Thailand pulls GTA games after murder

[sinphaltimus]

SOURCE:Thailand pulls Grand Theft Auto from shops after murder - PlayStation Portable News - PSP Updates

Posted Aug 04, 2008 at 11:34AM by Victor B. Listed in: News Tags: Reuters, Bangkok
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15 QJ

Thailand pulls GTA games after murder - Image 1Some disturbing video game-related news comes to us today from Thailand. New Era Interactive Media, the distributor of the Grand Theft Auto games in Thailand, has opted to pull GTA from store shelves after a teenager confessed to robbing and killing a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game series.

Said New Era Interactive Media sales and marketing director Sakchai Chotikachinda,

We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games. We are also urging video game arcades to pull the games from service.

We'll take this next bit straight from the Reuters report, seeing as it really caught our attention:

"He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game," chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak told Reuters.

Newspapers are reporting that the teen wasn't planning to stab the driver, but did so when the taxi driver tried to retaliate. He was arrested on late Saturday when he was found trying to drive the car backwards out of a Bangkok street. The wounded driver was in the back seat.

According to the report, the police said the youth showed no sign of mental problems during questioning and confessed to committing the crime because of the game. The youth in question faces possible death by lethal injection should he be found guilty of the crime.

[cecil1knight]

man...now people will blame video games again. The thing is, if someone really thinks they can kill someone and get away with it because you can in a game, there's gotta be something wrong with their head. Sad day though, i hate to hear about people being killed for no reason or for any reason...I hate to hear about people being killed in general.

[clwnfrmdwntwn]

WOW
that is all man.. so wrong how some frikkin morons do that.. like did you hear in the news that some guys were trying to do that here in the US?? they had bats, knives, crow bars and were beating this cop... makes us think what the world is turning to eh..? i dont blame the games.. i blame the stupid idiots who try to "recreate" a scene from a game.. ITS A GAME!!