Updated: Tue Oct. 28 2008 5:34:29 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

The ground search for a teenage Barrie, Ont. boy who stormed out of his home in a tiff after being cut off from playing on his Xbox gaming system has been ended for now.

"We're pretty well at the same place we were two weeks ago," Sgt. Dave Goodbrand of the Barrie Police told ctvtoronto.ca on Tuesday about the Brandon Crisp case.

"He's pretty well vanished."

Brandon left his parent's home on Oct. 13. He rode his bicycle northeast out of town before abandoning due to mechanical difficulties. A witness put Brandon on the Hickling trail between the Second and Third Line of Oro-Medonte Township near Shanty Bay, which sits on the north shore of Lake Simcoe's Kempenfelt Bay.

However, a police search -- coupled with a volunteer search on the weekend -- has failed to turn up any sign of Brandon. The groups covered a total of about 40 square kilometres. An OPP helicopter searched from the air, and a marine unit from the waters of Lake Simcoe. Some officers had trained police dogs with them.

Brandon didn't have a cellphone, wallet or bank card with him when he left his parent's home. He had a backpack with a few toiletries. He wore a red hoodie, a yellow-and-grey jacket and jeans, he said.

Goodbrand said at least a dozen officers are still working on Crisp's case. Almost 1,000 tips have poured in. The search could be resumed if new evidence warrants it, he said.

Brandon's parents, Steve and Angelika Crisp, took the news of the ground search's suspension as well as could be expected, he said. "I think they understood that we exhausted our search in that area and did the best we could."

Brandon had been obsessive about playing the Xbox game "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare."

Police -- working with Microsoft, the manufacturer of the console -- are trying to identify up to 200 people with whom Brandon may have played the game online, Goodbrand said.

The parents think Brandon might be under the control of someone he met online. Brandon's friends have said it would be out of character for him to disappear.

Kris Abel, technology columnist for CTV's Canada AM, told ctvtoronto.ca that while Brandon may have gamed with some individuals through Xbox Live, you can't really communicate with other people or share information in the way one can through a social networking website like Facebook.

You can talk over a headset with other gamers, but there's no privacy. All the other players can hear.

It's possible to send voice messages through Xbox to a specific user. One can also send text messages, but it's difficult to do. Such messages are generally of the "let's game at 7 o'clock" variety, Abel said.

If someone in Brandon's situation did meet a predator online, they would likely have communicated privately over regular online channels where it would be much easier, he said.

"Now, one reason they're going through his Xbox is because it has a detailed record of every player he ever played against and every player he may have sent messages to," Abel said.

"And of course every account has information on it in terms of address. So that's why they may be going through that with a comb."