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Console content can cause crime, claims cop

Blame game played down under

Australian police have pointed the finger at Grand Theft Auto and other games of its kind for an alleged increase in the acceptance of violence in the country.

Barely a month has passed since Australia introduced an 18+ rating certificate for games which will allow titles such as the hotly-contested Mortal Kombat to be sold on Aussie soil. Now the country has reached another modern videogame milestone: blaming violent games for an increase in aggressive behaviour.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione reckons there's "nothing more potentially damaging than the sort of violence [kids are] being exposed to, be it in movies or console games they're playing", the Sydney-based Telegraph reports.

While the top cop accepts the vast majority of gamers are unaffected by their regular dose of virtual crime", the streets of modern Australia apparently allow a "disturbed minority to live out the lifestyle they experience through their consoles.

"You've got some potentially really disturbed young person out there who's got access to weapons like knives or is good with the fist, can go out there and almost live that life now in the streets of modern Australia. That's concerning.

GTA IV

Ah, shoot..

"You get rewarded for killing people, raping women, stealing money from prostitutes, driving cars crashing and killing people," said Scipione - an obvious reference to GTA.

"How can it not affect you if you're a young adolescent growing up in an era where to be violent is almost praiseworthy."

This time last year, Blighty's cops tried to say videogames were partially at fault for the London riots.

But it's good to remember that some gaming experts say violent videogames reduce crime and lower aggression. ®

Monopoly.

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PARENTING

"Kids" should not be getting hold of Adult video games such as GTA. Parents seem to believe that video games belong to the same ball park as scrabble and other old fashioned board games. This is wrong! You wouldn't give an 18 rated film to a child so why would you give an 18+ rated Video game?

Video games are not just for kids. They are now a form of entertainment just like music and films and art. Respect the ratings as you do films.

/rant over

I blame the parents.

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'Twas ever thus

Take a medium that's popular with the young. If there's the slightest violent overtone, then blame it for why the youth of today are the worst lot ever.

See also: Video nasties in the 80s & 90s (Child's Play et al), Comics in the 50s (the Gorbals vampire), tapestries in the 1060s (probably)

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Which games has he been playing?

Points for raping women? Not in any game released in Autralia. I'm pretty sure Battle Raper never got an AUS release.

I think he's been fooled by the US conservative pressure-groups and their barefaced lies. Perhaps he should check his sources next time.

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1
Anonymous Coward

"It's a fair cop, guv, you've got me bang to rights. It was Mortal Kombat made me do it. No, hang on, it was films. Violent films on DVD. Or it might have been TV. That's it - all the shite they show on TV makes me want to smack somebody. Dancing On Ice - I could kill the twats on that."

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