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If you frequently hop next door to sister site Japanator, you probably know about the senseless stabbing attack that took place in otaku mecca Akihabara on June 8th. In this attack, a 25-year-old man crashed into the famed shopping district in a truck, and then came out to stab people. Seven died and eleven were injured.

Konami has just announced that they will cancel three release events for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots scheduled to take place in Tokyo this week. They say this was done in consideration of the "safety of large crowds," says Mainichi.

Currently, there is no word of a rescheduling, though the worldwide release of the game will continue as planned.

For even more details on the stabbings, read Japanator's original post and updated coverage.


Continue: More Konami stories





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20 comments | showing # 1 to 20

SDogg554's Avatar
SDogg554 at 06/11/2008 11:05
well isnt that nice. you dont usually hear about this stuff in japan.
kariomart's Avatar
kariomart at 06/11/2008 11:10
Kojima better be there tonight in NYC's Virgin store...
Aurvantoid's Avatar
Aurvantoid at 06/11/2008 11:13
I pretty much saw this coming. The guy who did it spread a bunch of threats on the internet before he did it and I think a Reuters story claimed that he was trying to copy some guy who did the same thing a few years back.

Since it happened in Akihabara (which I think is where the MGS4 event was supposed to be held) I'm pretty sure they're all still in mourning and didn't want to have a big public event with the grief still going on.
DV2FOX's Avatar
DV2FOX at 06/11/2008 11:15
Japan: This shit happens
Spain: General Good Transporting lazyness makes impossible to distribute the game tomorrow June 12th

In Other Words: *Ahem,TF2's Scout voice* WE-ARe-SCREWED!...
Alexradl's Avatar
Alexradl at 06/11/2008 11:19
That's too bad. I'm glad they caught the bastard.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 06/11/2008 11:37
man that sucks for all those gamers!

I hope they severely punish that guy!
king3vbo's Avatar
king3vbo at 06/11/2008 11:47
Seems like a stupid move
deiga-the-semivaliant's Avatar
deiga-the-semivaliant at 06/11/2008 11:47
Further proof that east Asia's 'be successful or else you'll be worthless' mindset is ruining the psyche of its residents.

Having spoken about it with friends from Korea and being Korean myself, it's easy to see how the constant pressure to be successful weighs down on the working man. When this attacker was even faced with the POSSIBILITY of losing his job, he goes insane.

There are a lot of social problems in Asia, all stemming from stubborn and outdated ideals that their culture has produced. Men cannot 'lose face', or 'give up'. They have to keep their emotions bottled up inside.

It's the reason why North and South Korea will never be reunited.
Aurvantoid's Avatar
Aurvantoid at 06/11/2008 12:10
@deiga - I thought that the crazy small-of-stature nutjob that dictates North Korea was the reason why the North and South couldn't be reunited.

Or was it the long string of crazy nutjob dictators that N.Korea has had.
Shin Oni's Avatar
Shin Oni at 06/11/2008 12:14
I wonder if they're pissed or simply like "whatever. Millions of other places will have some midnight launch party"

I'm quite sure if this were to happen in America, it'd be a rather large outrage already.
Misanthrope's Avatar
Misanthrope at 06/11/2008 12:19
Why not go stab your boss and coworkes? There is more than a few people I would stab in the face if I were to lose everything.
kevinski's Avatar
kevinski at 06/11/2008 12:41
The problem with the MGS4 launch events is that the security personnel on-board will completely lose interested in pursuing somebody causing a disturbance if he makes it through a doorway leading into an area that triggers a loading sequence.
ScottyG's Avatar
ScottyG at 06/11/2008 12:54
12 comments and not a single one that mentioning CQC? Fail. :p
Rucksack's Avatar
Rucksack at 06/11/2008 13:06
@ScottyG

Dude, that's pretty tasteless.
Volomon's Avatar
Volomon at 06/11/2008 13:25
Well its a good argument that even with heavy gun laws that mass killing is still possible. Anywoo wow. I really don't know how he got that many people with a knife. He got 18 people with a knife and not a single one attempted to stop him. If they all ganged up on him he couldn't possibly have hurt that many.
Shin Oni's Avatar
Shin Oni at 06/11/2008 13:27
don't forgoet the bender fendering with the truck Volomon.

Either way, it just shows that Japan isn't always the happy go lucky place most anime otakus think it is. As shit happens there too....and probably alittle more detailed than in other places. But they are pretty tight on violence compared to say...America.
Gott's Avatar
Gott at 06/11/2008 14:14
what happened is he ran into a big crowd in his car and then stabbed all the people laying on the ground. That's how he got so many so quickly. It was like the game Whack-A-Mole, except instead of a hammer it was a knife and instead of a mole it was people
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 06/11/2008 14:44
Hey, at least there's at least 1 yaoi lover less on the planet!
kawitchate's Avatar
kawitchate at 06/11/2008 15:48
japantoday.com headline:
"Violent game launch canceled after Akihabara rampage"
oh boy.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar
TrailerParkJesus at 06/11/2008 16:43
knife eye attack.jpg

Also, they're canceling three release events for the safety of large crowds? Maybe they should just up the security instead. Because whether or not the events are canceled, people are still showing up to buy.
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