Tampa Bay Online reports that Polk County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 30-year-old Michael Ray Ekes, suspect in the theft of an SUV, at his home while he was playing Grand Theft Auto III. Sigh.

Ekes now faces a laundry list of charges including burglary of a conveyance, possession of methamphetamine and, of course, grand theft auto. A Dodge Durango that had been reported stolen from a Polk County Walmart’s parking lot was in Ekes’ front driveway. The steering column was broken and the ignition switch was missing. Inside the vehicle police found a ski mask, pliers and screwdrivers. We are dealing with a criminal mastermind here, folks. Tampa Bay Online quotes Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on the arrest and he makes to sure bash video games in the process:“Crime is not a game,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “Real-life crime has real-life consequences – and I hope he goes to prison for a good long while, where they don’t have ‘Grand Theft Auto’ video games.”

The punishments for the undercover officers caught Wii Bowling during a March 6, 2009, drug raid have been handed down. And they’re not so punishing.

The Lakeland Ledger reports that 11 members of the multiagency task force were found at fault.

Undercover detectives received a letter of retraining and are required to undergo two hours of retraining. The sergeants who supervised and didn’t stop detectives from virtual bowling got a letter of guidance and must undergo four hours of retraining.

The Big Bang Theory celebrates all that is geeky, a lot that is nerdy and delivers just enough underdog romance to keep even the unsuspecting viewer interested.

The series breaks down and twists the typical setup of an intellectually floundering, often overweight male paired with the seemingly out-of-reach, wise, sassy and super sexy female costar into an unsuspecting blend of science, a wide range of humor and a smattering of sweetness. It’s a formula that’s worked from the beginning of the series and has nicely improved throughout the second season.

Man, you just cannot resist the Nintendo Wii. It is almost impossible not to stop a play a few frames of Wii Sports‘ bowling, even if you’re on the job and that job is busting drug dealers. Some central Florida police officers have become the subject of nationwide ridicule after a hidden security camera caught them playing a Nintendo Wii during a drug raid.

While raiding the home of convicted Lakeland, Florida drug dealer Michael Difalco two officers found marijuana, methamphetamines and $30,000 in stolen property. Among Difalco’s possessions was a Nintendo Wii, with its best-selling pack-in game Wii Sports. It seems some officers detectives stopped to have an impromptu bowling tournament, not knowing Difalco had a camera recording everything. The search of Difalco’s property took nine hours and cost taxpayers $4,000. The cost of all the bad publicity is beyond measure.

I know it’s been awhile since I played Bumper Stars by Large Animal Games on Facebook (especially after getting my butt handed to me by my fellow game journo, Jenni Lada) but I recently went back to give the game a try. It’s a totally refreshed game from when we previously played.

I contacted Wade Tinney, co-founder of Large Animal Games, to find out more about the changes.

“Hi Lucy, Thanks for reaching out! Here is a rundown of the changes to the game: On the game play side, we completely re-programmed the game and put in a more robust physics engine,” Tinney wrote. “There were some rare situations in the original version where a Bumper Star could get caught forever between a wall and some bumpers. That should never happen now. You can now…”

Domo Arigato Nintendo,

I want to personally thank you for your ingenious Wii game console. I recently purchased one for my family and wanted to provide you with the feedback only the proud Dad of a 5-year-old can give.

#$%$% you.

Let me describe for you the feeling of being beat being humiliated by someone 1/15th my weight, who has no practical real-world experience, no knowledge of physics, trig or geometry and no checking account. It hurts, bad…

For a limited time, McDonald’s will be offering a Whopper-ing $10 mail-in rebate for the Atari VCS (aka 2600) gaming system. I got my hands on the mail-in form from a secret source. I would load it to the Gamertell BBS computer for you to look at but it doesn’t convert to ASCII very well.

In addition to the $10 rebate, the form also offers $3 rebates on 15 great Atari cartridges including…

There are very few sporting events where one gets to see a man and a woman lock horns, and still fewer if both of them are nearly 80 years old. But this is what happened when Nancy Davies, an 84-year-old woman, took on Hal Winters, 79, in the grand finale of a Wii Bowling tournament. more »