ABC News claim Pictochat stalkers can use Nintendo WFC to stalk children

[goKi]

Despite knowing the facts from a writer at Gamerdad beforehand.

http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=3047

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=special_coverage&id=3905371

[ctrl-alt-delete]

That is fucking bullshit and retarded. I will be sure to send an email to that fucking news station.

[Thunderbird]

Typical media attitude for you. As the GamerDad link stated, in the news media, scary sells even more than sex. And people not doing their research isn't anything new. If doing research will make your story sound less sensational, might as well not do it (or do it and completely ignore the results :p).

[ZomfgIts0rzlolo]

The GameFAQs DS board is like fucking flipping out with pretty good reason. Seriously, they got like all of the info wrong, and made nintendo out to be all dangerous, while not mentioning the PSP or XBox Live. BG IMO.

[MottZilla]

Nintendo will no doubt handle it, or could easily sue for damages. More than likely ABC will just go, oh shit, sorry and repeal it or whatever. However you should if you have the time, email ABC telling them their story is full of misinformation and makes their company look very stupid. When they get enough emails of that tone they'll do something.

[ONeilcool]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! I was just waitng for something like this to happen. Ofcourse its total bullshit


Next its gonna be like"PSP teachs kids how to masterbate!"

[*b*]

it's well known that the DS singal strength is nothing special. playing with somone in the next room with a door in the way drops the singal strength to two bars. I've tried it

there are so many flaws in this "threat"

if your kid is in their room playing their DS, and somone like that tries to enter Picto-Chat, chances are they're either in one of the surrounding houses, or just outside, probably in a very visible spot. and this is even based on the off chance that the "predator" is in the area just as the kid is in the chat instead of playing a game

"daddy!! that person in our front yard using the DS under the name hotperv69 is asking me if I want to have sex with him!"

it's like shooting at a one square inch target 500 ft away in pitch black with a potato gun. there's a chance you'll land a hit, but most of the time you'll just end up with a peice of a potato...

...

... you know what I mean

[Dart Zaidyer]

I predict Nintendo will respond to this sensationalized story quickly and efficiently, in the way it always has:


Health and Safety Warning
Before playing, please consult the "seizure warning"
manual for important information about your health,
and the "talking to strangers" manual for important
information about your safety.

Tap screen to continue.

[goKi]

I forgot the NDS even had that Health and Safety Warning. I flashed my firmware months ago, so i could use my Supercard (http://www.gameboy-advance.net/nintendo_ds/nds-supercard.htm) without having to use a Superpass. (http://www.gameboy-advance.net/nintendo_ds/supercard/nds-superpass-key.htm)

[Archibaldo]

Thank god this kind of stuff doesn't happen on the internet.:rolleyes:

[punkonjunk1024]

you get into the DS piracy, huh, goki? I was actually going to get some of that setup a few months ago, but I failed at it. Hows it working for you?

On topic, this is hysterical.
Jesus christ how can you be so freaking stupid.

[ZTC]

wow.... just wow

I started laughing when I read that article

did they not hear of something called "common sense"?

[Cloral]

Of course they have. And common sense tells them that including the information that this doesn't really work makes the story less sensational. Like the guy at gamerdad said, they had all the information they needed to make an informed story, but chose to ignore it. And that my friends is bad journalism. Unfortunately though, that is all too common these days. And it will continue to happen until we as the public start holding them accountible for this kind of shit.

[punkonjunk1024]

This is the kind of crap... That my stepmom read, and decided that pokemon were bringing kids to middle eastern religions.
Not kidding. she broke my games because they made kids into terrorists.

This stuff pisses me off because some people eat it as truth and never look any farther.
Seriously, this is almost an impossable occurance, and they make it clear that this could just like, happen, all the time.

Fthat.

[KJAZZ]

...Wow. That article was amazing.

[VI3T_DR@GON]

Its like 100 feet of connection, right? You have got to see the person you are talking to, no matter what. And you cant talk on WiFi either, so that report is bull.

[firefly]

What about Mario Kart?
EDIT: Oh right, you're talking about pictochat... :sweat:

[VI3T_DR@GON]

You can talk on that?

[Masamune]

Its like 100 feet of connection, right? You have got to see the person you are talking to, no matter what. And you cant talk on WiFi either, so that report is bull.

Thank you for clearing that up.


And no, there's no chat capability at all in MK: DS

[punkonjunk1024]

Actually, Metroid hunters will have wireless mic chat capabilities. ZOMG STALKER TIME!

[VI3T_DR@GON]

Yea, what games enable the mic? I know Electroplankton does.

[MottZilla]

The fact is parents ARE warned and it's their job to look at the toys they buy their kids. You can't just expect its up to your standards. That's just retarded.

Anyway, the DS is no worse than the internet itself, and infact it's far less since the fact is the DS isn't much of any communication device.

[punkonjunk1024]

Yeah, but a bias like this is worse than someone saying "Nothing bad could ever happen playing the DS evar!!!111"

Because most parents won't look past this BS. they'll take it as gospel truth, and go with it. No matter what anyone says.