Drunk Scot Woman Stabs Teen in Xbox Argument
By Owen Good, Kotaku.com, December 24, 2009

Whoa, whoa, whoa, lady. When I said, "try safe, effective, fast-acting kick his ass," for video game-playing kids who won't listen, I did not mean "ventilate his abdomen with a kitchen knife."

Authorities say a 13-year-old Scottish boy was stabbed by his 55-year-old babysitter after he refused to stop playing his Xbox (original or 360, naturally, unspecified. I'm betting the latter.) While Isobel Mackenzie says the wee lad cut himself to get her in trouble, she did her case no favors by admitting to getting drunk before the incident. A three-day trial found her guilty and ...

She was ordered to do 300 hours' community service. Now, a seven-plus work weeks picking up busted condoms by the roadside is no picnic, but for stabbing a kid, that's a wow. Over here, Lord knows what sentence she'd have drawn.

While we're on this subject, can I rant about something else? Is it a law that cop reports don't specify what console or game people are playing when stupid stuff like this happens? Not that it changes the facts of the case any, but - soapbox here - I'd argue that this persistent generic treatment is one reason games are portrayed so trivially in these types of stories.

Drunken Woman Stabbed Boy, 13, in Row Over Xbox [Scotsman.com via Gizmodo]