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Shino
Fade into this fantasy, caught in the web of time
Age: 49
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Joined: 15 Sep 2002 |
 Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:45 am Post subject: More kids in trouble b/c of a game - Wait! Super Mario Bros? |
Yup.
Remind me never to move to Ohio!
Check out the pictures...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6147012.html
| Gamespot wrote: | Power-up prank lands gamers in trouble
Ohio girls face potential charges for joke after bomb squad is called; teenagers made life-size Mario power-up boxes, hung them around town.
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Games have gotten some kids in trouble again, but this time it's a far cry from the Devin Moore case, which continues to make headlines. This time the source of the problem wasn't an M-rated game like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas or Doom, it was the seemingly innocuous Super Mario Bros.
In the town of Ravenna, Ohio, five teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, crafted some life-sized power-up boxes modeled after those in the NES classic. The cardboard boxes were covered in shiny, gold wrapping paper and had the black question marks familiar to most gamers. As an April Fools joke, the girls laid 17 of these boxes around the town in public spaces Friday morning.
The humor was lost on some residents, however. After noticing one package on the steps of a church, a concerned citizen reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities, who called in the county's hazardous materials unit and the bomb squad.
Upon further inspection, no materials designed to harm people, mushrooms to increase a person's size, or flowers that bestow the ability to project bouncing fireballs were found inside the boxes. The packages were empty.
Ravenna Police Chief Randall McCoy told the online edition of the Record-Courier that one girl came into the police department with one of her parents and claimed responsibility, saying it was just a joke.
Apparently, the girls got the idea from the Web site Quantz.com, which gives detailed instructions on how to make the boxes. The Web site intended the posting to inspire art projects, and several subversive artists have submitted photos of their Mario blocks in action across the country.
The girls face possible criminal charges for their actions. While most in the online community think the authority's actions are a tad extreme, McCoy defends the proceedings of his department.
"The potential is always present when dealing with a suspicious package that it could be deadly," McCoy told the Record-Courier. "In today's day and age, you just cannot do this kind of stuff."
A posting on Quantz.com responds to the incident in Ravenna. "Not everyone has the same cultural context and not everyone is relaxed about public spaces. [The idea of the project] is to bring a smile to people's faces, to get them to connect with their neighbors, to bring color into an otherwise grey urban landscape. [We] are deeply sorry that things are not working out in Ravenna."
By Tim Surette -- GameSpot
Posted Apr 3, 2006 3:21 pm PT |
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~Tsuki~
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:28 am Post subject: |
I think that's a great idea. Sux that they got into trouble for it though. >_<; |
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Buda
Maille smith extrodanair
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:42 am Post subject: |
Thats just ridiculous, i think we should form a posse and hang 100 or so around that town in the night! |
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Silver Adept
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 1:37 pm Post subject: |
I guess one cannot be too careful these days. Too much paranoia about for anyone to understand what such nice things those ? blocks are. We just hope the charges are dropped, since the boxes were, yaknow, empty. |
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GAAZ
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
How old is this guy?!
The first Super Mario Brothers game was what? 1986? That means anyone born around 1970 up has no excuse not to know what these boxes are...Cept the Amish.
I don't care HOW out of touch you are with the world around you at some point in your life you should have seen one of these boxes. Or at least SOMEONE on the police force should have come up and said, "Ummm chief...Thems is powah up boxes." |
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Blackmage
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject: |
yay for ? boxes! |
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MitchellTF
Senior Otaku
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| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:48 am Post subject: |
Hm...describing the artists as 'subversive' is a bit biased, and honestly the kids didn't do anything wrong. It was April Fools, and the boxes were empty. If they were attempting to scare people, that was another issue. |
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Ming
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| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 11:59 am Post subject: |
It all springs from paranoia, as was mentioned. Just like that new Robot Chicken skit about "TERRORISM!!!" We're so uptight that we can't do anything without worrying about terrorism, and in essence, that indicates that the real terrorists are winning and getting their way because we're all running around paranoid. And honestly, I've never even heard of Ravenna, OH. Why the hell would someone want to bomb Ravenna, OH anyway? |
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ScrumYummy
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| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:38 pm Post subject: |
ROFLMAO. That is so awesome! Except for the girls getting trouble.  I can't believe that--the boxes were empty!
Whatever happened to the whole "do not let the terrorrists win" thing? If we're frightened of a bunch of empty boxes, isn't that "letting the terrorrists win"?
I mean, seriously. Come on. |
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Blackmage
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| Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:08 pm Post subject: |
| ScrumYummy wrote: | | Whatever happened to the whole "do not let the terrorrists win" thing? If we're frightened of a bunch of empty boxes, isn't that "letting the terrorrists win"? |
So true, so true. |
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