[aldo_14]

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=72837  (I have comments!  Read them!)

Watch out, parents, because paedophiles are back - and this time they're coming through Nintendo DS. Those crazy paedophiles!

Don't believe us? As FOX 6 Milwaukee's Brad Hicks explains, paedophiles are now in a position to use PictoChat to find your children, and thanks to the invention of wireless networking, nothing can stop them! Not even walls! Or physics!

You're not even safe on the move. Because if a paedophile is driving along next to you, he can still get at your children by joining their PictoChat session. "Nintendo is well aware of the risk," says Brad.

"Both the owner's manual and the company website warn parents about PictoChat, and recommend talking to your kids about what to do if they get a message from someone they don't know."

But as one of the parents in Brad's report points out, if it's not on the TV advert, why would it be included in the product itself? And why would parents read owner's manuals?

Nintendo DS is incredibly popular at this point. Why? Kids are naive. "It has lots of graphics," one tells Brad. The truth is clearly more sinister. We decided to hound Nintendo UK for a response to Brad's explosive discoveries.

Their four and a half minutes of email silence was damning.

They later answered. "Nintendo takes the issue of children receiving messages from strangers very seriously," they noted. Which clearly makes one of us.

"Children should be warned about receiving messages from, or communicating with, strangers through any medium. For this reason a warning and detailed privacy information are clearly highlighted in the Nintendo DS instruction booklet.

"Nintendo also recommends that an adult should assist children with the system set up and instruct them not to use personal information and not to meet strangers or give personal information to anyone as it could be read by a stranger.

"It should be noted that PictoChat does not connect to the internet. PictoChat can only be used to communicate with another Nintendo DS within the range of the Nintendo DS's wireless signal, which is approximately 65ft."

65 feet, eh? That's not what Brad says.

Oh, and on a similar vein; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7jVnrfoZD8

[karajorma]

Penny Arcade had an interesting point to make on this one.

Kotaku carried a story yesterday that is (basically) the Nintendo DS version of that Playstation Pornable scare from six months ago. You can see it here, and you should, because it's awesome. It depicts a scenario so imaginative that it juts into the realm of speculative fiction:

While driving on the highway, a child molester who is also driving might look into the back seat of your car and see your child using their DS back there. According to this terrifying report, the child molester can then - while driving their car - produce a DS of their own and utilize it to divine your home address. You will recall that he is driving on the highway at speeds approaching sixty miles an hour. One hand is on the wheel and the other is managing the gearbox. Thus, there can be no question.

He is entering these messages into his DS with his erect phallus.

The report isn't specific on this last point, but it's clearly present in the subtext. Pedophiles are writing messages to your kids using their dicks.

[aldo_14]

Incidentally, regarding Brass Eye - this is a pretty hilarious example of the tabloid press.

[karajorma]

Brass Eye was a marvellous example of people completely missing the point. The whole of that episode was having a go at the way the media treats the issue not making light of the issue itself.

[fsi.scsi]

What can you expect from FOX News?  They'll do anything - like most news networks - to sensationalize a banal story.  This garbage probably evolved through a senior manager's drunken inference that: since the DS has wi-fi, and wi-fi can be used by perverts, the DS is a safety hazard to chillun.

[Ulala]

This is getting ridiculous. Soon, Mario will be called the antichrist. 

[Mongoose]

The power of Toad compels you!

[Taristin]

Won't somebody please THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

[Fineus]

Won't somebody please THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

I believe the paedophiles are

[Taristin]

Well, aren't they nice. They deserve some recognition

[Agent_Koopa]

I like how they referred to a Nintendo official as a "game guru".

[aldo_14]

I like how they referred to a Nintendo official as a "game guru".

****!  It's an evil foreign cult!