The sales of the insanely popular video game Grand Theft Auto IV have been halted in Thailand because of a copycat murder:
One of the largest video game distributors in Asia has halted sales of the Grand Theft Auto IV in Thailand after a teenager confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game.
New Era Interactive said it had sent a note to all of its Thai stores telling them to pull the game off the shelves after a 19-year old high-school student confessed to killing a taxi driver with a knife he bought at a local branch of Tesco.
Police in Bangkok said that the youth "had wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game."
Link - Thanks Geekazoid!
I grew up playing Mario, I don't run around busting my head into bricks and jumping on turtles. If I did, I'd clearly have far bigger problems than enjoying a medium that brings in $10 BILLION in sales a year.
Also, I've seen studies that show that violence goes down on nights that violent movies do well in theaters. Many of the people who are likely to commit violent acts would rather watch someone else do it. Ergo, people are lazy and anything that puts them on their asses for a few minutes will probably reduce violence in some small way.