game-violence
Latest
Jagex reports student to police following school shooting threat
For all the talk about video games causing crimes, we don't often hear about the times when they may well prevent them. Thomas Frongillo, age 18, has been arrested on charges of threatening to commit a crime after making statements about shooting up the college that he attended, but the threats were not made in person. They were made in an online game run by Jagex, most likely RuneScape, which is what led to his arrest. Frongillo allegedly said, "I'm going to shoot up my school tomorrow," and indicated a knowledge of firearms to other players in the game. He also made anti-Semitic comments and had indicated shooting at small wildlife in previous chat sessions. Jagex employees notified the police, and he is currently on bail pending his court date on April 19th. Frongillo's lawyers claim that the statements were made in jest and that the young man had no intention of carrying out any acts of violence.
Destroy All Humans started as a joke, launched a "dance" career
Matt Harding was designing Xbox games for Pandemic Studios Australia when a family-friendly game he had been working on was cancelled. Piqued, he pitched a game to management about "blowing up everything and killing everyone" as a comment on the games industry's obsession with violent games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo. When publishers saw the proposal, they responded enthusiastically, "Yeah! That is exactly what we want, we want a game about killing everyone!" And so Destroy All Humans was given the green light, despite the fact that it had been conceived as a joke. Matt wasn't too thrilled with the idea of making that sort of game, so he emptied his savings account and embarked on a 17-country, six-month trip around the world. At some point during the trip, he got the idea of filming himself dancing in each location. Many of you have seen the results, but just in case you h'ain't, you can watch the videos here and here. Who said violent games do nothing positive for the world? Without GTA, Matt might have never have embarked on his magical dance journey, and we'd all be the poorer for it.
'Xbox Killers' get death
Jerone Hunter, 20, and Troy Victorino, 29, were sentenced to death yesterday in the murders of six people in 2004. The killings occurred after Victorino, who was kicked out of a house that he'd been squatting in, returned with Hunter to retrieve his Xbox and other belongings -- but the mainstream media mostly picked up on the Xbox stuff.The murders were vicious, with blood being found on the floors, ceilings and walls. The victims were not only bludgeoned to death, but were mutilated after.In related blame-it-on-video-games news, last week 25-year-old Tyrone Spellman (pictured) killed his daughter after she yanked the cords on the console he was playing. According to Mia Turman, the dead child's mother, "the system - the box itself - fell" so he "hit her in the face twice." Turman also says that Spellman "slung" the child over a chair.Turman is currently eight-months pregnant with Spellman's second child.
