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Boy found dead, parents blamed Call of Duty and video game addiction

November 5th, 2008 Posted in General Nintendo, News, Written by Valay

Brandon Crisp, a young boy, had been missing up until today when he was found dead. Brandon ran away from his home after his parents took away his Xbox 360. His parents took possession of the console after they decided Brandon had become addicted to Call of Duty 4. Initially, Brandon’s parents believed that the boy’s disappearance was somehow related to his addiction to video games. It was only after investigators analyzed Brandon’s Xbox 360 analyzed that the link between video games and his disappearance were no longer tied together.

“It’s still being analyzed a little further, but at this point we have no reason to believe there is any connection to date between the Xbox and his disappearance,” Sgt. Goodbrand

Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family commented on the situation and strongly states that video game companies do not want to address video game addiction.

“I don’t think [video game companies] want to touch addiction with a 10-foot pole. It raises all sorts of liability issues for them. And my interpretation is that their strategy is to ignore it and hope it will go away. If you talk to front-line counsellors in places like universities they’ll tell you that this is a huge issue. The way people are viewing this is changing quickly.”

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  1. 62 Responses to “Boy found dead, parents blamed Call of Duty and video game addiction”

  2. By dale on Nov 5, 2008

    people are smokin crack that think that a piece of eletronics can cuz this kind of stuff..maybe if his parents gave the kid some time and attetion he wouldnt of spent so much time on his 360…futher more ive been playin video game since i was hell a little kid like 8 my first console was a atari and im ok havent killed myself or anyone else lets put the blame where it belong on the parent not the makers number 1 i would never let my kids play cod4 at 10yrs of age plz

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  3. By Absinthetic on Nov 5, 2008

    I cant say that I know if anyone under the age of 12 that has an addiction, not just to video games but, to anything.

    If it really was addiction (which i doubt and am pretty sure this was rooted alot deeper than just a video game), the parents either did not keep an eye of how much time their kid was spending on video games or ignored it completely.

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  4. By Dan on Nov 5, 2008

    Another set of parents blaming anything other than themselves. If you watch your kids or have a damn relationship with them these things wouldn’t happen. Parents of this kid should take a long look in the mirror. If they thought he was truly addicted they should have sought help.

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  5. By Ryan on Nov 5, 2008

    a perfect example of people avoiding any kind of responsibility. First, these pricks wanted to blame COD4 and/or the video game console. Then when the cops denied that claim, they decide to blame the video game ADDICTION that is somehow Video Game Companies’ fault. How about just admitting that you were shitty parents and take the responsibility for the situations that led to the incident of the boy RUNNING AWAY from home.

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  6. By eric on Nov 5, 2008

    this story is a bunch of bullshit. Im pretty sure this didnt happen. Remember in summer there was a sstory parents take wii away boy kills himself. that story turned out to be totlay fake. now there using the xbox 360 and cod4.

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  7. By Maggie on Nov 5, 2008

    It wasn’t the videogames. It was the parents who didn’t think over ALL of the possibilities that would happen if the console was taken away.Also…Who would run away and die just because their console was taken away? I’d rather wait 5 months to get my Wii back then having to get outta the house and kill myself.

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  8. By Charles on Nov 5, 2008

    Yeah lets blame the parents for wanting to discipline the child for doing wrong.. How dare them… Let us also pretend that game addiction doesnt exist just like the game companies do.. I mean it makes us gamers look that much smarter to deny what has already been proven

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  9. By therisingsun on Nov 5, 2008

    i dont think he ran away because he lost his 360. he ran away because his parents dont understand him and he felt like he had no freedom. probably had no friends and only had his 360 at his side. when he lost it he became depressed and wanted to escape his jail-like home. his parents ignored him. they are paying the price.

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  10. By soul on Nov 5, 2008

    A young boy? What the COD 4 rating again? +16 here, how the heck did he get it? First off don’t let him play the darn game if he’s under age, second here we go again, BLAME THE GAME!! Remember everyone always BLAME THE GAME. Lost all your money? Lost your job? 1 answer: BLAME THE GAME!! lol

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  11. By ChristianTorres on Nov 5, 2008

    Isn’t the game M ? Blame the parents.

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  12. By Joseph P. on Nov 5, 2008

    Huh, seriously…the game is rated “M” for “Mature”. The boy shouldn’t have been playing it in the first place.
    As for the “addiction”…people are capable of becoming addicted to anything.
    It is my understanding that kids like to have fun. If a kid likes to have fun outdoors, where do you find him? Usually outdoors. If a kid plays games for fun, where would you find him? Playing games! Is it not obvious?

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  13. By xe-cute on Nov 5, 2008

    As always in such cases….

    POOR PARENTING!

    A console or PC is not a babysitter and neither should a child be allowed to play on one for long periods of time (not at all if they are not even old enough to play the game).

    Why are the parents not being jailed for negligence? they let a child play an 18+ game and let him sit playing it for hours and hours for months on end before they took any action (which was quite sharp and drastic).

    I hope they are not allowed any more children.

    Some people may get addicted to some games, most of these people are CHILDREN let down by there PARENTS!

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  14. By Brian on Nov 5, 2008

    This has nothing to do with videogames. It has everything to do with bad parenting. Maybe the parents don’t want to admit they’re part of the problem. Stop blaming videogames for all the problems in the world. It’s time for people to start taking the blame for their own screwups.

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  15. By Duh on Nov 5, 2008

    yah…the parents…idiots…oh no, my 10 yr old is watching a violent rated R movie…all the time…dang movie is ruining my kid…hmm, what should I do…lets blame the movie industry…WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!!!!

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  16. By Mr. B on Nov 5, 2008

    He was 15 not 10, check the acctual news story. Parents apparently told him to leave, so misplaced blame is exactly what it is misplaced.

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  17. By Kris on Nov 5, 2008

    They asshole parents shouldnt have took the game away (For being addicted) I mean COME ON, It makes the kid happy, People are getting more stupid by the Minute. it’s super sad the kid ended up being dead, but hopefully ignorant ass parents will learn something from this, Video games are downtime, it is like Mountain Biking, Or Swimming, it is a Hobby, and when you take away something that they love, bitter things will happen AKA running away….

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  18. By J on Nov 5, 2008

    sigh another bunch of parents looking for someone or something to blame. I hate those kinds of parents.

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  19. By Pyratic on Nov 5, 2008

    Video game designers are tasked with the objective to make a game that people don’t want to stop playing, if people put down their controller saying it’s stupid, then they have done a poor job as a game designer. To blame these people for doing their job is a poor scapegoat to the truth that parents are shitty parents.

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  20. By Rob on Nov 5, 2008

    Charles you are an idiot. You are one of the kinds of people that would be a parent like these morons. You can’t blame videogames. First off he shouldn’t have been playing the game since he was so young. Him playing the game has nothing to do with anything. Even if it was connected to the game it would still be the parents’ fault for buying him the game. 2nd of all, if he was addicted to videogames, then the parents shouldn’t have just taken the system and made him go cold turkey. That’s just retarded. Adults that are addicted to things don’t react to well to going cold turkey, how do you think a kid would react? 3rd thing is, GAMES ARE NOT THE ONLY THING THAT WILL MESS KIDS UP!!!! I used to watch power rangers and go outside after the show with my friends, pick up sticks, and we would swordfight. Needless to say we would get hurt but it had nothing to do with video games. It had to do with a tv show that is supposed to be used as a role model for kids. Fact is every kids show that has people fighting robots, monsters, bad guys, or whatever will have kids going outside and playing rough with each other pretending they are characters from that show. Seriously charles shut the hell up! You don’t know anything. Kids that are addicted to videogames have their parents to blame. For not knowing how to say no or give them set time limits. I grew up playing games like Mortal Kombat, teenage mutant ninja turtles, and watching wrestling. I’m not killing anybody. I enjoyed those violent games. They were fun to me. I played with older friends/family/neighbors (high school) and whenever something would happen like a fatality with blood they would laugh and talk about how awesome it was. I never got traumatized because i thought laughing and stuff was the normal response to things. As long as somebody older is with you and showing you that games and the violence in them is funny, or fake, or okay as long as it’s in the game then there is nothing wrong with kids playing violent games. TV shows like power rangers is where kids start becoming violent first. Then games, and only if the parents or older role models aren’t around to help show what’s right and what’s wrong.

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  21. By Lee on Nov 5, 2008

    WTF why are you letting your 10 year old kid play a highly realistic bloody war game, COD4? They obviously don’t pay any attention to their kid, plus there is a ESRB right there on the cover of the game, so the company is covered. Stop blaming shit on other people, parents. Its your fault.

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  22. By DaEmph on Nov 5, 2008

    stupid ass kid raised by stupid ass parents…why would you give your kids a violent game like that.

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  23. By John on Nov 5, 2008

    It really is a sign of the times, isn’t it? No personal responsibility for anything; if I blame others, than I myself can never be at fault!

    Listen, if someone is so weak of mind, so drawn to make believe, than they are just as apt to hear Tony the Tiger’s voice tell them to go maul someone as is their potential to be irrationally hypnotized by video games. So, I guess we better start banning cereal too – I’m truly frightened by those who eat Count Chocula.

    Curious…how many people who played Mario Bros. as a kid ended up becoming a plumber??

    j

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  24. By Lee on Nov 5, 2008

    I wouldn’t take the parent’s blame to seriously, I don’t think anyone is convinced that it was COD’s fault. This reminds me of a young teenage athlete, whose parents pressured to be great, so he took steroids along with other supplements. At some point, in addition to the drug use, depression, and tons of pressure he had going on in his life, he killed himself. The parents blamed the STEROIDS, of course, not THEMSELVES. idiots.

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  25. By Bryan on Nov 5, 2008

    this is so dumb. y the hell would developers need to discuss the issue of video game addiction. wat can they do bout it? nothin. n theres nuthin they need to do bout it. parents need to blame themselves for their childs videogame addictions because they r the ones that r able to set the time limits on everything. and its not like little kids r able to jus go n pik up any violent game they want. the rating system on video games is 1 of the most effective in any industry. if parents dont want theyre kids playin those kinda games then dont buy it for them. if u think theyll still get it then parents should kno that every console now has parental restrictions that allow for them to filter and block any material they find unsuitable. i think people should stop blaming developers. video games are no worse than movies, tv shows, n even books. the reason ppl complain is that they think that kids pik up bad habits only from games. this is bull. u can pik up bad habit in any form of media. its jus video games have such a high entertainment value n the industry is rapidly growing. n as usual people will look for only the negative in such a boomin industry

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  26. By POP on Nov 5, 2008

    FUCK THE PARENTS . WATCH WHAT YOUR KIDS PLAY AND DONT BE A FOOL . I DONT THINK HE WOULD RUN AWAY FROM HIS XBOX IF HE WAS AN VIDEOGAME ADDICT . THE BOYS PROBABLY A CRACKHEAD

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  27. By RuddigerPez on Nov 5, 2008

    Addiction is no one’s liability but the person who is addicted. I’m addicted to masterbating but do I want to sue porn sites? No…

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  28. By dr eduardo on Nov 5, 2008

    why do people feel the need to find blame for a death when the obvious problem was that his parents failed to regulated his gaming in the beginning

    video game addiction is not the developers responsibility to take on, it is the user who needs to regulate themselves while playing.

    thats like saying its the ciggarette companies fault for giving people lung cancer. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop trying to find things to bitch about.

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  29. By WTF on Nov 5, 2008

    wow
    what a dumbass why did he do that
    that was retared
    peace
    [P.S just saying]

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  30. By I_H8_KIDS on Nov 5, 2008

    STUPID KID…i hate them all

    my brother is like addicted to call of duty also and he is a douche bag..

    video games are not worth dying for although they are fun..

    i entirely blame parents how dumb can you be yada yada yada

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  31. By Hai GAMETRAILERZ! on Nov 5, 2008

    LIEK HAI GUISE! I EATED A ICE CREAM! YUM :) !! BTW I WIPED MY ASS WITH A DUCK ONCE! he wasnt happy :( WHAAAAAAAAI!? I FOUGHT DEY LIEK POOPEH!

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  32. By Hai GAMETRAILERZ! on Nov 5, 2008

    LOVESHACK! BABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBY! LOVE SHAAAAAAAAAAAACK! LOVE SHACK! *SPAZ*

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  33. By Hai GAMETRAILERZ! on Nov 5, 2008

    OMG! A BIRD JUST STOLEZ MY CAT!! LIEK RYT FROM HIS LITTER BOXX!!! OH NOES!! CALL TEH ITTEH BITTEH KITTEH COMMITTEH!!!

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  34. By Hai GAMETRAILERZ! on Nov 5, 2008

    ITTEH BITTEH KITTEH COMMITTEH TO TEH RESKOOO!!

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  35. By dillon on Nov 6, 2008

    this story is obviously not fake…. as it was on the news for the past 2-3 weeks.

    and why is no one at all showing any sympathy for either the kid(dead) or his parents, they just lost their child for christ sakes.

    Some people can make me so SICK!!!!!!!!!!!

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  36. By CLUV164508 on Nov 6, 2008

    k guys, as much as all ur points can add up and be correct, and yes the parents are wrong for blaming the games and or systems, but have a heart, these parents just lost there son have a little respect for them and there family, we dont kno the relationship between eachother, or ne thing that went on, from wat ive heard he ran away, but he met someone on the internet and mayb went to them, and thats how he went missing, ask urself where would u go i said chill in the woods or friends for a couple of hours, but he was gone for 7 days, no kid is gone taht far at his age without coming home for some reason, didnt go to school, something went terribly wrong, so everybody plz i kno its hard with a title like this one has but show ur respect plz, r.i.p. THE GAMES ARE NOT TO BLAME RESPECT THIS FAMILY FOR THERE LOSE NO MATTER THE REASONS!!!!!

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  37. By whiteflash on Nov 6, 2008

    stupid people need to be sterilized asap

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  38. By Shadowstar on Nov 6, 2008

    Poor kid. Still, it has nothing to do with games, and I don’t see why anyone would say it did. Sure, they thought he’d met someone on COD4 and gone off to meet them, but that’s not what happened. He was found 4 kilometers from his house, a little past where he’d abandoned his bike, after having his dad help him to pack his knapsack because he was running away from home. Dad didn’t believe him– he was probably right, and if the kid hadn’t had something happen to him, he’d probably have been back quick enough. It sounds to me like he got lost in the woods, and that can sometimes be fatal.

    Game addiction has nothing to do with this, beyond the parents initially thinking it did, and MS being good enough to offer a reward to help find him. I have no idea why David Walsh would be trying to say anything about games with regards to this.

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  39. By Ric on Nov 6, 2008

    im so sick of parents blamming videogames for their problems..first of all if your kid was playing his video game would he be out with the risk of drugs being pushed in his face? no. would he be with stupid people? no. stop blamming the video games for being more entertaining that you! be good parents and have a good relationship and stop putting your shit on the games. you people are poor parents. read that line 5 times out loud to yourselves. seriously.

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  40. By Mart on Nov 6, 2008

    Hey, it clearly says “ran away from his home after his parents took away his Xbox 360″ They should have left it with him, the good ole RROD woulda happened soon so the kid woulda been back to normal. Also, I blame his parents for letting paly the sodding game for so long in the first place and letting him have it!!

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  41. By David Macphail on Nov 6, 2008

    Tell me……was it the Xbox 360 who killed this kid??? I don’t think so. Was it the Xbox 360 who ALLOWED the kid to run away from home in the first place??? I don’t think so.

    This kid’s parents have no – one to blame but themselves for this kid’s death – it’s their job to look after and protect their child – NOT the Xbox 360′s, NOT Microsofts.

    What are they planning to do – sue Call Of Duty 4 for neglectful parenting??? LMAO!

    This kid’s parents know all too well that the resposibility to look after their kid rests with them, they obviously failed to do that. But what’s far worse is, to try and hide the fact that they’re terrible parents they take the easy option and blame video games.

    This kind of garbage happens all the time, that kid could have been abducted by aliens and his parents would have said “It’s because of that awful video game – Destroy All Humans!!!”.

    No matter what the situation…there always seems to be a video game that contains the appropriate content to be blamed, of course, it’s NEVER the parent’s fault. No….we can’t expect the parents to look after their own kids, can we???

    And even if this kid DID have a “Serious addiction” to COD4, who’s fault is it for not stopping this sooner? Who was sitting in front of the TV not giving a damn that their son was gradually “Going insane” because of COD4??? Who let him play the video game in the first place???

    If they gave him the video game which caused this “Addiction” and they are blaming the video game for his death, then they are nothing but accomplices to murder…the murder of their own son!!!

    And what’s worse is they try and shift the blame to the video game industry because they think it’ll help make it bearable to look themselves in the mirror, well i for one hope it doesn’t!

    To blame video games for neglectful parenting is just downright pathetic, this kids parents should be locked up!

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  42. By joe cool on Nov 6, 2008

    i AGREE WITH YOU CHARLES…also to all you morons the kid was 15 SO GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR FAT MOUTHS!! ITS funny that all you idiots that have no kids ARE COMMENTING ON PARENTING! U IDIOTS!

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  43. By Jim on Nov 6, 2008

    Fuck you joe Cool

    I blame the parents.

    It’s obvious that they molested him.

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  44. By joe cool on Nov 6, 2008

    Suck my nuts JIM THE FAG…THATS WHY YOU DONT HAVE KIDS BECAUSE GOD KNOWS YOUR A FAG WITH A HARD ON FOR YOUNG ONES..

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  45. By David Macphail on Nov 6, 2008

    “Suck my nuts JIM THE FAG…THATS WHY YOU DONT HAVE KIDS BECAUSE GOD KNOWS YOUR A FAG WITH A HARD ON FOR YOUNG ONES..”

    Joe Cool, if that’s your idea of an intelligent conversation then i sure hope YOU don’t have any children……….

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  46. By telek on Nov 6, 2008

    Whoever thinks a computer game can cause a kid to kill themself is not very bright.

    Also, addiction is serious shit. Tell me you spoke to a crack addict and asked them what it was like to be addicted. Go and pretend computer games can cause it.

    Fucking retards.

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  47. By Smootherkuzz on Nov 6, 2008

    Some children find it hard to even try to listen to their parents and often go off on the deep end and end up trouble, who is really at fault?

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  48. By joe cool on Nov 6, 2008

    TO DAVID…FUCK OFF YOU ASSHAT

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  49. By Rob on Nov 6, 2008

    Change the title of this article. Where in this article do you quote the parents laying blame? No where. The family worked together with Microsoft to try and find any tips. You should be ashamed of yourself for cashing in and grabbing clicks by sensationalizing the story of a boy’s death.

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  50. By Rob on Nov 6, 2008

    Oh, and stop trying to find someone to blame. There are so many variables in play that it’s best to do this: Shut the fuck up and sympathize with the family. Offer your condolences. Grow up.

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  51. By Dandizz on Nov 6, 2008

    Its the parents fault period thats why the 360 has a time restriction option BUILT IN TO THE SYSTEM so parents can set a time limit on how much their child plays. To the parents you have noone to blame but yourself, so stop trying to make a quick buck off the death of your child you greedy money grubbers.

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  52. By Rob on Nov 6, 2008

    @Dandizz

    Fuck you. They’ll be blaming themselves for the rest of their life. They don’t need to hear that shit.

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  53. By Duh on Nov 6, 2008

    Why should we sympathize with the parents for their lose of their kid, which could have been prevented. Like NOT packing their backpack and hoping for a bluff.

    They would love to see the DEATH of adult game like COD4 and would not sympathize for us. You know why, because they don’t know me and couldn’t give a crap about me. Don’t comment on a kid to game comparison. My point is, should I mourn for them. NO. I don’t know them and couldn’t give a crap about them. But don’t bring their blaming into our territory

    Maybe if someone was trying to take his flag and he cooked a grenade too long and accidently killed himself. Then YAH!! It maybe be part of COD4′s fault for making cooking of grenades sooo cool.

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  54. By FTW000 on Nov 6, 2008

    Ahem first off wasn’t he too young to be playing COD 4?

    I feel very bad for the child dying its a horrible thing to hear but i can’t believe that anyone can really have such an addiction to games, i have been playing since i was 5 , i went through my wow phase my everquest phase and all the console phases and i when i got bored i just moved on.

    its a shame to hear people being so narrowminded if parents are so scared their kids are playing too much speak to them patiently, help them find a secondary hobbie but don’t totally cut off their playing time, cause thats just unfair punishment if you ask me and doesnt teach a person anything.

    Well thats my 2 cents my prayers and consolince for their loss.

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  55. By David Macphail on Nov 6, 2008

    Joe Cool – by the context of your comments i’m assuming that either your mother dropped you on your head as a child………several times.

    Or maybe it’s just that you don’t have any fiends in real life so you resort to shouting at people online in an attempt to make yourself feel better – either way you clearly have too much time on your hands and i feel sorry for you.

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  56. By Rob on Nov 6, 2008

    @Duh

    “Why should we sympathize with the parents for their lose of their kid, which could have been prevented.”

    Because we’re human. We make mistakes and hope the mistakes we make go unnoticed. We don’t like to feel week. We don’t like to be ridiculed for mistakes we make. The mistakes involved in Brandon’s death were noticed and now you’re doing to them what you don’t want people to do to you. Lose the arrogance and welcome humility. Sympathy makes us great.

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  57. By norhor on Nov 6, 2008

    The only thing that needs to be put on trail here are the parents. Letting your kid play games for 14+ hrs a day is going to cause problems when you decide to take the game away instead of sitting down and talking to them about their problem or behavior.

    Taking something away from a child has NEVER, EVER, in my opinion, done any good anyway because they are just going to hate you even more then before.

    Parents need to stop blaming video games and start blaming themselves! If you spent time with your child then this wouldn’t have happened!

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  58. By ernest on Nov 6, 2008

    Brandon Crisp

    UAV offline.

    lol

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  59. By Greg on Nov 6, 2008

    I must say….a lot of you are assholes. Dont blame the parents. They wanted they’re son to be happy, so they let him get a 360. The parents were doing it for the best interest of their child. The parents themselves may not have been so tech savy, therefore, when they began to become concerned over his “addiction” they would not have known about such a “Time restriction” feature. The kid was simply over-reacting. A lot young children do. Hell, every kid’s gone through a phase of yelling at their parents, “I hate you!”. The kid made a mistake. I’m half-blaming the kid, and Microsoft. Microsoft wants to make entertaining games. It’s tempting. But the kid couldn’t control himself. His urges to play were too much. It’s like taking away cigarettes from a heavy-smoker. They’re not going to be okay with it! They’re gonna freak! For a quick lil’ analogy…the kid was the smoker, microsoft was the cigarette, and the game was the nicotine.

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  60. By cumlyker on Nov 6, 2008

    GUISE IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT IT IS ATARIS FAULT BECAUSE THATS WHAT STARTTED ALL THIS GAMING BS

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  61. By cumlyker on Nov 6, 2008

    now if we could just get a time machine and go back and beat the shit out of the first game eva created, this little boys life would had been saved.

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  62. By Moot on Nov 6, 2008

    JEWS MADE COD4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  63. By iansalilgirl on Nov 6, 2008

    cum on people, lets just make a time machine to when the little boy was alive and murder him before his parents take the xbox away then it would just be a murder

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