The Howard County Sheriff's Department in Indiana discovered that Hightower, was a big fan of some "warlock and witches game", eventually piecing together that it was World of Warcraft.

The investigating deputy contacted Blizzard to see if they would help track him down, the Kokomo Perspective reports.

"They don't have to respond to us, and I was under the assumption that they wouldn't," Roberson told the Perspective. "It had been three or four months since I had sent the subpoena. I just put it in the back of my mind and went on to do other things. Then I finally got a response from them. They sent me a package of information. They were very cooperative. It was nice that they were that willing to provide information."

Blizzard provided the sheriff the suspect's IP address, account information and history, his billing address, and his online screen name and preferred server. Deputies then used the information to pinpoint Hightower's location in Canada.

Hightower, who was wanted on charges of dealing in a schedule III controlled substance and dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance, and two charges of dealing in marijuana, was picked up by Canadian authorities and will be returned to Howard County on Jan. 5.

While it's good to see Blizzard helping out law enforcement, it is a touch Big Brothery to hear just how much information they track and keep and are so willing to give away... even when not legally required to do so.

Long arm of law reaches into World of Warcraft [Kokomo Perspective, thanks Tim]

The 42.0 station, the frequency itself a reference to marijuana, is called "Legalize It. "It's one of four radio stations of original music in the game, which models its story of Latino L.A. street crime off of the storytelling and gameplay style of the GTA games. (Here is Kotaku's preview of Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.)

A quick pot reference — not even, as far as I could see, any hint of pot use— might go unremarked in other forms of entertainment. Plenty of Hollywood actors, athletes rock stars and musicians have discussed their pot use and their desire for the drug to be legalized in the United States. It's not rare to see a character in a film casually discuss smoking pot or advocate for its use.

Drug use is less common in games, and any expression supporting drug use is virtually absent. Take gaming's most notorious series, Grand Theft Auto. In GTA: San Andreas, the pot-farmer voiced by Peter Fonda, a guy who goes by the name of The Truth, offers the game's protagonist, C.J., some pot. C.J., who, with the aid of the player has shown little hesitation to kill cops and even, late in the game, try to blow up the equivalent of Hoover Dam, turns him down. It's a line the game won't cross. In the most recent GTA, Chinatown Wars, the player can deal pot and other drugs referred to by their real name, but, as with the rest, marijuana is treated as nothing other than a money-making commodity used by characters not worthy of starring in a game.

As is the case for all the games on Apple's iPhone and iPod touch platforms, Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, won't be rated by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. According to a publicist at its publisher/development studio Gameloft, it will be rated for 16 and up. The game is slated for an August release.

According to his wife, Montalvo got angry at his 14-year-old son for not pausing his Nintendo Wii quick enough when the father asked his son to deal with the barking dogs. The suspect then smashed the Wii and chucked it out the front door.

His wife said her husband forcibly pried her car keys out of her hand. He then used what's being described as a "billy club" to smash the car of another family member who was trying to remove the teen from the scene.

Montalvo reportedly used the "billy club" to keep his family members from leaving the house — which he threatened to burn down. Police stated that the suspect told his wife at least twice that he would kill her if she called the cops or left him over his heroin abuse.

Police were alerted by an anonymous complaint.

The New Britain Herald reports that Montalvo has been charged with disorderly conduct, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree threatening, third-degree assault, two counts of second-degree unlawful restraint and risk of injury to a minor. He's being held on a US$150,000 bond.

Man held family hostage in Wii dispute, police say [New Britain Herald Thanks, Dj!]

Darren Gold of charity Drugsline said: “Anything using drug-dealing as entertainment is sending out the wrong message. “Glamorisation doesn’t help our work trying to educate kids of the dangers of substance misuse.”

See? Now that's two things parents should be doing but don't in one statement - educating their children about drugs and keeping them from playing mature video games. I do like the little addition that The Sun reporter slipped in at the end though. "Experts predict the final edition is unlikely to feature explicit criminality. " "Experts" have apparently never played a Grand Theft Auto title.

Fury Over Drug Deal Vid Game [The Sun via GamePolitics]

Proving that parents haven't gone completely crazy, the vast majority - 49% - were worried that their child would smoke a little chronic with their pals and then...I dunno, giggle for 8 hours straight, like we did back when i was a teenager. That's the real danger folks.

What They Play™ Finds Parents More Concerned About Video Games Than Alcohol and Pornography; Violence More Acceptable Than Sexual Content
Polls Reveal Parents Have Attitudes Toward Video Games and Social Issues That May Surprise

SAN FRANCISCO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Parents are more concerned about their children’s exposure to video games than alcohol, violence and pornography, according to recent polls conducted by What They Play (www.whattheyplay.com), the parents guide to video games. Nearly 3,000 respondents in two separate What They Play polls concluded that drinking beer and watching pornography were less objectionable activities for children than playing certain video games. Further, viewing violence was more acceptable than seeing content involving sex and sexuality within games.

“These poll results demonstrate that parents are as apprehensive about their children’s media diets as they are about traditional social issues such as alcohol, drugs, violence and sex,” says John Davison, president of What They Like, Inc. “When it comes to video games, parents should know that What They Play is a resource that helps demystify one of the most popular – and challenging – forms of entertainment their kids are into.”

“Although these findings seem surprising at first, they hint at fears parents have about video games,” says Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D., co-author of Grand Theft Childhood. “To some parents, video games are full of unknowable dangers. While researching for Grand Theft Childhood, parents we spoke with in focus groups often bemoaned the fact that they didn’t know how to use game controls - and felt unequipped to supervise or limit video game play. Of course, parents don’t want their children drinking alcohol, but that’s a more familiar risk.”

The results of the initial What They Play online poll, conducted April 4-10, 2008, found that the 1,266 participants were most offended by the following in a video game: a man and woman having sex (37%); two men kissing (27%); a graphically severed head (25%); and multiple use of the F-word (9%).

The second poll, which ran August 1-6, 2008, queried parents on what they’d be most concerned about their 17-year-old child indulging in while at a sleepover. More than 1,600 respondents revealed they’re more apprehensive about their child smoking marijuana (49%) and playing the video game Grand Theft Auto (19%), than watching pornography (16%) and drinking beer (14%).

Additional What They Play poll results and insight into parents’ attitudes toward video games and other forms of entertainment in which their children engage can be found at www.whattheyplay.com/polls/

In addition to caffeine, most...[energy] drinks contain a high sugar content. In combination these ingredients can cause a rush that will eventually come crashing down. Those sensitive to caffeine may even become dizzy and shaky. Taking this pill with an energy drink or taking more than the recommended dosage may cause these effects.

A Pill That Makes You A Better 'Halo' Player? The Makers And An Expert Weigh In [MTVMultiplayer]

It's not actually an exciting new drug, but a pill that looks like it could double as a gas station performance enhancer, if you know what I mean. B vitamins and a variety of other vaguely familiar mins, sins and tins make up the ingredient list (posted after the jump). If any doctors in the audience would like to elaborate on the listing, by all means do so in the comments (we promise not to sue you). Otherwise, all interested parties can get their own placebos pills at the hefty rate of 60 for $30, or about 50 cents a pop.

1. L-Glutamin 100,00 mg
2. L-Tyrosin 100,00 mg
3. Betain 50,00 mg
4. Vitamin C 75,00 mg
5. Vitamin E 10,00 mg
6. Niacinamid 18,00 mg
7. Selen 30,00 µg
8. Calciumpantothenat 6,00 mg
9. Vitamin B6 2,00 mg
10. Vitamin B2 1,60 mg
11. Vitamin B1 1,40 mg
12. Vitamin B12 1,00 µg
13. Folsäure 200,00 µg
14. Biotin 150,00 µg
15. Coffein 5,00 mg
16. Sojalecithin 250,00 mg

Mmmmmm, milligrams.

Product [via eurogamer]

While this is an interesting idea to pass the time, I wonder how the patients felt when they were done playing. And I wonder which meds were being tested...(is Mario better than morphine?)

Video games beat drugs for chronic pain [via nextgen][image]

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...

Since [deleting Tetris] I have never played another video game. It's too dangerous. Video games take what is most precious — time and thought. And they are making kids fat.

Video games are like a black hole into which time disappears...They are the crack cocaine of the electronic world...

Did I mention that far too many video games celebrate graphic violence, multifarious delinquency and borderline pornography? I don't have to. Tetris had none of that, and it was deadly enough.

Columnist: Games are Crack Cocaine of Electronic World [via maxconsole]

I have asked the city council to study a possible ordinance to ban these violent computer games at Internet cafes and arcades in shopping malls.

See, I have this theory. It's not really a theory, really, and it's not my original idea. But every year we see people excited about some new FPS. We hear its features—the way it's doing things differently. And we're generally sold (anyone remember the Prey media blitz?)

As Crecente wrote in his earlier feature, Haze is all about the asymmetric gameplay. One side is the Mantel, super juiced soldiers who have an incredible amount of battlefield awareness and general killing skill. The rebels, on the other hand, are more about versatility and adaptability than brute force.

At all times as a rebel, it's your job to figure out how to use Mantel's precious nectar against them, be it by:

1. Shooting the drug administration canister on their backs to make the soldiers overdose and go berserk.
2. Killing the soldiers and taking their drug packs, quickly modifying the technology into a grenade to make the soldiers overdose and go berserk.
3. Stabbing soldiers with a haze-covered knife to make the soldiers overdose and go berserk.

You being to wonder why the rebels can only induce control the flow of drugs one way, despite using just about every weapon at their disposal. Why isn't drug withdrawal an issue in multiplayer? Why can't the rebels grab a haze pack before killing a Mantel soldier, rendering his opposition's aim shaky, strength lower and susceptibility to damage higher?

Maybe a Mantel soldier, finding his stash pickpocketed, could have a set time to find a spare haze pack before they found themselves temporarily incapacitated, you know, for a helpless living corpse humping. Because that's what we mean by evolving the FPS genre.

I think Haze is, unfortunately, that sort of one-trick pony FPS that fails to explore its Big New Idea to a level that makes it rise from the pack. But then again, as our own Michael McWhertor was quick to point out:

"It's better than a no-trick pony."

The alleged killer Ezekiel Maxwell, aged 17, committed the murder after failing to take his prescribed medication. According to the Evening Standard, Maxwell "believed he was one of the principal characters called Carl Johnson" star of Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

More details are at The Evening Standard. Thanks for the tip, Man. Michael McWhertor

Boy on skunk cannabis butchered a grandmother [The Evening Standard]

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.

Le Rave (The Rave)

Girl: (giggles) What are you doing? Genevieve? Okay, Okay, everything is gonna be okay. HEEEEY! Can you hear me? Stay with me! Ok, we're gonna put your Lifebar at 100%, backstep, and go back to the first level, okay... We'll start the night properly...

Advertiser's Voice : In real life, you can't go back. You only have one life dot com.

La route (The road)

Teen1: What the hell? Didn't you see the stop sign?

Teen2: Hey, i wasn't concentrating, okay!

Teen1: Dude, you smoked way too much.

Teen 2: Oh no! Do i have red eyes?

Teen1: Coming, he's coming. What do we do now?

Teen 2: Ok, I only have to use my potion that i obtained in the last level, and can come back into normal mode.

Advertiser's Voice: In real life, the effects can't disapear like magic, you only have one life dot com.

La clinique (the clinic)

Doctor: Sooo... The results of the examination of your tests are clear....you have genital herpes. They are treatments that can help but you cant heal.

Teen: Pffff, no problem. All i have to do is take my healing antidote, and that will make it.....will make it like i never had it...

Advertiser's Voice: In real life, you're not invinsible. Use a condom. You only have one life dot com.

L'appart (The pad)

Guy: Are you safe?

Girl: Yeah, yeah, probably.

Guy: Probably!?

Girl: Look, i'll just have to find a heal pack somewhere and we ll put our health level back to 100%, so that way we'll be sure, alright?

Advertiser's Voice: In real life, only a cndom can make you sure of it. You only have one life dot com.

Le Party (the party)

Girl: What are you doing!?

Guy: Nothing

Girl: Sam, you promessed me you wouldn't gamble anymore.

Guy: Alright, look, I'm throwing an amnesia spell at you, so it's like you never saw
anything.

Advertiser's Voice: In real life, your gambling problems don't go away that easily. You only have one life dot com.

Gambling problems? How about STEALING problems? Brian Ashcraft

Watch The Clips [You Only Have One Life]

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

Good Idea! [Tenser, Thanks Flor!]

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

It's absolutely ridiculous to think that a person living in Japan still has to go through the following if he wants to get his hands on a stinkin' Nintendo DS lite — that's over 2 years after the initial DS launch, and close to a year for the DS lite — but this is what I had to go through today in order to score a Crystal White Nintendo DS lite (and let it be known that I have an original DS, which I got at launch).

My wife had heard that you needed to call the stores to find out if they were getting some stock, and then rush there to wait in line, and she'd also been told by some friends that Bic Camera got their shipments in on Friday (they also sometimes get some on Mondays and Wednesdays, but Friday are for the big orders). So she called this morning, and sure enough, they had gotten a shipment, but wouldn't reveal when they would go on sale, or where they would make people line up. The wife had gone through the same thing 2 weeks ago — when she scored a pink DS lite — so she told me to head there around noon, and to try and find out what would be happening.

I got there at 12, asked some staff behind the counter in the games section (insisting I had called, because they were just about to say that they didn't know anything before that — the filthy liars), and was told that I had to "hang out" for a while, as they didn't know when they were going to go on sale. Maybe 40 minutes later, two staff with bright green Bic vests ran out from behind the counter with signs that said that DS lites were about to go on sale, and then started forming a line along the staircases (the game section at the main Bic Camera store in Ikebukuro is on the 3rd floor). I was the fifth in line — some guys got there quicker than me — and a few minutes later they started handing out tickets for the color you wanted (I was the first to ask for a Crystal White). Then, 10 minutes later, they started guiding us to the sales counter, and... DS lite GET! Jean Snow

In one of the most bizarre and ridiculous press releases I've ever read, Utherverse, Inc., creator of XXX MMO Red Light Center, is now offering players the opportunity to get virtually high.

Screaming the eye catching headline First Violence, Then Sex, and Now Drugs in Video Games, at first glance, this press release reads like an article written about the sudden "growing trend" of drugs in video games. A little further down it becomes apparent that Utherverse, Inc. wrote it themselves and rather fancy themselves the next Rockstar Games.

Today, in a move sure to draw fire from the anti-drug establishment, RedLightCenter .com, the world's second most populated virtual social world, announced the introduction of a new feature that allows members and guests to visit an Amsterdam-style smoking room, toke from a hookah, and get a "virtual high." The experience is free and is limited to persons 18 and older.

Even Further down they even have the balls to put in a quote from David Walsh, spokesman for the National Institute on Family and the Media speaking against the game to try and create more of a "controversial" atmosphere.

Games are interactive and psychologically powerful. Now we have a game that glorifies drug use. Where do we draw the line?

What's even more aggravating about the use of this quote is that, according to GamePolitics, this quote was taken from Mr. Walsh's statements about NARC back in 2005. I'm sure someone thought they were being very clever, but to me it just smacks of desperation and cheap sensationalism.

I really hope this type of press release doesn't become the trend, we really don't need any more fuel on the anti-gaming fire. Flynn De Marco

Scary Drugs-in-Games Headline is Actually Company's Own Press Release [GamePolitics]

First Violence, Then Sex, and Now Drugs in Video Games [Yahoo Biz]

Says founder and CPL president Angel Munoz:

The potential for [drugs] being an issue absolutely concerns me. It should concern anybody in eSports, because as the stakes get larger, as in any sport, people will look for an edge.

The league's primary concerns are stimulants such as crystal meth and even the prescription drug Ritalin, not the performance enhancing drugs common in other sports that require you to stand upright or move your lower torso at some point.

Sadly, this confirms that I'll never be a professional competitive gamer, as I have a strict "Never Play Sober" policy. Just kidding, mom and dad! Michael McWhertor

CPL Prepares for Pro Gamer Drug Testing in 2007

Toad and his "Mushroom People" brethern of the Mushroom Kingdom are a peaceful lot. When not being tormented by Bowser, the Mushroom People like to go loco with the giggle smoke and hippieflip. And who's to blame them! Those Koopa Troopas are stress inducing. Brian Ashcraft

Thanks Fletch!

This butternut dumpling is straight from the wilds of make-believe Mexighettos, and full of pep. Eidos is releasing this one on a so-far-undisclosed date, but has preemptively won the "best name for a video game of all time" contest, which I was going to hold at the end of the world but shit..."Chili Con Carnage" was all you needed to say.

Maybe Destructoid got hold of a press release that we didn't, because here's what they have to say about the game:

Out to avenge the assassination of his father, Chili Con Carnage hurls Ramiro Cruz deep into the seedy underworld of Los Toros, Mexico, where he must single handedly create maximum carnage throughout the inner circles of local kingpin, Cesar Morales drug cartel. ... Chili Con Carnage is a burning hot Mexican shooter with the biggest explosion frequency and the highest takedown rate you will ever experience on the PSP ... Featuring non-stop, over-the-top action, Ramiro comes equipped with a vast arsenal of weaponry along with signature super-spicy, gravity-defying special moves. Engage in gun frenzies against comical fiends such as mustached mercenaries, mutated super-Mamas and even killer exploding chickens. The action frenzy remains intense across seven unique 3D exotic locations from the trenches of a drug city to the heart of a dense jungle in an extensive varied landscape for a portable title.

Whether or not this is a straight port of Eidos' previous Mexican romp, the much less entertainingly-named Total Overdose, is a currently unanswered question, but since I never played the original, I don't care. Fresh, hot butternut dumplings for meeeee! Eliza Gauger

Chili Con Carnage: Best PSP game name eva!?!? [Destructoid]

Reader Aaron sends word of a disturbing run-in he and his young nephew had during a game of Xbox 360 Uno.

Aaron says he allowed his nephew to play Uno while visiting, because the child's mother told him specifically to allow him to "play a game that wouldn't make him hyper or want to have bad dreams."

Things were going well, Aaron says, until he joined a room using one of the new Uno card skins. One of the four players had a camera and everyone was asking the guy about it.

The player said he couldn't say how he got the camera and then added "check this out" and proceeds to light up a blunt and smoke it, blowing the smoke into the camera.

And wouldn't you know it, the nephew's mother walked into the room just in time to see that.

Aaron goes on to say he also ran into a woman who was apparently streaking Uno games. While Aaron sent me the name of the weed smoker, he didn't send the name of the woman which I wanted... um... for research purposes.

Aaron emailed a complaint to Microsoft support and to the ESRB, pointing out that a game rated for everyone maybe needs to be looked at again when people can add their own streaming content to it live.

I hit up Microsoft for a response and the best they could do was send me a general statement about the safety of Xbox Live.

Xbox 360 and Xbox Live offer some of the most advanced family setting features in the entertainment industry. Xbox Live Vision was developed to fully leverage those features so that parents and kids can use it and feel safe while interacting with others. For example the personalized gamer picture is only viewable by people on your friends list. As you already know the friends list has some very advanced safety and security features built into it.

I haven't been able to figure out how to turn off the camera view of another Uno player and they still can't tell me if this is possible.

Just think what it's going to be like when the camera is actually available for sale. I sense a patch coming. Brian Crecente