Grand Theft Idiot

Why is it that video gamers have such a bad rap? Oh yeah - because of this guy.

The RCMP has charged this GTA acolyte, Shylo Kujawski, in Vancouver in connection with jacking a number of vehicles. What tipped the cops off? The MASSIVE "Grand Theft Auto" tattoo on his back and shoulders.

"Police said during the stakeout they also watched Kujawski thwart his own attempt to drive away in another stolen vehicle by accidentally disabling the car with the owner's steering wheel lock."

That's right tough guy, there's actually more to stealing a car than opening the door and driving away. More here.

Canadian Award Show Sucks? Shocking!

Frodo from Weekly Geek has posted his experience at this past weekend's ELAN awards. The what? Oh, the Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts...so the CAEAA -er ELAN, right. Anyway, it comes as little surprise to hear the event described as "boring," "horrible" and rife with D-List stars that have little to no bearing on the video-game industry like William Shatner (who hates everything but money), the Cigarette-Smoking Man from the X-Files, and some other handful of no-names.

While that can all be accepted AND expected from industry events, what can't be so easily shrugged off is the exclusion of video game talent east of Vancouver - hello Pseudo Interactive in Toronto, Digital Extremes in London and friggin' Ubisoft in Montreal - who were not even at the show. Instead, as Frodo tells us, the same 4 or 5 games, mostly from EA Vancouver, were nominated over and over again for multiple award categories.

Our chance for the Canadian industry to be taken seriously and instead we leave impressions like this:

This was the first year of the Elans. It was marketed as an Oscar-like red carpet event, honoring the best of the best in the Canadian Video Game and Animation Industry. What it ended up being was a hastily put together Vancouver developers-only love-in. It said nothing for the quality of product coming out of Canada, in fact it made Canada look horrible in comparison to the US and Japan. The winners weren't even worthwhile to report on.

Awesome.

Read the full account here.

That age-old debate...

Obviously, despite all the fun and exciting Nintendo news, Canadians today are still shocked and upset by the shooting at Montreal's Dawson College yesterday afternoon. One person was killed and 19 were injured when Kimveer Gill opened fire in the school's cafeteria. A very sad and scary event, it was hard to watch as frightened teens ran from the school.

But, in true Sun Media-style, we see this morning's headline "Video Game Killer" on the front page. And the accompanying article isn't much smarter:

On a scary website, Kimveer Gill describes himself as a potential killer and admits that his favourite video game is Super Columbine Massacre.

The 25-year-old Laval man wrote: "Work sucks, school sucks, life sucks ... What else can I say?"

On goth lifestyle forums where he regularly participated, he signed his posts as "Fatality666" and finished all his comments with: "Life is a video game and you gonna die sometime."

Hmmm.. "scary website," and "goth." The slant is here is very obvious. A slant that really plays into the media sensationalizing by publications like the Sun. It pigeonholes and only perpetuates the binary that all video games are bad. While I've never played Super Columbine Massacre, I'm sure there are millions who have, who all live "normal" lives - just like there are millions of Grand Theft Auto players who are not jacking cars and beating up hookers in their spare time.

What do you think?

Wii get a little more news

The official Wii website is up and has posted the complete list of the Wii titles slated for North American release at launch and into 2007. Nothing really surprising, except for the release of DS cult hit Trauma Center: Second Opinion. Check out the video above for a taste of the gameplay.

After you check out the American list, visit 1up.com to see the Japanese list, which has some great games like Animal Crossing!!! I spent my entire winter playing the DS version, and its both a blessing and a curse to release it on Wii. I wonder if you will be able to put your Mii in the game as your character!

Holy Hockey Sticks!

To celebrate the launch of XBOX360's NHL 07, Microsoft is organizing a massive street hockey game at Yonge-Dundas square in Toronto! So calling all Toronto gamers, get your ass down there on Monday - Microsoft will supply the sticks and shirts.

Where: Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto
When: September 11, 2006
Time: Registration starts at 10:30am & game(s) start at 11:15 until 2:00p.m.

Get the details here: XBOX Canada

Going LOCO

In the fun frenzied Mexican-pinata-swinging sense, I am going loco for LOCOROCO! This is by far the cutest game ever released (sorry Katamari, I still love you), but those bloaty blobs with the smiley faces captivate my heart. And even better is the music! It's super kawaii to the max mixed with baby jibberish! This game will even save the on-the-rocks relationship I have with my PSP. No Dr. Phil needed.

But why, oh why is Futureshop telling me I can't have what I want? It's listing Loco at an awesome marked down price of $39.99CAN...but not until Oct 31...WTF?? When 8BIT called EB Games on Tuesday they told him all those little ROCO's were "in transit" on their way to the store, and even HMV is listing it as being released 4 days ago...