another murder blamed on video games

[googlefest1]

excerpt of kotaku website which was an excerpt off of gamespot

A 15-year-old Japanese boy killed his parents and then blew up their Tokyo apartment with home-made explosives this week.

Friends of the boy described him as an average student who happened to love playing video games, including Grand Theft Auto.



Shortly after his arrest at a hot springs resort, the boy admitted to the killings. He told police that he killed his father because the man made a fool of him and then killed his mother because she said she wanted to die and he felt sorry for her.

These are tragic deaths, made even more so by the willingness of the public to blame a video game on the sociopathic behavior of a teen. I think what we are starting to run into here is the increasing popularity of video games. It’s one thing if the kid kills a bunch of people and then says he did it because he loves GTA and wanted to see what it was like to act the game out, but quite another if he kills people and it turns out he happens to be a fan of murder and mayhem game. I bet he also liked to watch movies and perhaps was a fan of eating, but I don’t see anyone blaming the killings on these two habits.

[dreams]

For anyone who wants to read the whole article:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/22/news_6128036.html

I know they mention video games and GTA in the GameSpot article, but that's the only place I see any attempt to correllate the two. Besides, it's his schoolmates that said he like to play video games - not the media.

Here's another link on the story from a Japanese site. Video games was not mentioned once.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050622wo23.htm

[googlefest1]

thanks, i couldn't get the gamespot site to work for me - that add wouldnt let me by

[Haoie]

I read that in yesterday's paper.

Well I think it highlights the issue of not becoming a total shutin/recluse because of games. This problem is pretty bad in Japan I hear, but it's not just because of games. Any fanatical interest in something will do. You'll lose touch with the real world if you do, and that's never a good sign.

[Rugal]

Man this is getting out of hand. Do parents actually pay attention to what there children play anymore? Im not saying that they got what they desereved but its odvious the kid had some hidden issues that no one knew of. The blame the game industry but not society and the up bringing of the kid. Its sad to see things like this happen. Perfect example was that incident when a couple went to a cafe` lounge to play World of Warcraft and left there infant home alone asleep. When they came home they found there child dead from suffocation. WHo gets the blame? The makers of WOW and NOT the actual parenting. Video games is a form of entertainment just like television but what gets me is that we never hear or see shows or movies been blamed for wrongful death suits other than professional wrestling. The world needs to wake up and stop playing the blame game on the wrong individuals.