The plot of the game involves 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew who are performing a concert in a "war torn country." Things start getting bad and Fifty and his pals must use an arsenal of weapons to help stop the terrorists involved. Something about watching this game being played really left me with a feeling that everything was kind of tacked on. Like they started out to make a terrorist themed arcade shooter and when it don't work out, added in 50 and friends to help sell some units.

The game makes use of an over the shoulder style of shooting and employs the good old "run and gun" and "duck and cover" mechanics to much use. The whole games point system is based on killing as many people as you can and watching your score go up. Each character has their own weapon of choice that can be added to with twenty various weapons that can be found lying about or taken off of downed enemies. There is also hand to hand combat involved with contextual button kill moves that were really rather disturbing in their stark realism.

The whole game smacked of a certain stereotypical representation of the rap community that seemed a bit forced. I mean you pick up "bling" which you can then sell to buy more weapons and includes a mechanic called "Gangsta Firing Time." Haven't we moved past this sort of thing? The whole thing left me with a sort of empty feeling of a game with no real substance.

That said, the graphics were nice and those of you out there who are 50 Cent fans will be pleased to hear that the soundtrack will include exclusive tracks by Fifty and crew from their upcoming album. The game will support co-op play and online drop-in co-op as well as leaderboards. Hopefully they will be able to do something to improve this title before it launches on the 360 and PS3 this fall.

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]

A 15-year-old boy from Marble Falls is at Austin's Brackenridge Hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. [...] The boy was playing a video game with a friend when that friend loaded a gun and shot him in the head.

Police said the 13-year-old shooter is being held at the juvenile detention center in Belton and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The newspaper said the boys were playing a video game called "God of War".

Hopefully this won't lead to a media frenzy - news is sparse right now, but we'll see how it continues to develop.

13-year-old shoots friend in the head [News 8 Austin]

"I am profoundly sorry," Causey said against a backdrop of the United States and North Carolina flags. "I cannot begin to imagine the immense sorrow the Strickland family must continue to feel, but they will forever be in my thoughts and prayers. It is my hope that the Strickland family will accept this apology and know that it is offered with compassion and sincerity."

How much does a fatal mistake cost? According to county officials, $2.45 million. Strickland family spokesperson Joyce Fitzpatrick says the money will go towards establishing a foundation for need-based scholarships.

"The Stricklands were not interested in money," she said. "That cannot bring their son back."

The intended effect, to foster an environment of mass suicide terrorism in the U.S.A., is a by-product of the 'Revolution in Military Affairs' policy, organized by Felix Rohatyn and George P. Shultz; the same individuals, who not only helped to install the fascist Pinochet into the Chilean government, but are the prime backers of a fascist Bloomberg Presidency.

International Fascism: Microsoft Will Kill More Youth than Hitler [LaRouche Website via Game Politics]

Jack Thompson must have Fox News on speed dial, because every time a student shoots someone it seems like he's there, head hanging low, like a vulture, dishing out his special brand of truisms.

Seeing that Jack went out of his way to email me this morning to point out that he was "right" about the shooting being spurred by Counter-Strike, I thought it was probably worth another round of Dissecting Jack's Lies.

Hit a jump for his confusing quotes and how accurate they were:

1: We find from brain scan studies out of Harvard that if you get started playing, for example, violent video games you can more likely copy-cat the behaviors in the games.
Verdict: False
Evidence: While the study of adolescents by Harvard and Indiana university researchers found that video games can spur "emotional arousal" and lower self-control it never made that final leap. In fact David S. Bickham, a research scientist at the Center on Media and Child Health at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, told the Washington Post that the study, while interesting, wasn't conclusive.

2: The disturbing thing that keeps popping up in many of these as in Va Tech, Columbine, Paducah, where I represented the six parents of the three girls shot and killed, is that you can rehearse these types of massacres on simulators which are called video games. And you can therefore made more proficient in doing this.
Verdict: False
Evidence: Va Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho only had a passing interest in gaming years before the shooter. A lawyer tried to draw a connection between the game Doom and Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, but that was tossed out by a federal judge. Paducah shooter Michael Carneal also played Doom, but that was found to not be connected to the shooting. Video game as murder simulator and training tool just doesn't hold any water.

3. The worst school shooting in history until Va Tech, was by Robert Steinhauser in Erfurt, Germany who trained on Counter-Strike Half Life. That's the game that Cho at Va Tech trained on in High School.
Verdict: Not exactly true
Evidence: While it is true that Steinhauser and Cho both played Counter-Strike at some point in their lives, with more than a million copies sold, that could probably be said of a lot of college students. Saying that Cho "trained on" the game is a bit of a stretch.

4. And um the effect, the affects the psychological affect of the shooter, plus his attire is suggestive of a couple of the games in which the "hero" wears this type of attire.
Verdict: Likely false
Evidence: The description by those present don't make it sound like he had a flat affect. One person said "It looked like a theatrical thing the way he walked onto the stage." Others described his behavior leading up to the shooting as erratic. Not surprising of a man who had recently been dumped by his girlfriend and had stopped taking his medication, possibly anti-depressants. Simply wearing black doesn't mean he was dressing up like the "hero" from Counter-Strike.

5: I lost my train of thought. I wrote a book...
Verdict: True
Evidence: Jack did indeed write a book, and I think he lost his train of thought about two decades ago.

The New York Post, not exactly a bastion for accurate and fair reporting, decided that "sick shooter" Steven Kazmierczak's interest in Counter-Strike three to four years ago made a better headline than the fact that he was off his medication when he decided to go on a rampage in an Illinois classroom.

The man who gunned down five people and wounded 16 in an Illinois classroom rampage was a loner who preferred studying to partying and was obsessed with an ultra-violent video game, dormitory mates said yesterday.

Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, played the wildly popular game Counter-Strike while studying sociology at Northern Illinois University in 2003 and 2004.

"He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud," said dorm mate Ben Woloszyn, 24.

What they failed to mention was what dorm mates likely told them next, or at least told the Northwest Herald, that just about everyone in the dorm played the game.

But both men said that if Kazmierczak seemed disconnected from the other students, it could have been because he was an older student living alongside underclassmen.

"I guess he was polite," Rice said. "He was just really quiet. I wouldn't have guessed he would do anything."

Kazmierczak often would play the video game Counter Strike, a first-person shooting game, the roommates said, but they were quick to add that the game was nothing unusual for dormitory halls.

It's also worth noting that over the nearly 1,700 articles published about the shooting the only two that mention the game are the Northwest Herald and the New York Post. That didn't stop Thompson for shooting out an email this morning crowing about getting it right. It's nice to know that he cares about what's important in this shooting, that a college student played video games at one point in his life, not that six people are dead and a country traumatized.

Our condolences go out to the families of those killed and to Kazmierczak's family.

COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME [New York Post]

"Jack, welcome on this tragic day." "Yeah, I wish I weren't here." "You know? Us too."

It's like he doesn't even hear the question the guy is asking. The question merely served to pull the string on JT's back to ready the anti-gaming rhetoric. It's classic Thompson every step of the way. "You can rehearse these type of massacres on simulators which are called video games and you can...therefor made more proficient in doing this." He explains that "Counter-Strike Half-Life" was that Cho, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech Massacre trained on in High School, suggesting that the behavoir of the NIU shooter had the same sort of training. He also cites the shooter's attire...all black...was also similiar to what the hero in Counter-Strike wears. He certainly couldn't have gotten the idea to wear all black from anywhere else, could he? What kind of bad guy wears all black, other than a good 50% of them throughout the history of fiction?

Then Jack loses his train of thought for a moment, the gnomes inside his head desperately trying to recover any for of cohesive thought tossing a plug for one of his books out and...did he just suggest that he predicted exactly how the shooting occurred? Why yes - yes he did.

To his credit, the Fox News anchor seems to realize how full of shit JT is and ended the interview with a dismissive, "Well clearly you connect this to games, and we'll find out more about the suspect Steven Kazmierczak.." only to have Jack speak over him with a smug, "Well we'll see...we'll see."

So far what we know of Kazmierczak counteracts the profile of previous school shooters. He was a well-adjusted, well liked student who received honors in classes and was in the chess club while growing up. He owned a gun permit, purchased his handguns legally, and only really began to show any signs of trouble a few weeks before the shootings when he stopped taking medication for an undisclosed condition.

Will Jack wind up with mud on his face once more? Is there any more room for mud? Why the hell do major news agencies still contact him when this sort of thing happens? The world is full of crazy people. Some shoot up schools. Others blame that on violent games without proof.

Thanks to Andy for pointing us towards the clip.

We'd like to extend our condolences to the families, friends and classmates of those who were affected in the school shooting at Northern Illinois University. Separately, we are disgusted, but no longer shocked, to find that anti-game activists are again rushing to conclusions about what drove Stephen Kazmierczak, the clearly disturbed 27 year old who police say was responsible for this tragedy, to commit such an act.

Blaming video games for the behavior of the mentally-challenged is vile on many levels. And, as Generations X and Y mature, it is extremely likely that just about all of us have played at least one video game at some point in our lives. Drawing a parallel between games and violence without any substantive proof is sensationalism for its own sake. This is a sad event, made worse by the irresponsible actions of attention-seekers and the media that has given them a platform for their reckless venom.

UPDATE: Here is the video of Jack's appearance, in which he comlpetely ignores the interviewer's question and goes on an anti-gaming tirade.

Photo Courtesy of Jack Thompson

''One's in jail, one's in the hospital,'' she said. ''I won't know exactly what happened until I talk to [my son]. He's incoherent yet; they have him heavily sedated. (My ex-husband) did the shooting but it was an accidental thing that took place"

Clearly the Xbox 360 was really just a catalyst in what appears to be a long standing major family dysfunction. Sad, sure. Weird, definitely. But seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up.

When boy said 'shoot me,' dad did, police say [The Morning call]

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

Brooks is wanted after allegedly shooting and killing one person and wounding two others in the apartment complex next to Fresno State University.

Police say the shooting took place during a confrontation over a video game. The two people who were wounded do not have life-threatening injuries.

A SWAT team earlier communicated with Brooks by phone to try to get him out of the apartment complex, but as of the article's posting, he has not come forward. Kim Phu

1 Dead In Fresno St. Shooting; Suspect At Large [CBS 5, thanks Juan]

Jon Stewart finally waded into the media morass covering the VA Tech shooting, mocking the politicizing of the tragedy and the scapegoating. He gets into video games about 4 minutes and 15 seconds in. Brian Crecente

They may night out and out call him a tool, but it's there, right between the lines.

In a surprising bit of mainstream journalism, Winda Benedetti wrote a piece for MSNBC titled "Were video games to blame for massacre?" in which she essentially chides the media for being so willing to jump to conclusions and for so willingly listening to Jack Thompson.

The shooting on the Virginia Tech campus was only hours old, police hadn't even identified the gunman, and yet already the perpetrator had been fingered and was in the midst of being skewered in the media.

Video games. They were to blame for the dozens dead and wounded. They were behind the bloodiest massacre in U.S. history.

Or so Jack Thompson told Fox News and, in the days that followed, would continue to tell anyone who'd listen.

This excellent lede was followed up with two pages that spells out a point Heather Chaplin made on our site earlier today: Video games are this generation's boogie man.

It also seems to faintly echo our own analysis of Thompson's bold-faced malarkey.

But on with the grade-A Thompson bashing.

When Jack Thompson gets worked up, he refers to gamers as "knuckleheads." He calls video games "mental masturbation."

When he's talking about himself and his crusade against violent games, he calls himself an "educator." He likes to use the word "pioneer."

Certainly Thompson has made a name for himself. After all, he knows a thing or two about publicity. He's spent no small bit of time in front of a camera.

On those rare occasions when a student opens fire on a school campus, Thompson is frequently the first and the loudest to declare games responsible. In recent years he's blamed games such as "Counter-Strike," "Doom" and "Grand Theft Auto III" for school shootings in Littleton, Colo., Red Lake, Minn. and Paducah, Ky.

He's blamed them for shootings beyond school grounds as well. In an attempt to hold game developers and publishers responsible for these spasms of violence, Thompson has launched several unsuccessful lawsuits.

The story is a must read, something you should print out and enjoy over a beer while sitting in your favorite chair as you unwind for the day.

While I appreciate MSNBC finally seeing the light, it would have been nice if they had realized their mistake prior to putting Thompson in front of a live national audience in a time of fear and sadness to regurgitate his FUD.

Lets hope they and those like them have learned their lessons. Brian Crecente

Were video games to blame for massacre? [MSNBC]

About 24 hours after Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people and then himself, I received an email from an editor at a New York newspaper asking me to write a piece about violent videogames.

Was there any link between Cho Seung-Hui and videogames? I asked.

There wasn't, as we know now, and even the editor admitted the next day that it was a request that had come from his editor who'd been scrolling through TV that night.

My editor's editor must have stumbled on Fox News where Jack Thompson hypothesized confidently that authorities would soon find videogames on Cho's computer (they haven't as of this writing), or read the online Washington Post story saying that former high school mates said he was a Counter Strike player (a claim later cut from the story when it ran in print form), or Dr. Phil on Larry King Live lamenting the presence of violent videogames in young people's lives.

I've been writing about videogames for six years now and have answered countless questions about videogames and violence on radio, TV, and podcast. So maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. But there was something about the knee-jerk immediacy of the assumption that videogames must have been involved that took me aback. I wasn't being asked for my opinion, but rather to serve up one more version of an apparently accepted truth: violent videogames lead to violent behavior. Sometimes I wonder if these people don't realize that most Americans under a certain age play video games - that it's really not that extraordinary when it turns out that the sick among us do too.

The deep, deep irony in this case is, of course, that Cho's passion was not Doom - but play writing. I certainly haven't seen any op-eds about the dangers of creative writing.

(Though it may be worth mentioning that the debut of fiction as a popular form of entertainment was met with as much distaste and suspicion in its day as the videogame. Were this several hundred years ago, we may very well have been deluged by anti-creative-writing rants.)

It's natural for people to want to make sense of the disorder of the universe. When tragedy strikes at home or in one's community, one feels a keen need to understand. Why me? Why us? If only we could answer that eternal why, we could put to rest the pain of knowing the universe can deliver up something so horrific. How much easier is to say, it was the videogames! then to come to terms with the kaleidoscope of factors that leads to events such as high school shootings.

Just as I refuse to play blame-the-videogame, however, so too do I refuse to pretend that our mass entertainment isn't part of the equation. Frankly, if you're so defensive about videogames that you refuse to acknowledge that they effect us, then I'm going to have to say you're being as knee jerk as Monsieur Thompson.

I found the snap shot Cho took of himself with two guns raised in the air that he sent to NBC News the most disturbing reminder of this reality. It's an eerily generic reference to any number of pop culture images - from underground rap videos, to game stills, to action movie posters. (John Woo flashed into my mind. Who came into yours?) It was as if Cho were mimicking some vague idea of empowered cool soaked up through years of culture osmosis. His pathetic mimicry gave us a glimpse into who he felt he had become midway through his killing spree. It doesn't give us license to lay the blame for Cho's actions at the feet of pop culture, but it does remind us that yes, duh, our culture influences us.

And let's be honest. As a culture, we fetishize violence - and I don't just mean the faux-violence of games like Postal, Gears of War, or Counter strike, or of TV shows like the seemingly endless spin offs on Law & Order and CSI. The fact is, whether we want to admit it or not, we're seeped in violence both virtual and real. We don't just play violent; we are, deep down at our core, violent.

Look at our history. We've been waging war every day since manifest destiny first became popular more than a hundred years ago - some above ground like the current war in Iraq, others clandestine like our campaigns in the Philippines, Afghanistan, and Central America. You don't become the world's super power by sitting on your heels picking daisies Just a few years ago, we gave the go ahead to our government for a policy of pre-emptive strike. What is that if not an emphatic endorsement of violence as the prime solution to a given problem? Members of the Roman Empire would have been proud.

And as the Virginia Tech shootings reminds us once again, anyone who wants a gun can get one as long as they can pay for it.

Most of us learn how to abstract away the faux-violence of pop culture and to stay numb to the real violence in the world around us. But when one of us does become sick - really sick the way Cho was - perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that the sickness manifests itself as a bloody reflection of all the culture showed him.

To blame violent videogames for this, let alone videogames as a medium, is short sighted, hypocritical, absurd, and, frankly, a little desperate. It's an argument made by people who fear a medium they don't understand and want a bogeyman more than they want real answers.

Heather Chaplin is the co-author with Aaron Ruby of
Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment & Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution. She writes regularly about games and game culture for publications like the New York Times, the L.A. Times and NPR's All Things Considered

Andrew Rosenblum, the 20-year-old creator and host of GameLife, was expected to be freed on $50,000 bail today after allegedly threatening to recreate the spree killing of Virginia Tech at his ex-girlfriend's school.

Rosenblum, who pleaded not guilty to three counts of intent to do bodily harm, must remain at home and wear a monitoring device until his trial. The judge sitting on the hearing also refused to Rosenblum attend temple saying, "I have some serious concerns about that."

Melissa, a co-host on the show, told Kotaku yesterday called the alleged threats a "cry for attention that came from a very dark and lonely place inside Andrew," adding that anyone who knows Rosenblum knows he would never do anything violent.

Police say that Rosenblum sent threatening e-mails to an ex-girlfreind says he would create the bloodshed of Virginia Tech at her school.

"(I)'m gonna (expletive) bring a gun to your school and kill you and K (another female student) and everybody you love. It's gonna be VT all over again," Rosenblum is alleged to have written in an e-mail to his ex-girlfriend.

"Seriously I'm just that demented," Rosenblum wrote in a police report obtained by the (Boston) Herald Tuesday.

Rosenblum is the founder of GameLife which was streamed on MTV's broadband video channel, Overdrive. MTV told VH1's Gamebreak yesterday that the show is no longer on their service.

Rosenblum's attorney said Rosenblum's alleged threats came after his grandmother's death and the break-up with the alleged victim.

"Sometimes kids don't know the power of words," Carney told the Herald today. ... "He used inappropriate language to show his pain," said Carney. "He's an immature young man upset over the break up and death of a grandmother."

It's obvious that Rosenblum is a confused young man, and while I understand he may have been upset when he allegedly said what he said, if it's true, the fear his alleged comments sparked should lead to some sort of punishment. Brian Crecente

'VT' Web threat suspect faces $50,000 bail [Boston Herald]

"School shooting expert" Jack Thompson appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews today to ramble incoherently further about the gossamer-thin connection between Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui's actions and the Half-Life mod Counter-Strike. According to Jack—and no one else—Seung-Hui might have played Counter-Strike in high school at some point making him a calm and efficient killer. While Jack defends that connection in the most what-the-fuck way possible, Matthews takes him to task for his massive leaps in "logic."

Normally, I'm not a fan of helping this tired [expletive deleted] spew his garbage propaganda via the site, but the clip is worth watching for a refreshing change. Instead of letting JT simply regurgitate the same spiel for the thousandth time unfettered, Matthews actually calls into question Jack's warping of the facts.

Wonder if they found Crecente's feature, forwarded them prior to the taping pointing out Jack's lies, helpful? We can only hope!

Thanks for the vid, darkslide. Shame about that off-sync sound though. I do apologize for that. Michael McWhertor

Wow, this is pretty shocking.

Andrew Rosenblum, the founder and co-host of GameLife, has been arrested for allegedly threatening to go on a Virginia Tech-like shooting spree at a Boston-area college.

Rosenblum, who was taking classes at the Boston University, instant messaged his ex-girlfriend shortly after 32 people were killed at Virginia Tech, saying he was going to kill her, according to the Boston Herald.

"(I)'m gonna (expletive) bring a gun to your school and kill you and K (another female student) and everybody you love. It's gonna be VT all over again," 20-year-old Andrew Rosenblum allegedly wrote in an e-mail to the victim just hours after 32 people were gunned at Virginia Tech. "Seriously I'm just that demented," Rosenblum wrote, according to a BPD report. He ended the message with a threat to commit homicide and suicide: "killing people can change people's lives forever. (T)he best is in the end when I pull the trigger on myself, too."

Rosenblum was picked up by police at his parents house Tuesday and taken to a local hospital for observation. Police were expecting to arrest him today for threatening to do bodily harm.

The 19-year-old girl told police she went on three dates with Rosenblum and then broke up with him. She said he then started to harass her.

Police called the instant message threats "very serious" and said the case remained under investigation.

Last year Rosenblum's GameLife show was picked up by MTV's broadband video channel Overdrive. None of the hosts for the show returned emails seeking comments Wednesday afternoon. Brian Crecente

Update: I just heard back from Melissa, one of the show's hosts:

I only recently learned of this. Anyone who knows Andrew knows he would never do anything violent. This was clearly a cry for attention that came from a very dark and lonely place inside of Andrew. It seems the media in general is already treating this as some hot topic when, in reality, it is a small story about a sad and confused guy who needs to get some help. He is now getting that help.

Cops pick up BU student over 'VT' Web threat [Boston Herald]

Well it's gone.

The reference disappeared from the online version of the story sometime between when it hit yesterday evening and when it went into print today. The online version no longer has the reference either.

When I first was tipped off that it had disappeared I thought it was likely the result of a running story getting edited. Often with a breaking online story, a reporter's notebook is sort of dumped into a story. That goes double for hot, breaking news and triple for online stories.

I suspect what happened was that as time went by the editors and reporters got more relevant details and edited the story accordingly, beefing up the bits that mattered and cutting out the stuff that was not really connected.

Among the bits on the cutting room floor? The Counterstrike reference. I suspect that's because a childhood habit of playing video games while in high school doesn't really play a part in what a person does when they are in college and his roommates never mention him gaming, so more than likely he wasn't much of a gamer anymore.

Nosing around I was able to find out that, that was indeed the case. No conspiracy here, just good editing. Too bad that didn't happen before the reference made it into the first version. Brian Crecente

Washington Post Links Shooter to Counterstrike [Washington Post]

It looks like the witch hunt is really starting to kick into overdrive.

Hours after the shooting you had people on national television speculating that the shooter, who had yet to be identified, was a gamer and that his playing of games likely led to the rampage.

Today multiple media organizations are already starting to dig into the whole violence and video game angle. At least one unnamed publication put out a query looking for anyone knowledgeable "about shooter/violent video games" who would be willing to write an article for a major daily.

The Washington Post, quick to get reporters to the childhood neighborhood of the shooter, posted a five page article on their site this evening. In it they say Cho Seung Hui was a "fan of violent video games."

Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Counterstrike, a hugely popular online game published by Microsoft, in which players join terrorism or counterterrorism groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns.

Marshall Main, a neighbor who lived across the Chos in the quiet community of townhomes, said the Chos were hardly ever home, but always waved and smiled when greeted. The couple worked long hours at a dry cleaner, neighbors said.

What they don't say is whether it has anything to do with the shooting. And, granted, it is only one graph in the story, but it does make you wonder if he was also a fan of violent music, violent television, violent movies. Whether he read Catcher in the Rye.

Fact without perspective is almost as bad as lies. Brian Crecente

Centreville Student Was Va. Tech Shooter [Washington Post]

Just hours after the shooting on the Virginia Tech campus, Jack Thompson worked his way onto national television to attempt to tie the tragedy to video games - hours before authorities had released any information about the suspect or his motive.

Watching the video (provided by a Kotaku reader), I found more than a half-dozen points which were either grossly misleading or out-right lies. Hit the jump for the analysis of his comments from the video.

1. The FBI and Secret Service found that the most common denominator for shootings prior to Columbine was that the perpetrator was immersed in "incredibly violent entertainment, most notable video games."
Time: 30 seconds
Verdict: Not exactly True
Evidence: In 2000, the FBI published an analysis of 18 schools, 14 of which had actual shootings. In the other four, students planned shootings but were thwarted.

The analysis broke down the assessment model of a shooter into four prongs.

While "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" found that a "fascination with violence-filled entertainment" was one personality traits and behavior common among shooters, in one of the four prongs,it lists another 27 traits as well. It also does not single out video games as being most notable among the "violence-filled entertainment" shooters were fascinated with.

The student demonstrates an unusual fascination with movies, TV shows, computer games, music videos or printed material that focus intensively on themes of violence, hatred, control, power, death, and destruction. He may incessantly watch one movie or read and reread one book with violent content, perhaps involving school violence. Themes of hatred, violence, weapons, and mass destruction recur in virtually all his activities, hobbies, and pastimes.

The student spends inordinate amounts of time playing video games with violent themes, and seems more interested in the violent images than in the game itself.

On the Internet, the student regularly searches for web sites involving violence, weapons, and other disturbing subjects. There is evidence the student has downloaded and kept material from these sites.

In the lengthy study's proposals the FBI recommends training parents to track their child's use of the Internet and viewing of violent videos. No reference is made to tracking video game playing.

2. The FBI found that Red Lake school shooter Jeffrey Weise had "basically rehearsed for the massacre" by playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City in order to get his heart rate down and be able to kill.
Time: 49 seconds
Verdict: Cannot prove or disprove
Evidence: The only references I could find on the Internet, with the FBI, in the newspaper coverage, with the police department of Weise training for the Red Lake School shooting come from Thompson himself. On several occasions he both predicts that police will find this to be the case and then goes on to say it is the case, but never provides any sort of proof or source.

3. Prior to going on a shooting spree at Dawson College in Montreal, Kimveer Gill "trained on Super Columbine Massacre."
Time: 1 minute 10 seconds
Verdict: False
Evidence: While one could argue endlessly about the merits of Super Columbine Massacre RPG and whether it crosses a moral boundary, there is no argument about it's use as a tactics trainer. The game was created using RPG Maker and requires zero tactics or marksmanship to complete. Instead you roam endlessly through a generic school setting killing students in an abbreviated turn-based attack system similar to Final Fantasy.

Gunman Kimveer Gill did play the game, including it among a long list of games he liked to play. It was not his "favorite game" according to his profile on his blog.

4. Michael Carneal was spurred to go on a spree shooting in Paducah, Kentucky by computer games and trained on Doom before the shooting.
Time: 2 minutes 12 seconds
Verdict: False
Evidence: That song and dance is certainly what Jack Thompson tried to prove in the $130 million lawsuit he filed in April, 1999 against two Internet pornography sites, several game developers and the makers and distributors of The Basketball Diaries.

Fortunately, Thompson lost that little bid. In 2002 the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it was "simply too far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom."

A psychiatrist who interviewed Carneal also rebuked Thompson's claim that Carneal had never fired a gun, saying that the teen admitted to stealing a .22-caliber pistol and practicing with it and other handguns.

Thompson continues to spread this particular lie despite a court of law saying it isn't true.

5. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used Doom to train for "what they did at Columbine."
Time: Two minutes and 32 seconds
Verdict: False
Evidence: Again, a lawyer tried to show a connection between games, including Doom, and the shootings and again that lawsuit was tossed out by a federal judge.

In dismissing the suit, the U.S. District judge said there was no way the makers of violent games including "Doom" and "Redneck Rampage," and violent movies such as "The Basketball Diaries," could have reasonably foreseen that their products would cause the Columbine shooting or any other violent acts.

But perhaps Thompson is talking about the wide-spread myth that Harris created a level for Doom so he could practice the deadly shooting. Again, not true. While Harris did create four levels for the game, none of them resembled the school.

6. Jeffery Weise uploaded a "flash game version" of Grand Theft Auto Vice City in which he was predicting what he was going to do.
Time: Three minutes and 15 seconds
Verdict: False
Evidence: While Jack Thompson certainly tried to liken Jeffery Weise's animation to both a video game and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, it is clear neither are true.

The animated short, entitled Target Practice, shows an animated character shooting four people and blowing up a police car before committing suicide. Shortly after the Red Lake school shooting Thompson also tried to tie another short, entitled Clown, to a Rockstar game, saying it was a"replication" of Manhunt. Also, obviously not true.

7. After Robert Steinhauser's deadly shooting at a school in Erfurt, Germany, police found "52 shooter games, most notably Counterstrike Half-Life which was his game of choice." Steinhauser "dressed up like the hero in that game for his assault." The involvement of video games in that shooting changed the law in Germany.
Time: Three minutes and 55 seconds
Verdict: Not exactly true
Evidence: Police did find violent comics, movies and video games in Steinhauser's home after the shooting, but according to Erfurt Police Chief Rainer Grube there were "several computer games featuring "intensive weapons usage" not 52.

While Steinhauser did dress in black "ninja-like" garb, it would be a stretch to say he was "dressed up like the hero" in Counterstrike.

His last point, about it changing the law, was a bit tricky to prove or disprove. I finally tracked down an update at EurActiv, which tracks political actions in the EU. According to the site, while there was a lot of initial political grandstanding, no law was ever passed. Instead the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini called on ministers meeting in Dresden to agree "to share best practices" on curbing the sale of violent video games to minors.

Update: Reader Lazy points out that there were some changes in law due to the shooting.

Conclusion: What do we learn from this assessment of Thompson's babble on national television? That you can say anything on TV and not have it fact-checked as long as you say it quickly, when TV needs someone to fill time and it's a good sound bite.

Yep, despite the fact that he's a known liar, infamous for threatening fellow attorneys and judges and is on the cusp of (one would hope) losing his license to practice law in Florida, Jack Thompson managed to weasel his way onto Fox News to spew his own particular brand of hate and lies.

That's right, Thompson is trying to link the worst shooting in U.S. history, the one that occurred earlier today at Virginia Tech, to video games.

What I love about this is that just about everything he says on live television is blatantly not true, like blaming video games on the Red Lake High School shooting.

It saddens me that filth like Jack can get on national television to gloat and revel in the deaths of so many and try to put it off as education. Brian Crecente

UpdateHere's the video and a run down of all of the half-truths and lies Jack told.

Coming out for Xbox in the US this May (though it has been in Japan for quite some time), Battle Storm: Senko no Ronde is the UbiSoft's American version of the Japanese fighter/shooter that looks like it could melt your mind in about two seconds. I could easily take an epileptic seizure if that's not available, though. Kim Phu

Shooting, fighting, androgyny: Senko no Ronde coming stateside [Joystiq]

It seems to be the vogue lately to blame video games for every violent crime attributed to a teenager. Last week 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic went on a gun toting rampage through a Salt Lake City Mall killing five or six people (the Deseret News article I read reported both numbers) and injuring several others. When questioned about motives for the killings, Salt Lake City Police Chief, Chris Burbank, had this to say:

Although nothing will be completely ruled out in the search for a motive, some of the possibilities that have been rumored on Internet blog sites so far seem to have no merit, Burbank said. For instance, detectives as of Friday had found no evidence that violent video games may have influenced Talovic. In fact, Talovic did not even own a computer or a video-game system, Burbank said.

I am not sure which of these "internet blogs" he was referring to would start such a rumor, but I can venture a few guesses. And, in a move that will surprise none of us here, our good friend J.T. wasted no time in sending local reporters an inflammatory email titled "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game."

I am terribly saddened at this news and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. I am glad, though, to see the authorities stepping up to the plate and taking a stand against those certain individuals who just can't seem to understand that violent video games are not responsible for the entire downfall of our society. Flynn De Marco

Police, DA give further details in Trolley shooting [Deseret News]
Childhood offers clues about killer [Salt Lake Tribune]
[via GamePolitics]

The Associated Press reports that the district attorney in New Hanover County is continuing the investigation. But what about that threat of charging the man twice for the same crime? According to a Wake Forest law professor quoted by the AP:

There's no constitutional bar to them going back again. If you're talking about double jeopardy, it doesn't actually attach to the case until a trial jury is seated.

Who thought that shooting to death a PlayStation 3 thief would cause such a rollercoaster of courtroom drama?! Michael McWhertor

D.A. in PlayStation shooting still investigating deputy [CNN]

Color me speechless.

Remember yesterday when I said how very rare it is for a police officer or deputy to be charged in a shooting case and that I was surprised that a decision was made to charge the deputy involved in the shooting of the suspected PS3 thief?

Turns out, it was an accident. No, not the shooting, the filing of charges.

After holding a press conference and telling the family of the teen shot to death that there would be charges, the New Hanover County District Attorney said today that it was a mistake. Apparently, the grand jury foreman said he had checked the wrong box on the indictment paperwork.

A copy of the indictment filed as evidence Tuesday shows a checked box for a "true bill" of indictment crossed out, with a heavy mark made through "not a true bill," followed by what appears to be the foreman's initials and Tuesday's date.

When a grand jury wants a murder indictment, it returns a "true bill." When it decides it does not want to issue an indictment, it returns "not a true bill."

The development drew a quick reaction from Strickland's family, which had praised prosecutors after they won the indictment against Long.

"Yesterday, our son's murderer was going to have to answer for what he did," Don and Kathy Strickland said in a statement. "Today, we just don't know what is going on in Wilmington. We are upset, confused and searching for answers."

The Associated Press reports that the mistaken charge could prevent the DA from filing charges against the deputy down the line because of the threat of double jeopardy.

Haven't they ever heard of polling a grand jury in New Hanover. Brian Crecente

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials dismissed a murder charge Tuesday against a sheriff's deputy accused of shooting an unarmed teenager who authorities believed had stolen video game consoles, after a grand jury foreman said he had checked the wrong box on the indictment paperwork.

The dismissal came a day after New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David announced the second-degree murder charge against Cpl. Christopher Long.

David said Monday that the 34-year-old sheriff's deputy opened fire as police raided the home of Peyton Strickland, who police believed stole two Sony PlayStation 3 video game consoles from a college student in Wilmington.

Brenda Tucker, the court clerk in New Hanover Superior Court, confirmed the charge has been dismissed. Don Beskind, the law partner of Strickland's father, said the grand jury foreman told a court Tuesday that he checked the wrong box on the indictment form by mistake.

A copy of the indictment filed as evidence Tuesday shows a checked box for a "true bill" of indictment crossed out, with a heavy mark made through "not a true bill," followed by what appears to be the foreman's initials and Tuesday's date.

When a grand jury wants a murder indictment, it returns a "true bill." When it decides it does not want to issue an indictment, it returns "not a true bill."

The development drew a quick reaction from Strickland's family, which had praised prosecutors after they won the indictment against Long.

"Yesterday, our son's murderer was going to have to answer for what he did," Don and Kathy Strickland said in a statement. "Today, we just don't know what is going on in Wilmington. We are upset, confused and searching for answers."

David's office referred questions to the chambers of Superior Court Judge Ernest Fullwood, who did not immediately return a call. It was not immediately clear whether the error would prevent prosecutors from refiling charges against Long, a 12-year member of the sheriff's office who was fired last week after the Dec. 1 shooting.

Cpl. Christopher Long, 34, was indicted Monday on second-degree murder for the death of 18-year-old college student Payton Strickland, which was shot Dec. 1.

Stories do not address whether Strickland had a controller in his hand when he was shot, though his roommate said that might have been the case. The stories do say he was unarmed.

District Attorney Ben David said Long mistook the sound of another sheriff deputy's battering ram hitting a door as a gunshot. Strickland was shot in the shoulder and once in the head. The fatal shot first ricocheted off of another object, according to an autopsy report.

Deputies believed that the raid would be high risk because of pictures found on the Internet which showed one of Strickland's friend's posing with guns and because UNC Wilmington police had said they had received information that the friend, who didn't live with Strickland, was known to carry a weapon.

Strickland and two friends were suspected of beating a UNC Wilmington student and robbing him of two Playstation 3s in November.

"This indictment is an important first step in holding accountable everyone responsible for Peyton's death - but this is only a first step," his parents, Don and Kathy Strickland, said in a written statement. "None of these actions can bring Peyton back to us, but perhaps they can save someone else's child."

Family and friends of Long, who was fired last week, described the man as widely known, respected and loved. He has, they say, received death threats since the shooting.

These cases are never black and white and in my investigatory experience, which is quite substantial, charging an officer or deputy in a case like this is very rare. Brian Crecente

Former N.C. sheriff's deputy charged in death of teen during raid [AP]

Two Connecticut man were arrested early this morning for shooting a man who refused to hand over his wallet while standing in line for a Playstation 3, state police there said.

William J. Robertson, 20, and Andrew Patnaude, 17, were arrested about 4 a.m. on several charges including attempted murder and robbery. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bond, the Associated Press reports.

Michael Penkala, 21, was shot by the two gunmen while waiting for the console outside Wal-Mart in Putnam on Nov. 17, launch day.

The two men had ordered everyone in line to throw their cash and possessions on the ground or put them in bags, but Penkala refused to give up his wallet, which was stuffed with more than $2,600 in cash.

Penkala told the Telegram & Gazette how it played out:

Mr. Penkala said that at 3:14 a.m., two masked men showing guns came around to the front of the building and approached several people in line.

"At that point, I knew what was going on — two kids with bandanas over their faces with guns," he said. "So I dialed 911 on my cellphone and dropped it into my pocket."

Before the two robbers confronted Mr. Penkala, they accosted two other individuals and ordered them to empty their pockets.

"They approached two kids first, and they got 75 cents out of them, and I was the third person they came to. And I wasn't giving it up for anything," Mr. Penkala said. "So they hit me with the butt of the gun in the face, kind of got me to the ground a little bit, continued to hit me and struggled for my wallet. And I just held on to that pocket and wallet for dear life."

Mr. Penkala had $2,600 in cash on him, $900 of which came from his grandmother. He was determined not to give it to the robbers at any cost. The first two individuals escaped unharmed, while Mr. Penkala was not as lucky.

"They emptied their pockets. They didn't have much, but they listened to them, I guess," Mr. Penkala surmised. "They wanted me to hand over whatever I had in my pockets and empty that out to the ground and into a bag. I wasn't going to have any part of that."Prior to being shot, Mr. Penkala, whose glasses were broken during the assault, suffered a black eye, a gash above and underneath his left eye (which needed two stitches combined to close) and impaired hearing in his left ear for several days. He was able to scare away the robbers, but not before one fired a shotgun in his direction, Mr. Penkala said.

"I started yelling at them, '...Get the hell out of here. I called 911!' Mr. Penkala recalled. "And they both ran and, after a couple steps, one of them turned around and fired a sawed-off shotgun at me and then just continued to run off into the woods."

Penkala was hit once in the chest with a shotgun blast from about ten feet away.

Despite the gunshot wound, which had him coughing up blood and feeling "lightheaded" he told the paper that his only concer was getting those Playstation 3s.

"When they let us in the lobby there at Wal-Mart, I was on the floor coughing up blood and telling the workers to take the wallet out of my pocket and give it to my friends so they could continue waiting in line and purchase the PS3s," Mr. Penkala said. "For some reason I wasn't thinking about my wound, I was all about those PlayStations."

Penkala, a PS3 scalper, said he doesn't regret refusing to give up his cash and getting shot in the chest. Things appear to have worked out for Penkala, who landed four, FOUR, Playstation 3s, three of which he purchased and one of which was handed to him by Wal-Mart for his troubles.

No comment. Brian Crecente

PS3 Shooting Victim Has no Regrets [Telegram]

Once again an incident of school violence causes lawmakers to call for strict legislation against/banning of violent video games, only this time it's in Germany, where an 18 year old former student known as Bastian B. stormed a secondary school armed with explosives and firearms, wounding upwards of 32 people before ending his own life.

"The only thing I really learned at school was that I'm a loser," the youth wrote in a letter posted on his Web site that was later removed by police. "I hate people ... I'm gone."

German kid injures 32 and kills himself [United Press International - Thanks Ugly Joe]

The masked gunmen, one armed with a handgun, the other with a shotgun, confronted the line of 15 to 20 people about 3 a.m. and demanded their money. After the robbery and shooting the two fled and the victim was taken to a local hospital. His condition was unknown today.

Good thing they didn't try to take on that Colorado Best Buy line, they would have been shanked, or tackled into next week. Brian Crecente

Thugs rob people in Playstation 3 waiting line, shoot 1 [Rocky Mountain News]

I also managed to squeeze a few minutes out of Ian Bogost, of Watercooler Games, to talk about the game's connection to the shooting. Brian Crecente

Q: What was your reaction to the news that the gunman in Canada liked to play the Columbine game?

A: A tragedy like this saddens and disturbs us all. Like most people who learned about it, my thoughts were and remain with the victims and their families. It was clear from the start that the media would latch onto the games Gill played, rather than the problems that drove him to this disturbing act.

Q: Do you think this "proves" that the game shouldn't have been made?

A: Gill was clearly a disturbed man. Should "Braveheart" not have been made because Gill also watched it? The tragedy here lies in the unfortunate, sad, unhappy life of this man, not in something inherent to the media he consumed.

Q: In retrospect, do you think that the game should have been made differntly or perhaps come with some sort of notice or paper that explained the issues the game's creator was trying to raise?

A: The creator did write an artist's statement posted on his website that explained his reasons for making the game, but like any artifact those who encounter it can interpret it as they wish. Games are art, and art can be dangerous. We can't put disclaimers on our culture, but we can offer support to our friends and family in need of it. Clearly Gill needed help he did not get.

By: Brian Crecente

Back in May I spoke with Danny Ledonne about his game Super Columbine Massacre RPG and why he made it. In light of last week's shooting at Dawson College in Montreal, I decided to revist the issue with Ledonne.

Q. When and how did you first learn of the possible connection between your
game and the shooting at Dawson College?

A. Thursday, September 14th, 2006. The phone kept ringing. I didn't have
to be at work until 11am and had every intention of sleeping in. I thought,
"why there be this many calls back to back at this hour...?" Soon enough, I
check the answering machine to find half a dozen messages from reporters
wanting interviews. I knew something had happened and I knew it was with
the Columbine game. Ten minutes online was all it took to figure out the
rest.

Q. What was your initial reaction?

A. My very first reaction, frankly, was to head to my toilet bowl and throw
up. I knew what was in the works and I knew the next week would be spent
keeping my head above water while the press tried to bury me with
guilt-laden questions and implications of complicity in murder. I also knew
that this was no time to fold or get weak-kneed. I made a game. I believed
in it. Now it was time to defend it. No one would do that except me.

I sifted through old emails and posts on the SCMRPG forum, looking for
anyone that might've come my way from Kimveer. I thought, "did I know this
guy?" "Could I have stopped any of this?" "Was there a fan who left
warning signs that I ignored amidst my daily routine?" Thankfully, the
answer was "no;" Kimveer had never contacted me at all. Period.

Q. In retrospect, would you still create the game knowing what you know now?

A. Knowing that the game would become an underground cult obsession, knowing
that someone would eventually ferret out my identity, knowing that I would
get death threats and receive requests for autographs, and knowing that one
mentally disturbed man would cite my game as one he liked to play before
randomly shooting at college students... there's no way to honestly answer
that question. I would LIKE to say, "yes, there's no question." But of
course that's impossible to gauge.

I didn't know I was making something that became part of a movement to give
video games an agenda, a social conscience. I didn't think more than a few
dozen of my online friends would play it. I think the game needed to be
made. Despite my lack of technical skill with video game design, it turns
out the person that made it was me. Maybe that sounds deterministic but the
concept of a deep, dedicated game about Columbine was waiting to happen;
that shooting happened at a very formative age for an entire generation of
gamers and I'm sure it marked us all in one way or another.

It's hard to imagine the last two years of my life without the development,
release, and reactions of SCMRPG. It's almost like my double-life... filled
with names I don't have faces for and a cast of tremendously thoughtful,
talented, curious, or angry people. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't
have bothered to remain anonymous for over a year; in the end I never wanted
the game to be about who made it but rather what it is.

Q. What do you say to those out there who point to the shooting as a reason
why your game should not have been made?

A. This is a question with very deep implications that are worth dissecting,
I think. If one is interested in making something for the public to
view—be it a painting, a book, an album, a film, or a video game, should
the POSSIBLE harm that may come out of this work be grounds for its
suppression from society? This is, in a sense, pre-crime. If you believe
in what you're doing and you want to express yourself, the expression should
be primary and any interpretations that come after must always remain of
secondary importance to the creation of the work itself.

On another level, the entire correlation between the Dawson College shooting
and my game is unfounded. Though it was far from shooter Kimveer Gill's
favorite game, it was among the list of games he liked to play. I can only
assume, after 150,000+ downloads of the game, that it is also a game that
other people like to play (ones who won't be going postal). What else did
Kimveer like? Black clothes? Goth music? Pizza?

"Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" hardly contains the graphic violence someone
wishing to destroy the world would be looking for. It requires a lot of
reading, some puzzle solving, and menu-based combat that is so far removed
from any real act of physical violence that you might as well be playing
Smash Brothers Melee for your fix. The game is devoid of bomb-making
recipes or any skill-building in sighting in a firearm. If Gill "got"
anything out of SCMRPG, it was merely that there were once two boys as angry
and bent on destruction as he was. This of course, would be just as easily
deduced by reading a few documents online (of which he certainly did as
well).

If anything, the Dawson College shooting is proof positive that games like
SCMRPG SHOULD be made; until video games are no longer among the "usual
suspects" for homicidal rampages, the public needs to more carefully
consider why interactive electronic media is somehow the manufacturer of
Manchurian Candidates.

Q. What were you trying to achieve with your game?

A. "Achievement" is difficult to speak to in the sense that I didn't expect
my game to find a mass public audience at all and the CREATION of the game
was foremost in my mind rather than any RECEPTION it might have. This
aside, I wanted to put the game online to give people a unique way of
looking at the worst school shooting in US history. I wanted to give people
something to talk about—more over to take a subject we thought we knew and
challenge how well we know it. I wanted to engage people in the idea that a
video game can be more than a way to pass the time—that in fact it could
challenge the player's sense of morality and leave them with a chilling,
accurate depiction of a real-life event (one that was of great significance
to me).

Q. Do you think that was achieved?

A. SCMRPG has far exceeded any and all expectations I had for it... except
one... which is your next question.

Q. Do you think that perhaps the message in your game is too buried or
intellectual for everyone to find, does it worry you that perhaps some might
misinterpret what you were trying to do with the game?

A. I think there are elements of the game that are completely lost to most
people. This is in part because the subject matter doesn't flag down our
most intellectual sensibilities and also because, of course, video games
don't usually contain philosophers, poetry, or deeper meditations on
society. The base assumption is that this is a game where the stated
objective is to kill as many innocent kids as possible. Most people never
make it through the game and certainly don't readily consider the game as a
sociological critique or a deconstruction of the form (that is, "the video
game").

I think people that have come looking for a graphic exploitation of the
shooting—one that celebrates violence for its own sake and saturates the
screen with blood and torment—are always disappointed. I have gotten much
disparaging email about having not made a first person shooter, having no
way to "win" except to reflect upon the event with the press conference at
the end, and in general taking away all the sexy action and supplanting it
with dialogue and maudlin Smashing Pumpkins midi.

In short, most people misinterpret what I was trying to do with the game...
thankfully some of them are willing to really listen to what I have to say.
This was a game that was created in response to the scapegoatism video games
face today and as such it is the "perfect target" for already zealous
critics of video gaming. In the end, SCMRPG is something of chimera that
becomes whatever the player wants it to be: a horrible exploitation, a
thorough research project, a crappy little 16-bit game, or a point of
fixation for someone who wants to kill people.

Q. Do you think good things have come out of the creation of the game?

A. Absolutely. I am contacted all the time by people thanking me for
telling the story that most people won't touch—and it a way most people
would deem unthinkable. Moreover, many young people are now talking openly
about something they used to keep bottled up inside. Looking over the lives
of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, it was precisely that lack of contact with
the rest of humanity that permitted them to fall so far off the deep end of
nihilism.

Through the forum and personal communication, I have gotten angry young men
to think through the consequences of "another Columbine" and can say with
confidence that I've made a positive difference in the lives of young people
who don't really have anyone... the ones who are pushed into lockers, called
"faggot," ridiculed and ostracized. I can tell them I've been through it,
that life isn't always that way, and if they can find something they love
and excel at it, they'll be miles beyond their tormentors in just a few
short years.

The positive correspondence also comes in the form of women who spent their
teenage years suffering with depression and suicide, sometimes deeply
sedated by SRIs like Luvox, Zoloft, and Prozac (the first of which, as
SCMRPG players know, Eric Harris took and abruptly stopped before the
shooting). The fact is that for some people Columbine reads as an
"alternative history" to the daily agony they face in their teenage years.
I feel like I can help them to see past that and find ways to process their
pain without leaving a trail of blood and television crews.

Q. Did you ever have any contact with 25-year-old Kimveer Gill?

A. None. I know a friend online who had contact with him briefly. That's
really the extent of it.

Q. Have you had any contact with the people affected by the Dawson shooting?
Who contacted you and why?

A. I have been in contact with one survivor in particular who wrote me out
of a kind of sobering curiosity. He wanted to understand why I made the
game and felt as though it was in part responsible for the shooting. After
we spoke further, he began to understand the content of my character and the
game took on a slightly different context for him. I told him about CHS
survivors I have befriended and, more than anything, listened to him and
extended my empathy for what he's going through.

Q. What was that conversation like?

A. Conversations like that are never easy but nonetheless very important.
Part of "owning" my creation means being open and available to talk with
people about it and to meet them on common ground. It's amazing to me,
though: when people are truly willing to listen to one another, there's
almost nothing that can't be overcome. Talking with people on opposing
points of view, and slowly finding how much we really are alike after all,
is one of the most humanizing and transformative experiences of my life. I
think we have a lot to learn from our abilities to reconcile and accept one
another. There surely needs to be more of this in the world today.

Q. Have you considered making any other video games?

A. (smiles) Grand Theft Election: Miami-Dade.

I'm no video game programmer; films are still my foremost passion and I
think cinematically when I want to tell a story (much of SCMRPG felt like
"directing" scenes with dialogue and action sequences... the flashbacks in
particular).

That being said, I work on lots of smaller games with youth in my community
center (using RPG Maker and similar programs) but if anything Columbine was
the one subject I HAD to make a game about. It was something inside me that
needed to be confronted. I may not have another game like that in me... but
then again I'm a pretty non-linear thinker and I'm always interested in how
electronic media of any kind can affect us.

Honestly I think video games where such a part of my childhood that I'll
always view them as a means through which to see the world. In some ways
they are prohibitive to understanding something but in others can yield so
much interactivity that their power is undeniable. I think gaming is still
in its teenage years and as such there's much to explore in terms of what a
game is and how we can play it. I'm totally addicted to Dance Dance
Revolution, for example, and make my own songs and steps all the time with
Step Mania. I'm almost good enough for Heavy Mode now.

Q. Would you make a video game about what happened at Dawson College? Why or
Why not?

I'm not an ambulance chaser who makes games. I think there are very
interesting stories out there—some of them can lend themselves to gaming.
Just recently I tried out Persuasive Games' Airport Security and that was
completely arresting in an unexpected way (as was the Sim McDonalds game).

I'm not sure there's as much of a story at Dawson College as there was at
Columbine. Maybe I'm wrong. Someone spitefully suggested making a game
where players work as the SWAT Team to kill kids in black trench coats. I
told him to do it; I would link his site to mine if I liked it. I think
gaming could someday be as personal as the blog or the YouTube phenomena;
everyone with a computer and a Net connection can make a game to express
their worldview. It needn't be a top-down medium of producers and consumers
of games. Frankly I'd prefer it not be.

Q. Is there anything else you would like to add about this?

A. "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" is, from the title on, a satire. It is a
satire of how the media came to view the shooting but ALSO a satire on the
conventions of video gaming itself. I wanted to deconstruct what a video
game could be about while still using many of the conventions available in
gaming. This is difficult for some to understand insomuch as the event
itself was tragic and painful for so many people but I believe true satire
can be aimed at even the most uncomfortable of topics (even nuclear war, per
'Dr. Strangelove.') In the case of SCMRPG, a GAME seemed to be the
appropriate response to so much vilification of gaming.

One of the seminal moments in popular video gaming was the encounter between
Mario and the first Goomba in World 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers for the NES.
There were really three possible options open to the player: 1) jump OVER
the Goomba and continue, 2) jump ONTO the Goomba and receive 100 points, or
3) walk INTO the Goomba and lose one of Mario's three lives. From this
crude simplification of how sprites in video games would interact came an
entire industry based largely on hit detection and other physically-driven
mechanisms for game play. Mario could not give the Gooba a high five
(Goombas don't have hands), could not ask for directions (who needs them in
a 2-D world?), and didn't so much as respect the Goomba's natural habitat in
the Mushroom Kingdom (what with all the vandalism of blocks). Mario could
not even enlist any help for creating his path of destruction until Yoshi
the dinosaur came along six years later...

The article written on SCMRPG for Wikipedia really understands much of the
effort and thinking behind the game. It's encouraging to see that yes, some
people really do understand that the game is critical not just of the
Columbine shooting and how it was handled in the press but also of the
operating constraints and conventions of the medium of video games itself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Columbine_Massacre_RPG%21

Most of all, if nothing else I want SCMRPG to convey this: MAKE SOMETHING!
If you have something to say about the world, don't wait around for someone
to create that thing for you, DO IT YOURSELF. No matter who you are, you
have something to share and there's absolutely no reason media conglomerates
should have a monopoly on the creation of culture. In the digital age, we
have been empowered to reshape the horizon of understanding ourselves. So
set aside your MySpace blog, turn off the TV, and put down the controller
for your X-Box. Make something... and don't be afraid that your idea might
not b