A 17-year old from Latrobe, Pennsylvania was sentenced to 12 months probation, 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay Sony Computer Entertainment $5,000 for his role in crippling the electronic giant’s gaming website on November 16-26, 2008.

An investigation conducted by the FBI and Greensburg Police led authorities to the boy, who apparently took the website down in response to being repeatedly kicked off the PlayStation Network for cheating while playing SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals online.

The teenager reportedly used hacking tools to harness infected computers around the world and directed the botnet “to clog three games on the PlayStation site, causing it to crash and go off-line.”
 
Sony had sought over $33,200 from the teen, but Judge John Driscoll ruled that such an amount would be “too excessive” for the boy. Driscoll wrote in his order that, “the juvenile seems to have accepted personal responsibility and agrees he should be held accountable.”

The Vietnam government’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has drafted legislation that could significantly impact that country’s online gamer population.

The proposed measures, according to Vietnam Net, include limiting users to three hours of playtime for particular games, imposing licensing restrictions on the purveyors of online games (to limit the current fragmenting of the online game market) and introducing clear language that would label in-game assets as unconvertible to real-world money.

“Simple and low-tension” games, such as chess, are not addressed in the proposal and would be able to continue to run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The three-hour restriction on playtime would also be increased to four to five hours per day for games that are cultural or education-based.

A segment on Anderson Cooper’s CNN show last night discussed pedestrians in New York City repeatedly ignoring a dying man on the street and somehow turned into a referendum on videogames.

A NYC man was stabbed after apparently attempting to help a female fend off an attacker and then collapsed on the street as people kept passing by, eventually dying of his wounds. In discussing the story, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, filling in for Cooper, brought on board psychologist Dr. Michael Bradley (pictured) to talk about what might make people ignore a mortally wounded person lying on a sidewalk.

A transcript of the discussion follows (in video on the CNN website, the segment with Gupta and Bradley begins around the 17.25 mark)

Last week we reported on a school in East Brunswick, New Jersey putting on a play that revolved around the subject of videogame addiction.

The story of Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (N3RD for short) being put on by the School of Performing Arts at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School eventually made its way to a few other gaming sites, inspiring a Kotaku reader to go watch, and then review, the play.

Geist002, who called the play “fairly well done,” offered this description:

Most of the characters with the gaming addictions came from broken homes, really messed up backgrounds, or were victims of poor parenting. If you approach this play already condemning video games, you just see video games as the villain.

A report from The Queensland Legislative Assembly of Australia on Alcohol-Related Violence inexplicably suggests that expanding research into the effects of violent videogames on youth might somehow provide more insight into the impact drinking has on people.

The inquiry (PDF), released last month, was drafted by the Law, Justice and Safety Committee and focuses on “alcohol related violence around licensed premises.” The report begins by asking, “What has happened to Australia’s drinking culture?” and claims that “Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public are not seen as shameful but to some are badges of honour.”

A terrible story emerging from Russia details the story of a 14-year old boy reacting to having his videogame privileges revoked by killing his sleeping father with two blows to the head from a sledge hammer.

The events took place in the Russian town of Tuapse just after midnight on April 12, reports a story on News.com.au. The boy’s parents had taken his keyboard away from him in order to curb his computer game playing, but after the killing, “the boy's frightened mother gave him the keyboard back and the boy played computer games for several more hours until he fell asleep.”

Once the boy fell asleep, his mother called relatives, who, in turn, called police. The boy is old enough to be charged with murder under Russian law.


|Via Kotaku, Thanks Andrew|

While the topic of videogame addiction has spawned books, studies, round-table discussions and even treatment centers, up until now, it’s never been the subject of a school play.

Students from the School of Performing Arts at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School in East Brunswick, New Jersey are preparing to unveil just such a production. Entitled Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, or N3RD for short, the play centers around a group of kids who become addicted to a fictional horror videogame (Neighborhood 3).

The Sentinel reports that the play, written by Jennifer Haley, “explores video game addiction and the importance of teenparent communication by revealing the thin line between reality and virtual reality, and dramatizing the consequences of games gone too far.”

Could videogames be responsible for a widening education gap between U.S. men and women?

The author of a piece in the Wichita Eagle seems to think so. Citing a drop in the number of American males earning college degrees, the article claims that women are not forcing males out of the classroom; instead, “Women are taking empty seats as males fall by the wayside.”

While some groups have pinned the fall of man on recent education reforms or the “feminization of the classroom,” the piece’s author notes that, “Males are dropping out of academics in all developed countries,” and, “Whatever is depressing boys' school performance is cutting across cultural and political boundaries and widely disparate educational systems.”

The “whatever” mentioned above does not remain unnamed for long, as the author offers, “This decline in boys' scores coincides with the emergence of video games.”

A spokesperson from Mothers Against Violence (MAV) recently appeared on BBC Radio for a debate about violent videogames.

As recounted by EuroGamer, the MAV representative put the onus on parents to control what games their children are playing, saying, “I'm not directly blaming games, I'm blaming parents.” The spokesperson also suggested that parents band together and educate their peers on the issue of violence in games, stating, “It just takes one of us to spread the word, to plant the seed.”

The spokesperson then expressed “fears that violent games were ‘desensitising’ children who are ‘becoming complacent and think they're invincible.’”

Eurogamer wrote: “A broader point made was that many parents, despite age-ratings on packaging, don't pay attention to the games their children are playing, not (sic) are they aware of the negative effects they could have.”


Thanks Andrew and Mdo!

The tide of youthful anarchy will no longer besmirch and shame the UK.

A wonderful lampoon video released as part of Namco’s media blitz for the upcoming Dead to Rights: Retribution.

Good dog.


Via BrandflakesforBreakfast

Results from a new study seem to indicate that young gamers are twice as likely as their non-playing counterparts to develop tooth decay and cavities.

Wales Online carries a summation of the research, which was conducted by Jordon Poss, (not Dr. Craig Anderson) at the University of Iowa. The study was conducted on teenagers between the ages of 12 and 16 years old and also suggested that kids who had no structured eating patterns were 30.0 percent more likely to suffer cavities.

It was suggested that snacking and drinking soft drinks while playing games contributed to the study’s results.

Dr. Nigel Carter, CEO of the British Dental Health Foundation, told the paper, “This study helps our understanding of the dietary habits and subsequent decay risk of gamers when the effects have previously been unknown.”

According to the politician behind the law, a recently-ratified, but not yet enacted, Swiss violent game ban would not blindly outlaw all violent games.

Swiss Social Democrat Evi Allemann (pictured) was recently interviewed by the Swiss publication 20 Minutes Online (translated) and indicated that the ban would apply only to “individual games.” She estimated that, “like in Germany,” only 12 or so games would wind up being banned, including titles such as Mortal Kombat and Manhunt (which are banned in Germany), but not the likes of Counter-Strike.

Moral Kombat, the documentary by Spencer Halpin that examines the subject of violence in videogames, has been picked up by a variety of new digital distribution services.

The documentary is now, or will soon be, available for purchase or rent on Amazon’s OnDemand service, iTunes, Hulu, Xbox Live, Netflix and the PlayStation Network. As mentioned earlier this year, the film is also still available for free viewing on Babelgum.

Halpin on the additional distribution options:

Playing Farmville on your own time, some might say, is bad enough, but playing it on the job, especially if you are a politician, is a definite no-no.

Councilor Dimitar Kerin, a member of the City Council for the region of Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second-largest city, was dismissed from his position after repeated warnings about playing the Facebook application during meetings. Several councilors were first caught playing Farmville early in March, during debates for the city’s 2010 budget, reports Novinite.com.

Fellow committee member Todor Hristov suggested that Kerin be removed from his seat as he “needs more time for his virtual farm.” A vote to remove Kerin was taken up, and passed by a slim 20-19 vote. Kerin then complained that he was not the only council member playing Farmville and noted that he was only a Level 40 farmer, while a fellow councilman had reached Level 46.

CVG editor Tim Ingham recently appeared on British TV as part of a ridiculous round table discussion on violent games.

Ingham himself performed remarkably well, especially when factoring in the idiocy surrounding him, whether it was the piece’s pre-determined slant, a vast generation gap, or a host who couldn’t take the time to research, or comprehend, that videogames have their own ratings, nevermind parental controls.

Consider that the show’s host, Alan Titchmarsh (a gardener?), actually made the following remarks in the opening minute of the discussion:

Ingham comments that games are no different than movies

Titchmarsh: "But they (movies) have certificates on them…"

Ingham: "The videogames have exactly the same certificates…"

Titchmarsh: "But they are at home…"

Ingham: "I’m sorry?"

No, not the soon to be ex-South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson, but Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor (pictured).

The Labor Party member, speaking at a Sydney conference put on by the Australian Council on Children and the Media and Macquarie University, which examined the impact of violence and sexualized media on children, expressed concern over motion-sensing controls for videogames, saying, “Computer game manufacturers encourage users to put down their control pads and participate physically in a game through motion-sensing technology.”

This led O’Connor to proclaim:

These interactive features are set to increase the impact of the material being enjoyed by consumers.

 

We need to consider how increased interactivity will impact on children and what this means for content regulation.

A 17-year old gamer playing Counter-Strike in a Jilin, China net café was accused of wall hacking and, following an argument with his accusers, ended up being stabbed in the skull by with a 12-inch long knife.

Hot Blooded Gaming has the story of the incident, which, in turn, is taken from a Sankaku Complex translation of a Chinese blog. The 17-year old stabbing victim retained consciousness and was rushed to the hospital, where it’s reported that after hours of surgery, the knife was removed and the boy appeared to be recovering. Doctors said that the rusty knife missed major arteries, though the boy was placed under observation due to possible complications from the rust on the knife.

 The café in question was apparently quite liberal in requiring IDs for entry, making it popular with local youth.

So much for remaining neutral—a pair of Swiss resolutions dealing with violent videogames have been passed by the country’s National Council.

As detailed last month, the first resolution, proposed by Christian Democratic Party member and National Councillor Norbert Hochreutener, would make it illegal to sell PEGI 16 or 18-rated games to minors, while a second resolution, backed by Social Democrat Evi Allemann, called for a complete ban of violent and adult-themed videogames.

An Ireland-based Catholic marriage counseling service claims that the Internet, gaming and pornography are among factors contributing to a current rise in marriage problems.

Accord saw demand for its counseling services grow 10 percent in 2009, which Accord Director Ruth Barror blamed on financial problems, cyber sex and gambling, while Acting Director of Counseling Liam Lally told the Irish Examiner that Internet-related marriage problems have “jumped dramatically in recent years.”

A figure applied to these issues claims an 87.5 percent jump in marriage complaints related to the Internet since 2007.  Over the same period, financial issues grew 71.0 percent, while depression and stress-related claims rose 14.0 percent and 12.0 percent.

Lally continued:

The South Korean parents of a three-month old allegedly fed their gaming habits obsessively while neglecting their daughter, who effectively starved to death.

The 41-yeard old husband and his 25-year old wife, identified only as “the Kims,” spent up to 12 hours every night at Internet cafés playing games, according to a story on ABC. The couple came home one morning last September, after spending the whole night out, and alerted authorities upon finding their daughter deceased.

An autopsy revealed that the baby’s death came about from malnourishment. The Kims subsequently confessed that they had been feeding their daughter “rotten, powdered milk and had often spanked their crying baby.”

In a sinister bit of irony, officials reported that instead of taking care of their real child, who was born prematurely, the couple was infatuated with raising a virtual daughter in the massively multiplayer online game PRIUS.

The article also features a quote from Dr. Kim Sang Eun, of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, who believes game addiction is a brain disease. She stated, “there's no certain clinical indicator to define 'game addiction' but our study shows that brain PET [scan] images of suspected online game addicts are very similar to that of a cocaine addict.”

The parents were arrested on Wednesday.

An advisor to the Chinese government who proposed a nationwide ban of private Internet cafés provoked hackers into defacing the websites of her business.

Yan Ki, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), suggested the ban in order to combat a host of social problems she blames on the cafés. Yan said that the Internet-enabled hangouts promoted truancy, videogame addiction and pornography, reports The Telegraph.

Yan was quoted as saying:

Many serious problems are linked to internet cafés and businesspeople usually ignore their social responsibilities. Desperate diseases must have drastic cures, which is to ban them all.

Yan, described as a “prominent business woman,” then saw the website for her chain of restaurants hacked, with links deleted and messages posted that mocked her perceived self-importance.

The CPCC is made up of 2,374 members and is described as “an advisory body.” The Telegraph wrote that Yan’s suggestions “stand no chance of being adopted.”

The topic of violent and adult-rated games has once again bubbled up in Switzerland.

MCVUK and TechEye both report on a resolution that passed unanimously in the Commission for Legal Affairs and would make it illegal to sell games rated PEGI 16 or 18 to under-age minors. Swiss parliament will now have a chance to vote on the measure, which was originally introduced by Christian Democratic Party member and National Councillor Norbert Hochreutener in 2007.

TechEye writes that Hochreutener believes the law is needed to “enforce ratings and make sure kids cannot play what are called 'killer games' in the German-speaking part of Europe.”

A second, and more troubling motion, would call for a complete ban of violent and adult-themed videogames within the country. This motion passed too, though with a closer vote of nine to three, and will also head off to parliament for vote. One of the backers of this proposal is Social Democrat Evi Allemann (pictured).

Allemann’s website offers some of her thoughts (translated) on the banning of such “killer” games:

Such games do not make each one a killer, but they increase the willingness of those who are already vulnerable. A blanket ban on such games therefore seems appropriate and proportionate, especially since they do not have any worth protecting cultural and social content and there are thousands of other exciting games that work without such extreme violence.

One way to implement the motion lies in the operationalization of Article 135 of the Criminal Code. This prohibits the display, manufacture, importation, storage, promotion, etc. of sound and visual recordings of cruel violence.

Another country to keep an eye on in the future.

Edit: Fixed the link for the translated section of Alleman's website.

The University of Alabama professor who stands accused of killing three of her peers last Friday is now, of course, linked with a popular role-playing game.

The Boston Herald, citing a source, claims that suspected shooter Amy Bishop was a fan of Dungeons & Dragons and actually met her husband at Northeastern University through an on-campus D&D club. The source told the paper that “They [Bishop and her husband] even acted this crap out.”

Bishop’s husband, James Anderson, described the pair’s immersion in D&D as a “passing interest.” He added, “It was a social thing more than anything else. It’s not the crazy group people think they are.”

The Herald reached deep down to offer the following insight into the topic of D&D and its potential influence on players:

Some experts have cited the D&D backgrounds of people who were later involved in violent crimes, while others say it just a game.

Another Herald piece paints Bishop as slightly unhinged, detailing an incident in 2002 at an International House of Pancakes where Bishop allegedly punched another woman in the face for taking the restaurant’s last child booster seat.


Thanks E.Zachary Knight via the Shoutbox!

The Church of England has issued a call for tighter regulation of videogames.

The Church, which perhaps still has a bad taste in its mouth from the use of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man, addressed the issue of violent games in a meeting of its general synod on Thursday night.

Following an introduction, in which speakers were cautioned not to mention the names of specific games because “there is a risk of legal proceedings,” Tom Benyon (pictured), a former MP, took the microphone.

Benyon labeled the Byron Report “good in parts,” but said that it “did not go far enough.” He proceeded to read a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes which he felt “encapsulates the essence of what we are about today in the matter of violent and sexual DVDs.”

God's plan made a hopeful beginning. But man spoiled his chances by sinning. We trust that the story will end in God's glory. But, at present, the other side's winning.

He continued:

A bubbling sewer of gratuitously violent and sexual pornography in DVD games are washing all around us. Byron relied on the proposition that parents have a liability or are interested in controlling what their children do. We think, sadly, that that is optimistic and a prize hope.

Benyon went on to recount the story of a “family member” who “saw one so-called game some years ago and had nightmares. He was a teenager. He was an innocent and he was profoundly shocked. The damage that he suffered was substantial. The images remained with him for months.”

Benyon also had a compilation of violent games on CD that he was going to show, but he decided not to ruin the “evenings or supper” of attendees by showing it.

He added, “I know that the Devil is said to have all the best tunes. Without any question of doubt he has the monopoly of violent and pornographic videogames.”

The Archbishop of York offered analogies to Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, selecting a quote from the latter, that “law cannot legislate for morals, but it can actually regulate it.” He added, “On this great day of celebrating 20 years since Mandela came out of prison, can we help our young people to come out of the prison of these awful, awful videogames.”

Full audio of the hour-long meeting can be listened to here.


Via The Guardian

Jo Frost, best known stateside as the principal in the show Supernanny, has a new show airing in the UK and in its debut episode she attempted to tackle the issue of violent videogames.

The Guardian has a run down of the program (Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance), in which Frost, with the assistance of Iowa State University’s Dr. Douglas Gentile, conducted an experiment on 40 boys.

In one experiment, the boys were split in half, with 20 playing a football game for 20 minutes while the other 20 played a first-person shooter for the same amount of time. Following their game play session, all 40 boys watched violent news footage and had their heart rate monitored. Boys who played the FPS were found to have slower heart rates while watching the violent on-screen reports versus those who played the sports game, leading to a voice over that declared, “Shockingly, just twenty minutes of violent gameplay was enough to densensitise the boys.”

Author Keith Stuart took the methodology to task, writing, “I'm no neuroscientist, but with the biological stress response recently engaged, surely it's no surprise that in the few minutes after violent gameplay, test subjects react differently to violent stimuli?”

Stuart continued:

So really, what does this all say about the long-term effects of exposure to violent videogames? I would suggest very, very little.

An additional experiment, in which Gentile knocked over a can of pencils in front of each boy individually, was supposed to measure empathy. Reportedly only 40.0 percent of the boys who played the FPS helped to pick up the pencils, versus 80.0 percent of those who played the football game.

The combination of the two tests, and the resulting conclusions, were a bit too much for Stuart to take:

Cognitive neuroscience is a complex field - it is perhaps not something to be prodded and poked at during a piece of realty TV voyeurism masquerading as documentary material.

He added:

…if just 20 minutes of exposure is enough to turn normal boys into desensitized monsters, our streets should be filled with violence. They're not.

ProCon.org, a California-based nonprofit charity that specializes in promoting "critical thinking" by presenting both sides of compelling issues has launched a new site dedicated to the topic of video games and violence.

The hub offers an introduction to the topic, noting that “The effect of violent video games on children and teens has been debated by researchers and the media since the release of the video game Death Race in 1976.”

It then lists a variety of research and opinions on the subject, from both sides of the fence, and offeres gathered images and videos on the subject. Visitors to the site can take a survey on the subject and add their own voice to the debate. A separate debate section highlights pros and cons offered by politicians, scholars or public figures.

A 1999 quote from Bill Clinton is used on the pro (or, yes, violent games contribute to youth violence) side:

… video games like ‘Mortal Kombat,’ ‘Killer Instinct,’ and ‘Doom,’ the very game played obsessively by the two young men who ended so many lives in Littleton, make our children more active participants in simulated violence.

A Henry Jenkins quote is utilized to illustrate the con side of the argument:

According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report , the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. The moral panic over violent video games is doubly harmful.

Canadian website Canoe has doubled up on videogame violence stories posted to its site in recent days.

First up is a story with the banner “Man Wounded in Xbox Dispute,” which details the shooting of a 27-year old Winnipeg man by his 16-year old brother. While “it was unclear whether the dispute was over the possession of a video game or if it broke out while the pair was playing a video game,” videogames were central enough to the crime that they were utilized in the headline.

The shooting victim, thankfully, was upgraded to stable condition in the hours following the incident.

Canoe also took the time to produce a slideshow entitled “Video Games Linked With Crime,” which dredges up fifteen game-related or influenced crimes, including a supposed trend among graffiti artists to replicate Tetris patterns in their illegal works.


Thanks Allen and Trencher!

Image via Wooster Collective

Spencer Halpin’s Moral Kombat, the 2007 documentary that focuses on the subject of violence in videogames, can be viewed for free in its entirety on Babelgum.

In examining its controversial topic, the film talks with a slew of game industry people, politicians and critics, including Dr. David Walsh, Jack Thompson, Lorne Lanning, American McGee, Joe Lieberman, Henry Jenkins and Doug Lowenstein.

The film will be free to watch online for 30 days.

In making the documentary, a variety of cutting-edge technology was employed, some of which is detailed in an article on Apple.com.

Disclosure: Spencer Halpin is ECA President Hal Halpin’s brother. GamePolitics is a publication of the ECA.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Times Online, Iain Duncan Smith took a little time to make disparaging remarks about videogames.

Smith has long been obsessed with fixing what he terms today’s “broken society.”  His solutions included promoting the importance of marriage and implementing more taxation on alcohol and reversing 24-hour liquor licensing laws.

As a contributor to today’s societal ills, Smith said about games:

We are driving children to lose their childhood, and some video games are incredibly violent, like Grand Theft Auto. They are meant to be 18 but nobody cares what it says on the label.

An article on Computer and Videogames took Smith to task for his comments, responding that the MPs voting for adopting the PEGI system obviously “care” what’s on a game’s label. Also singled out for “caring” were ELSPA, retailer GAME and a group of videogame publishers that attempt to keep inappropriate games out of the hands of younger gamers.

The CVG article also puts the onus on parents to police what their kids are playing:

But unless our politicians make sure parents 'care' enough to say "no" - by backing Parliament's own legislation - we're fighting a losing battle.

The heartbreaking story of a nine-year old Texas boy committing suicide at school led a Clinical Psychologist to attempt to pin part of the blame for kids acting out in ways outside of the norm on violent videogames.

The fourth-grader in question was a student at Stewart Creek Elementary School. He asked a nurse to use the restroom, locked himself inside and tragically hung himself. In a CNN video report on the story, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Brenda Wade was brought in for commentary.

The doctor cited two factors for why children are acting out in ways “never imagined possible”. The first was that there is now “more instability” in families, because of external stresses and the economy.

The second factor? Violent videogames of course.

Dr. Wade stated:

The other factor is that younger and younger children are exposed to very violent videogames with content that I would shudder to have an adult watch on a regular basis.

We just covered, a couple days ago, the story that children are watching as much as 52 hours a week of TV and sitting in front of a screen. A lot of that content is not uplifting and it’s not teaching our children how to handle problems and feelings.

These statements came moments after the Doctor cautioned that we “don’t want to blame and cast dispersions” at what role the boy’s family may have played in the tragedy.

Dr. Wade bills herself as a nationally syndicated talk show host and best selling author (as seen on Oprah). Visitors to her website are also offered a free love lesson.

Thanks Sean!