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Why Robin Makes Batman Better The Associated Press is reporting that increased security measures on international flights inbound to the United States have been eased. The government has not publicly announced any changes, but the AP’s report cites unnamed airline officials “familiar with the matter”.
I found myself doing something strange as I prepared for a 14 hour flight back to the United States this week: Buying games.
It’s not a petty concern. Since Friday’s incident en route to Detroit, airlines are ramping up security procedures at the behest of the government, and “approved portable electronic devices” have long been a whipping boy for this sort of thing.
The war on terrorism can be a real hassle, just ask anyone who has flown recently. Fortunately, science and the Wii have joined forces to try and cut-down on those mammoth airport security lines with the Fidget Monitor.
Canadian actor and videogame voice specialist Michael Rudder was among the casualties in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai yesterday.
Aw, bless. This one really tried to be offensive but it comes across like a three year old trying to get a rise out of his grandparents by shouting “POO!” in public.
So it’s true – there really is a link between violence and video games. In an otherwise run of the mill article on how the next US President will have to deal with the issue of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times printed this little nugget:
A report from Spiegel online points to someone who isn’t that bright theorising that Grand Theft Auto IV‘s designers were inspired by attacks from the Osama bin Laden lead terrorist group. Spiegel cites a member of a message board populated by “cyber-jihadists and al-Qa[e] da sympathisers” who contends that GTA IV‘s use of mobile phone triggered bombs “shows the power and effectiveness” of, well, something Al-Qaeda related that is just too dumb to reprint.
The theory is fleshed out by evidence that things explode in GTA IV. Compelling stuff. You’ve given us a lot to think about this day, random internet moron.
Was Grand Theft Auto IV Inspired by Al-Qaida? [Spiegel via GamePolitics]
News.com.au is reporting (though the story is sourced from The Australian via Reuters) that the “computer generated” image of the city that appears above was posted on an “Islamist forum”, apparently to show off what Washington DC would look like after a nuke strike. Which I guess is kind of right, seeing as that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. It was supplied by SITE, a group that monitors Islamic websites.
Wait a minute…
That’s no CG image! That’s concept art by Bethesda for Fallout 3. I tell you, those terrorist groups are getting sloppy. They should spend more on artists and less on AK-47s. Stop stealing stuff off Google Images! It’s bad!
[Thanks JamesC]
Members of the U.S. intelligence community are soon to be on the hunt for dangerous terrorist boogey-men inhabiting online games like World of Warcraft. At least, that’s what what we assume they’ll tell their superiors, when conducting a four-hour plus raid on taxpayer time. According to fun speculation from Wired, WoW might not just tell us who is going to blow up national treasure X or spread communicable disease Y, it may tell us how.
