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Boy rushed to hospital with 'PlayStation addiction' photo

Oh, this one's a classic. An Italian boy was rushed to hospital after it was believed he'd been suffering from a "severe brain disorder." Disoriented and unable to speak, it turns out that young Lorenzo Amato had not, in fact, gone mental or suffered a stroke, but was feeling the effects of "PlayStation addiction."

Doctors at Italy’s Lecce hospital studied the boy in an attempt to assess why he was mute and seemingly unable to understand his surroundings. It later transpired he'd just finished a "marathon PlayStation session" that had caused him to become detached from the real world. At least that's how local politician Antonio Buccoliero puts it. 

"They eventually managed to take care of him once they understood that this was a strange kind of mental detachment connected to his PlayStation," Buccoliero explains.

Apparently, Amato has made a complete recovery and has since demanded the console be thrown out, since the very thought of it makes him want to vomit. Yes, he sounds completely mentally healthy now!


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44 comments | showing # 1 to 44

DeviantDarkWolf's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:21
DeviantDarkWolf
Wait.. What?
MrSadistic's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:23
MrSadistic
Dr. Mario is an incompetent dick.
The Young Scot's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:25
The Young Scot
Why did his parents let him play a "marathon" session in the first place?
gonzo666's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:26
gonzo666
the kid is gonna get a free 360 now and microsoft will pay him to say it made him sane again
Arion's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:27
Arion
Again one of those cases that happen when some idiot doesnt take a break every now and then
Son of BaconSandwhich's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:29
Son of BaconSandwhich
this makes me wonder what the guy was playing..
Major Mustard's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:30
Major Mustard
The person in the picture is a masochist of the worst kind....a fanboy masochist.
NihonTiger90's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:33
NihonTiger90
... You're kidding, right? Right?
moshakirby's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:34
moshakirby
"in an attempt to asses..."

Lolzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I think you mean assess.

Well, I'm fairly sure.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:35
TrailerParkJesus
Well the only solution now is to throw that PS3 in jail.
Ace195's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:40
Ace195
Damn, This is probably happening all over the country! Kids In Italy are loosing theyre mind and becoming detached from the world.Wisconsin are turning into electric Zombies, Chicago aria MMORPG'ers will be roaming the streets demanding we turn over all our Gold.We may need to call In Dr. Mario on this one...
Mikey's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:41
Mikey
How long was this 'marathon' session? And what game was he playing?
Raidensolid's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:45
Raidensolid
I'm gonna go ahead and guess that he was playing something really messed up. Like Loco-roco cocorecho. It's the only explaination.
Shirley Temple's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:47
Shirley Temple
Must he be like a clockwork orange?!
CALkulon's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:47
CALkulon
Maybe he was playing Barbie Horse Adventure.
somesthetic's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:49
somesthetic
I did that once after marathon sleeping. I was sleepwalking. I was confused and unaware of my surroundings.

after that, I threw out my bed.
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 11:50
Snaileb
Perfectly normal perfectly healthy..
Half left's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:10
Half left
RTFM

Read The Manual!!!

This screams 'photosensitive seizure'.

By stating the warning in the manual they're safe from suing. And rightly so.
RICHARD BLOCKER's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:17
RICHARD BLOCKER
Snaileb! you're back!

Also, I don't believe it. Italy needs to pull it's head out of its ass.
brainderailment's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:22
brainderailment
^ Yep, this sounds like a seizure. Some people's seizures are just that a seizing up. They don't move or speak, they have their eyes open but they don't respond to anything. My cousin's daughter did this a lot. He had a fucking seizure, he shouldn't be playing video games for long periods of time.
falinter's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:23
falinter
I sometimes go mute for days after an intense gaming session.

Don't we all?
Syn's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:29
Syn
I guess he should send his PS3 to one of us, so that it can be "properly destroyed" hehehehe.
zombiekiller13's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:34
zombiekiller13
Wait...I've had days, both during my school days and recently (when I'd take a day off from work) where'd I play video games for long periods, periods that could be considered marathons. I've never gone into a mute, disoriented state.

Leading me to the question...what drugs was he using?
Baron's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:42
Baron
"Yes, he sounds completely mentally healthy now!"

Perfect line for the boy. lol.
welkstar's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 12:58
welkstar
Che pazzo!
Xhumation's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:02
Xhumation
Gotta love it when politicians try to scare people by inventing diseases.

Photosensitive seizure = real.

Playstation addiction = Yeah, try finding that in a psyquiatric diagnosis manual.

reminds me of a venezuelan politician that tried to convince people that demons could take over your body through copies of resident evil
MechaMonkey's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:05
MechaMonkey
"It later transpired he'd just finished a 'marathon PlayStation session' that had caused him to become detached from the real world."

If Little Big Planet is good enough to cause an out-of-body experience, I should probably pick it up.
Woocifer's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:06
Woocifer
LAME
myzerosum's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:10
myzerosum
well christ, if i stayed up, even just watching tv, for a couple of days straight without taking breaks i would probably be a bad way too
myzerosum's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:12
myzerosum
by that i mean blaming the video games is retarded
gamesronlygames's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 13:16
gamesronlygames
He must have been playing fifa 09 as the Italian team trying over and over to beat the Netherlands to reverse their Euro championship loss-but to no avail. And like any good amotional Italian he went nutz and is making irrational decisions. JK about the stereotype
Edge of Blade's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 14:02
Edge of Blade
Damn. I've already blogged my Weekly Facepalm this week...
pendelton21's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 14:18
pendelton21
Pussy.
Liontamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 14:49
Liontamer
He should have waited for some endorphins to kick in, then continuing to play would have felt GREAT! [/Grappler Baki]

Larry "Liontamer" Oji
Assistant Soundtrack Director, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix - http://www.ocremix.org
Creator, VG Frequency - http://www.vgfrequency.com
Staff, VGMdb - http://www.vgmdb.net
dmgi's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 14:49
dmgi
Yup, no underlying mental disorders. All the Playstation's fault, no irresponsible parenting or any other factor other than the fact that a Playstation is the spawn of Satan. Also, as should be reported with all of these stories: What game were they playing?
DibbityDan's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 15:03
DibbityDan
Mama mia!
Loogibot's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 15:36
Loogibot
I have a feeling this kid most likely had issues prior to playing video games. Parent's neglected this and let him play a "marathon." Great, now every idiot reporter, journalist, authority across the world is going make a big deal about how Playstation is gonna turn you into a zombie for a while.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 18:14
Dexter345
Fetusmilk did it before I could. Sounds like they did some Clockwork Orange stuff to rehabilitate him.
The Amazing Shenazin's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 19:16
The Amazing Shenazin
I get detached from reality by taking an ambien
buzski's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/20/2008 22:11
buzski
o rly?
Super Mega Hyper's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/21/2008 10:36
Super Mega Hyper
He was completely fine until day three when he foolishly inserted his brand new copy of vampire rain, he froze up from the amount of fail concentrated into one small package.
Korolev's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/24/2008 04:29
Korolev
Even if his "condition" was caused by games (and that's a huge, huge IF), it means jack all. Just because one silly little kid is obssessed by video games doesn't mean anything - people get addicted to all sorts of stuff these days. Staggering numbers of people are addicted to alcohol, people haven't banned that, now have we? There's even a known disorder in which people will continuously buy and stock books (they don't even read most of them, they just buy them) in their house, at great expense, but we don't ban books now do we? So one kid MIGHT have been too addicted to his video games, so what? Everything's potentially addictive to someone, somewhere. We don't ban everything.
Holyetheline's Avatar - Comment posted on 11/25/2008 13:50
Holyetheline
This is ridiculous.
Woooow.
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