In the latest addition to the heaping pile of “video games are evil” garbage, a man died of a heart attack (he had been suffering various diseases for years and was also overweight and did not exercise) while playing Diablo 3. Jokes aside that Diablo 3 is evil (*cough* you know… it’s about hell), I want to call attention to the reporting at IGN.

http://me.ign.com/en/news/1057/Man-Dies-After-Playing-Diablo-III-for-72-Hours

Here is how a key paragraph reads at the time of this posting. Unsure if they will notice and change it.

“However, two of Shirley’s friends have debunked the story, saying he died due his long term suffering with apnea. They describe Shirley as a normal 32-year old man who was “charitable” and a “pearless friend”, but who had trouble managing his weight due to his health problems.”

I almost could not believe what I had just read in this paragraph. IGN was knowingly posting something that was false to continue to capitalize on it for easy hits. On top of that, “pearless”?

Video games do not kill (even ones devoted to slaughtering demons and hellish monsters). The head line could have just as easily read “Man dies while reading book”. Video games are another medium for story telling, right along side novels and movies.