May 1, 2008 -
Labour MP Keith Vaz, a longtime critic of violent video games, was quick to relate a recent London stabbing to Grand Theft Auto IV.Will Vaz be as quick to retract his comments now that further investigation seems to negate such a link?
As initially reported by the Times, the incident occurred late Monday night as buyers queued up for the midnight launch of Rockstar's controversial crime game. Initial news reports indicated that the attacker was in line for the game:
A hooded man queuing to buy the new Grand Theft Auto IV, the notoriously violent computer game, stabbed a passer-by in the head and neck. Up to 100 people witnessed the attack.
Vaz told the newspaper:
[Grand Theft Auto] is a violent and nasty video game and it doesn’t surprise me that some of those who play it behave in this way.
However, VNU reports that linkage of the stabbing incident to GTA IV may be a case of "media panic":
"The victim had categorically not pre-ordered the game and GameStation is confident that he was not a GameStation customer; neither was he a part of the queue outside the Croydon store, a source told the Games Radar blog.
The source also said that the stabbing did not occur outside the store, but a quarter of a mile away outside East Croydon station.
Via: Kotaku
Comments
Is it really THAT violent? The fighting could be considered violent, sure, but it's not really, and there's barely any blood.
And interestingly enough, knives existed before video games.