I think some of you are missing the mark.  Nintendo is filling a huge gap in the gaming market that the other consoles have neglected which is evidenced by wii sales.  Consumer have always stuck with Nintendo because of the wide variety of games available and why wouldn't they?  Let's be honest, you don't see a lot of family friendly/multiplayer games on xbox and and it seems like most of their titles are blood and guts games which hold absolutely no interest to a huge portion of the gaming market.

If you can't find any good wii games I sugest you broaden your horizon a bit and explore games that you wouldn't ordinarily play. 

Doesn't anyone rent games anymore?

I just bought Mario Mix ddr for a great price on ebay.  I've been scouring ebay this morning looking for some of the old Zelda titles that I don't have and I've noticed a lot of deals. 

Love ebay!

Can't you buy the Wii Speak mic without Animal Crossing? If so, just do that if you don't care that much for the game (although you won't get any use out of the thing until the Wii Speak Channel hits in December).thebisonx

In my Sears flyer this week they are advertising Wii Speak by itself for C$29.99, says available Nov.16.

[QUOTE="DDRMom"]I'm quite honestly shocked that so much blame is being thrown at his parents.  At 15 he should have had the maturity to understand when it's appropriate to play video games, at 15 he should have been aware that there were punishments for bad grades and he should have taken the consequences like an almost-adult, not like my 5 year old who threatens to run away when she doens't get her own way.  Angel_Belial

 He was fifteen years old and addicted to games.  Successful businessmen in their thirties, some of them married with kids, succumb to addictions and make irrational decisions in life.  It's not a matter of maturity (you really expect adult-like maturity from a fifteen year old? ;)), it's a matter of addiction, and anyone will tell you that the worst way to deal with types of addiction such as these is to quit cold turkey.

Listen to the interview I posted in the last link.  

To sum up:

• His parents routinely used the xbox being taken away as a consequence so this was not the first time nor was it cold turkey.
•  
• He skipped school, snuck home and played the game
•  
• Lost privlidges for the weekend.
•  
• snuck xbox from hiding place
•  
• Caught and xbox taken away again, father describes cooling off period of 24 hours and then they will discuss again.
•  
• 24 hours later, son won't talk to father about it, father says he's lost the xbox for good.  Child leaves.

If he's addicted, what more could his parents have done?  Unfortunately we're not granted super powers when we give birth.

In an ideal world, his lifestyle would have been that, but its not the ideal world. Everyone seem to forget what teenage years are like when they grow up, its far from easy for everyone. At fifteen, you are pretty much in the pinnacle of what teenage hardship is and its often where the kids need the most support.

Let me get this straight, he more than likely didn't have a lot of real friends and must have been in a teenage depression. I don't see a game addict there, but a kid who struggled to survive and video games were his escape, thats why he threw a fit over it. If he had friends, he wouldn't have had this problem, he would have went out with them, play games with them, check out movies, go to parties and so on but its obviously not the case. I know what its like, i went through similar stuff in my teen years and in the end, games were my escape too. You know, the parents should simply been glad he didn't fell into drugs instead of games. 

I don't see anything really special, its just a mere accident who made it to the media and like every good journalists they made this way more dramatic than it really is and now everyone is falling for it.

Every day of your life is a gamble, just last week i went to see my father and we went out in ATV in the woods. On our way back the bridge broke, we fell from the equivalent of a rooftop and we made it out with merely a few bruises. We could have died there but the ATV got stuck on a stump so it didnt crush us, its about the same as what happened to that kid but he wasnt as lucky as we were, he got the wrong side of the dice. There is nothing to blame, its merely an accident. Of course its annoying and it also is a normal reaction to search for something to blame, but the thing is, there isn't a reason. So what do you do out of frustration when you cant blame anything? You blame it on the first thing that cross your mind.

Cenerune

I don't see anyone falling for anything, I see this as a good jumping board to an open discussion for children and their parents.  I think if more children allowed their parents into their game world they would have better relationships. I also think that more parents should show an interest in playing the games with their kids but I don't hold Brandon's parents responsible because they didn't.

No one forgets how hard it is to be a teenager.  It shapes who you are for the rest of your life and it shapes how you parent your own children.

I just listened to this interview with Steve Crisp, Brandon's father.  He describes the events leading up to Brandon leaving and from his accounts, the fight could have occured in any house with any teenager.   He reacted as any parent would have and a lot better than some.  I really feel for his parents.

[QUOTE="DDRMom"]

So I ask you teens who think his parents are responsible for his death...what should his parents have done. Just let him play until he flunked out of school?

Solid_Snake_7

I wonder why you classify as teens everyone who´s saying his parents are at fault. Taking care of your children is a process. It´s not only about a decision you make when things get tough. They should monitor their child constantly to see what he/she´s doing with his/her life, set some ground rules, stuff like that. They made the right decision by taking away his Xbox 360. The problem is that the kid´s addiction with games is the result of their lack of knowledge of his lifestyle.

Perhaps my choice of words should have been non-parents instead of teens.  You're absolutely right, parenting is a process and it's not an easy or a even a fun job sometimes.  It something that someone who is not a parent won't understand.  For all we know taking away the xbox was the last straw in the whole process of learning of their son's "lifestyle."

Lifestyle?  At 15 his lifestyle should have been going to school, hanging out with friends, having a part time job and playing video games.  If he was only interested in playing video games, how should his parents made him more interested in leading a full life?  Hmmm, maybe they thought if they took away the video game part he would concentrate on the more inportant things in life...like real people.

And just so I don't come off as a stuffy parent who has no idea what it's like...I'm also a runaway.  I ran from an abusive home and managed to do something productive with my life regardless of my parents.  But I was all about self preservation and can't comprehend not getting myself somewhere safe.  He choose to stay in a cornfield and not let anyone know where he was or that he was safe.  That was his choice, not his parents.

At what age should a child be resposonsible for their own actions?

I'm in Ontario so we're heard a lot about this tragedy, I followed the story from the first weekend in October when he ran away to when they found his body weeks later.  I'm quite honestly shocked that so much blame is being thrown at his parents.  At 15 he should have had the maturity to understand when it's appropriate to play video games, at 15 he should have been aware that there were punishments for bad grades and he should have taken the consequences like an almost-adult, not like my 5 year old who threatens to run away when she doens't get her own way.  His parents helping him pack...well I can honestly say that I might do that as well.  There is a sad sense of entitlement amoung young children today that I find very sad...he would rather run away than do the time until he could play his game again. 

I content that Brandon was trying to hurt his parents and make them worry by running away.   At his age, he was too told for his parents to restrain him in order to keep him in the house, imagine the call to police for false imprisionment?  Why didn't he go to a friend's house or a relative or a runaway shelter?  We all have choices in life and his choice resulted in his death.  His parents can not be blamed for that.

So I ask you teens who think his parents are responsible for his death...what should his parents have done.  Just let him play until he flunked out of school? 

That was great, thanks for posting it! 

I had that console...and Mario and Luigi figures!! :oops: