Thanks to my brother for bringing this to my attention.

For the past few years we’ve been reading about an upsurge in people leaving their children locked in cars…and often those poor children have died as a result. This is another in the long list of children lost this way.

However, this story (and others) have fixated on the fact that the mother was playing EverQuest while her daughter was dying in the car. There are many, many “reasons” why people make the mistake of leaving their children in the car…but the only one we’ve ever really heard about is this one. Once again, the media is trying to point out just how horrible computer gaming is, rather than focusing (as it should) on why children are “forgotten” in cars.

But that’s an argument for another day.

I couldn’t help but fixate on the fact that the mother was once an advocate of “Spouses Against EverQuest“. Here you can see several posts she made against EverQuest. It’s just so ironic that she fell “prey” to the game as well.

A poll conducted by the Entertainment Software Association, in an attempt to blow a stereotype out of the water, has found that there are more woman gamers (females over 18) than boy gamers (aged 6-17).

As with all polls, I take this one with one mambo sized piece of Morton’s salt. For one, I believe more women then young boys are likely to fill out a survey, even if it’s about gaming. Secondly, I always thought the stereotype was about males from 17-25…never even cared or thought about those 6-12 year olds.

But I have to tell you that I am happy to see more women gaming. It’s a great stress relief, does wonders for hand/eye coordination and problem solving (unless you’re playing Donkey Kong Country on a GBA…it’s either the game or I’m starting to suck…I’ll blame the game ), and if you’re playing MMORPGs, a great way to meet people.

I’m having a hard time articulating how I feel about games geared towards women and girls. For one, I actually feel offended that people feel the need to make Barbie games in order to attract females. The games are easier and they’re “dumbed down”. I watched my 4 year old niece…who can wipe the floor with her uncle when playing Super Smash Brothers (as ‘igglypuff, no less…she’s so damn cute), turn her nose to her Disney Princess within seconds of playing that boring piece of fluff. And now I see that Barbie Horse Adventures: Blue Ribbon Race is about to come out for GBA (*gag*).

Why do we have to have games that are geared specifially towards us? I personally don’t feel that the games I play (well, maybe the sports games…and DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball…DON’T GET ME STARTED!!!) are geared towards anyone in particular. That doesn’t mean I don’t get a small bit of pleasure when I beat the heck out of Dan in Soul Calibur!

Soon, Desiree will be able to play her beloved Kaboom! on her GBA SP. All of the titles to be included on the GBA Activision Anthology cartridge have been announced.

Also, I have to admit we’re splurging a bit and picking up a couple of Xbox console games that are hitting shelves today - Soul Calibur II and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds. This should effectively make us shut-ins for the next few weeks.

Though this is enough to make anyone angry, I feel enraged. I have a sister who is handicapped and I’ve been around many autistic children over the years. To hear how this one was tortured and terrified until he died makes he want to torture and terrify the idiots involved.

How *anyone* involved can say that they’re not guilty of anything is ridiculous. Maybe the boys death was accidental, but they were certainly responsible. They restrained him. They beat him. All so that God could “fix him”.

I came across another version of the story here. This article states that these “church” members would meet at the boy’s house three days a week for “prayer sessions”. When they would arrive, the boy would cry and panic, and a neighbor noticed bruises and a fat lip after some of these sessions.

Shame on these fools for thinking this is something they could “exorcise”. Shame on the mother for letting these people touch her child.

Large portions of the BBC television and radio archives are to be made available for free download via the Internet.

Now, when the general director of the BBC, Greg Dyke, says that this is for “everyone”, I do hope he means it and isn’t defining everyone as just those in the UK. If this does come to pass, then there is so much incredible content here that I can’t imagine how we’d realistically be able to consume it all (and that’s a good thing).

For those among us with bladders of steel, New Line has announced that participating theatres will have a marathon screening of the extended DVD cuts of Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers as part of a triple-feature topped off by The Return of the King.

That should be 8.5 hours (plus intermissions) worth of Tolkien/Peter Jackson goodness on December 16th!

I’m saving my pennies for UFO: Aftermath when it comes to squad-level turn-based strategy games. Still the price is right for me to check out a free demo of Silent Storm, which will trade Aftermath’s near-future UFO-hunting for 1940’s Nazi fighting.

There’s a new Belle & Sebastian album due out October 7, entitled Dear Catastrophe Waitress. Also out later this fall from B&S - Fans Only, a DVD of live performances.

German archaeologists have uncovered a site, presumably used for astronomical observation, that may predate Stonehenge. It has been tenatively dated as being from 5000 - 4800 B.C.

For shooters, download a demo of the oft-renamed Freedom Fighters here.

For wargamers, try the Command and Conquer Generals demo here.

Battlefield: 1942 fans should grab the latest patch for the Desert Combat mod, which can be downloaded here.

Enjoy!