A 10 year old school boy in Moscow jumped to his death after his parents banned him from playing computer games. The boy, Andrei Smirnov (?) ended his life after receiving his punishment for bad conduct and poor performance at school. Local Russian experts naturally are expressing concern over the unhealthy dependence of children on computers and games in particular.

With all the hubub going around regarding Germany strengthening their already quite strict anti-violent video game laws, German developer Crytek has thrown their weight behind the issue by stating they would consider a move if such a law was put into place. With the recent teen rampages in Germany, politicians throughout the country are putting their support behind laws that would require jail time for those found guilty of creating and distributing games which depict realistic violence, a law which would basically destroy the already fragile German games development industry. With that, there are rumblings throughout the neighboring country of Austria that stricter measure must be put in place against violent video games. I’d put this forth to the Austrian government, before passing any Draconian laws, work together with your local games industry (or what’s left of it) while simultaneously approaching German developers who may be considering a move, offering them attractive packages for relocating to Vienna (the hub of Austria’s struggling games industry).

Read more: Germany moves to ban violent video games

Having grown up in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, I’ve been to Rock Hill many many times (they used to have some of the cheapest gas prices on the east coast!), so naturally this tidbit of news didn’t surprise me one bit. A 12 year old boy known for “actin’ up” was recently arrested after his mother informed the police that he opened his Christmas present, a new Nintendo Game Boy (I’m assuming an SP) without the permission of his family. A big no-no down south, especially when you’re a naughty boy to begin with. Needless to say tragedy ensued as the mother decided that the kid was out of control (thanks in part to his previous crazy behavior), thus his incarceration will be a life lesson, hopefully straightening him out before it’s too late.

Read more: South Carolina boy arrested for opening his Christmas present early

23 year old games design (or games art, it’s a bit unclear) student Bob Averrill surely doesn’t believe in organized religion, even going so far as to write a blog named Portland Athiest to let people know about his beliefs, or lack thereof. So it goes without saying that a discussion of religion taking place at his school (The Art Institute of Portland) would interest Averrill. That it did. During a classroom discussion between other students, Averrill joined in, mainly with another student about her particular religious beliefs in energy layers and astral beings, where it was also discovered she believes in leprechauns (this *is* Portland, Oregon we’re talking about here). Averrill attempted to convince her to stop stating that her beliefs were in fact scientifically proven (it appears she believed leprechauns were floating astral beings on various energy levels). Needless to say, the discussion became a bit more heated and Averrill found himself called before the dean, where he was informed that religious discussions weren’t allowed, before promptly finding himself suspended after a judicial hearing due to violation of the student conduct policy.

Read more: Games design student suspended after disputing existence of leprechauns

There’s currently a firestorm brewing in Germany (and Austria) in regards to the recent school shooting involving a disgruntled student who recently shot up his school, injuring several classmates before killing himself. School tragedies like this are always an unfortunate incident and seem to always be followed by sensationalist reactions from press and politicians alike. Currently, the German and Austrian press are going all out, placing much of the blame on video games and the internet. You see, the shooter was a huge fan of Counter-Strike and also posted videos and his suicide note on the internet. Thus, the media have a perfect pair of scapegoats for which to cover up most adult’s inability to relate to their kids in any way shape or form.

Read more: German teen shoots classmates, kills self

DING DING DING. In what will probably be their most expensive marketing campaign ever, Nintendo has stated that they will spend more than $200 million USD in order to market the Wii console. With Nintendo’s success with the DS handheld and their profit on every piece of hardware sold, Nintendo has built a nice little war chest in order to compete against the new PS3 from Sony and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. 80% of the marketing spend will go towards adult markets, also marking a shift in strategy for Nintendo, which is trying to broaden it’s appeal among adults as the gaming market ages and younger consumer tastes continue their shift towards the mature market. Nintendo is projected to shift over 1.2 million units of the Wii this holiday season, with projections of only around 500,000 units for Sony, thanks partially to the manufacturing difficulties of Blu-Ray components. It’s also not helping Sony that their new console is over priced and their image among many gamers is severely damaged after months of public relations mis-steps.

Read more: Nintendo to spend $200 million

Second Life, the 3D social networking virtual world where users are able to create alter-egos of themselves, living out their days running virtual brothels, hunting ranges and multi-level marketing schemes, has passed the 1 million subscriber mark. Though, this also counts free accounts, which take a whopping 15 seconds to open, over 400,000 accounts have logged in within the last 60 days, a good sign that many accounts are active. How Second Life will fare next year remains to be seen, but for now, it seems like the Linden-family are going strong.

Second Life reaches 1 million subscriber mark

See where was all this mess when I was in school? In Jupiter, Florida (trust me, someplace where all kids have to do IS play video games) 18 year old Tom Taylor dropped out of high school in order to play games professionally for the Major League Gaming association, a collection of about 100 professional gamers who are making big bucks with lucrative sponsorship, consulting and merchandising contracts. Tom for instance, just recently hired a publicist and financial advisor, shortly after signing a contract worth $250,000. Tom compares his gaming skills to that of Michael Jackson, stating he was born to play video games. Way to go Tom.

Read more: Dropout making big bucks playing video games

The Second Life News Network, currently under construction, is aiming to become a major player in the Second Life media industry, by providing fans of the massive real-life simulation game with “breaking news reports and timely, unbiased information related to events in Second Life”. As the Second Life population grows, the one source for Second Life general news reporting, Metaverse Messenger is finding that competition is beginning to make their once comfortable monopoly disappear. How popular SLNN will be among the residents of Second Life remains to be seen, but, we’re always up for someone bucking the system and breaking down monopolistic barriers, wherever they may be.

Read more: Second Life News Network (Via: Second Life Insider)

Jack Thompson once again wastes lots of people’s time and tax money, this time filing a ‘pioneering’ wrongful death suit in New Mexico against Sony, Take-Two and Rockstar Games. The suit is on behalf of the relatives of a family slain on Sam Donaldson’s ranch earlier this year, when a 14 year old boy killed his family after his father hit him for not cleaning horse stalls fast enough. The young boy alleges his father had abused him for years, but that was all forgotten by Jack Thompson, who instead of addressing the fact that an abused child resorted to such desperate lengths to escape further abuse, grandstands and tries to buy himself and his twisted ideals more air time on the evening news.

Read more: Rockstar / Take-Two blamed for all of society’s problems yet again