freespeech

LOL I've not seen those particular comments but not one person in that queue would have gone near that bloke. I was about tenth in line and all of a suddent this bloke reappears COVERED in blood with a massive great kitchen knife in his hand and I'm not afraid to say I was shitting myself. He looked like an absolute nutter and as he went down the queue eyeballing everyone to find his assailants from earlier, I just kept my head staring at msn on my phone and said nothing.

I find it hilarious that this incident has gotten so much press... The guy got beaten up for insulting people in the queue. He didn't deserve to get stabbed but he brought it upon himself.

dannyb0y

valcox

I'm 6'6" I work out, and I used to do kung fu. There is no way in hell I'm walking into a knife fight unless the guy threatens me or someone I know, because the outcome is likely going to be me = dead.

Plus as has already been stated, it's Croydon! The stabbing was probably gang related, best to just let them get on with it I say!

CameronRW

thats jus how London is u could b getin d crap beaten outa u ppl dnt care they jus go about there business normaly

idonia

I agree, it doesn't surprise me, I live south of Croydon and muggings, knivings & shootings happen fairly regularly. A guy got stabbed nearby when someone threw a chocoalte wrapper in his car, and he went out to remonstrate against them.

It's such a s**thole, friends of mine actually joke about it as the next intstallment...

GTA: SCUM CITY

There could be quite a few good insane jumps off the flyover.
The clubs are so nasty and dated you would assume they came straight out of Vice City.
The irony is that Croydon (on account of having a few tall buildings and successive councils with huge egos) likes to think of itself as Mini-Manhattan.

Now it's Mini-Liberty City. ;)

Chadders

scotty999

Replica23

dragende

marleycat

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Bowserfire

Null-Python

Xcite79

It probably went like this:

Guy 1: "Dude, the guy got stabbed right there!"

Guy 2: "Ugh man he's bleeding all over the place"

Guy 1: "Uh, Should we go like, help him?

Guy 2: "Screw that I'm not losing my place in the line!"

Alright alright, meabe not but you've got to wonder how they only got a vague description of the aggressor...

Malaky

Go Team Venture

bobtheduck

sloner

Doug

KM91

Libo

Mattz

meltyman

With the angry there of Croydon there is too much attitude, too little brains. What is happening to this once Green & Pleasant land?

Andronix

God bless you BionicCommando.

You are very right.

RocketChump

Anyone? Takers?

RocketChump

frobishlumpkin

frobishlumpkin

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Some crazy Christian with an agenda paid this dude to pull this sadness..

Pay_Me_Or_Pay_Me_No_Attention

but this was bloody LONDON.

They use guns down in the capital, not like use rural types up north with our clubs, knives and fists.

D:

Onizuka-GTO

iskew

peztrip

foxwarrior88

Speshul_K

Angryrider

SigmundTheSeaMonster

justhesh

Um, I'm pretty sure knife violence exists in America...

SuperMaxZero

Ruglia

Marv2

Anyways. Anyone remember when that kid got stabbed for pokemon cards? That was worse... porrf that pokemon makes you violent. not gta.

fadecy

TheFooFighter

NoBullet

Jacktherip

Did the police say "Where is the one responsible for this?" "

No but witness do report hearing an eagle scream and seeing a random pile of hay near by..... I wonder if the authorities checked that for clues.

Also sometime latter a group of monks, all in hoods walked by......

ShaggyB

if_deez

Glad to see the guy survived.

playclever

Irony,when what you expect is not the same as the way something really is.

FOOL!

HOVA

nikolaj

How better to get your name out there than to be the "Real Life GTA Killer."

zenpoet

yashichi8bit

Bovius

StormdragonBlue

MasterYong

Sounds like Glasgow too mate, it's a knife culture up here, aparently Glasgow now has more crime than New York.

It's a real fecking shame.

GingerMohawk

GingerMohawk

Puzzle

On the GTA side of things, at least they can't blame GTA 4 itself for this, as the guy doing the stabbing obviously hadn't played it yet.

Of course, that would be far too logical for the media to comprehend. Indeed, headlines will probably read something like "Murder simulator hype teaches people to kill".

Fury-genesis

The_Vindicator

at the gamestop on 86th and lex in manhattan last night there were the usual parked cop cars up the block and security people keeping watch on the crowd.

for the halo launch there was an ambulance and cruiser sitting right outside the store.

its late at night, some people are violent and dumb.

atomicknuckles

Also, look at the article. It's amazingly NON-sensationalized. It barely mentions GTA and then (amazingly) does not mention the violent content of the game AT ALL. We should make sure we don't do JT's job for him by pre-emptively linking these kind of events to games before anyone actually tries to do so.

catapult37

SugouriNormish

@Master Saji: @Seiven: That was hilarious! Will nominate if I actually remember to...not very good about the remembering.

Fierfaerie

Wolfers

A town so scummy and villanous it makes Mos Eisley look positively virtuous.

Jonman

minus_273

Still no reason to stab someone though.

Nosignalinput

Seriously, people that are fucked up are already fucked up before they play stuff like this - it's not that hard of a concept to get around, but politicians will have their scape goats and media griefers will have their scoop.

sir_carrot

My nan lives that way though which is a trifle concerning.

Gambia

In a world when the media is already set and prone to attack any game with a hint of violence, does the gaming media have to go out of the way to suggest that the two may somehow be related?

TRT-X

vig0r

ReignFury

So...ummm....Is there ever a convenient time to get stabbed multiple times? Maybe I can pencil you in. When is good for you? (Lets get some perspective here. Someone was stabbed, are sensational headlined cogent to his suffering?)

Rajio

pylon_trooper

Seiven

Probably because when a person is alone, natural instincts can't be hindered by someone else convincing them to leave the situation be.

Mact

Seiven

2. No fucking police at the event?! are you kidding me, at the 3 mindnight launches ave been to theres at LEAST 3 police officers..

especially for GTA..

this just fooked up all midnight launches in the U.K for ever.. & ever

HOVA

ttocs

@macksed:
Ditto. I think after the first or second person made a move to stop the attacker, others would help. But to be the first one, that's probably the biggest step. Also 5' does not intimidate 6'5". T_T

Channing

dsectric

pylon_trooper

But no, I mean, shit, 50+ people saw it, how did they NOT catch him? Did they sit there talking to themselves?

"Oh, oh shit he has a knife. why does he have a knife? maybe he brought a piece of fruit he wanted to peel. Or maybe OH SHIT, shit he stabbed someone! Why did he stab him? wait now he's running off, dammit someone should call the police...but I don't want to lose my spot..."

And then they proceed to talk to the other 49 people who saw it...

Guy 1: "Hey, did you see that guy?"
Guy 2: "Yeah. He just stabbed someone and walked off to get some tea or something!"
Guy 3: "I know, right! Is that guy okay?"
2: "I can't tell, he's near the back of the line."
1: "Well anyone have a cellphone?"
Guy 4: "What for?"
1: "Well to call the police, of course!"
4: "Oh, I see. I'll go ahead and call them. By the way, what's the line for?"
1, 2, 3: "Grand Theft Auto"

etc...

etc...

etc...

Master Saji

It unfortunate for the victim that this guy was there laying in wait for him, and to a very much lesser extent that it happened to be in a line for GTA IV.

Its just another knife crime incident in the capital thats been rising this past few years.

joncoffee

on the more serious front:
You know... Isnt it more likely that something bad can happen to you when you are out strolling the town at midnight?

I mean, you wouldnt catch my ass just "passing by" at midnight. Talk about frag bait. I just think it's odd that the passer-by was the victim and not the other way around. Hanging around Gamestop at midnight, I'd expect to get robbed/mugged. Maybe that's just the area though /shrug.

Derigor

I think it's less that and more like, well, the guy looked quite intimidating, and he was quite clearly violent and armed. Even if you say you would've done something, would you be convinced enough that anyone else would help if things got worse?

Everyone was probably thinking that no one else would help if they did something, and that doesn't exactly convince themselves to risk their own lives.

I hope the police catch this guy. I wonder if this wasn't something slightly more pre-meditated though. If the guy was mentally unstable, it seems odd that he'd attack someone who just happened to pass by as opposed to the handful of people he was standing right next to. You never really know in places like Croyden, I suspect.

StormTec

Unless you really stretch it and say that GTA taught them to be a "real" gang.

Mact

You would think someone would at least have gotten a camera-phone pic of him!

Dreamwriter

macksed

Did you mean "violence only happens in America", because I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying a non-violent day so far.

Mact

Ryuujin1024

50-100 people there and they all just watched though? That doesnt sit right with me. I'm not saying I know I'd hero it up in that situation or anything, but someone should have done something at least, sheesh.

*cue the 'Indifference of Good Men' speech from the begainning of Boondock Saints*

Muffin_Man

Hickeroar

"A crazed gamer, clearly influenced by the "Grand Theft Car" series of video games, went on a murderous rampage today while waiting in line for "Grand Theft Car Four: Murder Simulation For Kids of All Ages". The hundreds of psychopathic game addicts surrounding the suspect are reported to have cheered him on, while pouring buckets of lamb blood over their heads and stepping on cute bunnies."

ShaggE

YUYU

Cat-Duck

ryanfrost

D00mM4r1n3

macksed

Croydon is one of the scummier places in the UK. Rife with stupid gangs and drugs.

Should just nuke the place with everyone in it.

Only good thing... If you can call it that is it's the birthplace of the Dubstep genre.

baysideSxoc

I hope the guy is ok, but seriously, why jump out of queue to stab someone? If I had been able to stand in queue for the game, I certainly wouldn't have given up my spot to stab someone.

LizC

SAKY

ruslander

Fear Mongering on things ones don't understand, nor educate themselves with.

EnigmaNemesis

BionicCommando1

Like all incidents of this nature, this occurence is tragic...not inconvenient. Maldron hit the nail on the head.

Cogito

SupaPhly

This is nuts, but does it really have anythign to do with GTA? Or was it just a rabdom stabbing which GTA is going to get blamed for? How many people got stabbed in movies or TV this week again? Why isn't that responsible instead?

VampHuntD

Antiflow

SpaceCowboyJ

Nex Antonius

I was out looking for this all day. Didn't find it. Serves me right for not preordering!

Pombar

Mr.SithNinja

eskimo-bob

Jack... we're waiting for you.

Communist_Gamer

futurebiblehero

Ridiculous isn't it?

dead_red_eyes

PatMan33

photoboy

shadow300z

cantbeatmegaman

Jamie_W

Antiflow

HELLSRIDER

"A teenager was kicked, punched and robbed of a computer game which he had bought only moments after its release.
The 18-year-old and his friend had bought Grand Theft Auto IV from a Lancashire video shop after its release at midnight."

minus_273

The sad thing is that if this had happened another night it probably wouldn't have even got a mention. Just another night in Croydon!

g2dat

N1tch

googleguru

Elderwulf

Woodwater

Ghede

@pylon_trooper: tasteless

hotgarbage

Deano85

How does this make gamers look as a whole? Bad- that's what. It's a shame.

But you know, some people are derranged like that. Some people can't determine the difference between fantasy and real life.

Jobson

Wow, my "American Dream" literature class in college actually taught me something. I remember that book. Good read too.

I bet you the assailants name was Jamal Rockstar.

impreza

Deano85

megaStryke

rico_ricardo

*ponders*

pylon_trooper

Huh, that actually does make a ton of sense. Even assuming that he's not the only one who didn't pick it up, they could get a list of names then do a few house calls.

Zero_Beat

impreza

FlashIV

GTA IV: The game so violent, even standing in line waiting to buy it causes people to commit attempted murder.

Ess

FlashIV

badasscat

They also said "I WILL CATCH YOU!"

BlackDove

Pezdispenser

Knives don't kill people, people kill people!

EnigmaNemesis

Automageddon!

Maldron

I wished those in line beat the living crap out of the jackass who stabbed that guy.

Yeah, I know, he's got a knife. But it pisses me off when douchebags like him get away with doing stupid shit like that.

T6Spades

This is like a call to read Jennifer Government...

Then we can all start arguing over whether or not this is the most f'd up marketing ploy of all time.

grizzlywilliam

lonecow12

Did the police say "Where is the one responsible for this?"

Zero_Beat

Christ I hope the guy is okay.

exkon

TonyRockyHorror

toefer

willsueforfood

Now THAT'S bad timing.

ComradeStalin86