Then he watched the Sony press conference, and the world as we know it changed. After hearing about “Metal Gear Solid 4”, as well as other PlayStation exclusives in the pipeline and the awesomeness of Blu-ray, he promptly packed up his Xbox 360 and all his games and went down to Game Stop to trade them in.

I am sure the folks at Sony are overjoyed to hear oh Jane's boy's extreme reaction to their press conference, but had he been living in a cave for two years or what? He heard about Blu-ray and Metal Gear Solid 4 and decided to go PlayStation? According to Wells, her son reads all of the news sites, participates in chat rooms, and even watches G4...oh. That explains it.

Not heartwarming story about a journalists son is complete without a tender moment at the end, so I leave you with Jane's final words on the subject.

As we left the store, I said to him, “I never thought I’d see you with a PlayStation.” “Neither did I,” he replied.

*wipes away tear and adds a link*

The Ultimate Proof Sony Is Winning [CNBC - Thanks Dean!]

"Child predators are migrating from traditional methods to alternate media," says Detective Lt. Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police. "They are going to places where children are."

This is the kind of story that would be easy to dismiss as anti-gaming propaganda - were it not entirely factual.

I personally know someone in the computer forensics field who has attended a National Conference, during which they recieved training from Microsoft on how to retrieve data from Xbox systems to aid in investigations, and some of the stories he has told me are completely chilling. Adults pretending to be children, asking if they can stop by to drop off a new game for their little friends after bonding via Xbox Live, for instance. Hell, Nintendo's friend code system is only safe until your child starts visiting internet forums to exchange them with 'friends'.

The sad fact of the matter is that child predators do indeed go where children are, and parents need to pay extremely close attention to who their children are interacting with when gaming online via console or television. All of the major consoles contain parental controls, but they are not electronic replacements for true parental controls.

Predators use gaming consoles to 'get foot in the door' [USA Today - Thanks David]

Still, I gotta wonder how they're going to make a movie out of this. As I recall, there wasn't much in the way of a plot to develop: Prince fights off menacing dude with scimitar, Prince leaps from one vertiginous ledge to another, Prince gulps down life-saving potion, Prince fights off two menacing dudes with scimitars at the same time... Apparently the big-screen version is going to introduce a quest for "a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world," which sounds a little more like a compelling narrative.

I want to believe it was written tongue-in-cheek, but then a later post by the author on a viral Indiana Jones Lego video fails to mention what happens when you type "Lego Indiana Jones" into google. I understand that gaming can be a whole other world to the uninitiated, but this is just ridiculous.

Who's looking forward to the 'Prince of Persia' movie? [EW Popwatch Blog - Thanks Mickey!]

Dobson laments "the new video that's out, supposedly for kids" that features "every form of evil and violence, from killing to raping to drugs to foul language to political corruption and racism." Kids exposed to this sort of thing, Dobson says, "some of them, especially those that come from dysfunctional families, go out and do things that are reprehensible." Beck, who has previously called us "losers" (no u are, lol), points out that Dobson is talking about GTA IV, adding "they say it isn't being sold for kids, but it is, kids are buying it."

We're emailing both Beck and Dobson, begging for the rape codes. We simply must try these heretofore unknown feature and readjust our moral compass accordingly.

Wither the American family? [CNN - thanks, Jeremy!]

"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks," said Senior Sgt Bruce Jenkins, in the North Island town of Whakatane.

NZ man 'used hedgehog as weapon' [BBC - Ninja Girlden]

Jeff, the uncle, recalls, "after seeing him laying there with all the tubes and hoses, cables and wires I think all my fears went away. My life was worth giving to save his, and if that's what it took, I was fine with that."

Six months later both Aiden and Jeff have recovered, with Shoemaker giving his nephew a gift that the child will never forget for as long as he lives.

Jeff Shoemaker is a gamer. He posted the story over on the SeasonGamers.com forums, understandably proud of his actions. In the midst of all of the negative press gaming has been getting recently from the likes of JC, Fox News, and the New York Post, a story like this comes along and none of those articles and accusations matter anymore.

Sure, it could have been anyone donating that liver, but this time it was a gamer. If the other media outlets want to focus on gaming in negative stories, I see no reason why we can't do it on the positive ones.

Baby gets first emergency living donor liver transplant at Cleveland Clinic [WKCY NBC - Thanks Brett]

Check out some of the other headlines I have found for this story across the web:

Parents of 5-month-old face first-degree murder charges - Illinois Daily Herald
Parents Charged with Murder - Central Illinois Proud
Parents face first-degree murder in death of baby bound last week - WTHI News

Not one other news outlet I can find focused on the gaming like Fox News did. Are they holding a grudge over the Mass Effect debacle or what? As more and more people start playing video games, will every headline start to read like this? "Man Who Played Video Games Robs Bank." "Video Gamer Dies In Car Crash." This is getting pretty damn ridiculous. Is there a video game angle? Sure. Is it the only angle? Of course not. How about "Irresponsible Young Parents Leave Baby To Die"? Bah. I'm going to go punch something and blame it on gaming.

Parents of Baby Left Alone in Car Seat for 8 Days Face Murder Charges [Foxnews.com - Thanks Orrin]

Charity Gives Children Something To Play [CBS 46]

"The thing we most hope to gain by having a CNN presence in Second Life is to learn about virtual worlds and understand what news is most interesting and valuable to their residents," said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.

Sieberg promises discussion with Rockstar Games reps, advocacy groups, gaming industry professionals and child behavioral psychologists. According to the CBS News web site Manhunt 2 "has many kids waiting in anticipation." We certainly look forward to the mainstream news coverage in light of this revelation about the kids.

Thanks for the tips, Brandon, Michael and Andrew.

Then she wraps the whole thing up by suggesting that last week's Cleveland school shooting was prompted by violent games. "They're going to react in that same highly aroused, angry way and we saw what just happened yesterday..." Of course there was no link to video games involved in said shooting, but that's neither here nor there, is it?

The best part of the Game Politics article posted this morning is when they reveal Dr. Susan's area of expertise. What qualifies her to comment on video game violence and its effect on children? You dare to question the author of Dr. Susan's Girls-only Weight Loss Guide: The Easy, Fun Way to Look and Feel Good?

They've got the video of Dr. Susan's performance up over at Game Politics, complete with a brief cameo by our favorite lawyer. If these two ever team up it could lead to an extinction-level bullshit explosion.
Who is this Person & Why is She Saying These Awful Things About Halo 3 ??? [Game Politics]

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 goal was to present players with difficult choices, 2K Boston President Kenneth Levine said.

''As a piece of art, we want to deal with challenging moral issues and if you want to do that, you have to go to some dark places,'' Levine said. ''And 'BioShock' certainly does go to some dark places.''

And killing little girls is a pretty dark place indeed. I do like how Levine pulls out the work of art card. Seems to be the norm whenever the violence of a video game is questioned these days.

The article goes on to explore gaming violence, spewing out some of the same things we've posted here time and time again. Studies, incidents, court cases, etc. Pretty much all an outsider sees of the gaming industry. What the article doesn't touch on is this one, overwhelming fact. Giggling little girls are pretty damn creepy.

Would you kill 'Little Sisters'? Quincy company challenges taboos with game violence [The Patriot Ledger via Joystiq]

What's interesting about the piece is that while their pet psychologist does warn of the games turning players into recluses, she also goes on to make a point I've made many times over.

Dudley says children or adults who become obsessed with video games often have a history of struggling with depression or anxiety. The game, she says, is simply a catalyst, similar to drugs, alcohol or gambling.

The best part is the ending, however, where the news reporter reads off a quote from EverQuest as if it were an entity, and goes on to say they didn't hear back from World of Warcraft. He never returns my calls either. Michael Fahey

Dangers of Internet Gaming [ABC 6 Philadelphia via GamePolitics]

Oh goodness, so torn on this one. On one hand, arresting the guy and holding him on $10,000 bail seems a bit harsh. On the other hand, I get the distinct feeling that the whole FPS project angle is a defense and not an actuality. One thing I know for sure, however, is that the mainstream media is so adorable when they try to report on video games. Note that you might get an ad as the video begins, and if you try to watch it again without refreshing you'll learn far more about Spokane than you need to know.

edit - Moved video to after the jump at the insistence of common sense.

So the father is claiming this is politics and that his son's first amendment rights are being impugned, and also looks like discount Fonzie with a giant cold sore on his lip. We should arrest every game developer? Sure, if every game developer sat around discussing how to kill high school students perhaps. Maybe Jaffe, but he's harmless.

Okay, mostly harmless.

I can't help but think that maybe this time around the caution might have been justified. There is a difference between designing a Counter-Strike map with your school's layout and sitting there like a dumbass discussing the best way to massacre your classmates weeks after the biggest school shooting in history. At the very least the kid should get a couple days in stupid prison.

Snooping about on the web I found Lance's page on bebo, where he goes by the name UbnKilled - you bein killed. *sigh*. Some memorable quotes:

ummm... I love to play first person veiw shooters.. games such as Fear, Half-Life 2, Doom3... and I like to play basketball and write...

I collect mid-evil weapons and have.. *counts* 10 weapons in my room.. and that's not including the guns..... so actually... to however wants to try to kidnap me..... do it.. i dare ya

If i really wanted to I could steal some of his programs and hack virtually most accounts, but I wont so no worries...

So yeah, the guy's a tool and between the comments and the suggestion that he's stockpiling weapons and guns I would have totally had him removed from the school as soon as humanly possible were I on the school board. Though you and I can see the moronic bragging and posturing for what it is, school officials like Northport Superintendent Patsy Guglielmino probably can't.

"I have to look at every threat as though it is real irregardless what I know about the student," she said.

Court to decide if Northport threat was horrible prank or free speech [kxly.com via GamePolitics]

Photo courtesy of KXLY.com

The reporter doesn't overly resort to scare tactics and drama, and she doesn't condemn Microsoft in any way...in fact, she points out the parental controls the 360 has built in, urging parents to use them as intended.

A few weeks back I was talking to a computer forensics expert who told me the story of a young girl who played over Xbox live. She had several friends, and one day one of them offered to have his father drop off a copy of a game so they could play it together. The 'father' showed up, asked if her parents were home, and then raped and killed her. Some of you are thinking the girl was just stupid, and you're right. Kids are stupid. It's why they need adults around. To keep things like this from happening.

Don't even get me started on PC MMO games.

The bottom line here is that unless parents take an active role in their children's gaming, having their kids hear some bad words or a see nipple flash here or there is the very least of their worries. Michael Fahey

Online gaming world a forum for sex predators [KOMOTV.com - Thanks Nezumi]

Reuters is reporting that an Iranian group, using state-sponsored development, has modded the fan favorite team based FPS Counter-Strike to allow players to virtually train for demolition runs against oil tankers. From the report:

The game, "Counter Strike", invites players to plant two bombs on the oil tanker to sink it and make the strait of Hormuz impassable, the Jomhouri-ye Eslami daily reported. About two-fifths of globally traded oil passes through the channel.

The Reuters report, most likely written by someone concerned more with world events than playing CS with 15 teenage boys, doesn't seem to have a good grasp on how the game is structured. They imply that the game is less of a mod or custom map than a built from the ground up title. Anyone who has spent time with Counter-Strike knows that bomb planting is one of the core game types.

Thanks for the heads up, Ross. Michael McWhertor

Iranian video game offers chance to blow up U.S. tanker [Reuters]