One week after 77 died in two attacks carried out by a militant extremist in Norway, two retailers have temporarily pulled copies of World of Warcraft and several Call of Duty games from shelves, citing their ties to the accused killer's manifesto.
In a 1,500 page diary, the accused, Anders Behring Breivik, wrote that Warcraft provided a useful cover story for the time he spent in seclusion plotting his terrorist attacks. While Breivik also gave more practical advice on training with firearms, including where to acquire them, he also suggested that playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was a way to keep one's skills honed.
The retailers Coop Norway and Platekompaniet both pulled the games, characterizing it as a temporary removal. In addition to World of Warcraft and the four most recent entries in Call of Duty (Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2, World at War and Modern Warfare), the retailers also pulled Counter-Strike: Source, Homefront and Sniper: Ghost Warrior.
But another retailer, Spaceworld, refused to pull any games, saying it saw no connection between games and the tragedy. "We have never seen any research that games alone have led to such incidents," said a company representative.
(2009 file image by Getty Images)
Disse Spillene Fjernes fra Hyllene [IT Avisen (translated), thanks Mow]
You can contact Owen Good, the author of this post, at owen@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.