[Chris S]

I did mention that the Mail were on a mission against all things new-fangled, and I guess it's getting further than a few little articles that struggle to make 5 comments.
Montreal gunman liked playing school massacre internet game
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... =1770&ct=5

Never mind the fact that the game was semi-educational and was made to provide an insight into that awful event at Columbine, to condemn the killings, not reenact them and that it had the graphics of a 1990's handheld game. Never mind the fact that he owned guns despite being not of sound mind and suicidal, and that he was a raving lunatic.

5/1 that this makes the front page tomorrow. Please, British public, don't swallow the Mail's bullshit.

I've checked on gamepolitics.com and most main news outlets (CNN and such) concentrated on the 'crazy dude, lots of guns' angle but the Mail has to be different and terrify the middle-classes. At least there's no game to actually ban this time.

[IanC]

Crap. The DM wont put this on the front page surely? its not british or anything...

Oh talking of Gamespolitics (in a way) Jack Thomspon issued one of his "press releases" about this incident. Strangely he posted it on Joystiq, in an entry about the Wii not ahving dvd playback. He said he knew this would happen.....

>sigh<

[Chris S]

I think it might get the little black box usually reserved for good-looking murder victims. 'The Video Game Killer - page 5'.

[IanC]

Heres a link and the quote BTW. Iwonder if the MAil will post any of this, since hes as anti games as they are.
http://joystiq.com/2006/09/14/wii-wont- ... 1#c2105780

15. KISS THE VIOLENT VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY BYE-BYE:

Immediate News Release – 9/14/06



Montreal School Shooter Trained for Massacre on Two Violent Video Games



Dawson College student Kimveer Gill apparently literally trained on his two favorite murder simulation video games to go on his college shooting spree, just as did Klebold and Harris at Columbine High.



The two games, according to Gill’s own web site, are Postal and Super Columbine Massacre.



Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist over a year ago challenged the maker of Postal, Vince Desi at Running with Scissors in Tucson, Arizona, to publicly debate whether or not his company should continue marketing Postal. Thompson predicted that it might lead to a mass killing, as a mass knife assault in Russia had been linked to Postal. Desi refused. Desi is now likely to have his company named in a wrongful death action in Canada: http://www.totalvideogames.com/news/Jac ... 2629_0.htm



Even more remarkably, Thompson last year appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes regarding a wrongful death case that he and his co-counsel filed in Alabama on behalf of the families of three cops slain by a teen who trained on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to kill. The video game training of the Alabama killer became known when he was quoted as saying: “Life is like a video game. You have to die sometime.” Kimveer Gill, the Montreal massacrist, is quoted saying precisely the same thing, while enthusing about his play on violent video games:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s ... hub=Canada



The massacre in Montreal is simply the latest tragedy of mass killing linked to violent virtual reality murder simulators. The worst is yet to come. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is set to release on October 17 the game Bully, which in every sense is a Columbine simulator.



CONTACT Jack Thompson at 305-666-4366.


Posted at 1:09PM on Sep 14th 2006 by jack thompson

Oh and the russia thing was nothing to do with games - the guy who went nuts with a knife was a neo nazi with mental problems. No surprise he did that, and Bully is anything but a Columbine simulator.

[Chris S]

Is that the same way we were supposed to 'Kiss Rockstar goodbye.'? I think I've become immune to Thompson and his bullshit, it just bounces right off me, the way one of Fred Phelps' speeches would.
I'd be perfectly happy if there were no comments on the Mail site at all, it either means nobody cares or that no 'acceptable' views were posted.

[hel]

the Mail won't care about the victims, they're "only" canadians...

[Chris S]

Why are violent computer games allowed? They are not really an acceptable form of "entertainment". They can poison an impressionable mind with tragic consequences and can act as a training course for a potential murderer. They have clear dangers.

- Citizen Steve, Bristol, Great Britain

My reply:

Oh please, people have said this about every media form, a recall a priest at the turn of the century saying that the 'electric theatre' will lead to the downfall of the nation, and a lot of people agreed with him. By the end of this century people will decry the latest type of entertainment and ask 'What is wrong with the video games my generation made do with?'.
Why are violent computer games allowed? You might as well ask why violent films are allowed. The reason is that they are legitimate form of entertainment and speech with no proven dangers

Let's see if this gets posted.

[Killer Whale]

Why are violent computer games allowed? They are not really an acceptable form of "entertainment". They can poison an impressionable mind with tragic consequences and can act as a training course for a potential murderer. They have clear dangers.

- Citizen Steve, Bristol, Great Britain

Too bloody right. When I was growing up in the late 'sixties/early 'seventies we didn't have violent computer games to currupt us. We went out into the fresh air to play, er, wars.

Dakadakadakadakadakadaka! Eat lead Fritz!

[IanC]

Why are violent computer games allowed? They are not really an acceptable form of "entertainment". They can poison an impressionable mind with tragic consequences and can act as a training course for a potential murderer. They have clear dangers.

- Citizen Steve, Bristol, Great Britain

Guess violent movies better be banned too. Oh and books, and TV.

Even the award winning stuff. Yep, ban it all!!

I love how just because he doesnt like games they arent a form of entertainment.

Did he really call him self Citizen Steve?

*goes off to watch Scarface (1980s version of course), read Lord of the Flies and play GTA Vice City*

[summergal]

Why are violent computer games allowed? They are not really an acceptable form of "entertainment". They can poison an impressionable mind with tragic consequences and can act as a training course for a potential murderer. They have clear dangers.

- Citizen Steve, Bristol, Great Britain

Thousands of people play violent games, watch violent TV etc. How many stories do you hear like this one from Montreal? Very few.

Bet The Hate Mail wish that Mary Whitehouse was still alive!

[Chris S]

Even the film critic sticks his cultural boot in while reviewing the very shit Dead or Alive movie. It's rated 15 and it's final score was 1/5 with the summary 'Yet more video game violence'. Oh no, I can't believe they made a film reviewer watch something violent! Or maybe video game violence is just worse than film violence, even when it is in a film. hmm..
Apparently it's aimed at 'deadhead teenagers and adults who have yet to evolve past tournament-fighter video games'.
A man who watches films and writes about them for a living has called me a deadhead (though I am more of a Tekken man). Oh no. My life is devoid of meaning.
Everytime I read this guy's reviews of game based films or films which are a bit like games, I get more and more convinced that a large part of all this is down to pure snobbery.

[IanC]

'Yet more video game violence'.

Pfft. Its not even a game, yet he calls video game violence. I think your right, its somehow worse than normal violence because its based on a game.

Apparently it's aimed at 'deadhead teenagers and adults who have yet to evolve past tournament-fighter video games'.

At least he admits adults play games? Unlike a certain someone

Everytime I read this guy's reviews of game based films or films which are a bit like games, I get more and more convinced that a large part of all this is down to pure snobbery.

It is most probably. What did he think of Slient Hill?

[Chris S]

I don't think he even reviewed it, but he did slate Doom, especially saying that only idiots would enjoy it because of the bad science. I'm a Physics student, do you really think I care about scientific accuracy in Doom?
I actually quite liked Doom, I expected mindless, awesome vilence and I got it.

[Winston O'Hoodie]

The Mail claims that these killings are linked to 'violent video games' - ergo these games should be banned. What about all the murders linked to pontoon, poker, brag, pool, lager, vodka, sex etc etc.....is the Mail demanding that these activities should be banned as well? The nut-jobs who shoot up schools and the like would do it anyway, whether they had been playing Doom or scrabble. In fact, you could argue that violent games act as a release mechanism for potential loonies.....better a video screen than a canteen full of kids.

[IanC]

but he did slate Doom, especially saying that only idiots would enjoy it because of the bad science.

Wow. Its a bloody fil, who cares about the science in it!

I actually quite liked Doom, I expected mindless, awesome vilence and I got it.

I enjoyed it too, tho i was annoyed by some of the fundamental changes from the games.