Art Imitates Life - Man Stabbed In GTA IV Queue

A queue of gamers waiting in line at a Gamestation store in South London were treated to a gruesome preview of the game they would soon be playing when a hooded man who had seemingly been waiting in line for the game repeatedly stabbed a 23-year-old male who had been passing by. Around 50-100 people were present at the Gamestation in Croyden when the attack occurred, with members of the queuing public contact the police. The victim was discovered a short distance from the store and was taken to a hospital and treated for multiple stab wounds.

Authorities are currently looking for "a light skinned black man aged about 21, 6ft 5ins tall, of medium build wearing a light grey hooded top," while the mainstream media is currently seeking the best possible way to shock the living hell out of the non-gaming public with the headline for this story. I think we're going to have to give them this one. The assailant just picked a really inconvenient time to go apeshit.

Stab attack at Grand Theft queue [BBC News - Thanks g2dat]

Matt Damon OK With Movie Violence, Not OK With Game Violence

Matt and I don't share the same views about violence in adult films, but we do see eye-to-eye on the importance of protecting children. We both support regulations to stop the marketing of violence in films to children through violent toys, products, and video games.

'Reconciling the Irreconcilable': Criticism and Gaming

Another Day, Another 'Adult Crime Game Kids Love'

It's not just writers like us who can't get enough of GTA IV, oh no — what would a GTA release date be without people from all over weighing in? Mike Musgrove over at the Washington Post gives his opinion on the 'adult crime game kids love,' which turns into looking at some of the latest studies on the relationship between violence, video games and kids. Included is an interesting little tidbit about the Grand Theft Childhood:

Funny thing about "Grand Theft Childhood." I had picked up the book expecting that a tome with such a provocative title would take a dimmer view of the influence games have on kids.

Olson said she and her husband wanted the title to be phrased as a question ("Grand Theft Childhood?"), but "publishers don't like question marks."

She said she hopes that folks who want to think there's a link between violence and video games read the book — if the title hooks them in, so much the better.

"We didn't want to preach to the choir," she said.

I guess that's one of the things about GTA — so much stuff written in the wake of a new release has precious little to do with the game itself. At least this one is a reasonably positive look at the beloved media topic of violent games and violent (or not) kids.

The Adult Crime Game Kids Love [The Washington Post]

Americans More Offended by Sex, Gay Kissing Than Severed Heads

As a parent, which would you find most offensive in a video game?

Texas Shooting 'Game Related'?

You have to love how vague this stuff is; to me, leaving off the 'And they were playing a video game' part wouldn't diminish the story at all.

A 15-year-old boy from Marble Falls is at Austin's Brackenridge Hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the head. [...] The boy was playing a video game with a friend when that friend loaded a gun and shot him in the head.

Police said the 13-year-old shooter is being held at the juvenile detention center in Belton and is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The newspaper said the boys were playing a video game called "God of War".

Hopefully this won't lead to a media frenzy - news is sparse right now, but we'll see how it continues to develop.

13-year-old shoots friend in the head [News 8 Austin]

Cop Called Out On Blaming Violent Games

It's pretty standard now to hear people close to law enforcement, be they lawyers or police officers, blame much of the violent crime committed by youth on violent video games. Apparently, gamers and game journalists aren't the only ones to notice this, as a reporter for the Naples Daily News questioned when one police officer attributed the reason for a violent crime to a game.

Captain Tim Guerrette of the Collier County, Florida Sheriff's Office, apparently referred extensively to video games and their influence during a conference, where Daily News reporter Victoria Macchi was in attendance. In her article, she refers to what Guerrette said, but also notes some of her own research:

We twice rejected Manhunt 2, and then pursued a judicial review challenge, because we considered, after exceptionally thorough examination, that it posed a real potential harm risk. However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an '18' certificate to the game."

Video Games & Violence

Gamer Risks Death To Save Nephew

On September 4th of last year, firefighter Jeff Diederich came home from work to discover his year-old son Aiden lying strangely still in his crib, grey and yellowed from Jaundice. He and his wife Heather rushed to the hospital only to discover that Aiden needed a liver transplant, and was no way the always crowded National Donor List route would save him in time. Their only option was a living transplant, where a portion of a living donor's liver is transplanted into the recipient. The father offered to undergo the procedure, but his family changed his mind. The 40% risk of donor death meant that Heather would be left alone with two children, so they had to look elsewhere. Enter Aiden's Uncle, Jeff Shoemaker.

Jeff, the uncle, recalls, "after seeing him laying there with all the tubes and hoses, cables and wires I think all my fears went away. My life was worth giving to save his, and if that's what it took, I was fine with that."

What's More Violent: Mario or THE BIBLE?

Bruce Everiss, an industry vet who's worked at companies like Imagine and Codemasters, feels that games are being judged for content in a much harsher manner than other media. So he picked a comparison text at what we're sure was completely random (the Bible) and scanned it for adult content.

There is a handy website that allows you to search the bible for content. Using this we find that the King James version has "harlot" in it 48 times, "sodomite" 5 times, "fornicator" 5 times, "smite" 133 times, "kill" 208 times and "maim" 7 times. This is shocking, you have to wonder what any right minded parent is doing exposing their children to this stuff.

The Bible Vs video games [BruceOnGames via GamePolitics]

Child Demands Pokemon At Gunpoint

Okay, I know that Pokemans are the source of everything good in the world, but this is going a bit too far. A 10-year-old boy in Redwood City, California wanted a fellow student's Pokemon cards so badly that he brought an Airsoft gun to Roosevelt Elementary School, held it to the 6-year-old's forehead and demanded he hand them over. What the hell was going through this stupid child's head? You don't bring a gun - fake or otherwise - into a school because you want to steal Pokemon cards. YuGiOh cards sure, but not Pokemon cards. It's 2008 already, get with the program. The underage gunman has been suspended from school pending possible expulsion, and I am betting whoever it was at his house that owns an Airsoft gun wasn't the type of person to let such behavior go without a good whack on the ass with a belt. Yes yes, disciplining your children is wrong, what was I thinking?

Armed Boy Takes Classmate's Pokemon Cards [CBS13.com via DS Fanboy]

Watch No More Heroes Lose Gallons Of Blood

Want to see what Wii owners in Europe and Japan are missing out on, in terms of flowing rivers of blood, decapitations and amputations? Then watch xserothx's No More Heroes Death Scene Comparison clips for a study in regional censorship. This is grisly stuff, folks, and not for the faint of heart of virtual murder. Anyone wary of spoilers should skip 'em, as they're essentially every boss fight in the game.

No More Heroes Death Scene Comparisons [YouTube - thanks, Sidepocket!]

America's Army Player Saves Real Life

It's the stuff press releases are made of, but the story is great to boot. Paxton Galvanek never had medical training, but he'd gone through medic certification in the America's Army video game. Then one November night as he drove down the highway with his family, he watched as an SUV flipped multiple times in the opposite lane.

As his wife called 911, Galvanek pulled two injured passengers from the truck, assessed their wounds, and properly prioritized/administered treatment (direct pressure and elevation) to one of the accident's more brutal injuries, a mutilated hand. In short, he did things just as he should have in a circumstance that could have ended even worse. And yes, Galvanek thanks his training in a video game for his performance under pressure:

India Considering Ban on Violent Video Games

With a backstory that is apparently the absolute height of family melodrama, the Indian Parliament is currently considering a ban on violent games. According to speculation in a GameGuru article, after a political figure realized that the game she helped her grandson acquire - Manhunt 2 - was banned in the UK, she set out to make sure it would also be banned in India. Oh dear. As Desicritics intones:

Since when have we let these Bollywood actors and socialites dictate what the citizens of India can or cannot do? Maybe it's time Mrs Tagore sorted out her own house, paid more attention to the kind of games her grandkids played especially when the games have big letters saying MA printed on them instead of urging the government to baby sit the nation's children at the expense of the tax payers hard earned money.

Why should others pay for her blatant ignorance and negligence?

Will the parliamentary proposal be successful? We'll find out soon - this doesn't seem like a huge surprise (everyone loves an easy target), but the family drama is enough to make my head spin.

Video Games Censorship Comes to India [GameGuru] and Government To Regulate Video Games in India [Desicritics] [both via GamePolitics]