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Developer from Precursor Games (Shadows of the Eternals) arrested for child porn

Rubius

Member
Lol. I remember Kazaa... searching for some rap music video and it turned out to be some hardcore double penetration porn, not child porn, but I was young so it was a shock.

Yeah, Rap music clips were hardcore in the 00's.

The worst about Kazaa was trying to uninstalling it. Oh god. I swear, it was impossible.
 

chadskin

Member
I mean I know people don't have a high opinion of law enforcement, but I'd like to think they do a bit more than antagonize and frame and falsely accuse innocent civilians

Where were you the last 100 years? It's not like it hasn't happened before. If that's the case here remains to be seen. Details are scarce, so let's not get carried away by emotions.
 

Rubius

Member
What a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Listen, the guy IS innocent until proven guilty, but let's not pretend child pornography officers are targeting Precursor Games because of a bad government subsidy.

I'm not saying that its true, but it IS a possibility. It's most likely at 99.999971% that it wont, but there is always a chance.
We are simply supposing stuff here as we dont have any detail.
 

Arla

Member
I want to say it's unbelievable that some of you support the U.S. adopting a law that makes drawings illegal and punishable with time in jail but then I remember this is GAF. Fucking ridiculous.
 

Oersted

Member
Dont forget that this is not Eternal Darkness 2. Nintendo own that IP, so we might see a Eternal Darkness 2 game made by Retro or whoever want it.

After LM2 I could see Next Level Games pulling it off. Especially the Clock Tower reminded me of ED.
 

Hiltz

Member
Oh, dear. The curse of Dyack is so strong it has lead to own of their own screwing things up for this project getting funded. Truly, this one is more vile than Pious himself.

Dyack casts damage field : McCulloch, Pargon, Pargon, Bankorok Redgormor, Pargon, Pargon.
 

duckroll

Member
Damn, this is really fucking weird. I don't even know what to say. I've enjoyed the stuff the guy has worked on, but these are pretty serious charges. Not a good sign that Precursor immediately cut him loose too. Can't see much good coming out of this.
 

Bulbasaur

Banned
I think most people are unaware of the ages of some of the people in the porn they download/stream and could very likely end up in the the same boat.
 
Leeching, seeding.

Doesn't apply to this case, but I remember back in the '90s or so, there were some shady porn sites (probably filled with other malware as well) which would just have lists of random words. We used to joke that you could type "cement" into Yahoo and still get porn.

All three charge can be link to a single torrent. You Download the torrent, which seed it to other people who download it from your computer, and then you open it to see the content. BAM Three accusation. Even if you delete it, you still had possession, distribution and consumption.
EDIT: That's why the one count is kind of confusing. Usually they arrest people who post on pedophile websites, or are part of email trade groups who trade videos and pictures. Its fairly rare that they go after Torrent guys, but it happen.


THIS CANT BE HAPPENING. - Denis Dyack
I guess... I find it highly unlikely this guy just happened to download a file, and then never looked at it, and then kept it on his computer to keep sharing. I think to actually arrest him, and not just seize his computers, there's probably more to it than that.
 

CTLance

Member
Wow. Just wow.

I feel bad for Dyack now. Think we can unban him, just to give him a bit of positive news (and as long as he behaves)? Guy has been getting kharmic feedback for a while now, I think he has suffered enough.

I hope the pedophiliac gets a nice padded cell with his personal shrink so he can walk the earth as a human being again - after serving his sentence.

I mean, innocent until proven guilty, yes, but that kinda charge usually does not happen when some guy finds a bloody corpse sticking halfway out of the earth while taking a walk with his dog. They are usually the result of focused research by police/intelligence/specialised agencies. Keyword "usually".

The accusation of specifically "only" one count of child porn possession/distribution/etc is curious as well. From my understanding pedophiles usually amass a collection.

I feel the speed of his own company disowning him raises an eyebrow as well. Did they themselves catch him in the act and report him? Otherwise, if, and that is an if right there, if he should turn out innocent as determined by the courts... feels bad, man.
 

Spoo

Member
I've been quite the Silicon Knights & Precursor Games hater, lately, but this is awful news and nobody could have seen it coming.

I really feel like, this is the nail in the coffin for Precursor -- I know it sounds hyperbolic, but when they get around to their newest kickstarter, this will be lurking in the shadows as an invisible footnote.

Maybe they should just start over?
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
Developing this game without Nintendo has angered Mantorok, we must appease him!

Cancel this craven insult of a game at once before more terrible woe befalls the development team!
 

Respawn

Banned
I know that America is different than Canada, but here in Canada we are innocent until proven guilty. I mean sure the chance of it being not him are slim like hell, but still, wishing rape on somebody for a crime he MIGHT have committed? Not cool in my book.
And as far as the supposed crime go, he did not make child pornography, he distributed it. Which is in my book less heavy of a crime.

But yeah, really not cool anyway if it happen to be true. Sadly, some people have problems, I hope he get a good shrink to try to work it out of him. Some pedophiles are really not happy with that inside them, and I even heard story of people going to the doc to get castrated because they cant live with the thought of maybe doing something someday. Does not excuse those who do, just like murderers.
You know I was with you until you wrote distributing child pornography is less of a crime. Its just as fucking bad.
 

Dawg

Member
Damn, this is really fucking weird. I don't even know what to say. I've enjoyed the stuff the guy has worked on, but these are pretty serious charges. Not a good sign that Precursor immediately cut him loose too. Can't see much good coming out of this.

Doesn't really mean anything, that's the first thing companies always do. They don't know if the person is guilty/not guilty, so they can't be associated with the person until he is proven innocent.

That's just the way it is.
 

Myomoto

Member
Welp, this can't end well. Whatever the outcome, this will flare up again down the road, either because the dude was actually found guilty, or because he was innocent and is likely to sue Precursor for firing him.
 

duckroll

Member
For those unfamiliar with his work, this guy was the creative mastermind behind the writing in most of Silicon Knight's games and their best loved ones. Together with Dyack, they created all the original worlds SK was best known for. It's really kinda sad and crazy that it ends this way, if it indeed does. :(

http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/ken-mcculloch/10/232/599

Artist
Silicon Knights

Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
December 1992 – January 1994 (1 year 2 months)

* Fantasy Empires
* Dark Legions

2D Background and Character illustration, animation, 3D Modelling, some writing (Character Bios, world development), level design, writing game pitches.

---

Lead Designer/Artist
Silicon Knights

Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
January 1994 – August 1997 (3 years 8 months)

Worked on a variety of projects, as a Designer and Artist, usually managing a small team (5-10 people)

* Gex (3DO, Crystal Dynamics, contractor artwork only)
2D artwork for background tiles and characters via pixel-pushing/bit map artwork.

* Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PSX/One)
As a designer/writer: Story development, game design, level design, world design & lore, Screenplay writing, worked with voice actors.
As an artist: Background illustration, character concepts, 2D tile illustration, cinematics animation and rendering.

Zork: Grand Inquisitor (PC, contracted to Activision)
Was Liaison with client, managed team of artists, modelling, animated and rendered backgrounds for game. Created 3D panoramas.

House without a Door (under contract work for independent filmmaker)
Did 3D modelling and rendering of still images for a movie concept/visualization. Worked with client's Art Director to fine tune images over the course of three months.

---

Art Director
Silicon Knights

Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
September 1997 – July 2002 (4 years 11 months)

Too Human (original version, Sega Saturn, PSOne)
* Managed and Directed small art team of up to 10 individuals.
* Created art briefs and concept drawings.
* Did 3D Background modelling for cinematics and key rooms.
* Modelling robotic-style characters.

Demos, project pitches
* Created project proposals, world development writing.
* Did 3D Background modelling and rendering for several projects.
* Developed concept artwork for elements of game proposals.

Eternal Darkness
* Managed team of artists of up to 10 individuals.
* Worked heavily with Designers to plan out levels.
* Created concept artwork and other visualizations.
* Did 3D Modelling, texturing and rendering of light-mapped backgrounds and play environments.
* Developed world lore
* Wrote screenplay, with input from other people.
* Wrote supporting text for the game for interface, marketing, etc.
* Co-ordinated Voice Acting and guided them with a Voice Director.

---

Director of Content
Silicon Knights

Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Games industry
August 2002 – July 2012 (10 years)

Too Human (Xbox 360)
* Developed world lore
* Wrote screenplays, short stories, marketing materials such as blog articles and other supporting text for UI, etc.
* Developed concept artwork
* Participated in interviews, both printed and video.
* Oversaw voice actors, provided direction.
* Managed a small team of writers, worked with Designers on game design and integration of story content within the game.

Unreleased Horror game (with Sega, THQ. PS3, Xbox 360)
* Developed world lore, game design.
* Oversaw screenplay writing, some minor writing, mostly supportive text such as game visualization and project pitch materials.
* Managed a small team of writers, animators and cinematographers

Demos and Project Pitches
* Wrote pitches for between 5 and 10 products.
* Developed world lore, story materials and wrote treatments for each.
* Contributed to the development of game design for each.
* Managed a small team of writers, animators and cinematographers

----

Lore Keeper, World Builder, Dream Merchant
Precursor Games

Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Games industry
August 2012 – Present (11 months) Hamilton, Ontario

Creative Writing, Concept development, Narrative and Games Design, World Building, implementation.

Creative Professional, Freelance - Writer, Artist, Game Designer, World Builder
Self

July 2012 – Present (1 year)

Open to opportunities, especially in writing fiction, artwork development and developing game design.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Assuming he hasn't harmed anybody, I hope he gets the help he needs to better himself before going down a far more dangerous path.

Any attempt at Kickstarter is totally fucked now. If the Silicon Knights/Dyack stigma wasn't bad enough (justified or not), this will follow it forever.
 
Holy shit. It just never gets any better for Precursor and SotE. If you wrote something like that, after all the problems the company and project have had, it would be too cartoonish to believe.

Wasn't McCulloch one of their head writers (for both Eternal Darkness and SotE)? If so, Precursor needs to just pack it up. Without him, the project shouldn't even go forward.

That said, I'm withholding condemnation until we know more info... something about this charge seems weird to me. One count of possession? What does that mean exactly? Does that mean he had one file? If so, is it possible he somehow accessed it unknowingly (like others have said, going to 4chan or Reddit or whatever)?

This is so fucking weird... I've been watching the guy discuss the game on the Precursor update videos.
 
Man, that's awful for all involved.

I do think people in this thread are too hard on pedophiles, though (the ones that don't actually abuse children, anyway. Sincerely fuck child abusers). They should be pitied and helped, not hated and pushed away. I don't think any of them chose to be pedophiles.
 

freddy

Banned
Man, that's awful for all involved.

I do think people in this thread are too hard on pedophiles, though (the ones that don't actually abuse children, anyway. Sincerely fuck child abusers). They should be pitied and helped, not hated and pushed away. I don't think any of them chose to be pedophiles.

You realise people who watch this sick shit create demand for it which in turn makes criminals abuse these young children and exploit them in these movies? Fuck pedophiles.
 
You realise people who watch this sick shit create demand for it which in turn makes criminals abuse these young children and exploit them in these movies? Fuck pedophiles.

Yeah, I suppose that's true.

I don't want to make a defense for pedophilia, but I can't help but feel a little sorry for them.
 

StuBurns

Banned
What is child porn exactly? The Led Zeppelin film, The Song Remains the Same, has naked children in it. It seems pretty stupid to have dedicated kiddy porn on your computer when you could have lots of legal films.
 

freddy

Banned
What is child porn exactly? The Led Zeppelin film, The Song Remains the Same, has naked children in it. It seems pretty stupid to have dedicated kiddy porn on your computer when you could have lots of legal films.

Child porn isn't naked kids running around it's children involved in sexual exploitation from relatively benign sexual poses all the way up to rape and torture.

Yeah, I suppose that's true.

I don't want to make a defense for pedophilia, but I can't help but feel a little sorry for them.

I can see what you're saying but actively having this stuff on your computer is well past the point you should say "I need help" and go get it.
 
What is child porn exactly? The Led Zeppelin film, The Song Remains the Same, has naked children in it. It seems pretty stupid to have dedicated kiddy porn on your computer when you could have lots of legal films.

because they want to see kids fuck, not just run around some field.
 
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