Today on the Spot – God of War III, True Crime, Fat Princess PSP

We had a jam packed LIVE show today for GDC 2010, with games like God of War III, True Crime, Max & The Magic Marker and Fat Princess: Fistful of Cake! All that and more, Today On The Spot!

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Today on the Spot – God of War III, True Crime, Fat Princess PSP

GDC 10: True Crime Screens

True Crime (X360) Disarm and kill.

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GDC 10: True Crime Screens

GDC 10: True Crime First Look

True Crime (X360) Airjacking returns.

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GDC 10: True Crime First Look

MMO Parents Take Care of Virtual Toddler While Real One Starves [Addiction]

A Korean couple is said to have neglected their infant – to the point of starvation – while they fed their own online gaming addiction in Internet cafes. The Sun ’s reporting this, so, let’s get our sensationalism detectors on. The couple allegedly raised a virtual toddler in a game similar to Second Life , called Prius Online (pictured) while leaving their real one home alone each day with just a single bottle of milk for nourishment. One day they came home to find the child dead and called the cops, claiming they found the child dead when they had awakened. Investigators noted the child’s dehydrated condition and weren’t buying it. An autopsy later said the child died of starvation. This all happened back in September actually. After the infant’s funeral the couple disappeared and were only recently arrested. Don’t think they were bingeing on the MMOs however: “”Due to our sense of guilt, we have not been to a PC gaming room over these five months,” they told an investigator. Mighty damn big of them. Gamers’ Tot “Dies of Starvation” [The Sun via Hot Blooded Gaming]

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MMO Parents Take Care of Virtual Toddler While Real One Starves [Addiction]

Man Accused of Exporting PS2s to Fund Hezbollah [Ruh Roh]

Federal authorities say a Florida man exported PS2s to a Paraguayan mall believed to be a front for the terrorist organization Hezbollah. He’s been indicted on 11 counts tied to the funding of terrorism. The suspect is Khaled Safadi of Doral, a Miami suburb. He’s a Paraguayan citizen with U.S. residency. The indictment alleges that Safadi sold $720,000 worth of PS2s and cameras to this store, using false addresses on shipping documents to conceal their origin. Two other men were charged in connection with the shipments. Safadi’s out on bail of $1.55 million for the time being. At a hearing his lawyer held up a PS2 and declared, “It’s a children’s toy. He is being accused of shipping a children’s toy to Paraguay.” Perhaps, but Safadi’s larger problem is the fact recipient has been singled out by the U.S. Treasury Department as a funding source for Hezbollah, designated by the government as a terrorist organization. It’s on a list of entities banned from transacting business in the U.S. So the feds take a dim view of shipments going to them, especially if they have falsified originating addresses. Doral Man Charged in Terror-Related Case Obtains Bail [The Miami Herald via Game Politics ]

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Man Accused of Exporting PS2s to Fund Hezbollah [Ruh Roh]

Teen Convicted of Crashing PlayStation Web Site Because He Was Banned for Cheating [Hackers]

In late 2008, a Pennsylvania teenager playing SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals got kicked out of a tournament for using a cheat mod. So he took revenge by crashing the PlayStation web site for 11 days. Sony got the last laugh, however, in the form of a federal grand jury investigation, which quickly led to the perpetrator, a high school honors student in Latrobe, Pa. The hacker pled guilty to four felony charges in juvie court. Reports say he got access to the site’s servers and let loose a virus that brought everything down. His methods weren’t described in detail but an expert contacted by a local TV station said they weren’t so sophisticated that someone else couldn’t pull it off. I bet Sony has stronger protections in place now, though. The teen pleaded guilty to four counts: unlawful use of a computer, criminal use of a computer, computer trespassing and the distribution of a computer virus, in exchange for prosecutors dropping 11 others, some related to a March 2009 cyber attack. Kudos to WTAE-TV of Pittsburgh for not only getting the name of the game (it was left out of other reports), but also using the correct console in its footage – although I’m wondering what those shots of Madden have to do with it. Latrobe Teen Hacker Admits To Crashing Sony Game Site [WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh]

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Teen Convicted of Crashing PlayStation Web Site Because He Was Banned for Cheating [Hackers]

Killer Whale’s Violent Past Includes Deadly Attack on Ultima-Obsessed Drifter [Ultima]

The killer whale that apparently killed a trainer today in front of a horrified SeaWorld audience was also connected to the death in 1999 of a drifter so obsessed with Ultima Online that he once wandered into Richard Garriott’s home. Daniel Dukes, 27, the son of Columbia, S.C., real estate brokers, drifted into Austin, Texas in the late 90s, compiling an impressive arrest record. The Austin America-Statesman reported at the time that the crimes included “stealing a Barbie doll, briefcase and women’s camisole from a Target store; clocking a fellow patron in the head at Joe’s Generic Blues Bar; and breaking into a home where he was discovered resting in a downstairs bedroom.” But the crime that finally pushed him out of the city and towards his eventual death in Florida, was the strangest of all. During an interview years ago, Garriott, creator of popular computer role-playing game Ultima, told me that it was Dukes who broke into his castle-like home in Austin in the late 90s. It’s a story he tells with the ease of someone one who’s told and retold the tale countless times. Garriott says that the man, who he described as an obsessed Ultima fan, slipped into his fenced property, smashed out a glass door with a rock and headed to the stairs to his bedroom. Frightened, Garriott says he pulled out a gun and told the man to stop. When Dukes didn’t, he fired off a warning shot leaving a bullet hole in the wall. Ignoring the shot, the man walked up to Garriott’s bedroom, stripped and got into bed. That’s where police found him when they responded to Garriott’s 911 call. Eventually, Dukes found his way to Florida, hanging out in the Coconut Grove Hare Krishna Temple. On July 6, 1999, Dukes’ body was discovered draped across the back of Tillikum, the same killer whale who police say killed a trainer today and who in 1991 was blamed for the drowning of one of his trainers in Victoria, British Columbia, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Garriott was traveling today and couldn’t be reached for comment, but in our conversations from a decade ago the game designer speculated that Dukes might have gotten lost in the fantasy world of Ultima that Garriott created and that his journey around the country, and to that killer whale, were part of that fantasy. The original Ultima games included a virtue system that drew from both chivalry and Buddhism. [ Pic ]

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Killer Whale’s Violent Past Includes Deadly Attack on Ultima-Obsessed Drifter [Ultima]

Police Seek Woman Who Seduced Teen via PlayStation Home [Crime]

Cops in Oklahoma City are looking for a 43-year-old woman who they say met a 14-year-old boy in PlayStation Home and … yep, you can see where this is headed. Authorities say the woman, Annamay Alexander of Deltona, Fla. (It’s always Florida …) met this boy via Home and sent him some terms-of-use violating messages, such as a picture of her in her underwear. In early January she drove up to Oklahoma City to seduce him. An affidavit says Alexander later met the boy’s mother under the ruse of talking about the boy’s desire to marry her daughter. This flipped out the mom, as you can well imagine (she wasn’t told the daughter was 9, either). She told Alexander GTFO and never speak to her son again. Alexander didn’t follow the instructions. Mom later intercepted two phone calls from Alexander, then found sexy texts on his cell and PlayStation, plus the aforementioned picture. Alexander, who is a married mother of three, referred to herself as the boy’s wife and left subtle messages such as: “My body is yours to do whatever you want with,” and “I love you and we are going to get married.” The victim then confessed to having a sexual relationship with her and is said to be suicidal now. Alexander is looking at stalking and statutory rape charges but is still at large. This is a harrowing story for any parent; it’s creepy and gross to me, and not just because this obviously unhinged woman looks like Dennis Quaid in a wig. But if Home is to blame then so is the phone company. Police: Alexander Sent Sexy Texts [KOCO-TV, thanks bakagaijin]

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Police Seek Woman Who Seduced Teen via PlayStation Home [Crime]

Week in Games: Catch a Predator [New Releases]

This week sees the return of Aliens vs. Predator 10 years later, back to the PC and also on Xbox 360 and PS3. Other headliners include another round of SOCOM on the PSP, plus Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This week’s count: six for PC and DS, five for Wii and Xbox 360, two for PS3 and one for PSP. Monday (Feb. 15) Art of Balance (Wii) Becky Brogan: The Mystery of Meane Manor! (PC) Tuesday (Feb. 16) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) Aliens vs. Predator (PC, PS3, 360) Chicken Riot (Wii) Crime Scene (DS) Data East Arcade Classics (Wii) Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (PS3, 360) Everquest II: Battlegrounds (PC) Everquest II: Sentinel’s Fate (PC) Free Running (Wii) KORG (DS)-10 PLUS (DS) Ragnarok (DS) (DS) SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 (PSP) Triple Crown Snowboarding (Wii) Tropico 3 (360) WarBirds: Dogfights (PC) Wednesday (Feb. 17) The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (360) Thursday (Feb. 18) Deadly Premonition (360) Friday (Feb. 19) Ghost Pirates of Voojoo Island (PC)

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Week in Games: Catch a Predator [New Releases]

Week in Games: Catch a Predator [New Releases]

This week sees the return of Aliens vs. Predator 10 years later, back to the PC and also on Xbox 360 and PS3. Other headliners include another round of SOCOM on the PSP, plus Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. This week’s count: six for PC and DS, five for Wii and Xbox 360, two for PS3 and one for PSP. Monday (Feb. 15) Art of Balance (Wii) Becky Brogan: The Mystery of Meane Manor! (PC) Tuesday (Feb. 16) Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS) Aliens vs. Predator (PC, PS3, 360) Chicken Riot (Wii) Crime Scene (DS) Data East Arcade Classics (Wii) Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (PS3, 360) Everquest II: Battlegrounds (PC) Everquest II: Sentinel’s Fate (PC) Free Running (Wii) KORG (DS)-10 PLUS (DS) Ragnarok (DS) (DS) SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 (PSP) Triple Crown Snowboarding (Wii) Tropico 3 (360) WarBirds: Dogfights (PC) Wednesday (Feb. 17) The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (360) Thursday (Feb. 18) Deadly Premonition (360) Friday (Feb. 19) Ghost Pirates of Voojoo Island (PC)

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Week in Games: Catch a Predator [New Releases]

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