I’m usually on the side of a young athlete that wants to turn pro. I have no problem with people like Freddy Adu, LeBron James, or Sidney Crosby passing on school to earn money playing a game they love. In the case of Blake Peebles, I think he needs to stay in school.

Blake is 16 years old and wants to play video games for a living. He turned pro in September 2007 with his parents blessing.

Blake is so dedicated to gaming that his parents let him quit school so he can better concentrate on it.

They pay for home tutors instead. Mom and Dad do this, even though there are very few people in this country who make their living playing competitive video games.

It sucks for Blake’s older brother and younger sister who still have to go to class at an actual school while Blake is chillin at home smoking weed and playing video games. I’m sure the kid is putting in plenty of time with his tutors seeing as his parents, Mike and Hunter Peebles, are very strict and unbending.

That is not to say that it was an easy decision for them to let Blake leave school last September. They would have preferred that he stay in high school with his brother. But he bugged them until they let him quit.

“We couldn’t take the complaining anymore,” says Hunter. “He always told me that he thought school was a waste of time.”

Blake’s mastered Guitar Hero and has brought in around 1000 bucks worth of prizes in the short time he’s been a pro. If he becomes one of the top gamers in the world he can expect to pull in 80k+ a year. Not bad for a high school dropout. I expect to see Blake and his parents on Outside the Lines as Bob Ley and crew attempt to get to the bottom of this disturbing trend.

video games, guitar hero, professional gamer, high school dropout

Microsoft won’t be happy until everybody in the world is hooked up to one of their products 24 hours a day. They’re hoping to turn us into a planet of cyborgs with every man, woman, and child walking around staring at screens instead of sitting at home.. staring at screens.

The Hotel Sax in Chicago teamed up with Microsoft to show what the homes and hotels of tomorrow will look like today.

You gotta admit that the Hotel Sax setup is a whole lot better than the traditional Nintendo DS/Pay-Per-Porn options. At the same time, I would never get anything done if I was staying there. How could I? XBox’s and hot chicks at every turn and they’ve got neon lights. Everybody knows it’s goin down when they see neon lights.

Microsoft, XBox, Video Games, Hotel Sax