News of THE weird

Killer video game

Palmer Luckey, a defense contractor and, according to Vice, the father of modern virtual reality, has invented a VR headset that literally presents a life-or-death outcome.

Inspired by the Nervegear VR headsets in the anime “Sword Art Online,” Luckey’s headset allegedly features three explosive charge modules that detonate and instantly destroy the user’s head if the user dies during gameplay.

“Pumped-up graphics might make a game look more real, but only the threat of serious consequences can make a game feel real to you and every other person in the game,” Luckey said.

He admits he needs to keep tinkering: “There are a huge variety of failures that could occur and kill the user at the wrong time. This is why I have not worked up the (nerve) to actually use it myself. At this point, it is just … a thoughtprovoking reminder of unexplored avenues in game design.”

Night of the living poodle

On Oct. 29, as Kathrin Burleson and a friend walked Burleson’s 13-year-old corgi, Emma, at Trinidad State Beach in California, a pack of 10 standard poodles burst from a nearby car and raced toward them, the Mad River Union reported.

Burleson leaned down to pick up Emma, but she wriggled out of

Burleson’s arms just as the pack attacked. “I thought Emma and I were going to be killed,” Burleson said.

During the incident, Burleson felt her finger being bitten, but when she looked up, it was the poodles’ owner, Frank Mallatt, who had her finger in his mouth. Mallatt later told her he thought he was biting one of his dogs.

Emma was severely injured and underwent emergency surgery, from which she is still healing.

Mallatt reportedly owns a service dog company that, according to the website, places dogs “with children at little to no cost through the help of donations and volunteers.”