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Mom calls 911 over son's gaming habit
Look, we totally get it. Video games are evil -- they're turning your kid into some kind of arsonist or blood-obsessed psycho killer or -- in the case of one Boston area mom -- a rebellious little rabble-rouser. A frustrated mother called police about her son's overzealous gaming this past weekend, complaining the kid wouldn't shut off his console and go to bed. The call came in on 2:30 a.m. Saturday, when the mother complained her son was walking about the house, turning on all of the lights and failing to comply with her wishes. Two officers responded to the call and were able to diffuse the situation. The Boston Herald -- the outlet which broke the news -- said the kid was apparently playing "Grand Theft Auto."
Boston Herald editorial questions Mass. game bill
As Massachusetts legislators meet today to discuss HB1423, a bill that would restrict access of minors to video games deemed too violent by the state, the normally obtuse Boston Herald has weighed in on the issue with a shockingly sane editorial.The newspaper lays out that the bill is another example of Boston Mayor Menino, who drafted the bill with Jack Thompson, trying to throw a "big idea against the wall in the hope that it might stick." The paper points out that just yesterday a similar, constitutionally murky bill failed, and asks if "lawmakers sponsoring the bill [are] willing to find money in their budgets to fight the inevitable court challenge?" The Boston Herald piece concludes that the mayor needs to make better use of his time than going after "such low-hanging fruit." We don't know about low-hanging, but it's definitely rotten and is going to cause taxpayers financial pain later between court costs and inevitably paying back the ESA for wasting its time.[Via GamePolitics]
GameLife host arrested for VT-style threat
Andrew Rosenblum, the host of the video game show GameLife, which previously had some content streamed by MTV's online service Overdrive, has been arrested by Boston police for allegedly sending an e-mail to an ex-girlfriend threatening to kill her. According to the Boston Herald, Rosenblum wrote in the e-mail, "(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 ... Seriously I'm just that demented ... killing people can change people's lives forever. (T)he best is in the end when I pull the trigger on myself, too."Rosenblum, a part-time student at Boston University, wrote the letter hours after the VT shooting where over 30 people died. He was arrested at 3:15 AM yesterday morning after police received a 911 call from a girl who went on three dates with Rosenblum and then dumped him. She called police because on the evening of the Virginia Tech killing she received the threatening emails from Rosenblum which she printed. Needham police say they take the threats as "very serious."Right about now is probably the worst possible time for anything video game related being tied into a Google search for Virginia Tech massacre. It doesn't help that the Boston Herald in this morning's edition incorrectly said Rosenblum's show is currently being streamed by MTV's Overdrive, essentially tying video games, a source of pop culture and a national tragedy all in one neat little package for the mainstream news. This is pure news chum for the network sharks looking to fill 24/7 news coverage of anything VT related.Update: MTV contacted Joystiq to let us know they do not own GameLife, nor did they produce it, they merely provided the means to distribute some content. An MTV spokesperson said, "Gamelife's Andrew Rosenblum contributed 2 review segments last year to the MTV.com show, The G-Hole, which is actually hosted by Blair Herter. MTV does not own Gamelife nor does MTV have a video game show entitled Gamelife. In addition, Andrew Rosenblum has never hosted a show for MTV. Gamelife is a completely separate entity from MTV."
Boston transit system bans M rated game ads
The MBTA, Boston's public transit system authority, has decided to ban advertising in the system for all M and AO rated video games. According to The Boston Herald the transportation authority believed that if "X-rated movies" are banned from advertising, so should M and AO rated games. We're a little tired of trying to explain what The Boston Herald means in Boston. Let's leave it at they helped hype Susan Linn's Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood who said, "We are thrilled that the MBTA has been so responsive to community concerns ... The children of Boston can now ride the MBTA without being targets for advertising that glorifies violence." Meanwhile the MBTA continues to promote alcoholism with entire train cars full of Tanqueray and Bud Light advertisements. Obviously MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas finds video games a much greater concern to the community than alcoholism.
Boston Herald created GTA controversy, politicians followed [update 1]
The Political Game piece by Dennis McCauley of GamePolitics helped highlight a little story from Boston this week about controversial advertisements on the MBTA public transportation system, known as the T, for GTA: Vice City Stories. As a Boston native and resident it behooves me to give a little more context to the T and, more importantly, The Boston Herald who hyped this story.None of the organizations or politicians demanding the T pull the ads have a leg to stand on without admitting to massive hypocrisy. GTA: Liberty City Stories, released last year, had advertisements all over the T and nobody said anything about it. There is also a profusion of liquor advertisements and far more potentially "objectionable" advertisements on the T. The head of the T, Daniel Grabauskas, promised to begin the process of amending the MBTA's advertising guidelines to prohibit M- and AO-rated games in the future. How are liquor ads promoting something that can only be purchased by someone 21+ appropriate for the public transportation system, but games for 17 year-olds and older inappropriate?A little context probably needs to be given to how this story got to this level. The Boston Herald and their reporters pander to the lowest common denominator and have been the ones pounding the drums of war on this issue. The Boston Globe may initially report on a story, but The Boston Herald sensationalizes it. If you live in a two newspaper town you know there is typically one standard paper (The Boston Globe) and one white-trash yellow-journalism fear-mongering newspaper (The Boston Herald). The Boston Herald is dying, having laid off most of its staff, and in its death throes hypes trash to gain attention, attempting to sell bundles of newspapers nobody will buy, which are then given away for free on the streets to keep circulation numbers artificially inflated. As long as Boston politicians finally learn to ignore The Boston Herald -- the same way the readership and citizenry of Boston has -- then issues like this will not occur again. What's even better is for all their faux outrage now, in early November The Boston Herald said GTA: Vice City Stories and GTA: Liberty City Stories "may be the most entertaining games available for the PSP."(Update 1: Fixed a few minor bits of the grammar)
Boston Herald proudly gives PSP an A
When GameDaily gave the PSP a B, our comments exploded with DS and PSP fanboys writing Masters theses on the handheld wars. (One of pixelator's posts was over 700 words long!) Well, here's some good news for you: a mainstream newspaper, the Boston Herald, gives the PSP an A.Doug Elfman, the "Game Dork," talks about which next-gen system to give as gifts this year. His recommendation? Skip the Wii, skip the PS3, and go straight towards the PSP. "After a year and a half on the market, it's still pricey at $250. But scores of good games come out for PSP every month. It is sort of a luxury item, but I love it. It fits in my pocket, yet the screen is splendid."Thousands of people are bound to read Elfman's recommendation, and Sony could use all the positive press it can get. Mr. Elfman recommends games like Loco Roco, Grand Theft Auto, Tiger Woods, Field Commander, and SOCOM.
