Cops in Sunrise, Fla. say the the father, Emanuel Lawrence, 30, was responsible for looking after the girl while her mother was at work. Unfortunately, after finishing a marathon game session at 6 a.m. he lay her on the bed beside him, rolled over in his sleep, and bad things commenced thereafter. Authorities accuse Lawrence of taking the baby to her crib and claiming she died in her sleep there to cover up the crime.

The police report says he smoked weed the previous afternoon which, if that lasts long enough to make a man oblivious to smothering his own daughter more than 12 hours later, holy cow. But it's not like "No, really, I was just tired from playing video games," is going to make him more sympathetic.

He's looking at aggravated manslaughter charges. It's all very sad.

Sunrise Man Arrested in Daughter's Suffocation Death [Miami Herald via Hot Blooded Gaming]

According to police, Brewer owed one of the suspects US$40 for a video game. This unpaid video game debt apparently led the suspect to steal the victim's father's bicycle, reports CNN.

Brewer reported that the bicycle was stolen, leading to the suspect's arrest. The suspect was released from a detention center earlier this week on Monday morning.

The suspect and the victim did not attend school on Monday.

On Tuesday, Brewer was waiting for friends at an apartment complex when he was approached by the suspect. According to eye-witness reports and from what the juveniles have told authorities, the suspect screamed, "He's [Brewer] a snitch, he's a snitch" and "pour it on him." Another suspect then threw what's believed to be rubbing alcohol on Brewer, before setting the victim ablaze with a lighter.

"A couple of them last night were laughing about it," said sheriff's Sgt. Steve Feeley. "One of them arrested today seems genuinely sorry about it."

One witness told CNN affiliate WPLG, "I saw a kid throwing something at the other kid, and next thing you know, the kid was on fire. He was up in fire."

According to WPLG, an apartment resident extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher, and the teenager jumped into the complex's swimming pool.

"In my 31 years — I always say, 'it's the most heinous crime I've ever seen,'" Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said. "This one fits in that category. The fact that a person would intentionally ignite another child on fire — it's indescribable."

Brewer is expected to remain in the hospital for the next five months to recover from his burns.

Police: Juveniles laughed after setting 15-year-old on fire [CNN]

On Baran's own 1Up page, he wrote this about himself:

I was an editor for EGM and the host of Sendai/Ziff-Davis magazines, enjoying a tenure that lasted from the days of the NES and continued all the way through to the Xbox. (1991-2001) I started out counseling players on a variety of videogame tip lines and ended my extensive career as Senior Editor...

On the magazines, I was once known as Cyber Boy. Historically speaking, I had one of the longest runs on the Review Crew-where I even held the top slot for a time. Sadly, this was mostly incognito as I wrote under Ed Semrad's name over the years. If you have your old issues, you can find plenty of hidden references in "his" reviews that would hint at the truth. Eventually I got to use my real name and had enjoyed the top slot of the Crew with my own identity.

A ZD buyout spun me into the fringes of EGM2 where I produced over 125 strategy guides. When the company was sold to an investment firm, I found myself cast out of the gaming media's light, but into the warm embrace of gaming retail instead.

Former EGM Editor In Chief Dan Hsu has a tribute to Baran over at BitMob. That in the embedded link below.

Rest in peace, Andy, rest in peace.

RIP: EGM's Andy Baran [BitMob]

Jonquel Brooks (pictured at right), a freshman at Fresno State, shot and killed Brant Daniels, 19, and wounded Daniels' friends in the May 2007 incident. Daniels and the others had gone to Brooks' apartment to look for their stolen console. Brooks claimed he acted in self-defense. He surrendered to police after a two day standoff.

Police didn't find any PS2 in his apartment. Regardless, Brooks was found guilty in April of first degree murder and attempted murder. According to the Fresno Bee, Brooks got a total of 109 years and four months - 25 to life for the killing, 25 for using a gun, and 59 years, four months for three counts of attempted murder. It was not specified if those were consecutive or concurrent sentences.

Either way, it's one hell of a lot of hard time over a $100 PS2.

Man Gets Life in Killing Over PlayStation [Fresno Bee, and image]

Considered one of the greatest pro wrestlers ever, Misawa's popularity in Japan rivaled Hulk Hogan's in the West.

Besides being a fantastic wrestler, he was also a gamer. A Famitsu interview with Misawa lists his favorites:

Super Mario Bros.
Momotaro Dentetsu
Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dochu
Dragon Quest
Final Fantasy
Fire Emblem
R-TYPE
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
Super Robot Taisen

The 46 year-old wrestling giant will be missed.

プロレスラー、三沢光晴さんが好きだったゲームソフト [my game news flash] [Pic]

According to Marshall County Sheriff Kenny Dickerson, "The younger brother allegedly got mad because he got beat at some video games and got the gun." The father was outside mowing the lawn at the time.

The older brother, De-Andre Finley, admitted the weapon automatically went off when the two tussled over it. The story coincides with police investigations which have stated the weapon was too long and too heavy for the young boy to fire. "That version we can live with because it's consistent with the evidence," the police added.

It is unlikely that De-Andre will be charged, stated police. He is under 13-years-old, and the entire incident "appeared to be an accident anyway".

Boy, 9, Shot Dead In Video Game Row [Sky News Thanks, A!]

The boy's was found on the ground outside his apartment building at 7pm on Tuesday night, wrapped in the string and plastic he used to try and recreate a parachute in order to dive off of his thirteen story apartment building. He died an hour later at the Interfaith Medical Center. It's a tragic story, made even more upsetting by the amount of focus the video game angle is being given by the mainstream media. The source is one of Damori's friends, 11-year-old Shakar Murrel.

"He tried to do a swan dive like Jeff Harding does in 'SmackDown.' That was his favorite game. He played it all the time," Shakar said. "That was what he was trying to do. If I would have seen him up there, I would have told him not to do it."

From this we get headlines like the New York Daily News' "9-year-old Damori Miles dies in jump off Brooklyn apartment, may have been imitating video game", and "Boy fond of video game wrestler's swan dives makes plastic parachute, takes NY roof death leap" from News Channel 3 in Norfolk, Virginia. Even the wrestling news sites are picking up the story, with the Wrestling World News reporting "9-Year-Old Boy Dies When Imitating A Move Off SmackDown vs. Raw 2009; WWE Responds".

And what was the WWE's response? Along with pointing out that no WWE or RAW characters jump off of roofs wearing parachutes, WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman had the following to say:

"The death of Damori Miles is a tragedy and our condolences go out to his family," he said. "We should allow the authorities to conduct a full investigation... including insecure roof access, before conclusions are made about this unfortunate incident."

This is the most sense the WWE has made to me in decades. The roof should have been locked. Neighbors said that an alarm should have gone off, but it had not. The boy's mother had left him alone to go to the store. A 9-year-old who had received special education instruction, left alone to his own devices.

So many other factors, yet the one aspect most of the mainstream press are picking up on is the fact that he played a wrestling video game. A video game based on a sport regularly aired on television, where the same moves are shown on a regular basis.

What I find the most telling is the fact that the New York Daily News' original story had no mention of the video game connection, simply titled "9-year-old Brooklyn boy jumps from building using makeshift parachute and dies", written by different staff writers. THe same story from two different angles.

I guess the video game angle just makes for more exciting news.

9-year-old Damori Miles dies in jump off Brooklyn apartment, may have been imitating video game [NY Daily News - Thanks Jeremy]

He collapsed to the floor while jogging in place while doing Wii Fit. His girlfriend called an ambulance and tried to revive Eves (pictured), a scout leader and a rock band drummer. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to his mother, "We spoke to him on the phone when he was playing on the Wii machine. He told us he had just ordered himself a kebab and was sitting there with a glass of port... But a little while after he had put the phone down, he collapsed for no reason. It was completely out of the blue... They still can't come up with an answer why it happened, which is one of the reasons it is so hard to come to terms with — there was no reason for it... It is just unbelievable."

Evers was considered fit and healthy, and he might have been killed by Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. He had just returned from a trip to Portugal, where his parents live. He was celebrating his mother's 50th birthday.

A coroner's investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of death.

Man Died Using Wii FIt [Telegraph]
Our Sorrow Over Sudden Death [Evening News 24]

Starting next month, Galeria Kaufhof will no longer stock games and movies carrying an 18-plus rating. This follows the shooting spree of 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer last week, whose Counter-Strike habit has politicians pointing the finger at violent video games. The retailer's knee-jerk decision has German game developers shaking their heads.

"I think (Kaufhof's decision) is a complete overreaction ... it borders on impulsive hysteria," said Stephan Reichart, managing director at German video game developers association G.A.M.E. "It would be sufficient if retailers made sure their cashiers don't sell this material to young people."

Reichart makes a good point. The only thing banning violent content from the shelves of Galeria Kaufhof will accomplish is forcing customers to shop somewhere for mature content.

To an extent I can understand the reactions from the less-game savvy German people. A terribly tragedy like this needs explaining, and violent video games are an easy way to explain away the behavior of this disturbed young man. I just fear that by grabbing at the easiest answer, people aren't getting to the real root of the problem, and incidents like this will continue to occur.

German retailer pulls violent DVDs, games [Reuters]

Police are reporting that a faulty gas canister is to blame, which resulted in an explosion so powerful it blew out every window within 40-feet of the blast and flipped a car that was parked outside clean onto its back.

It's unclear at this stage whether the explosion originated inside the arcade or out on the street in front of it, but either way, as you can see in the above picture, there's not much left of the joint.

Explosion at Casablanca video game arcade kills 1 [AP]

Ayala is described as being "quiet" and those who knew him say this shooting comes as a complete surprise. This shooting is the worst shooting in Portland's history.

Police have released new details about the 24 year-old Ayala. He was unemployed and apparently depressed, leaving what appears to be a suicide note for his roommate. In it, he says that he can be found "somewhere downtown," but he "wasn't sure" where. Ayala also included all his personal information (SSN, back account number, alien number, etc.) He also left his PS3 to his roommate:

You know my ps3 is special. Similar USED ps3's go for AT LEAST $450-$500. Our landlord guy wants a ps3 like mine. Let him know that $400 would be a GOOD deal. If he doesn't want it, format the drive by going to Settings>System>Format Utility. You can say it "comes with the latest firmware software" to help market it on the internet. In case you don't know, it's the special "100% backwards compatible" (60 GB) ps3.

Telling that, in this makeshift will, Ayala puts the greatest importance on how his roommate should deal with the bequeathed PS3.

As an aside, the Oregon press also points out that he enjoyed playing Resistance and Left 4 Dead.

Police do not know how Ayala acquired the 9mm used in the shooting, which took place in front of a popular Portland night club, nor do police know if he selected this night club for a particular reason. Eight of the nine victims were teenagers, and many of them were foreign exchange students. The suspect was taken to the hospital after turning the gun on himself and was listed in critical condition.

Suspect in downtown Portland shooting spree left behind note [KATU Thanks, Gojirah!]

The bodies were found at the home of his wife Serena Montes. Police reported that a man in the area had threatened suicide, and when they arrived on the scene, they discovered Montes killed by a gunshot and his wife fatally wounded. She later died at Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, east of Oakland and Berkley.

The gun belonged to Montes' father.

Montes and his wife, a pastry chef, married in 2007 after meeting online. They had been separated for the past year.

According to website EDGE, Montes worked for publication Ultra Game Players in the mid-1990s, before going on to IGN and The Official PlayStation Magazine at Ziff-Davis. He also worked in marketing for Hudsonsoft and had been pursuing a career in web design and animation. Montes recently filed for bankruptcy.

Games Journalist in Suspected Murder Suicide [EDGE]

As reported previously, Petric had purchased a copy of Halo 3 following his parents' Mark and Susan had forbid him to do so. After having the game confiscated, Daniel broke into his father's lock box, which held the game and a 9mm handgun, entered the living room of his house, asked his parents to close their eyes, and shot both of them in the head, killing his mother and wounding his father.

Petric's lawyers argued that video game addiction had driven the teen to the crime, but Common Pleas Judge James Burge found otherwise. Petric now faces up a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

Once again my condolences go out to the Petric family for this horrible tragedy, though I sincerely hope Daniel doesn't see the outside of a prison for quite a long line.
Teen convicted of killing mother over video game [Associated Press]

According to prosectors, Petric, 16 at the time of the shooting, was forbidden to buy Halo 3 by his parents, Mark and Susan Petric. The teen snuck out to purchase the game anyway, and was caught by his parents upon his return. The game was locked up in Mark's lockbox, along with a 9mm handgun.

Mark Petric, a minister at the Life Assembly of God in Wellington, Ohio, testified that soon after on the evening of October 20th, 2007, his son entered the family room with a request.

"Would you guys close your eyes," Daniel Petric asked. "I have a surprise for you."

It was then that Daniel Petric allegedly shot both of his parents in the head, killing his mother instantly. Mark Petric survived due to the timely arrival of his daughter and her husband, who had arrived to watch a Cleveland Indians game.

It's just an amazingly heart-wrenching story, made even more so by the following exchange between father and son related by Mark Petric during testimony:

"Dad, I'm so sorry for what I did to Mom, to you and to the family," Daniel Petric said, according to his father. "I'm so glad you are alive."

"You're my son," Mark Petric responded. "You're my boy."

Lawyers for the accused delivered a brief statement at the opening of the trial, explaining that their client had be under a large amount of stress after being homebound for a year due to a snowboarding accident with nothing to do but watch television and play video games.

I really don't know what to think about this case. The parents were doing what I always suggest parents do, monitoring their son's gameplay and making sure he doesn't play what they don't approve of. Sadly in this case it backfired.

Without knowing more about the family - specifically about Daniel Petric - there's no real way of knowing why this happened. I suspect the boy's lawyers might have a point about being homebound for a year, especially if Daniel was an active teen, as the snowboarding incident seems to suggest.

It's a tragic story that really leaves me with conflicting emotions. On one hand, the fact that a teenager can feel so entitled to something that he'd kill for it worries the hell out of me. At the same time, the fact that the father can forgive him for what he had done is a strong testament to the power of both family and forgiveness. Interpret it how you will.

Daniel Petric killed mother, shot father because they took Halo 3 video game, prosecutors say [Cleveland.com]

The actor was dining at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai when militants opened fire. Rudder was hit by three bullets and rushed to hospital where he successfully underwent surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

In a CBC News report, Rudder recounted the tragedy: "I found myself in a Bruce Willis Die Hard moment, where my arm — had a lovely white shirt on — and it just exploded into red. And, while I was taking that in, I got a bullet in my leg. So I quickly got myself on the floor to get a bullet in the butt as I was going down — and then another bullet, still another bullet grazed my head. So I just laid there in utter shock."

The actor played dead. That is, until the gunmen threw grenades, which filled the room with fire and smoke. Instead of laying there and suffocating to death, Rudder knew he had to make a run for it. "If I would've sat there and said, 'Oh, I don't feel well, I don’t think I’ll get up from the floor and watch the smoke come in and suffocate me,' I think I would've been kind of an idiot." How did he find his way out? "To tell you the truth, I followed the bloodstains," Rudder said.

Read the full story below.

Montreal actor uses film knowledge to escape Mumbai bloodbath [CBC Thanks, Junky!]

The story continues to bring out experts and notable persons to make some sort of commentaryon "video game addiction" which is what Brandon's father says is partly, or at least proximately, responsible for this tragedy. In a Canadian Press story, Vance Wallace, lead designer of Tomb Raider: Underworld, makes the common sense declaration that yes, games should be enjoyed in moderation, the same as anything else consumed for pleasure. Wallace also said the scapegoating of games is a reaction that predates even video games.

"I think that video games are the new Jazz music or TV," he told the CP at Festival Arcadia, described as Canada's premier gaming event.

"Whenever there's something that's understood by one generation and not understood by another, it becomes a scapegoat for people and they just say 'Oh that's obviously the problem."'

Elsewhere, the games-addiction storyline is still accepted at face value, which is a great message to send to parents who lack an understanding of video games and might overhear chatter that a cool title is engineered for a 420-hour experience. Says the Globe and Mail of Toronto:

Stephen Kline, a researcher with Simon Fraser University who has studied youth and compulsive gaming, said the sad ending to Brandon's life will make it difficult for parents to act if they see their children growing increasingly preoccupied with gaming.

“Coming out of this, I think a lot of parents will say, ‘Well, what can I do? I can't take the game away. I think my kid will do a bump,” he said. “There's a deep lack of information about what to do.”

I'm not sold on "addiction" here. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist; does mean it should be or should have been professionally diagnosed. Why can't this just be a case of a typically messed-up teenager who did something rash, and instead of it ending with hugs and a good cry, his parents are bearing the anguish of his decision forever? When I was 15 I was obsessed with the idea of becoming a professional baseball player and had a screaming match with mother when she told me that was never gonna happen. Doesn't mean I was addicted to the thought or the game, and I didn't run away to play it, but I was definitely in my own world.

Autopsy Shows Brandon Crisp Died From Fall [Globe and Mail, Toronto]
Lara Croft Video Game Designer Says Moderation Key to Avoiding Addiction [Canadian Press]

In Tucson, Ariz., Rene Edward Barrios, 26, was playing a video game on Oct. 26 as his girlfriend had left him in charge of her infant son, Jaden Encinas.The infant's crying disturbed him while he was playing a video game. Enraged, he paused the game, picked up Jaden, shook him and hit him. Then Barrios went back to playing his game for another 10 minutes while the baby stopped breathing.

Jaden was pronounced dead at the hospital. Barrios faces between 10 and 21 years in prison. The AP story had the decency not to mention which game or console was involved, as it's pretty trivial.

I'm beyond revulsion at this. Have a nice next 21 years of your life, Rene.

Newborn Killed for Interrupting Video Game [Associated Press and The Arizona Republic via Destructoid]

• Chugoku Shimbun states the the "Dagger knife" the killer used is an featured in popular games like Dragon Quest.
• Yomiuri Online also says the "Dagger knife" is also in video games and quite popular with teenagers.
• Zakzak points out that the killer was into doujin games like Eternal Fighter Zero and Chantelise, and he apparently loves a cutesy bullet hell shooter for the PC.
• According to Yahoo, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Hiroya Masuda is keen to regulate dangerous information on the internet, since the Akihabara killer posted his plans on a cell phone BBS (not 2ch) about his murderous plans before authorities could stop him.

And like clockwork, the agendas descend like vultures. Lovely.

Akiba Incident [Canned Dogs]

Hit the jump for the YouTube video.

The chilling part (if trying to kill 17 people wasn't chilling enough!) is how Kato chronicled the events leading up to his mass murders. Truly disturbing. AFP via Yahoo! News incorrectly points out: "On a different site, an anonymous posting on May 27 was entitled 'A disaster in Akihabara' and warned that an incident would take place on June 5." As commenter muu points out, the "disaster" that the thread is referring to? Ninja Gaiden 2 — which went on sale, you guessed it, on June 5th in, that's right, Akihabara. The thread is apparently nothing more than a fanboy flamewar. That Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360/PS3 fanboy fight appeared on television news here as well (above). Yahoo! News Japan has pulled its original story, but at time of posting Yahoo! News was still running that AFP story.

For those interested in how this horrible event might change Akihabara, check out the below post for insights.

AKB Massacre [MetaのTame]