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Some of you may have been fans of GameLife and would certainly recognize who Andrew Rosenblum is. If you're familiar with Rosenblum and the show, then this news may come as somewhat of a shock. According to Boston police reports, the GameLife host was picked up as a result of "an e-mail threatening to kill an ex-girlfriend and recreate the Virginia Tech bloodshed at her school."

Rosenblum allegedly wrote these words to the 19-year-old female target:

“(I)’m gonna (expletive) bring a gun to your school and kill you and K (another female student) and everybody you love. It’s gonna be VT all over again,” 20-year-old Andrew Rosenblum allegedly wrote in an e-mail to the victim just hours after 32 people were gunned at Virginia Tech.

“Seriously I’m just that demented,” Rosenblum wrote, according to a BPD report. He ended the message with a threat to commit homicide and suicide: “killing people can change people’s lives forever. (T)he best is in the end when I pull the trigger on myself, too."

Allegedly, the girl had gone out with Rosenblum on three separate occasions and once that had ended the harassment began. From the Boston Herald:

The 19-year-old woman told cops she went on three dates with Rosenblum at the beginning of the school year, but had broken up with him. Rosenblum then allegedly harassed her, she said, according to the police report.

The victim began receiving the disturbing instant e-mail messages just before midnight Monday - the day of the Virginia Tech massacre - which she saved and printed, according to the report. 

Bad timing, bad taste, and poor judgement all around, Andrew.

[Thanks to Craig from ScrewAttack for the tip] 


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82 comments | showing # 51 to 82

Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:01
Samit Sarkar
Wow, I’m appalled and disgusted by this. I’ve never been to GameLife before today, but the fact that this “demented” (just repeating what he said) individual would do something like this, just hours after the VT tragedy, is unbelievably awful. Not only does this reflect extremely poorly on gamers in general at a time when we’re under intense scrutiny, but it’s just disturbing in general.

Well, at the very least, GameLife is going to have to add some text to Andrew’s bio in their “The Hosts” section. Perhaps it’ll read something like this:

The man behind GameLife has also been a gamer all his life. Starting with the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Andrew has enjoyed video games on all systems. Recently, he has been interested in film and TV, thus his inspiration for making GameLife. Andrew watches TV, surfs the internet, makes movies, and of course plays video games in his spare time. His favorite games are Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda: A Link to The Past, Guitar Hero, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In addition, he is a demented individual who was recently arrested for a not-so-new passion of his, harassing a girl who spurned him. He threatened to recreate the awful events of April 17, 2007, at Virginia Tech, and for that, we have disassociated ourselves from him. Get help, Rosenblum.
Jsun's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:01
Jsun
The link to his myspace page shows the girl in a picture with him that he was wanting to kill. What an idiot.
Necros's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:01
Necros
I just noticed this update on Kotaku's write-up of the story. Apparently Melissa, one of the hosts, had this to say:

"I only recently learned of this. Anyone who knows Andrew knows he would never do anything violent. This was clearly a cry for attention that came from a very dark and lonely place inside of Andrew. It seems the media in general is already treating this as some hot topic when, in reality, it is a small story about a sad and confused guy who needs to get some help. He is now getting that help."
Geoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:04
Geoff
Melissa is entirely right about that statement; I'm glad people will be able to pay more attention to Andrew's situation and tend to him.

By the way, Stuttering Craig is a fag.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:05
Samit Sarkar
And the thing that scares me the most about this is that it came so soon after the VT tragedy. I was watching the news on Monday night, and they were talking to a guy who had studied mass murders such as this one. He decried the American media and how they reported the incident, namely, their obsession with the fact that the number of civilians killed represents a record in American history. He mentioned that because he thought that saying it’s a record just invites some other moron out there to try and break it. As it turns out, he may have been right. What a shame.
Cruds's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:08
Cruds
«The fact that MTV took it seriously enough to profile it is enough to count, in my book.»

O_o MTV over there must be even worse than that crap we get all day. I agree, if this is true he can say goodbye to his tv carrier.
kahjah's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:18
kahjah
Love is grand i see.
BritiniMartini's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:55
BritiniMartini
Ok, there needs to be a warning on all video games "Do not purchase if you are royally fucked up in the head"
Now... Because this ONE kid is so fucked up in the head, it's gonna ruin things for the millions of gamers out there who are actually SANE.

THANKS KID!
RICHARD BLOCKER's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 15:58
RICHARD BLOCKER
The mooninites planted those IMs.
cbotwell's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 16:15
cbotwell
Maybe those bostonites just read it wrong. They do kind of have a tendency to over react. Actual text below.

“(I)’m gonna (expletive) bring a PUPPY to your HOUSE and SHARE IT WITH you and K (another female student) and everybody you love. It’s gonna be NINTENDOGS all over again,” 20-year-old Andrew Rosenblum allegedly wrote in an e-mail to the victim just hours after 32 people were gunned at Virginia Tech.

“Seriously I just LOVE PUPPIES,” Rosenblum wrote
Azrael's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 16:27
Azrael
Hmmm.. bad taste- MTV -stupid kid sending a "death threat" a few hours a national tragedy had strucked

Can you guys say: "publicity stunt" ?

I know you could.

Nothing to see here people, just idiot marketting guys doing idiot things.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 16:52
Sharpless
And once again, the gaming community allows Jack Thompson to gain XP.
Geoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 16:59
Geoff
Azrael is the biggest fucking retard I've ever heard.

Get the fuck out of my internets.
Cruds's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 17:00
Cruds
And once again I think you’re right Azreal, haha wtf!
ExpertPenguin's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 18:39
ExpertPenguin
Whether he meant it or not...incredibly BAD timing on his part.

There's just some stupid things you do, and you DON'T do when you have some degree of fame..because there's always going to be SOMEONE watching.
Crunshii's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 19:03
Crunshii
Well since I agree this fuktard made JT give another reason for another flame-war.

yet, honestly, its a individual that has no ties to a actual game company. Yet alone, the source of this mans haterade is not from gaming. its from his XXX-gf.

So if JT is going to talk crap, hope he sets his shit str8 and accuses all x-gf for making their bf go insane in the brain, not GTA. oh and if this guy has had any source of violence, then he better blame VT's Chung ho w/e his name is for inspiring this guy to come up with such killing words, not GTA.

All the sources leads to breaking up with his x-gf, and VT tragedy, nothing from any game that I know so far, you guys can correct me if im wrong.
Namelessted's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 19:36
Namelessted
there could be a lot of other information about this situation that we don't know about. Just like the VT shooting. the last 3 days have just been a huge amount of rumors, and then one station saying one rumor isn't true, then coming up with another one. i don't know this Andrew person, but i am sure it has nothing to do with the public. He said (or typed) some shit he wasn't supposed to, he has gotten in trouble, and he might need some help.

but it is nothing that thousands of people that don't know him need to read about. Had he actually went and shot people it would be a completely different situation.
Melissa's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 20:03
Melissa
"The fact that MTV took it seriously enough to profile it is enough to count, in my book." -Robert Summa

Guess what, Robert? You're just as guilty of taking GameLife seriously, so don't be so quick to turn your back on it. You've reported on the show numerous times, and we even did a piece for your site:
http://www.destructoid.com/mario-lopez-gamelife-and-destructoid-a-match-made-in-viva-pinata-heaven-28304.phtml
vozzon's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 20:52
vozzon
Poor kid. I'm pretty sure he has Aspergers and he obviously needs some help.
Cruds's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 20:52
Cruds
Summa didn't say he that did not took the show seriously, that was me. See I thought the link between him and video games wasn't that important because I thought the show was a video podcast only and I had no idea it was aired on MTV and that would make him more a fan than a “spokesperson” for video games.
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/18/2007 22:07
Im OK
Man, I think I may have heard Jack Thompson's spooge hitting the tissue paper all the way from out here on the West Coast.
Geoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 08:06
Geoff
"I would LOVE to get the opportunity to speak about this on any platform I can... especially against someone just as openly crazy- Jack Thompson." -Stuttering Craig

Could you make it any more obvious that you want to plug yourself into anything you can get your hands on?
RICHARD BLOCKER's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 08:28
RICHARD BLOCKER
Geoff,
I understand. I would be pissed if people were talking shit about my friend too. But c'mon, he really shit the bed on this one. I hope he gets help instead of jail time for this because thats what I think he needs. Best of luck, just STFU for a few years, Andrew.
Chris Taran's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 10:53
Chris Taran
Boy is this getting blown way out of proportion.

It was just something stupid some kid said when he was clearly distraught and not thinking right.

You people are making it sound like he actually killed someone.
World Famous's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 11:49
World Famous
It's about the timing Chris. With so much focus right now and people ready to blame video games for everything, when an idiot like this, who is connected to the industry, does something as stupid as this, it makes all of us look bad.

Mainstream media is ready to pounce on any hint of connection between violence and video games. What Andrew did was hand them some ammo on a silver plate.

And Melissa, yes, of course. Besides, what you did for us was far better than anything GameLife ever did on a regular basis. The regular GameLife show is a disgrace among disgraces.
Melissa's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 13:15
Melissa
"The regular GameLife show is a disgrace among disgraces." - Robert

Then you shouldn't have helped the show grow by reporting on it. You're also helping this story "make us all look bad" by continuing to report on it, turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy It's yesterday's news and it was hyped and blown out of proportion.
thunderpudd's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 13:36
thunderpudd
i thought that kid was retarded, and not in the fun "life goes on" way. do they offer retard classes at colleges now?
World Famous's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 13:40
World Famous
"Then you shouldn't have helped the show grow by reporting on it. You're also helping this story "make us all look bad" by continuing to report on it, turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy It's yesterday's news and it was hyped and blown out of proportion."

I'm talking about that retarded portion or whatever it is. I have no issue with what you did Melissa. I've tried to watch a "regular" or "normal" episode of GameLife and it was just awful. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that.
Geoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 14:36
Geoff
@RICHARD: Yeah, I understand. He might've fucked his career over with this one incident. Knowing that just hurts me deeply, and I'm not the one to admit my own feelings.

I admit. Yesterday, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. There was my good friend, (who I hugged and hung out with at my first E3, and guy who helped me realize that I love making videos) with his face plastered all across the news.

I apologize for the 'mean' comments I made towards others, but Stuttering Craig is just an attention whore who's out for himself. I know it's out of the blue and a cheap shot, but hell, I was never known for having dignity.

GameLife Dave just told me the update to this whole situation and I am banging my head against the desk.

And Robert Summa, I know you liked my segments, jerk.
Fizzleyak-O's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 16:53
Fizzleyak-O
I'm sorry, but you guys are treating this Jack Thompson/anti-gaming threat as a cataclysmic event that will ruin video games. This is just like Tipper Gore's attack on profanity in music, and what happened? A shitty little sticker on the jewel case. Calm the fuck down and focus on more pressing matters.

And the fact that you slapheads would ridicule Andrew solely for "pushing the medium of video games back" leaves a bad taste in my mouth. He was probably depressed and shouldn't be treated as a monster because he fucked with your pathetic view of how video games should be ranked among the greatest art in the world.

And Summa, GameLife was about true fans of video games doing what they enjoy doing. Your ostentatious critiques are borderline annoying.
Geoff's Avatar - Comment posted on 04/19/2007 18:03
Geoff
Thank you, Fizzleyak-O. Out of the endless commentary bullshit I've gone through, this really speaks out.
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