460°

Sci-fi author and Crysis 2 writer Peter Watts beaten, arrested at US border

Peter Watts, a Canadian citizen, was subject to a beating and arrest by U.S. border guards on Tuesday when he was detained by the aforementioned authorities at the U.S.-Canada border. On top of the beating and pepper spraying that he received, he was additionally charged with "assaulting a federal officer", a felony rap that carries a mandatory 2 year sentence in a federal prison, if convicted.

Peter Watts, who has previously worked on Homeworld 2, is currently serving as a writer and art consultant on Crysis 2 and is the author of the Hugo-award-nominated science fiction novel, Blindsight.

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hellforge.gameriot.com
Pandamobile5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

What the Christ?

What did he do to provoke the boarder-nazi? And I say 'Boarder-nazi' because there's nothing worse than a US boarder guard. They're horrible people.

StillGray5242d ago

For serious, I feel really bad for Peter. I hope he manages to fight his way through this. A 2 year sentence in a pound-me-in-the-ass federal prison is no joke.

Government Cheese5242d ago

I think its too early, and not enough evidence yet to start 'picking sides' in this case.

StillGray5242d ago

Fully agreed. But with that being said, without the public's support, he'll essentially lose his livelihood to pay off his legal fees.

kaveti66165242d ago

Border guards are not saints, but I want to know more about the story before I put the blame on them. I think, or want to believe, that Watts must have done something serious to provoke them, although a beating and pepper spray would be excessive no matter what. If it's true that Border patrol randomly stops people and beats them down and arrests them just for fun, then I have no inclination to leave my state by car anytime soon.

Bubbles_Kitty_Cat5242d ago

His first mistake appears to be that he questioned authority.

You never question authority in Amerika, you just show your papers and keep your eyes on the ground.

Seriously, the world is not like it used to be, folks.
Big Brother is here and dark days are on the horizon...

Megaton5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

While I've never crossed either of the US borders myself, I've witnessed and received the business end of American law enforcement gone wild, so it wouldn't surprise me the least bit to find out these guys just went off on him for little/no reason.

I'm with Government Cheese for now, need more info.

Winter47th5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

Welcome to America. We hope you *Falcon Punch* enjoy your stay.

gaffyh5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

Ok now that is f***ed up! Just because he asked a question? I hope those border guards are locked up for what they did. They essentially ruined a man's life over a simple question, WOW.

Darkstorn5242d ago

Geez, he must have said something really bad. Those border guards have done terrible things; think of what would have happened had he been at the Mexican border...

Darkstorn5242d ago

@1.5-
The United States may not enjoy the social freedoms of the Western European countries, but that doesn't mean we are comparable to the Soviet Union.

Bubbles_Kitty_Cat5241d ago (Edited 5241d ago )

The entire world is moving towards a very sinister system of governance.

It is happening right in front of our eyes, yet most people are so wrapped up in everyday nonsense that they can't even see it.

Soon enough, however, it will be on display for all to see.

orakga5241d ago

Really?? You guys must not watch the news.

Nearly every WEEK, there's a report of law enforcement officers tazing and beating people without sufficient justification. Yes, sometimes people will ANNOY them, but the way they punish that annoyance is WAY beyond acceptable.

Just google "police violence video", watch the videos, then come back here and tell us if you STILL think you need more info.

My favorite (you know what I mean) is the one where a cop pulls over a car FOR NO REASON, then when the driver (a middle-aged woman) gets out of the car to ask the police officer what's wrong (apparently that's punishable by death nowadays), he tazes her IN FRONT OF HER KID WHO IS SCREAMING "MOMMY~! MOMMY!!!".

I don't need any more info. The border security people f@ked up and that's the end of the story here.

socomnick5241d ago

Wait for all the details to come in then pick a side.

All im saying is he didn't get his ass beat and pepper sprayed for nothing, he must have provoked the ass whooping.

ecb5241d ago

isn't there some sci fi writer that writes for video games, but is also racist or sexist or something? i only ask because if its this guy, maybe he said something hateful to piss the gaurds off.

orakga5241d ago

Seriously, do you guys NOT watch the news?

EVEN when there are VIDEOS of wrongdoing, these people get away clean (with maybe 2-week suspensions) JUST BECAUSE they are part of the authority.

I bet you all my bubbles that this is what happened:

(Dude gets off car)
- Dude: "What seems to be the problem here?"
- BG: "Sir, stay in the car!"
- Dude: "Well can you at least tell me what's going on?"
- BG: "I said get back in the car!"
- Dude: "Come on, can you at least tell me why you're doing this?"
- BG: "GET BACK IN THE CAR!!!"
- Dude: "But I didn't do anything wrong!! Tell me what I did wrong!!"
- BG: "Aite, you asked for it..."
(BGs proceed to beat the f@ck out of Dude)

Also I bet you that the dude DID NOT throw a single punch at any of the officers during the incident, which is essentially what this case hinges upon.

These cops (and that's what they really are, but in a different branch of government) will file outrageous accusations against these innocent people just to put them on the defensive. This way, the people have to SOMEHOW prove their innocence (a near-impossible feat) BEFORE even being able to file a complaint against the officers.

For god's sake, educate yourselves on current events for once and you'll see that this is NOT a time to play semantics.

The BGs are guilty as hell, and I'll wage all my bubbles on it. Anyone who's willing to take up this bet, step the f@ck up, or kindly shut up.

The BS Police5241d ago

You are well within your right to question authority, rememebr those with authority only have that authority to uphold the law, not break it.

They also have no right to abuse that authority.

Perjoss5241d ago

maybe the guard is a hardcore PC gamer and is a little upset about the Crysis sequel having consoles as lead platform.

Bubbles_Kitty_Cat5241d ago

You misread my post, my friend.

We don't disagree. ;)

Pandamobile5241d ago

What the hell makes you think that the console are the lead platform for Crysis 2? If that were the case, we might as well be playing Far Cry 1.

There's multiple teams working on Crysis 2. They've got the engine dev and PC dev teams together, and then a separate team, formerly Free Radical Designs helping scale back the console versions. (map sizes, texture resolutions, shader quality, geometry, etc all has to be scaled way back to get it to run well on the 360 and PS3.)

5241d ago
deshon095241d ago

i guess you have never be to russia because this is child play compared to what they do

rockleex5241d ago (Edited 5241d ago )

Because she kicked her shoes toward him. A regular guy would spend time in jail if he reacted the same to his girlfriend.
http://boingboing.net/2009/...

Cop shoots (and kills) black guy in the back of head FOR NO REASON.
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

You're NEVER supposed to shoot someone unless they appear to be pulling out a weapon on you, or they clearly have a weapon and are trying to kill you.

This black guy was being held down by multiple officers, there's no reason for the cop to even pull out his gun in the first place.

The purpose of a cop is to serve and protect the citizens... but who protects the citizens from a cop?

5240d ago
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Sano645242d ago

Who knows Pandamobile but this article is very one sided we are only getting his side of the story. We dont know what really happned. I bet the whole thing is on tape.

And yes I am American and I have family in Canada and have crossed the border a number of times. And I dont find all the boarer gards to be "horrible people"

Pandamobile5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

Whereabouts do you cross? It's a terrible experience going from Windsor to Detroit and Sarnia to Port Huron (where this happened)

orakga5241d ago

Just because YOU never had a bad experience, doesn't prove that these incidents don't occur. Like I mentioned somewhere else, go google this. There are enough videos out there that prove this stuff happens ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

Feral Gamer5241d ago

I think Detroit says it all. That's the anus of the US

The Lazy One5241d ago

very rarely will police attack people if they aren't justified. They just have too much at stake. This website is incredibly one sided. For an area that should have plenty of cameras, it should be pretty obvious who is in the right and who is in the wrong quickly.

PS: I was beaten by police too <_< >_>... I'm poor, here's my pay-pal account...

not the least suspicious way to ask for money.

rockleex5241d ago

Riiight.

Especially when you have clear evidence that they have no justification for their actions, yet they still get away with NO PENALTIES whatsoever.

This has not happened just once or twice. Its a common occurrence. Cops know they have the government on their side.

Not all cops are bad. But you can be sure that those cops who ARE bad, know very well that they're backed by the government. Just like those soldiers that get away with raping women.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 5241d ago
Xi5242d ago

pepper spray is usually more then enough, a beating is usually more then enough, a beating and pepper spray seems excessive.

I bet he'll lose just because he's not an american.

INehalemEXI5242d ago

They probably will give him probation or something doubt he will have to serve 2 years in the pen. Unless he has some serious priors.

StillGray5242d ago

I do not think he has any priors. He's a marine biologist and a science fiction writer, heh.

snipermk05242d ago

I'm from Canada and I do believe that the Canadians get the short end of the stick. In literally EVERYTHING!

INehalemEXI5242d ago (Edited 5242d ago )

They will most likely end up dropping the felony charge but he would have to deal with misdameanor charges. Fines, some jail time etc. They always throw a bunch of charges up against you and then try to make you take a deal for lessor charges. They know dang well excessive force was used.

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evilmonkey5015242d ago

Will Canada kick his butt back to the u.s. ?

S4NDM4N5242d ago

I hate traveling to the US. I'm Persian and it drives me nuts. I missed two flights a few years ago because they would fingerprint my parents and question them and stuff.

Never taking an American airline company or traveling to the US by plane.

Borders always causes problems for us too.

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130°

70 percent of devs unsure of live-service games sustainability

With so many games fighting for players' attention and interest losing out over time, time sink games are at risk of eventually losing steam.

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gamedeveloper.com
thorstein23h ago

It was worrisome to begin with.

It's a niche genre with only a handful of hits that can stand the test of time.

Cacabunga2h ago

I like the sound of that!! I will for sure never support these gaas games.
Sony must be shocked at gamer's reaction, making them cancel a few of these and hopefully go back to the good heavy hitters they had us used to..
now bring on that PSPro reveal and show us some SP 1st party awesomeness.

CrimsonWing6922h ago

What’s to be unsure of!? Look at the ratio of success to failure!

DarXyde5h ago

It's pretty ridiculous.

Imagine having a breadth of data at your disposal to see the statistically low success rate of these games, only to be laser focused on the exceptional case studies.

shinoff218321h ago

Yes. Stop all the live service bs.

jznrpg21h ago

Only a few will catch on. You need a perfect storm to be successful in GaaS and a bit of luck on top of that. But a potential cash cow will keep them trying and some will go out of business because of it.

MIDGETonSTILTS1720h ago

Helldivers 2 manages just fine…

Keep production costs low… don’t just make custscenes until the mechanics and enemies are perfected first.

Make so much content that you can drip extra content for years, and the game already feels complete without them.

Most importantly: make weapons, enemies, levels, and mechanics that will stand the test of 1000 hours. This might require more devs embracing procedurally generated leveled, which I think separates Helldivers 2 from Destiny’s repetitiveness.

Show all comments (12)
60°

The Battle Pass Is The Worst Thing To Happen To Modern Gaming

Nameer from eXputer: "Some exceptions aside, I don't think the battle pass is a net positive for gaming with how they're implemented in most live service titles."

got_dam1d 1h ago

Battle passes AND meta gaming both.

DivineHand12523h ago(Edited 23h ago)

I like the way Helldivers 2 does battle passes. It allows you to make purchases on each level of the battle pass and gives you the option of choosing which item to unlock first. The more purchases you make using medals the further you progress. There is no timer and you can earn medals towards purchasing stuff via personal orders and Major orders.

I haven't played much live service games that have battle passes but I remember some games that have battle passes where you progress through it linearly using an exp system. What makes it really bad is that the battle pass will have like 50 or more levels with the cooler stuff being closer to the end. They also have an in-game shop that sells exp boosters so you can reach the end of the pass before it refreshes. Everyone ilse will have to grind their way through.

lucian22922h ago

battle pass in fortnite is perfect; buy one and it buys the rest for every other season as it gives you more money than the first cost. so 8.50 and season ends with you getting 13.00, it pays for the next and you have some pocket change to save up for cash shop. All of which is optional

470°

PS5 Pro specs leak video taken down by Sony

Sony is taking actions as video by Moore’s Law is Dead, has been issued with a copyright claim.

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videogameschronicle.com
andy851d 18h ago

And people say it's all fake because Sony haven't said anything 😂 conveniently forget the PS4 Pro was only announced 2 months before release.

BeHunted1d 18h ago

It's fake. There's no factual evidence other than his own made up specs.

Hereandthere1d 18h ago

What were the specks Sony was afraid of showing?

Shikoku1d 17h ago (Edited 1d 17h ago )

Digital foundry put a video out saying what he leaked was exactly what they also knew about the PS5 PRO. So no it's not just stuff he made up

Babadook71d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

If it’s fake what copyright does MLID infringe upon?

😂

andy851d 14h ago

Aye because they'd go to the effort of copyright claiming it if it didn't exist 🙃😂 you'd have to be a special kind to be thinking its not a thing by now

Cacabunga1d 13h ago

They need to reveal it with uncharted killzone or a heavy hitter like this

Ironmike1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

U mean the specs that we'll established digital foundry which said these are the actual specs published a video on 2 weeks ago I mean they are only one of most trusted sites for tech information but they just made up a video for the sake of it

Christopher1d ago

I would love for it all to be fake, but lots of people are saying they've seen/heard the same thing. But, man, we 100% don't need mid-gen upgrades when we're failing hard to optimize current hardware.

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Seraphim19h ago(Edited 19h ago)

if I recall Sony lowered sales expectations for PS5 earlier this year. if that is the case we won't hear anything about a Pro until next year or shortly before/when it's dropping. After all, if the Pro was dropping this year/fiscal year they wouldn't have lowered expectations.

As for squashing rumors. Yeah, shit like this prevents potential buyers from adopting now, just like slim rumors in the past. It only makes sense to keep things under wraps from a business perspective. Despite living in a technological age of unfettered access to information we don't need to know whats going on behind closed doors be that at Sony, Nintendo, MS, or amongst any development studios. When the steak is done we shall feast.

JackBNimble18h ago

By the time games are actually made to take advantage of the pro spec's the ps6 will be released or close to it.

jznrpg1d 17h ago (Edited 1d 17h ago )

Just announce it already! I want to preorder one asap. But in reality they don’t want to lessen PS5 sales until Pro is ready to launch so I understand the business part of it. September is probably when they announce it with an early November launch like the PS4 Pro

Ironmike1d 13h ago

Pro won't lessen sales sames ps4 pro never and the ps4 pro was more relevant at the time cos move to 4k this not needed

RaidenBlack1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 7h ago )

Yea, my brother got his PS4 (coz of a good deal) after the PS4 Pro's release.

darthv721d 3h ago

^^same here. I got a base 4 for only $100 off a guy who bought the Pro. then a few months later I found a guy on craigslist selling a pro for $100 because it was left behind by his former roommate who moved out. That was the beginning of my obsession to buy up the different variants of the PS4 that were released.

As of now I am really only missing the 500m one and the gold slim but otherwise I have pretty much all the other retail ones. https://consolevariations.c...

BoneMagnus1d 2h ago

@darth - Nice collection!

crazyCoconuts20h ago

Anyone with 4K that appreciates 60fps is gonna disagree about it not being needed.
DLSS is a god send for Nvidia, and there's been nothing like it for AMD...yet ...

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 20h ago
DeadlyFire1d 2h ago

They will announce it around E3 timeframe about May-June whenever they do a showcase for the year.

neutralgamer19921d 17h ago

Just announce it this thing will sell well

Ironmike1d 13h ago (Edited 1d 13h ago )

I don't think it will pll still haven't seen the potential of ps5 yet

Cacabunga1d ago

agreed, but it might sell if they announce some 1st party games to lead the way. if people see the difference with the base version they can move on. for my sake I am still gaming mainly on PS4 (still not finished with RDR2 due to lack of gaming time). I have a huge backlog on PS5 I am hoping to get into.

mark3214uk1d 9h ago

why? game makers havnt even come close to maxing out current spec yet, were getting al lthese new TFlops and game maker are making crappy remakes not worthy of the ps3

Minute Man 7211d 4h ago

The guts of the 5 and X are 5 years old

fr0sty21h ago

People keep saying that, yet we still have games running at near HD resolutions, 30fps, and ray tracing features turned off.

PRIMORDUS1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

I would take that video and upload a torrent of it, fuck that copyright bullshit. If your going to do something that has a chance of being taken down, make a torrent first share it. Then Sony or any other company is helpless and you can laugh in their faces, taunting them to try to take it down 🤣

LoveSpuds1d 7h ago

With kind of analysis and advice, you could be a lawyer for Trump!🤣

tronyx121d 7h ago

As much as the PS4 Pro didn't represent a major % in the playerbase, announcing a 'better' model will hinder sales from the 'base' model. They are right, business-wise.

Show all comments (36)