Playing Russian Roulette With Games

Every time you take off on a plane you always hear the same thing, "please turn off all electronic devices." So you have to shut down your laptop, PalmPilot, Windows CE device, CD player, mobile phone or Game Boy.

Well, the BBC has reported that Qantas, the Australian airline, says that a handheld game may be the cause of a major malfunction on a Boeing 747 taking off from London's Heathrow Airport on September 4, 1998. What happened? It appears that after take-off, the jumbo jet's auto-pilot system malfunctioned and forced pilots to land the plane immediately.

Qantas says that it believes the cause of the problem may lie in electromagnetic interference from an electronic device and listed gaming devices as one the devices it is examining.

The moral of the story, gamers should shutdown their machine for a couple of minutes until the captain says its ok to fire your game back up. You can't buy anymore games if the plane crashes.