Today in Joystiq: January 31, 2007

by Ross Miller { Jan 31st 2007 at 11:59PM }

We interrupt our usual video game-related Flickr images to have a good laugh at this LED Mooninite, who caused a stir in Boston today. The [adult swim] ad, which has been up for two weeks advertising Aqua Teen Hunger Force and its upcoming film ATHF colon Movie Film for Theaters, was suspected today to be a bomb and prompted authorities to now arrest a man in connection with the marketing campaign, according to the front page CNN.com article. The absurdity gives the Joystiq Consortium a migraine.

Allow us to quote from the Mooninite Ignignokt, who also has an LED display (Err is pictured), "everyone, bow your heads and pretend to be serious." Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Columbine game blocked from receiving Slamdance special jury prize
Joystiq interviews Joseph Olin, president of the AIAS
Poll results: The best way to first-person shoot
Today's hottest game video: UT3

News
NFL2K rises from grave as All-Pro Football 2K8
Game & Watch classic hidden in DS dictionary
God of War 2 videos are hack-a-licious
PS3 ads turn up in Xbox 360 game (inadvertently)
Moscow's Lineage II meet up murder
PSP firmware 3.10 released, and decrypted
GRAW 2 demo assaults XBL Gold members
PS3 Unreal Tournament 3 not delayed
Saints Row confirmed for PS3
Vice City Stories PS2 port plugged, then pulled from PlayStation.com
Vista update improves "legacy" game support
Sony exec talks further PS3 price slashing in Japan
Gray Lady confirms Wii's early success
Godzilla 'Unleashed' on Wii, DS, PSP
Sony not ready to rumble with Splitfish
Wii VC's Mario Kart 64 to remain ghostless
Anti-masterpiece theater presents: Postal
Shadow of the Colossus cameo in new Sandler, Cheadle flick
NY Times crossword puzzler headed to DS

Rumors & Speculation
Rumor: Dell considers gaming handheld

Culture
The SEGA of a different kind
Wii mod moves those Gamecube ports to the front
Dev tells all: Street Fighter The Movie (The Game)
Sony Sauce for your PS3 BBQ, sir? Only in Japan!
(Tecmo) Super Bowl XLI
David Jaffe hates focus testing

Tags: aqua teen hunger force, AquaTeenHungerForce, athf, daily recap, DailyRecap, Err, Ignignokt, mooninites

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rabidkeebler @ Feb 1st 2007 12:09AM

Man out of 10 cities it was Boston to go crazy...who would of guessed it?

Louis S. @ Feb 1st 2007 12:20AM

Lights + Wires + Electricity = BOMB!!

Waitaminute... this computer... OH SHI-

Rubang B @ Feb 1st 2007 12:25AM

Man it's a good thing somebody found Louis S.'s exploded body and realized he hadn't finished a comment at Joystiq. If they hadn't typed that last hyphen and hit "Add Your Comments" for him, the Joystiq community would never have known what happened to him.

Kris Morey @ Feb 1st 2007 12:35AM

One of the Mooninite signs is on ebay... from $20 to $1,175 in the auction's first 5 hours!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mooninites-Ignignokt-LED-Advertising-Bomb_W0QQitemZ130075321405

muppetmeth @ Feb 1st 2007 12:40AM

I saw the news video on some website. They blurred out his middle finger for it was too graphic for the feeble Bostonians.

Donald @ Feb 1st 2007 12:48AM

There are not enough "..." to express my "..."

Anonymous @ Feb 1st 2007 12:50AM

When I heard this story this morning on CNN, I knew that A: It wasn't a bomb (it NEVER is) B: It was probably some sort of gag (Ala the Mario Brothers ? mark blocks that got someone arrested), and would ultimately end up exploding in someones face (This time it seems like the guy th at is in charge of marketing for Cartoon Network).

Seriously, who looked at this thing, saw a block figure giving the finger in LED lights and thought to himself... "Wow, this thing is pretty detailed, it freaking lights up and there are tons of them all over town, surely it must be a bomb!" Obviously I don't make bombs, or know anyone that does, but logically speaking, why would you spend the time and effort to make a cartoony lite-brite-esque figure giving the finger if you wanted to bomb something?

If ONE policeman had looked at it, walked up to it, looked at it for more than one second, the entire story wouldn't have happened, the marketing director's life wouldn't have been ruined, and the city of Boston wouldn't be out thousands of dollars in expenses. Sensationalism isn't helping anybody

ILL Robinson @ Feb 1st 2007 1:48AM

Of course CNN placed it as the headline story--they're all part of the same Turner family of networks!

ATHF FTW over Boston (as hard as I can!)

SSBR @ Feb 1st 2007 2:00AM

I can't believe thats going for 3k+ on ebay... At least there getting good buzz. One of the most under rated shows out there, and its been out there for 3+ years.
http://www.rolesor.com

samfish @ Feb 1st 2007 3:22AM

The explosion shall be of extraordinary magnitude!
...just...hang on..

kitsune @ Feb 1st 2007 6:10AM

This whole story really troubles me. Yes, the world is a dangerous place, but this kind of panic borders on the ridiculous, as do the felony charges being levied against these individuals....

dirtyone @ Feb 1st 2007 7:25AM

after the first two the bomb squad would have known they were not bombs. and probably had the names of the people and company of who had put them out. how did they know who to arrest. Boston officials were mad At the company because they didn't pay some money to line the officials pocket. seems like a lot corruption there. i will have remind myself to never go there

snork @ Feb 1st 2007 7:46AM

wonder how many people sent a message to adult swim saying ATHF is the bomb in boston ??

crazyrabbits @ Feb 1st 2007 7:59AM

I haven't left this hard at a news story in a LONG time.

Rob Holiday @ Feb 1st 2007 8:30AM

It appears the terrorists are winning if everything people see that they don't understand, and has a bettery, it MUST be a bomb! IDIOTS!

Rob Holiday @ Feb 1st 2007 8:31AM

Oops... "and has a bettery" should be "and has a battery".

Myke @ Feb 1st 2007 8:43AM

Quiet Boston, I'm transmitting rage...

HappyJack @ Feb 1st 2007 8:59AM

This is what happens when the federal government (read: executive branch thereof) sits on the 'fear' button like a monkey pressing a lever for crack.

Pray that the next generations are more mentally apt.

JodyAnthony @ Feb 1st 2007 9:31AM

now the people that were arrested for placing them around the city are facing up to 5 years in prison, for a stupid ad. what is wrong with people? how could anyone think that was a bomb?

ive never made a bomb, but you know what, if I DID make a bomb to plant somewhere, I would try to hide it as much as possible, not cover it in flashing lights.

moominsean @ Feb 1st 2007 10:04AM

human stupidity knows no bounds. keep those people out of spencer's gifts at the mall if they are afraid of led lights.

Field Anony-mouse @ Feb 1st 2007 10:07AM

"how could anyone think that was a bomb?"

Easy. The first one was reported by some poor lady riding a bus who saw it attached to one of the beams in a bridge. A bridge that just happened to be right near an MBTA station (subway for non Boston people) and I-93, a major highway for the area. It was broad daylight so the lights would not have been seen, and all it looked like was a suspicious device where it shouldn't be. On top of that other ones were found near other major transit areas. Like near the entrance to the harbor, and I believe the Longfellow bridge.

Yes, when it's dark and the LEDs are going it's fairly obvious what it is, but in the daylight, it's not as clear.

Authorities probably shouldn't have gone off as much as they did. But, by the same token you'd think that marketing folks at a major broadcasting company would have enough brains about them to realize that making suspicious devices and throwing them up on major points of interest (for terrorists as well as normal people) would be qualified as a "bad idea."

Kyle @ Feb 1st 2007 12:49PM

I saw one of these this morning on the Peachtree Center MARTA(subway) Station here in Atlanta. Wasnt sure what it was, but bomb was not the first thought. Just figured some one had thrown it up there to be funny.

Sam G. @ Feb 1st 2007 11:33PM

Are they going to remove all the Lite Brites from Toys R Us shelves now for security concerns?

BAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Anonymous @ Feb 1st 2007 1:45PM

They put them in high traffic areas. In this post 9/11 world, with people constantly on alert (well, lunatics constantly on alert) "High Traffic" areas would become "Targets" instead of the marketing "targets" that they currently are (Near a highway, near a subway station). Now I agree that someone should have freaking cleared this ad campaign with city hall first, there is no question about that, but FELONY charges for the "suspects" in the case? Are you kidding? Even without the lights being lit up, you could still see exactly what the thing was, and after clearing one as non-threatening, you'd know the rest weren't. It's the media that blew this completely out of perspective by making everyone in Boston (if not the entire US) think that 9/11 part 2 was happening in Boston, with "Bombs all over the place!" as one "Journalist" (LOL) put it. I hope nothing like this ever happens in the city I live in (Million + people) because we would probably have locked down the area, and then called in an air strike on the suspicious "Packages". God help us.