"I'll be honest here, I went out to my car and ten of the little guys were wandering around, bumping into each other and wearing little sandwich boards reading 'Will Work for Hats,'" said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. "We couldn't put them out on the streets after they worked so hard on our game, so we hired them to help around the office. They follow directions to the letter and are very friendly, but not too smart. The way I see it, what could go wrong?"

What could go wrong? How about....MURDER!? Look for A Kingdom of Keflings this fall, unless the authorities find the bodies first.

STUDIO HIRES 20 NEW EMPLOYEES, ALL 3 FEET TALL

NinjaBee, now with more Keflings!

Orem, Utah - June 4, 2008 - NinjaBee, a leading independent developer of Xbox LIVE® Arcade titles, announced today it has hired 20 Keflings to help around the office. Featured in their newest Xbox LIVE Arcade Title, A Kingdom for Keflings, the Keflings are short, happy beings who aren't afraid of a bit of hard work. Once production slowed on the studio's newest city-building game, the Keflings became aimless without constant direction.

"I'll be honest here, I went out to my car and ten of the little guys were wandering around, bumping into each other and wearing little sandwich boards reading 'Will Work for Hats,'" said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. "We couldn't put them out on the streets after they worked so hard on our game, so we hired them to help around the office. They follow directions to the letter and are very friendly, but not too smart. The way I see it, what could go wrong?"

The Keflings are expected to work everywhere from the art department to the copy room and will surely remain happy and occupied. The new title, A Kingdom for Keflings, will feature fun and light-hearted gameplay with graphics and original music to match. Look for A Kingdom for Keflings on Xbox LIVE Arcade this fall.

They dealt with it with a videogame called Hitman that he used to watch, and it was a video game where you got impressions that you would kill somebody - hit them from their backside, where they were not aware that they were being killed.

CNN Video Report On Trial [CNN via GamePolitics ]

Witnesses told authorities that Suarez then put the gun down on the kitchen counter and began saying, "This just didn't happen," according to court documents.

This is similar to the incident back in July, where a young boy stabbed his older brother to death for not letting him have his turn at a video game, in both situation and press reaction. Some of the headlines I have seen include:

Family: Game led to teen's murder - BostonHerald.com
Video game linked to fatal shooting in Brockton - The Patriot Ledger

Just don't be surprised if the major news outlets pick this up with accompanying inflammatory anti-video gaming headline.

Video game linked to fatal shooting of 15-year-old [Wicked Local Brockton]

Both Henry and Southern said Trujillo was never violent toward their children, and they never saw her use any Mortal Kombat moves. Southern said she thinks Roberts made up the Mortal Kombat story to look tough. "Lamar changed her. He was a thief and not a very good person," Southern said.

Is Brutal "Mortal Kombat Murder" Lacking the Mortal Kombat Part? [Game Politics]

So I think the market for what we're doing — games that are more sensitive and are centered on character, not shooting — will be monstrous. I have a huge audience ... which is something ABC discovered when 'Women's Murder Club' debuted and it was their biggest premiere on a Friday night in four years."

Patterson pursues video game murders most casual [The Hollywood Reporter]

Tyrone Spellman was found guilty yesterday of beating to death his 17-month-old daughter, cracking her head "like a walnut", after the girl knocked over his Xbox 360 during a gaming session.

Spellman, convicted of third-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child, faces up to 47 years in prison.

The jury elected to find him guilty of third-degree and not first-degree murder because they found Spellman acted in rage but without intending to kill the child. Prosecutors had blamed Spellman's obsession with video games as one of the reason's he killed the little girl.

Man who killed tot over Xbox convicted [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

Video game obsession is what lead to the beating death of 17-month-old Alayiah Turman, an Assistant District Attorney said yesterday in the closing arguments of Tyrone Spellman's murder trial.

"(Spellman's) entire life and daily routine is about playing (Ghost Recon).

"What do you think someone with that kind of obsession is going to do when it gets knocked over? What do you think is going to happen?

"The skull fractures on that baby are what happened."

Prosecutors say that Spellman was obsessed with video games, that he played them up to six hours a day. They say that in September 2006 Spellman beat his daughter, Alayiah Turman, to death after she knocked over his Xbox 360 while he was playing Ghost Recon.

Spellman's defense attorney cast blame on the child's mother and said that the confession was coerced. The case was handed to the jury yesterday afternoon, but they had still not reached a verdict last night and were set to return today to continue deliberation.

Jury talking in infant-death case [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

I contacted another local GameStop location for comment this morning, but they were busy on a conference call about this very incident.

This is a GameStop I visit on occasion, so I am very interested in seeing justice done here. Police are currently looking for any information that will help them catch the robber turned killer. Hit the link below for a video that includes the suspect's description as well as details on the car he used to flee from the scene. We offer our condolences to Matthew's friends, family, and co-workers.

Man Dies During Robbery At Video Game Store [WSB Atlanta - Thanks Captain Download]
Photo Courtesy of Mike Morris of the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Needless to say, temperatures rise, fans kick in, then more fans kick in, then some new, untold level of nuclear reactor-grade cooling kicks in deep within the bowels of the PS3, and the first thing I know of this is when a little voice cries, "Dad, something's wrong with my game."

Conditions in the confined space had become so super-heated that the 360 red-ringed out, big time. So. Bottom line, my PS3 killed my 360.

Death by heating fan. Could be the first, probably won't be the last. Kim Phu

My PS3 just killed my 360 [John Davison's Page at 1Up]

I'm actually really looking forward to picking this up for the Wii, despite having played it to death on the Xbox already. Perhaps it's the push Midway is giving the game, or the hypnotic properties of Ed Boon's eyebrows, but I'm probably going to pick this one up. Michael Fahey

A 22-year-old Ukrainian gamer, considered one of the top Lineage II players in Europe, stomped another gamer to death after the man tried to stop a fight between rival clan members, The Moscow Times reports.

Alexander "DVP" Ponamorenko has been arrested and charged with the beating death of Alexander "Sverkh" Blyoskin, 22, who was trying to break-up a fight between Ponamorenko and his online nemesis, known only as Shtai, a friend of Blyoskin, according to the Basmanny District Prosecutor's Office.

The three were at a gathering of 20 to 30 Lineage II gamers at a cafe in central Moscow on Jan. 12 when the fight broke out.

Everybody in the room noticed how the expression on DVP's face changed when he saw Shtai," a witness and fellow gamer, identified only as Pavel, told Rossia television on Saturday.

Ponamorenko and Kirill took things outside, and after the two came to blows, Blyoskin, a student at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute and a friend of Kirill's, tried to calm Ponamorenko down, Tatarinova said.

Accounts differ as to what happened next. Some witnesses say Ponamorenko punched Blyoskin, who played Lineage II under the nickname "Sverkh," and that the student fell and hit his head on the asphalt, Rossia television reported.

Tatarinova, however, said Ponamorenko stomped on Blyoskin's head while he lay on the ground.

Blyoskin was taken to a local hospital where he died four days later. He was buried at Moscow's Domodedovskoye cemetery on Jan. 19.

As one of my friend's pointed out when I told him about this sad story: If it wasn't a game gathering it would have been a soccer match or just everyday barroom brawl. Brian Crecente

Virtual Conflict Ends in Real Death [Moscow Times, via Koster]

Managers found Amber Belken, 24, at the store about 2 p.m. after going by the store to see why she wasn't answering the phone. Police said a witness saw Belken enter the store alone around 9 a.m. and that they believe she was confronted by her killer as she prepared for the store's 10 a.m. opening.

Police believe robbery to be the motive in the killing. Anyone who lives in the area and was near the store between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. should call police, 210-207-7635 if they have any information. Brian Crecente

Clerk Found Dead in Video Game Store [KSAT]

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.

An article on law enforcement website Officer.com reveals more details on the utter disregard the radio personalities held for the health of their contestants.

Authorities decided to pursue the investigation after listening to a tape of the show, obtained by The Sacramento Bee, during which DJs joked about the possible dangers of consuming too much water, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said. At one point, the DJs even alluded to a college student who died during a similar stunt in 2005.

As far as I am concerned everyone responsible for the contest, from the promotions department to the on-air talent, had a hand in her death. Sure, the woman should have known better that to follow along with it, but she was trying to do something nice for her now motherless children. That's a fact those children will struggle with for the rest of their lives.

The attorneys of the Strange family plan to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the radio station, and I cannot see how they can possibly lose.

"Oh, my gosh, look at that belly. That's full of water. ... Come on over, Jennifer, you OK?" a male DJ asked. "You going to pass out right now? Too much water?"

California Sheriff Looks into Water-Drinking Death [Officer.com - Thanks Kael]

Tyrone Spellman, 25, will stand trial for the September murder of Alayiah Turman whom he beat to death after the 17-month old girl knocked over his Xbox 360. While playing a game of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Alayiah pulled the console down with the attached controller. Spellman then "popped her in the face and then tossed her in the chair", killing her.

No word on whether prosecutors would seek the death penalty in this case. Sad. Michael McWhertor

Trial set for dad in beating death of tot over Xbox incident [Philadelphia Daily News]
Philadelphia Man Kills Baby Over Video Game [Kotaku]

It's an anagram! Crafty, eh? Yes, I've learned my lesson, after receiving an email hours after my previous post went live.

Wow, your envy is pathetic. I'm not relevant? I guess I've fooled every network and every cable news network. And what network are you on this evening, Mr. Fahey?

I'll be speaking in anagram for a portion of the post, because a certain someone is either googling his own name, or he subscribes to our RSS feed, in which case we're extremely flattered.

Anyhow, just caught Jams Chop Knot's profile on Nightline. We'll have a clip online as soon as one is available. Pretty standard stuff. Doom is a murder simulator, Rockstar is run by sociopathic criminals, etc. Highlights of the segment include Moth Nops claiming responsibility for the breakup of 2 Live Crew, and an amusing bit on the decline of school violence. When the interviewer points out that studies show school violence went down 50% between 1984 and 2000, Kajc explains that those studies are wrong, and schools just don't report violence anymore. I got the distinct impression that the interviewer was highly amused. Join the club buddy. Michael Fahey

An already short in supply, high in demand product gets even less stock than expected and all hell breaks loose. Sound familiar?

Thing is, I'm not writing about the PS3 launch, I'm writing about the plot of novel Jennifer Government where a Nike marketing exec deliberately holds back stock of shoe stock to create demand and then pays someone to do the shooting to create... um blood.

The author of the book, Max Barry, notes the quasi similarities:

Zing. And remember boys and girls, it's not an assassin or assassination unless politically motivated. No politics, then it's just a humdrum murder. Brian Crecente

Max Barry Comments on PS3 Launch [Aeropause]

Last week, Eliza verbally body slammed Playboy's editor over their upcoming feature about hot, naked girls in gaming... girls no one had ever heard of. Playboy claimed that "if you feel these women are not prominent enough in their games, that's an issue for the developers who should be creating more strong roles for women." Eliza's response — in which she rattled off dozens of names of well-known female game characters who re-affirmed positive gender ideals — can only be described as a Mortal Kombat style fatality. Scott's offal-coated pelvis hangs above Eliza's mantle, connected to the spine she deftly ripped out of his back.

We thought the battle for prominent, progressive female role models in games had been won. But then, today, we catch word that maxim has hired a bunch of models to dress up as Tekken models, then stand under cold flowing water and do karate kicks in miniskirts and brightly colored panties.

Did you hear that? That was the audible pop of Eliza's head flying apart in a puff of metallic blue hair and overly developed gray matter as the expanding kettle of her gamer feminism reached a boiling point, then exploded.

Tekken girls get real... and naked [PSP Fanboy]

It's a pretty distressing day for gaming. First, Tyrone Spellman beat a 17 month old child to death when she knocked over his console. And now, news reports indicate that Kimveer Gill — the gunman responsible for yesterday's Montreal shooting spree — was influenced by the home-brew game Super Columbine Massacre.

"Life is like a video game," Gill wrote. "You gotta die sometime."

The question this and other tragedies raise, of course, is if gaming is a factor in what these people have done. And — whether we like it or no — it's a valid question, well-deserving an answer objective of our own passions.

But the question isn't whether or not video games make people killers. The question is whether art — the product of human creativity and sensitivity and emotion — makes someone willing to take a human life. Because the distinction between one medium of art and another is, at the end of the day, almost entirely semantic.

But did Catcher in the Rye make Mark David Chapman murder John Lennon? John Hinckley Jr. — the would-be assassin of Reagan — was also obsessed with the book. Did Catcher in the Rye make them killers? Or were they already killers drawn to the themes and misanthropy of the book, who would have committed their crimes regardless?

To me, it seems clear that any claims that games influence real-world violence have massively oppressive repercussions on art as a whole. A book like Catcher in the Rye would not be read — let alone taught in school — if society caved into the belief that what a man enjoys is solely responsible for the man that they are. Condemnation of games is a condemnation of art. But it's troubling that so many people can't see past the latest societal bugbear to the larger issue of freedom. Florian Eckhardt

Killer Loved Columbine Game [Toronto Sun]

This story is really astonishingly sad.

In Philadelphia, a 25 year old man named Tyrone Spellman — who curiously goes by the name Anwar Salahuddin — punched his 17 month old daughter to death when she knocked over his console, causing him to disrupt the game.

According to the mother: "His confession was she pulled the cords in the game, the system is — the box itself — fell, and he was upset and then responsible for paying for the game, so he hit her in her face twice," Turman said, adding that Spellman also allegedly slung the child over a chair.

Spellman is being charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and possessing an instrument of crime. No word if they mean his fist, the chair or the Xbox on that last charge.

As a last note of surreality, a note was apparently left on Spellman's door, saying not to judge him because he'd never hurt a child. Florian Eckhardt

Mother: Father Killed Child Over Video Game [NBC]

It's alarming how much JMK looks like a younger, spindlier G Man. Add an extra twenty years, a thicker head of hair (with widow's peak), and considerable amount of alien invasion induced stress, and we'd not be shocked to see him accessorized with a brief case during our next headcrab battle.

Thanks, Andrew, for helping us figure this out. Michael McWhertor

It took a jury of seven woman and five men about six hours to find that three men were guilty in the so-called Xbox murders in Florida.

The jury convicted Troy Victorino, 29; Michael Salas, 20; and Jerone Hunter, 20, of first-degree murder Tuesday afternoon in St. Augustine, Florida.

The men orchestrated a revenge killing of six people after one of the victims, Erin Belanger, 22, had Victorino evicted from her grandmother's house and kept some of his belongings, including an Xbox

The jury still has to decide on whether the trio will get life in prison or death by lethal injection. Good thing Florida isn't using the chair anymore, that was never pretty.

I love how the fact that one of the smallest details in the case managed to land in just about every headline. Why not call it the eviction murders or the clothing murders? Brian Crecente

Three Convicted in Video Game Slayings [Yahoo]

Check here for the full story.

This is the stuff urban legends and horror movies are made of: four young hobos in Florida, one with a hilarious tanline, murdered a house full of defenseless people in order to recover an Xbox taken from their illegal squat:

That enraged Victorino and he enlisted the other three suspects to help him carry out the attacks, prosecutors say. A Wal-Mart clerk has told investigators the four men joked about bashing people to death while shopping for baseball bats two days before the slayings.

The victims were beaten to death and then stabbed, probably "just to make sure". Two small dogs at the house were also murdered. The worst part? It wasn't even a 360.

The trial has come to be known as "The Xbox Murders" and as Florida news site News4Jax reports, jurors are currently being chosen from a pool of 1,000.

The actual murders occurred two years ago, but I figured it was worth a mention because we may soon hear, particularly from the defense team, that "video games made them do it." It is notable that the news site I quoted says absolutely nothing about Xbox in this article except that it was the key item in the case. No damning, anti-games nonsense. Just clean reporting.

Thanks for the tip, Cliff.Eliza Gauger

Read more [News4Jax]

Thank God the people are as reasonable as you and I. A jury of them just convicted a 20-year-old of capital murder for killing three Alabama police officers, rejecting his idiotic claims that GTA made him do it. Good for them.

Devin Moore had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental defect. Apparently, they jury didn t consider him being a fucktard enough of a mental defect to get him off the hook for gunning down three cops.

After the shooting, Moore told police that Life is a video game, everybody has to die sometime. Maybe he should change his motto to: Life is a video game, everybody has to be annally raped in a dank Alabama prison every night for the rest of what amounts to their pathetic excuse of a life. I suppose that doesn t have the same ring to it.

The sentencing phase of the trial begins today, I ll keep my fingers crossed for life on his knees in prison.

Man whose lawyers blamed video game for killings convicted of capital murder [Sunday Gazette Mail]