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
Pandamobile5250d ago (Edited 5250d 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.

StillGray5250d 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 Cheese5250d ago

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

StillGray5250d 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.

kaveti66165250d 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_Cat5250d 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...

Megaton5250d ago (Edited 5250d 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.

Winter47th5250d ago (Edited 5250d ago )

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

gaffyh5250d ago (Edited 5250d 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.

Darkstorn5250d 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...

Darkstorn5250d 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_Cat5250d ago (Edited 5250d 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.

orakga5250d 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.

socomnick5250d 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.

ecb5250d 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.

orakga5250d 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 Police5250d 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.

Perjoss5250d 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_Cat5249d ago

You misread my post, my friend.

We don't disagree. ;)

Pandamobile5249d 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.)

5249d ago
deshon095249d ago

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

rockleex5249d ago (Edited 5249d 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?

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+ Show (21) more repliesLast reply 5248d ago
Sano645250d 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"

Pandamobile5250d ago (Edited 5250d ago )

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

orakga5250d 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 Gamer5249d ago

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

The Lazy One5249d 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.

rockleex5249d 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 5249d ago
Xi5250d 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.

INehalemEXI5250d 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.

StillGray5250d ago

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

snipermk05250d ago

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

INehalemEXI5250d ago (Edited 5250d 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.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5250d ago
evilmonkey5015250d ago

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

S4NDM4N5250d 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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260°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv7223h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle10h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18817h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio7h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning772h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga9h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff21839h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga8h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan3h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

romulus232h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv722h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
purple10112h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos12h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-1h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac11h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad11h ago(Edited 11h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10110h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic9h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead2h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein22h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno18h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k417h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson16h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu17h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson16h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

70°

The INDIE Live Expo 2024 event is to feature over 100 game titles

INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.