"The statistics for knife sales are encouraging but it's still disappointing to find some shops not on board with this issue especially bearing in mind the media coverage on knife crime in recent months...And we're disappointed that the games sellers concerned don't seem to have taken their training on board or recognised the fact that these games are given a high age rating for a reason."

Personally I think the statistics better reflect the public's perceived threat of their children playing with knives versus their children playing violent video games, but I'm known to be a bit biased. I'm just glad that we're all sensible enough to see a headline like this and not associate violent video games with knife violence.

"As for violent video games, I believe they must have a detrimental influence on any children who play them and I would not be at all surprised if there was not a connection with the knife crime issue. Everyone who sells these games must take extra care to ensure they only sell them to those who can legally buy them.

Okay, all of us except for Councillor Michael Leaves, Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Environmental Regulation in Plymouth. Luckily for us, in the UK your importance and influence lessens the longer your title is.

The news is far too cluttered lately with stories about violent video games and knives, so I for one am glad they're starting to combine the two. I look forward to reading about how easily children can get their hands on the materials to make a dirty bomb and Grand Theft Auto in the near future.

Shops Caught Selling Violent Games And Knives To Children [This Is Plymouth]

Oh goodness, so torn on this one. On one hand, arresting the guy and holding him on $10,000 bail seems a bit harsh. On the other hand, I get the distinct feeling that the whole FPS project angle is a defense and not an actuality. One thing I know for sure, however, is that the mainstream media is so adorable when they try to report on video games. Note that you might get an ad as the video begins, and if you try to watch it again without refreshing you'll learn far more about Spokane than you need to know.

edit - Moved video to after the jump at the insistence of common sense.

So the father is claiming this is politics and that his son's first amendment rights are being impugned, and also looks like discount Fonzie with a giant cold sore on his lip. We should arrest every game developer? Sure, if every game developer sat around discussing how to kill high school students perhaps. Maybe Jaffe, but he's harmless.

Okay, mostly harmless.

I can't help but think that maybe this time around the caution might have been justified. There is a difference between designing a Counter-Strike map with your school's layout and sitting there like a dumbass discussing the best way to massacre your classmates weeks after the biggest school shooting in history. At the very least the kid should get a couple days in stupid prison.

Snooping about on the web I found Lance's page on bebo, where he goes by the name UbnKilled - you bein killed. *sigh*. Some memorable quotes:

ummm... I love to play first person veiw shooters.. games such as Fear, Half-Life 2, Doom3... and I like to play basketball and write...

I collect mid-evil weapons and have.. *counts* 10 weapons in my room.. and that's not including the guns..... so actually... to however wants to try to kidnap me..... do it.. i dare ya

If i really wanted to I could steal some of his programs and hack virtually most accounts, but I wont so no worries...

So yeah, the guy's a tool and between the comments and the suggestion that he's stockpiling weapons and guns I would have totally had him removed from the school as soon as humanly possible were I on the school board. Though you and I can see the moronic bragging and posturing for what it is, school officials like Northport Superintendent Patsy Guglielmino probably can't.

"I have to look at every threat as though it is real irregardless what I know about the student," she said.

Court to decide if Northport threat was horrible prank or free speech [kxly.com via GamePolitics]

Photo courtesy of KXLY.com