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Portables (Games)

The Sun Misfires Against Disney Over Swear in Game 110

Posted by Zonk from the see,-it-helps-if-you-check-your-facts-first dept.
Anonymous Coward writes "UK paper The Sun published an article about a father who purchased a recent Gameboy title from Disney for his daughter. They were horrified that the credits of the game contained the F-Word and he immediately contacted the paper. The Sun published the article without researching the fact that this was a pirate cartridge based off of the cracked version of this game released. Oops!"
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The Sun Misfires Against Disney Over Swear in Game More

The Sun Misfires Against Disney Over Swear in Game

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  • The Sun... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Uber Banker ( 655221 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:02PM (#11258254)
    has a knee jerk reaction without thinking?! Only 1 in today's issue?!

  • wait... (Score:4, Funny)

    by adam mcmaster ( 697132 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:04PM (#11258274) Homepage
    ...are you telling me The Sun is not a reliable source of factual reporting?

    • Re:wait... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Goyuix ( 698012 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:14PM (#11258373) Homepage
      For all those who may not know, The Sun is a British TABLOID - and as such is often publishing material in that rather dark shade of gray... Big surprise they didn't get it right.

      The more interesting story to me would be to follow-up with the father who purchased the Gameboy and cartridge, and find out where he purchased the goods. I mean come on, if you are really concerned about your kids why are you buying something from a less than reputable source. Is there even a story if he bought it off some street vendor?

      • Re:wait... (Score:2, Informative)

        by SewersOfRivendell ( 646620 )
        It's better than that, The Sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch. You know, the guy who owns Fox? Fox News? Why this surprises anyone is beyond me...

        • Re:wait... (Score:5, Informative)

          by Lewisham ( 239493 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @07:50PM (#11259718)
          Because he also holds The Times, my favourite quality broadsheet, oft voted Newspaper of the Year? If I remember correctly, they came out for Labour, not the Conservatives, last General Election.

          Murdoch holds what he can. He doesn't care what it reports, as long as it sells. To compare Fox News to The Times or even The Sun is unfair.
          • Thank you for being a voice of reason.
          • Except, of course, that the Times is no longer a broadsheet.

          • Because he also holds The Times, my favourite quality broadsheet, oft voted Newspaper of the Year? If I remember correctly, they came out for Labour, not the Conservatives, last General Election.

            Explain this one to me, then: every single paper owned by Murdoch, worldwide, came out in favour of the Iraq war. If you think he doesn't tell them what to print, then you've got your head firmly planted up your arse.

        • Re:wait... (Score:2, Troll)

          by noahbagels ( 177540 )
          WTF does Rupert Murdoch or Fox have to do with it?

          A crappy article about a video game in a UK tabloid, and all of a sudden let's bash the guy who owns the most non-left-biased piece of mainstream US media... Hmmm, a bit sore about the election are we?

          Just because you may have a left-bias which leads you to agree with NPR and the UN does not automagically make anything to the right of you bad or bash-worthy.

          If you have anything specific to say (i.e. if you know of Murdoch owned stations doing specific thi
          • ... about how dangerous this individual is.

            The darling of the US right, Tony Blair, shamlessly takes his clues from Murdoch, who gloats publicly about the power and influence his tabloid has (i.e. herding the sheep).

            That you decide to defend this individual and his discredited "news" empire (look, there is right wing media that is respectable, Fox is not) says a bit about the sorry wasteland that is US politics.
          • Well, I'd say a slight differance is that the RIAA doesn't tell U2 what the hell they can right. AFAIK, what Murdoch doesn't like (as interpreted by his lower level flunkeys), doesn't go out. And as for left biased media, if I recall, I think that republicans got WAY more airtime during the the 2000 election. I haven't heard stats on the 2004 election.

            And considering all the acusations of ballot fakeing, non-counted votes, and minority intimidation, I might be able to see how some are still sore. :D
          • Uh... Rupert Murdoch owns The Sun.

            So WTF does Fox News have to do with it? Not much, directly. But Rupert Murdoch sure does.

            And you got modded informative? Hell.

        • Isnt that the same network that is calling the dutch "babykillers"? I saw a story on the dutch news last night that fox news and other news sources where reporting that in the netherlands baby's are killed because they are missing a few fingers. Sometimes i wonder if the American's believe their newssources. I hope not :P
    • In other news, the Sun's "Page 3 Girl" [page3.com] has FAKE BOOBS and Sun didn't mention it anywhere in their paper.

      Shocking!
    • It is! I read page 3 religiously!
    • And isn't the Sun the family newspaper that puts topless girls inside the front cover?

  • Did he know? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Some guy named Chris ( 9720 ) * on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:12PM (#11258349) Journal
    The article is rather vague, but I would be interested in whether the man knew the game he had purchased was a bootleg.

    • Re:Did he know? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Collision891 ( 814593 )
      I doubt he would knowingly buy his little kids bootleg games for christmas, and then go complain about them to the media.
      • I doubt he would knowingly buy his little kids bootleg games for christmas, and then go complain about them to the media.
        Chavs [chavscum.co.uk], you can never tell what they'll do next.

    • Re:Did he know? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Ayaress ( 662020 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @08:51PM (#11260164) Journal
      From the picture in the Sun article, I don't think he knew it was. The cartridge looks like fifty other GBA games I have sitting around, and it has a very legitamate-looking sticker on it. It's obviously an otherwise good fake made with a crappy unclean ROM downloaded off the internet complete with the cracker intro (Where the "fuck off and die" bit came from).

      There are a couple ways the father could have gotten it:
      1. Bought it off ebay or otherwise from a non-vendor. Worse yet, he could have bought it from one of those carts that get set up in malls and vanish after three days. There was a strange event in the mall near me where a vender cart like that sold dozens of remote control cars with the electronics gutted out of them, and then vanished. Whatever the conditions, if this is how he got it, he's at best foolish (for not realizing it's a fake) and at worst a fool (for buying from shady vendors).

      2. Somebody sold the fakes to stores as used. I've heard of it happening at the EB near me once or twice. A good fake can pass as legit to a visual inspection, and most places don't take the time to actually run the game. In this case, it's not the guy's fault for buying it, but he still should have seen it was fake and complained to the store. From what the intro text said, it should be pretty clear. I guess he's one of those people that can look at a page of text, and only see the word "fuck" in the middle of the page and nothing else.
      • A variant of 1) would be from a car boot sale. The last time I went to one I saw a couple of stands with dodgy goods, including a large number of pirate GBA games. The most obvious sign they were dodgy was that the boxes were all shiny and glossy, not the matt boxes Nintendo used. He probably picked up a DVD of the latest film that's not out on DVD yet as well with his game.

        I think they were also US games, but you have to be anal retentive to know the difference between US and EU Gameboy boxes, they're qui

  • For non-Brits (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:15PM (#11258387)

    The Sun [wikipedia.org] is a Rupert Murdoch-owned right-wing tabloid. It's full of hate-bait such as demonising immigrants and is targeted at the "lowest common denominator" of the UK population. Take it about as seriously as the Weekly World News.

  • Hope they prosecute this loser... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Mr. Bendy ( 814916 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:29PM (#11258512)
    Seriously, I hope FACT or someone takes this guy to the cleaners. Why not take the game back to the 'shop' where he got it, or to Trading Standards (UK retail 'police'). Instead he tries to take advantage of his daughter's discomfort and make some money off the Sun. Scum. The Sun is an example of everything wrong with British journalism. Low grade version of the Daily mail - a paper for Chavs everwhere.
    • The Sun is an example of everything wrong with British journalism.

      No. The Sun is an example of everything whihc is wrong with Britian.
    • The Sun is an example of everything wrong with British journalism Nah, just journalism in general. They're just as bad over here. I'm waiting for the Saginaw News to print this story. They're pretty good at printing stories without researching it. Once, the DoE transported a steel assembly through Michigan that would eventually be used in a nuclear reactor. An unrevealed "someone" provided a "leaked DoE document" to the SN saying that the "radiation" from this material would kill "300 to 600 people" along
      • Yeah The Sun does that too, bugs the hell out of me when they can't be bothered with something and invent a story saying something like "An onlooker said" or "Our insider noted that.." or some such made up nonsense like that.
  • So The Sun has once again got it wrong and decided to go with sensationalist drivel. Same as usual for the UK tabloids, but this isnt as bad as most of the stories it prints :) I guess he bought it from some guy down the pub or off a street corner for super cheap prices - what did he expect?

  • educational (Score:3, Funny)

    by Fr05t ( 69968 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:39PM (#11258598)
    Hey if his daughter already knew that fuck was a bad word she obviously didn't learn it from the game. Fuck I bet her father is a big fucking swearer and should have social services called on the fuck! I don't know what the fuck is wrong with the word fuck, it's not like it's fucking over used. If it's good enough for Jay it's fucking good enough for me.
    • Fuck yeah, that's what I am talking about. The kid knew it was fucked up enough to point that shit out. Anyways here is the top portion of the game credits...

      Executive Producer: Richard Head
      Software Director: Oliver Clothesoff
      Marketing Director: Rob Midildo
      Lead Engineer: Cy Weezeformilk
      Lead Artist: Dean Biggins

  • Fraudulent (Score:3, Insightful)

    by theREALMcCoy ( 817988 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @05:50PM (#11258683)
    I wouldn't doubt it if the story of the dad and his daughter is fraudulent. Often, tabloids invent stories to bring attention to a real occurence.

    Maybe some Sun staffer bought a copy of the pirated game, and decided to make up a compelling story to go along with it. Because if you look at the picture, it looks like a real copy of Monster's, Inc.

  • I Don't Understand Something... (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What's so bad about an "f" word? Is the word inherently evil? Is there any evidence of this word ever causing anyone harm? I'm betting the designation of this word as "offensive" is 100% arbitrary and ridiculous.
    • Nothing. Its just a word. And its a word so far removed from its literal meaning as to have become totally part of the english language. What is really rich here is the The Sun advertising phone sex lines, Page 3 and its very own 'problem page' which is as nearly as explicit as anything you'll find in playboy etc. See the South Park movie for an excellent critique of societies hypocrisy when it comes to bad language vs. violence in the media.
    • It is called "Community Standards".
      I will try and use small words so you can understand. Some words hold negative meaning. They are considered ugly, rude, impolite, and generally unpleasant. Words like Nigger, Heb, and Spic are clearly meant to be hurtful. The "f" word is for many to be in that same category because it making what should be a private loving act into a crude term. Just as it is rude to show the soles of your feet to people in many middle eastern countries or for a woman to touch a man that s
      • Words like Nigger ... are clearly meant to be hurtful.

        Absolutely untrue. Television can provide you with multiple examples of positive connotation. (Also, capitalizing non-proper nouns is an error).

        Just as it is rude to show the soles of your feet to people in many middle eastern countries or for a woman to touch a man that she is not married to among strict orthodox Jews,

        Grouping your position alongside a few religious wack-jobs doesn't win you any points.

        To use it show a lack of cultural sensit
    • What's so bad about an "f" word?

      Not a fucking thing.

  • Pots, kettles (Score:5, Funny)

    by fm6 ( 162816 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @06:27PM (#11259035) Homepage Journal
    The Sun published the article without researching the fact that this was a pirate cartridge based off of the cracked version of this game released. Oops!
    Yeah, everybody on Slashdot always checks their facts before making a post!

    • Re:Pots, kettles (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Mr. Bendy ( 814916 )
      Not everyone on posting on Slahdot is a major UK newspaper, who should know better. Seriously, reading the full text of what was on that game, even the dumbest journo should have guessed that this may not be a legitimate copy. Scum the lot of them.
      • Why should the reporter have guessed? Is he an expert on computer games? Does he even have a technical background? Probably not.

        It's not an impressive bit of journalism, and I gather that the Sun is not a top-rank newspaper. But this seems to be an honest mistake -- whereas most misinformation I see on Slashdot comes from plain old intellectual laziness. We're in no position to sneer.

        • Well, it is "top-rank" in as much as it is (depressingly) the best selling paper in the UK, but it is certainly not a top-drawer newspaper.
          • Well, they certainly have more topless females than any newspaper in the U.S.!

            But even if they were the worst newspaper in the world (I believe that's actually the Palo Alto Times Tribune, which once printed a Burger King press release as if it were wire copy), it'd be beside the point. You read that article, and you see a reasonably competent bit of journalism. Sneering at it because its missing a fact Slashdotters might have thought to look for is hypocritical, given our own sloppy record with keeping o

    • I'd just be happy if everyone attached a page 3 girl to their posts before submitting :-)

      • Re:Pots, kettles (Score:1, Flamebait)

        by fm6 ( 162816 )
        Since we don't have P3 Girls on our side of the Atlantic, I took the liberty of providing this link [mediauk.com]. In digging this up, I discovered that The Sun is published by Rupert Murdoch, who also gave us Fox News. So I guess it must pretty sleazy...
    • Difference here is that people pay cash for the sun which employs professional reporters, thus we should be able to expect proper fact checking. Slashdot is a free resource (to most i guess) written by its users. While professionalism here is nice to see and not infrequent it should not be expected. Oh, and the sun sucks, its the mouthpiece of people trying to pedestrianise ambition, entertain rather than inform ,promote boy bands, drunken thuggery and god damm soccer (the most boring sport in the world
      • Sure, newspapers should be held to a higher standard that the rest of us. But how did that reporter fail to meet any reasonable standard? Even somebody with a technical background might have overlooked the possibility that a data cartridge wasn't actually made by the company shown on the label -- never mind somebody who wasn't familiar with the industry.

        Yeah, you can't expect non-reporters to do all the fact checking that pro are supposed to do. But I see Slashdotters routinely pass off their personal pre

        • Even somebody with a technical background might have overlooked the possibility that a data cartridge wasn't actually made by the company shown on the label

          Wrong. It was clearly labeled as an unauthorized release. Only a total idiot could've read the following and thought it had anything to do with Disney Inc:
          1. MODE 7 BRINGS YOU ::: MONSTERS INC. (C) THQ ::: IT's BEEN AWHILE since OUR last RELEASE, but WE'RE still AROUND.. STAY tuned FOR more! - REMEMBER true SCENERS DON'T care ABOUT CRC'S AND untouched D
  • ... that I purchased from an Ebay seller, proudly published by 'Nintondo'.

  • Crime (Score:5, Funny)

    by Taulin ( 569009 ) on Tuesday January 04, 2005 @06:48PM (#11259239) Homepage Journal
    The real crime in this whole story is that someone bought a Monsters Inc. game for their child. *shiver*
  • I'm going to go against the grain of the comments being posted here and confess that I am actually surprised by this.

    The Sun is a low-brow "red top" British tabloid, as other posters have pointed out. However, contrary to what has been stated above, it doesn't have any traditional political affiliation, unlike the broadsheets, such as the Guardian (left wing) and the Telegraph (right wing). In the 1992 election, it famously supported the Conservatives ("It was the Sun what won it") and then in 1997 and 200
  • The washington post has this daily free mini-newspaper called "Metro." This news bit was on THE COVER of the paper this morning.

    The cover.

    No, really. Its on the bottom. I laughed.
  • I have a problem with the facts (or lack there of) in the original article.

    1. It just doesn't make sense to buy 2 gba's and 1 game, even if the kids share the game you always have an idle gba
    2. Why doesn't the guy ever say where the game came from, is he hiding something, or did they not include that part in the script they gave him?
    3. Why on earth does that little girl know the f word already, or was that in the script too?

    Now, I know that I can buy monster's inc. and flash the cart with whatever
  • This story rang some bells for me. Okay, the story is kinda screwy, but this is a nice one anyway.

    Back in 1990 when I was a wee lad, I was playing with a cover disk (5.25"!) what came with a PC magazine. It had a text adventure on it, so I installed it and began to play. It got kinda hard though, so I decided to try and hack through the data files that came with the game to get some ideas. Well, I looked through the files and saw the word C**T written there as one of the keywords. I went to the game and ty

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