Robots will soon be weaving tangled webs, as researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology grant robots the power to deceive, which sounds like a perfectly good idea to me. More »
A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher found herself in jail after viciously murdering her ex-husband…in MapleStory. According to reports, the woman’s virtual, big-headed anime husband suddenly divorced her in mid-May, which lead to her logging on with the 33-year-old man’s username and password and deleting his character. When the man discovered the death of his character, he called the police. The alleged virtual murderer has now been jailed for suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, which could carry a five-year prison sentence or a fine of up to $US5,000. “I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry,” the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.
Best way to get folks interested in something (especially around this time of year) is to make sure there’s not enough of it to go around. People are morons. They’ll want something they already want twice as bad if you can get them thinking they won’t be able to get it under their Christmas tree. Take the Wii. It’s still selling well, but come Christmas, you can bet Nintendo will want to sell more. Cue this lie from Reggie: We’re working very hard to make sure that consumers are satisfied this holiday, but I can’t guarantee that we’re going to meet demand. As a matter of fact, I can tell you on the record that we won’t.
What, you still can’t make enough even though it’s been out for a year and Japan’s stopped buying them? Bullshit. Nintendo to tap valley for ideas [Mercury News, free reg required] More »
