Grand Theft Wisconsin

You gotta remember that there is a lot of swamp gas around there. This explains the spree as well as why Wisonsinites like the Packers and eat so much cheese.

kenosha......pfffttt...... bastard city of the state :)

psst.. i live in wisconsin ;)

thats just stupid......dont kids understand that its just a game!!!

Well sure it could have inspired him. But you have to me fucking wrong in the head in the first place to actually do something like that, be it inspired by imagination or some film or a video game.

" At this early stage it could be the officers asking "what made you do this? was it videogames? that damned Grand Theft Auto?" and the kid says "um.. yeah sure""

Or it could be that *gasp* they actually DID get the idea from the game. As much as we defend video games, did anyone ever stop and think that there really ARE morons out there who are influenced by them?

IT TOLD ME HOW TO STEAL CARS TOO! ALL I DID WAS OPEN THE DOOR AND YANK THE PASSENGER OUT WITH ONE HAND. IT WAS ALL TOO EASY. THANK YOU, GTA3!

I hate to say it but I have been infulensied by Grand Theift Auto once, I had been playing for a couple hours straight, and I had to go out for some milk. I drove straight through a red light, I saw it but I just went straight though, I didn't even check cross trafic. As soon as I was though I realized what had happened and I was scared shitless about how close I could have been to dieing.

The 'moral' was that I had gotten so used to GTA where anything goes and what happens to you doesn't really matter, that I followed it up in real life. But that was one thing, and it changed me dramaticly after it happened. The kid in the story kept it up for a week, sometime durring that week he must have realized that he would have been caught or at least had the sense to stop unless he wasn't right in the head.

Pac-Man made me do pills. :(

People blame video games because there's no one to defend video games or lobby on their behalf. The music industry has the RIAA, the movie industry has the MPAA, gun owners have the NRA, but no one is there to represent game developers and publishers. This is why video games get attacked and never Hollywood or the media (the media doing the reporting isn't going to blame themselves for anything).

Could this have somthing to do with how boring wisconsin is? nahhhhh...

I weep for my state.

The cop in the article was kind enough to point out that the people involved are going to get a harsh dose of fantasy vs. reality dumped on them. It's always your idea until you get caught. Then it's always someone elses's fault. They tried to pin stupidity on Comic Books, Dungeons & Dragons, television and movies. Unfortunately, people being just plain stupid isn't as colorful as "it was blankety-blank's fault".

I wish someone would commit a shitload of heinous crimes and say, "I did it so I could be on the TV News. I saw how famous Kleibold and Harris are, the Unabomber, that kid in Kentucky, all of them... I wan't to be famous just like them. Am I going to be on TV? Put me on the news!!!"

Cool. I'm going to fly to Wisconsin tonight, break into the the prison, kill that kid with my bare hands, and call myself a video game zealot and tell them my crime was a direct result of the incessant media coverage. It worked my little zealous gamer heart into a frenzy and made me lash out at thie fucking jackass.

Somehow, I don't think I'd get the pass this fucker is about to receive.

-Rev.

but... the focus of grand theft auto isn't even stealing cars anymore... fucking media.

And the knowledge & tools to steal cars came from......?

Peope didn't steal cars before Grand Theft Auto came out, this is a recent fad.

Also, people never killed each other before Quake came out.

These are true media panic facts.

How come when someone gets "outted," they don't claim "this never would have happened if I hadn't seen that 'will & grace' show?"

There's absolutely no difference between that and someone going on a crime spree. A person who is caught in a homosexual act was doing it because they are gay, and a person who is busted for a crime spree did it because he is a criminal.

The real problem here is that people are dumb.

Unless I'm mistaken, cops aren't allowed to ask that type of question, necessarily. It should be left open-ended, with only "What made you do this?" Of course the damn kid is gonna just say "um, yeah" to whatever they plant at the end of that question otherwise.

Death to that kid.

The kid saw an opportunity, and as a typical thrillseeker type, he took his chance and decided that he could probably get out of it by blaming the game. The end.

I'd like think the gaming industry would have determined by now that they need something to denfend themselves rather than just ignoring the media when they pull this retardation.

It's sad they don't, even your little ship in Space Invaders had those 3 shields. >.<

Hmmm.

Let's throw his ass in prison,and let the lifers goatsexor him.

They can blame it on watching OZ.

all it takes is one person to ruin things for everyone else. bullshit! :(

I wonder if the testimony was coerced.

Oh my god! I'm wearing acid wash jeans and I had my hair permed because I was playing GTA: Vice City! Pretty soon we'll all be wearing alligator shirts because of this evil game...

Anyone else so sick of this shit that you aren't even reading articles about it anymore? I am.

*sigh*

I blame the gradual moral decay of the world; and yes, games do play a part... but only a minor one.

Anyone seen Bowling for Columbine?

It in my mind is definitive proof that None of the SH*T that gets blamed for stuff like this is actually responsible.

I.E. games, movies, TV, music

But I guess we all knew that already.

This kid is 19. He's not impressionable, he's just intelligent. Blaming GTA3 was part of his plan from the beginning.

This kid recognized that if he goes on a crime spree and blames a videogame, he can get away with it. The media will paint him as a victim, and paint a bunch of software engineers as the real perpetrators.

Pac man made me run around dark rooms with loud repetitive electronic music eating magic pills.

I think this might be getting blown a little out of proportion

So it is happening again. Not that I'm surprised. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Though the thing that what I found astonishing at first was the scope the crime being related to the video game. Over a hundred cars? I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised though. Its not as serious as, say, Columbine's supposed link to Doom.

It also serves as a good reminder as to what standard mass media is all about; sensationalism and catering to the lowest common denominator. The best way to catch the ear of consumers is dramatic headlines a long the lines of "Teens influence to do X by videogames." After all, they are businesses and they need to turn a profit. CNN in particular is bad for this.

Quick packets of information released in soundbites like this are easy to digest by the public, as opposed to taking a rational, even-handed approach to the issue.
After all, these games, such as Vice City have ratings. Does this get mentioned in the media at all? The video game industry chose to self regulate in order to try and avoid situations like this in response to public pressure. And it happened was instituted a decade ago. Not that it really matters in this specific case, as the accused are no longer minors.

But the great big boogie man of videogames corrupting the youth of America sells a lot advertisements for AOL/Timewarner, and I guess thats what counts for them.
The link between videogames and the supposed corruption of the youth of today is a tenuous one at best. However, it doesn't take too much effort on the part the media to explore, and it doesn't take too much effort on the part of the consumer to internalize. If, and it is a big if, a company were to spend the time, effort, and most importantly, money, to properly investigate even this one case in depth, do you think the majority of people would even bother reading their findings? Furthermore, in doing a proper investigation of the background and causal factors of this crime, and most other youth crime of large magnitude (like this case, as well as Columbine), would force a long hard look at the problems that exist in society. Do you think the powers that be would really feel comfortable looking at problems of privation. Nah, it would just impede their gaining a quick buck.

In short, CNN claiming that video games inspire youth to violence is nothing new. Its made them money before, and its going to keep making them money until something new crops up.

RANT OFF

Clearly the game should be taken off the shelves and the kids let go.

i wish we had something similar to the movie minority report where we could see something happening before it happened, then all ninja style zoom down to the area where it was taking place and stop it from happening...

---kids stealing cars, driving them and trashing them
---cops get wind of deal, start following kids, eventually catch them
---kids sit in interrogation rooms, with cops asking questions.

now before the question "did video games make you do this" or "does this have anything to do with grand theft auto 3" we would fly down zip lines into the interrogation rooms, knock out the cops, slap a halo on the kid's head, and bring the kid away before the cops even knew what happened.

thus eliminating this kind of shit.
man movies are sweet.

I don't see this as a downward spiral at all. Video games won't be effected by this.

well if the game influenced them that much (and while it may have, the other millions of people who played the game and DIDNT go on crime sprees should mean that the game should stay safely on the shelves, except when the Knee Jerking Adults Against Using Logic turn up to try and ban the game), then maybe they should have extended their sphere of influence to notice that once they stole enough cars and ran over enough people, the cops and the army rocked up and showed them the way to federal ass-pounding prison ... oh but wait, movies/games are real life, are they? they are only movies/games ... WAIT A MO-MENT!!!

This is a legitimate question: How interested do you think the game buying public would be in a game that let you "vent your frustrations" on the media? I know I'd love a game where I could choke the jabronie of the hour reporting the news on CNN. There's money to be made off a game like that.

Oh yeah, am I the only one that noticed that the GTA games aren't really all that much about stealing cars? it's just one of a myriad of activities within the game. Rockstar would probably save themselves quite the headache by renaming the series. I suppose it depends on how much reduced backlash is worth to them versus trying to rebrand GTA. They probably covet the negative pub, since it's still free advertising.

"At this early stage it could be the officers asking "what made you do this? was it videogames?"

Trying to answer speculation with more speculation isn't going to do anything. Is it stupid? Yes. No one cares about this video game causing crimes anymore.

Speaking of GTA, how come in this game people are always driving on the wrong side of double yellow lines? How come double yellows in GTA are treated as broken white lines by all the drivers? I dont get it

"At this early stage it could be the officers asking "what made you do this? was it videogames? that damned Grand Theft Auto?" and the kid says "um.. yeah sure""

I'd put ALOT of money on that being the case.