GTA4 pulled in Thailand

[jakncoke]

A Thai student murdered a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the Grand Theft Auto computer game.

Polwat Chino, 18, who was said to be an obsessive player of the controversial game, stabbed the 54-year-old driver ten times.

'He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game,' chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak said.

Grand Theft Auto, which is made by Edinburgh-based firm Rockstar North, has been criticised for depicting carjackings, drive-by shootings and prostitution. It has also been accused of encouraging juvenile crime in Britain.

Now a Thai video game distributor has halted sales of 'Grand Theft Auto' as backlash against the controversially violent game began.

The 18-year-old high school student, who is now in custody, faces death by lethal injection if found guilty of robbing and killing the 54-year-old taxi driver over the weekend.

Police watch as the suspect, second right, re-enacts the crime in Bangkok yesterday

Copycat killing: Police watch as the suspect, second right, re-enacts the crime in Bangkok yesterday

Police said the youth showed no sign of mental problems during questioning and had confessed to committing the crime because of the game.

The youth, described by his parents as polite and diligent, was arrested late on Saturday after he was found trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the severely wounded driver in the back seat, newspapers reported.

The suspect told police he did not mean to kill the driver, whom he had chosen as a possible victim because of his age, but that he stabbed him to death when he fought back, newspapers reported.

"We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games," Sakchai Chotikachinda, sales and marketing director of New Era Interactive Media, said.
Grand Theft Auto IV: The controversial game has been pulled in Thailand after the attack

Grand Theft Auto IV: The controversial game has been pulled in Thailand after the attack

"We are also urging video game arcades to pull the games from service," Sakchai said.

"Grand Theft Auto", now available in its fourth edition, has been criticised for depicting violence including beatings, carjackings, drive-by shootings, drunk driving and prostitution.

A senior official at Thailand's Culture Ministry said the murder was a wake-up call for authorities to tackle the issue of violent video games, and urged parents to pay closer attention to what their children played.

"This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse," Ladda Thangsupachai, director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Centre, said.

"Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."

The ministry has been pushing for tougher regulation of video games such as Grand Theft Auto, including the imposition of a rating system on sales and restriction on hours that youngsters can play the games in public arcades.

A multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed in the U.S. state of Alabama against the makers and marketers of Grand Theft Auto in 2005, claiming that months of playing the game led a teenager to kill two police officers and a 911 dispatcher.

The blockbuster Grand Theft Auto games are published by Nasdaq-listed Take-Two Interactive Software.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...easy-game.html

I think it's retarded they pull the game from the whole country just because of 1 crazy kid.

[Trunks]

That's what happens, in other places around the world. Their are different rules and such. That would never happen in America.. In fact it couldn't happen.

[LiNuX]

retard....he's 18...he doesn't get the difference between real life and in game? in real life YOU can die...and in game, you can die and come back to life

[Hawk]

Oh My God
What a freaky little kid...
and... ten times.

[rukisuto]

It's people like that that ruin it for everyone else.
What happens if you already bought the game, do they take it from you?

[Iceskater101]

wow its all that kids fault that the game is being taken off the shelves
what the heck was he thinking?!?!

[diablo]

in thailand? and he's getting killed by lethal injection at the age of 18, thats really sad and very stupid of him

[conman1000]

Wow, that kid must of some kind of mental issues.

[jakncoke]

It's people like that that ruin it for everyone else.
What happens if you already bought the game, do they take it from you?

I'm guessing you can keep it seeing it'd be rather hard to track down the copies, although I doubt it sold much in Thailand.

[Trunks]

He probably used the game as an excuse, so he wouldn't get in as much trouble. You would have to be mentally disabled to try the stuff that happens in that game. If he did use the game as a defense, then he has a smart lawyer.