Thailand Stores Pull GTA Games After Copycat Murder
The 'Grand Theft Auto' series has stirred up no shortage of controversy since 'Grand Theft Auto III' dropped back in 2001. Mothers Against Drunk Drivine (MADD) wanted it pulled from shelves here in the U.S.. Then, of course, there was the whole 'Hot Coffee' debacle that actually did result in the game's sales being suspended for some time. Now, the games have been pulled from store shelves in Thailand in response to a recent brutal murder apparently inspired by the series.An 18-year-old fan of the franchise attempted to rob a cab driver with a knife. When the cabbie struggled, the student stabbed him and attempted to steal his cab and drive away. He was caught while trying to pull out of an alley with the wounded driver still in the back seat. The 54-year-old victim later died, and the 18-year-old is now facing death by lethal injection for his crime, which he indicated was an attempt at replicating the virtual crimes he committed in the games.
For now, the series remains unavailable across the nation, though naturally we're more inclined to blame the person holding the knife than the game he was playing. [Source: Yahoo News, and The Daily Mail]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
god @ Aug 5th 2008 3:00PM
ahahahahaha life
MiddyWolf @ Aug 5th 2008 11:58PM
This is stupid all these people that say we should blame video games for violence cause kids don't know any better. Has anyone considered that these kids do stupid things cause they figure, "Hey I can do this cause if I get caught all I have to do is say this game my parents didn't stop me from playing is the reason I'm doing it. Admit it the kids are smarter than the video game protesters are giving them credit for and the parents are far more stupid. I even saw one parent buy the GTA series for her kid who was only 10 or 12 despite the fact that the store employee kept telling her he thought it was a bad idea but the kid swore he had played it before. Her defense when asking questions was she didnt understand the ESRB rating or what the descriptors like "violence" or "Sexual Content" meant. So the problem is its not the games fault but its too hard to make laws that can prevent stupid parents from buying the violent games for their already violent kids.
llewellyn @ Aug 6th 2008 12:56AM
VISUALIZATION!!!!
The devil knows how to use it to capture the souls of people, especially the YOUNG!!!!
That's why the Bible states:" Whatsoever is beautiful, pure, clean, holy, think on these things. Your imagination is a powerful thing. Profound people- Wisdom is what we need to counterattack this.
Emma @ Aug 11th 2008 12:25AM
If you don't have a enough brain power to tell that GTA isn't real, you shouldn't be playing it. This kid is stupid. And for the people complaining about violence and kids, these games are reated M for MATURE!! That's 18 and up. 10 year olds shoudn't be playing GTA, besides, it's not like it doesn't clearly tell you why it's rated M.