad story of a construction worker with a heart of gold, who shelled out $2459 Canadian for two consoles, all in the name of love. More »

Criminal Investigation Into Radio Wii Death

Mike Fahey — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 15:40:27 EST

A criminal investigation has been launched by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department into the tragic water intoxication death of Jennifer Strange (left, with her family), who died hours after participating in KDND-FM's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. This follows the firing of 10 of the radio station's employees, including the three morning DJs, and the cancellation of the morning show. More »

Games Make You Drive Like an Idiot

Mike Fahey — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:40:06 EST

Three teens in New Zealand died on Christmas Eve when they led the police on a high speed chase which ended with a crash into a pine tree and a roll down a gully. Now the New Zealand Herald reports that a national transport spokesperson is blaming bad teen driving on video games. More »

Craiglist PS3 Buyer Gets Screwed

Mike Fahey — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 13:40:02 EST

We've learned that craiglist is a bad place to sell your PS3, and now a San Jose man has learned that it isn't the greatest place to buy one either. After a bit of back and forth the victim agreed to purchase a PlayStation 3 from a man who was selling it for only $700 cash. They met in a McDonald's parking lot (what is it with craiglist and McDonald's?) where the exchange was to be made. More »

Trading Babies For PS3s

Mike Fahey — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:40:43 EST

A radio station in Minneapolis held on on-air joke promotion this past Wednesday, offering parents a chance to give away their babies for an overnight in exchange for a PS3 system. 101.3FM's Dave in the Morning show found their phone lines flooded with folks seriously willing to make the trade. More »

Idiotic Playstation Robbers

Brian Crecente — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:58:17 EST

Two guys who have to be the world's most idiotic criminals, broke into a home, tied up the resident with a Playstation cord and then demanded money and ransacked the place. More »

America's Stupidest PS3 Reseller

Mike Fahey — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 16:40:37 EST

A man in California was mugged by the 2 men who had agreed to buy his 2 PlayStation 3 systems over Craiglist for $2500 a piece. Arriving at a 1AM meet at a McDonald's in La Palma, the men he was selling to sprayed him with pepper spray and took off with the consoles. More »