NEWS > GAMES > BRANDON CRISP STORY FROZEN TO A CRISP

BRANDON CRISP STORY FROZEN TO A CRISP

November 9 2008

Barrie, Canada – With the discovery of the body of 15 year old Brandon Crisp a tragic mystery has come to a sad conclusion, a conclusion which seems to have had no impact on family, friends, and media looking for a scapegoat and an increase in readership.

Crisp disappeared on October 13 after a dispute with his parents. The conflict arose from an argument with his parents over his ‘obsessive’ playing of the Xbox 360 game ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’. Crisp’s body was found on November 5, apparently having fallen from a tree in the cold wilderness north of Toronto. Much of the blame has been focused on the video games that the boy had been playing.

“It’s a tragic story to be sure, but looking to blame others doesn’t do anyone any good. The truth is the kid had problems, either with his parents or with himself, and did something stupid. It has nothing to do with video games,” said Scrape TV Gaming analyst Graeme Hawthorne. “Of course that is something everyone knows but it hasn’t stopped the blame game. The noobs that keep playing reciting this line about video games being bad for you don’t even get the game.”

For good or ill, the 130,000 person town in central Ontario has now become the centre of the battle over the effects of video gaming on youth. This has not only been a boon for local businesses and newspapers, but has also opened up new sales opportunities for video game retailers.

“We have increased our shipments of certain titles like ‘Gears of War 2’ and ‘Call of Duty 5: World at War. This whole incident has shed an entirely new light on the gaming habits of northern youth,: said a spokesperson for Best Buy Canada. “Previously we had focused on hunting and Hockey games, with the occasional snowmobiling title thrown in, but this has show us that there is a significantly more sophisticated demographic than we had previously thought.”
Equally, the website for local newspaper The Barrie Examiner has had a significant jump in traffic since the story hit, providing a temporary lift in ad revenue for the paper.

“We haven’t had a story hit like this since the 1985 Tornado. For the first time in a long time the country’s attention is on Barrie,” said the newspaper’s editor. “It’s a sad story and all but it is a story and that’s what we do. I say God bless videogames and insolent youth if they’re going to give us this kind of boost.”

With tributes now underway for Crisp, the news cycle is reaching its conclusion leaving only the family to deal with the aftermath of their personal tragedy. Much like a game, the media is ready to respawn and start all over again.

“We’ll cover the funeral and tributes but we will need to find something new. This peak in our traffic has been great, but just like in games the high only lasts so long before you have to restart,” continued the editor. “Time to choose our weapons and get into a new game.”

Of course the cycle of blame is unlikely to end anytime soon. With critics looking for exactly these types of stories, the din of their guns is likely to only increase.

“Ironically, it’s really too bad that life isn’t like a 360 where you can just mute the idiots shouting in your ear,” continued Hawthorne. “These campers just sit and wait for their opportunity and drive everyone nuts. We should really have a boot option in real life."

For its part, Call of Duty publisher Activision has indefinitely postponed plans for its tree climbing simulator ‘Drop Zone’ which was slated for release on the 360 in 2009.

Douglas Havermore, Games Correspondent

NEWS > GAMES > BRANDON CRISP STORY FROZEN TO A CRISP

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