220,000 Wii battery charge stations, produced by Griffin International, have been recalled due to risks of the battery packs overheating. The product is a potential fire hazard, with six incidents of overheating were reported to the company - and two customers suffering minor burns to the hand.
The recall was issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Griffin International. The products recalled are the "Psyclone Wii 4-Dock Recharge Station" and "React Wii 4-Dock Recharge Station", under the Psyclone and React brands.
The official site claims that the recall is due to an "overheating problem that has, in a few very rare instances, caused batteries to short circuit." The site claims no injuries have been reported, however the CPSC site claims that there have been two incidents of minor hand burns.
The battery charge stations were sold at major retailers such as Target, Best Buy, Toys R Us and Amazon from January 2008 to June 2009 for around $50.
If you have bought one of these pyrotechnic-happy chargers (model numbers, Psyclone (PSE6501) and React (RT530), can be found on the bottom side of the product), contact Griffin International toll free at 888-344-4702 to obtain a replacement. If you've been burned by one of these or a similar product, the CPSC would like to hear from you.
220,000 Wii charger stations recalled for causing hand burns
After EGM is cancelled, one boy is still sent issues of Maxim instead
There was quite a stir among readers of Electronic Gaming Monthly (hey, try taking a website to the toilet), or, more accurately, a stir among their parents, when it was announced that subscribers to the cancelled mag would instead receive copies of racy Maxim.
Not such good news for parents who'd rather their kids look at pictures of Gears of War over pictures of sexy women, but luckily the publisher allowed customers to cancel their subscription and receive a refund, if they responded by mail.
Or maybe not - at least for 12-year-old Jake O'Donnell from Boston.
Y'see, Jake received EGM for news on his favourite Wii games: pleasant, kid-friendly, cuddly Wii games. But a few weeks back, the magazine that arrived in his mailbox was far from cuddly. Actually, it was very cuddly - if you like cuddling breasts, that is.
"I saw two magazines with my name on it, so I went back to the house and showed it to my mom," said Jake, who probably remembers the scene fondly.
But his mother said she "didn't think it was a magazine my son should be looking at."
And she's most angry that she wasn't even given a choice of magazines - perhaps because publishers automatically assume the gaming community is mainly comprised of male pervs?
Even though Jake's mother wrote to the publisher to prevent more issues of the scandalous mag arriving at young Jake's door, the August issue of Maxim arrived like clockwork.
Hopefully the family can sort this situation out before Jake loses all his innocence and demands an Xbox.
Source
Woman buys boy an Xbox webcam for Xbox Live explicit "show"
An Ohio woman, who purchased an Xbox Live webcam for a boy so that they could give each other a “free show”, has plead guilty to one count of possessing child pornography. She enticed the Arizona boy over Xbox Live and Myspace to produce sexually explicit images and videos of himself.
Kendra L. Sasser, 32, could face up to 10 years in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender. She communicated with the boy, aged 16 at the time, throughout August and September 2007, and the pair exchanged explicit photos during this time.
The investigation began when Sasser’s husband contacted authorities to say his wife was having sexually explicit communications with minors over the web.
Sasser and the boy discussed using Xbox Live video chat to give a “free show to each other,” but the boy could not afford the camera. So on September 11th, Sasser purchased a $40 gift card from GameStop and sent it to the boy. The boy then used the card on September 14th to purchase an Xbox Live Vision Camera. Sasser was arrested 11 days later.
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose set a sentencing date of Oct. 29.
Parents concerned about their child’s online Xbox activity should read Xbox.com’s Parent’s Guide to Family Settings, and visit Get Game Smart, Xbox’s resource for gaming families.
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Woman bound with Wii controller cord during brutal robbery
A woman was bound with the cord of a Wii controller during a brutal robbery assault, prosecutors told Kanawha Circuit Court this Monday.
William Charles Landon IV, from Virginia, is said to have attacked a woman in her own trailer, supposedly punching and choking her, before binding her with a Wii controller cord. His girlfriend, prosecutors say, also helped in the attack.
The victim, Ashley E. Stamper, was also stabbed in the hand, had a sock stuffed in her mouth, and was punched in the face, according to opening statements.
Landon’s girlfriend has disappeared, and police are still trying to locate her.
Photographs of Stamper following the robbery showed her with a bloody nose, a swollen jaw, and cord marks around her wrists, where she had been tied up with the Wii controller.
Landon’s trial continues.
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Lost Planet Sex Offender to Face Grand Jury
The “Lost Planet Paedophile” is set face the Bedford County grand jury.
The grand jury will hear the charges against Andrew Fitzgerald Holloway, the 21-year-old Rhode Islander. He is accused of sex crimes against a 13-year-old Bedford County girl, who he met while playing the Xbox game Lost Planet. Holloway is charged with three counts of unlawful carnal knowledge and two counts of using a computer to solicit sex acts.
After they met on Lost Planet, it is believed that the pair formed a relationship which lasted six months before Holloway decided to fly to the girl’s area on February 3rd of last year. That very evening, the girl was reported missing by her parents.
The pair were found more than a mile from the girl’s home, the next day.
Parents concerned about their child’s online Xbox activity should read Xbox.com’s Parent’s Guide to Family Settings, and visit Get Game Smart, Xbox’s resource for gaming families.
Source
Gaming causes carbon dioxide poisoning
A study published in the journal Pediatrics has found a surprising link between gaming and carbon monoxide poisoning, which emerged following the impact of Hurricane Ike in Texas.
After a hurricane knocks out electricity from an area, carbon-monoxide poisoning cases are expected among residents who use gasoline-fired generators. It was commonly believed that most victims generated electricity for lighting, air conditioners and refrigerators. Now it appears that a large number use the generators for gaming.
Following the storm, in September, the Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center treated children for carbon monoxide poisoning, a surprising number of which reported having played videogames before falling ill.
A researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center said, "It was hard to deny there was a pattern which we hadn't expected to see so soon after the storm. Our bias has been that people use generators because they need to keep cool or run equipment to maintain necessary household functions, like food storage. Yet, we were seeing people in the first 36 hours of the storm and the thing that they were struggling with is keeping the children entertained."
Among the cases of families using gasoline-powered electric generators following the storm, 75% of children were poisoned because the generators were used to power games consoles. The generators emit carbon monoxide.
The findings are important as more parents now turn to games consoles to provide children with post-disaster releif. Specific safety messages may be produced targeted at children with regard to the risk of playing games following a disaster.
Following the hurricane, half of the carbon monoxide patients treated at Memorial Hermann were kids. On questioning, it soon became apparent that most of the kids had been playing videogames.
Stats breakdown:
37 patients treated at Memorial Hermann
20 were under 18 years old.
13 carbon monoxide poisoning incidents
9 incidents were a reason for generator use was given
5 of those incidents where the reason was to run a games console (75%)
The article, Dying to Play Videogames, "is the first study to suggest that generators are commonly used immediately after a large-scale power outage to power entertainment electronics for children," according to the researchers.
Gas-powered electrical generators should never be used indoors, even with ventilation and a carbon monoxide detector and alarm.
Source
Rape games NOT banned in Japan
Contrary to original reports that rape games had been banned in Japan, it appears that, in fact, they aren't.
It was originally claimed that the Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS), Japan's PC game rating agency, had called for all PC games featuring the simulation of rape to be banned from sale in Japan. Now it appears that the news company who broke this news, Tokyo Broadcasting System, actually misrepresented EOCS through a heavily edited interview.
Supposedly, TBS's report came out of the blue, and nobody in the erotic games industry knows what the heck it is going on about. A decision to regulate rape games wouldn't come about so easily, and if such a decision were made, it wouldn't be enforced as quickly as by June 2nd, the date originally indicated.
One of the directors of the EOCS blogged that "none of the EOCS directors even knew about" the things TBS reported. Apparently there will be a meeting held on the 2nd of June where the EOCS will review their PC game software regulations - somehow TBS warped this information into claims that all rape games would be banned on that date.
The possibility still exists that rape games will be regulated, as will be discussed at this emergency meeting, but the EOCS remains hopeful that it will not come to this.
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