Grand Theft Auto IV's Thailand distributor, New Era Interactive Media, is asking retailers to pull the title after an 18-year-old said he was inspired by the game to rob and murder a 54-year-old cab driver. According to police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak (via
Reuters), the young man wanted to find out if it was as easy to rob a taxi in real life as it was in the game. After the cab driver fought back, the young man stabbed him to death.
Thailand's Culture Ministry plans to use the incident as an opportunity to try and regulate violent video games. As for the 18-year-old, if found guilty, he faces the possibility of lethal injection as punishment for the murder.
[Via
GI.biz]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Aug 4th 2008 11:18AM
How disgusting, a freaking idiot ruining things for everyone else, all the non psychopaths.
Burn in hell you asshole.
Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Aug 4th 2008 11:19AM
And I don't just mean having the game pulled in Thailand. That poor cab-driver, having a family and friends that will mourn him for the rest of their lives, because of the actions of a piece of shit.
J @ Aug 4th 2008 12:01PM
Yea man. We catch enough flak already without dickheads like this trying to take us down with us.
Doing stupid things in the name of video games is one thing, but when you start affecting other people it's time to stop.
J @ Aug 4th 2008 12:02PM
*with him.
mintkung @ Aug 5th 2008 10:14AM
I'm Thai.
I want to says that this guy has told a lies.
He didnt have any console in his house so that GTAIV not the point.It was shame to say that the Thai newspaper called this game "GTA online"!!!!.Fucking idiot.I think he play GTA:SA on comp not GTA IV on console.
In fact this idiot guy has parents problem.
In Thai news said his father kick his mother ass every day so and he doesnt want to be home and he want money but nothing to but rob.
But in the news they didnt focus on that problem but to the game.And something like this in Thailand belove by the newspaper because they can sole the news.
jfrdricks63 @ Aug 4th 2008 11:18AM
He wont last long in prison either way. Scumbag.
kinshadow @ Aug 4th 2008 11:44AM
This is Thailand. I'm sure he'll last as long as they need him to last.
BigD145 @ Aug 4th 2008 1:59PM
Lethal injection. He won't last long.
Phantom @ Aug 4th 2008 11:18AM
The only thing I can say ...
WTF
retard
Paulmichael @ Aug 4th 2008 11:23AM
Lethal injection sounds fine by me. He's more than old enough to know what he did was totally wrong, what a waste of space.
PSN & GAMERTAG: jorojoserojas - Wii FC: 0749-8609-3752-6926 @ Aug 4th 2008 11:30AM
Things like this always make me feel like the world has lost its mind.
My condolences to the friends and family of this cab driver.
The_Punisher @ Aug 4th 2008 11:33AM
Lamest excuse. People always blame videogames to try to get away with something. Let me know how long he lasts in jail.
Questworld @ Aug 5th 2008 3:31AM
Well this is why we should be mindful of what stuff we put out there. Sure most won't go crazy and mimic such idiocies, but then it only takes one person with a gun to take out multiple people. I guess we should count our blessings that there isn't some disgruntled government officials out there with the access to launch a nuke.
chrisyz @ Aug 4th 2008 11:35AM
That's horrible news... Rockstar gets enough criticism as it is, now this.
iFester @ Aug 4th 2008 11:36AM
That poor family having to lose a loved one because some idiot doesn't know the difference between fantasy and reality. It was a matter of time before someone did this.
There goes the Jack Thompson signal.
meist3r @ Aug 4th 2008 11:37AM
Oh so they have a bustling child slave economy that is internationally known and serves thousands of perverts each year but they are concerned when one moron cracks because of a video game that has been sold millions of times and no other case of similar incidents have been reported? Maybe the guy made the money for GTA IV by forcedly selling his butt to white foreigners and thus had some serious issues.
Monkeys Suck @ Aug 4th 2008 11:38AM
I can already hear the cries of the people against video games. Not only did this douche work to destroy any work that shows video games don't cause kids to be violent, but more importantly, he killed a man, who probably had a family. I feel so bad that this happened to such an innocent person, his family, and his friends.
Any way we can call up the prison to make sure he becomes someone's slave, if you know what I mean?
tkAshur @ Aug 4th 2008 11:38AM
It's just sad how hard we try to prove that these things don't affect the majority of us, when something like this happens and takes it all away again. My prayers go out to the cab drivers family.
John Z @ Aug 4th 2008 11:49AM
I think the point really should be that, while violent games don't have that effect on the vast majority of the world, they can have that effect on folks who are very deeply disturbed. In those cases the appropriate response is to get help for the PERSON before something like this happens, rather than banning the game.
I'm more saddened by the loss of life, but I don't think this is going to set any major precedent. People have been screwed up for ten thousand years and I don't see that fact changing anytime soon.
aristokrat @ Aug 4th 2008 2:17PM
Yeah, I agree that blaming games (or any form of media) for the actions of these few is putting the cart before the horse. Twisted people do twisted things, and anything can give them inspiration. You read of people torturing animals when they are little, and that's probably because their parents gave them the idea by telling them not to. Should be ban parenting also? Of course, the world no longer likes to deal with the root of the problem, they much prefer to blame anything else.
FNG @ Aug 4th 2008 11:38AM
They better pull that movie independece day too. If aliens see it, they might think they can invade earth too.
Wilhelm @ Aug 4th 2008 4:09PM
Aliens already can invade Earth though.
FNG @ Aug 4th 2008 11:41AM
Hey asshole. this just in. It is just as easy to do this in real life as it is in the game. But unlike the game, someone really died. And now I hope you die to. It's too bad games will take heat for this. What ever happened to self responsiblity?
Ninjakamster (PS360 FTW!) @ Aug 4th 2008 11:44AM
Its completely flushed down the toilet, we'll always blame something or someone else for our problems.
AwesomeTown @ Aug 4th 2008 11:46AM
He's 18, he knew what he was doing. He deserves the fullest extent of their law. I hope they don't pull some bull about how the game manipulated him as an excuse to escape the death penalty.
Saria the Cat @ Aug 4th 2008 11:50AM
Terrible news for humans as well as the game industry. :( It's also a shame that these cases are so sensationalized, leading the public to think, "See, those darned video games..." when something like this is the major EXCEPTION.
Tom18230 @ Aug 4th 2008 11:57AM
Leave the guy alone! I'm pretty sure he MEANT to hold Y to get into the taxi but just tapped it instead, it's an honest mistake to make!
In all seriousness though...
Joe @ Aug 4th 2008 12:00PM
This makes me sick why would any one want to see if killing some one in real life is harder then in a game. That is is what really makes me sick not the part about thr guy saying the game made him dso it but the part that He wants to see if it is easy or not.
Now are good friend Jack will come along and say see people do kill because of this game. So to me after what the guy said the game did not make him do it but him self.
I have played many games in my life like GTA and NEVER one time did I think let me kill some one and see if they will fight back. Of course some one would. If I had a knife to me knowing I could die I would do what ever I could to make the chance I will survive greater.
So what ever was wrong with this person was before He ever played GTA. I would love to see him get just desserts as in death. But I would like to see him go to jail more. This way He has to spend the rest of his life thinking about what He has done and have all the horors of it. Plus life in jail is not great either.
Tom18230 @ Aug 4th 2008 12:00PM
I think the video game is just an excuse, it was a robbery that went wrong so he tried to make an excuse for himself. I just hope no one is THAT stupid to actually try things they see in a video game, geez.
John Z @ Aug 4th 2008 12:09PM
OK, then, let's take this a step further. Assume that I am a homicidal lunatic (and I'm not... really). I merrily kill my way through x number of real people until I am caught by the police. When prompted for a motive, I gleefully exclaim, "Grand Theft Auto IV!" I have not actually PLAYED GTA4, a fact which comes out in the trial. What recourse do Rockstar/Take Two have against me, given that I knowingly lied to pin a.several murders on their product?
Wiinterfang @ Aug 4th 2008 12:17PM
Just what the hell are this family going to do now??did he think about it, thailand is not a rich country and the father was possibly the main source of income, what if the mother never receive a proper education and can't have a good job and his kids will end up having to work at an early age.
prostitution is legal in thailand so there's a possibility that the mother had to sell her body and that will bring substance abuse, now her kids had an even more grim future to look up, possibly if the have a girl when she is old enough will resort to prostitution too, the little kid will be working on a mine or robbing people to eat and maybe we kill in the act.
While this isn't exactly whats going to happen as I don't foresee the future but in this case, this guy just destroy the lives on an entire family, just because of a Game.
I feel ashamed and outrage.
Ranko @ Aug 4th 2008 12:20PM
Pump him full of Death Juice.
Mindfeeld @ Aug 4th 2008 12:23PM
It's obvious that he's trying to pin this on GTA:IV and that it was never really his motive. Unless I just haven't gotten the super secret knife weapon that does not exist in regular editions of the game. That's really sad that someone would rob and kill another human-being just to see if he could. Get him some serious help and make him work for the rest of his life making money for the family of the man he killed.
Lorben @ Aug 4th 2008 12:32PM
This is why we can't have nice things.
Sesur @ Aug 4th 2008 12:39PM
It's like I always say: it only takes one asshole to fuck things up for the rest of us.
Danny F. @ Aug 4th 2008 12:40PM
Leave it to some demented kid to do something stupid and horrible to ruin it for everyone. Thank god the system is more strict over there then here for murder, he probably be in jail for about 20-30 yrs and walk away then instead of the death penalty.
Why should we have to put our tax money to keep scum like him alive. Hope they choose the chair instead of injection for him.
Good riddance... (considering if they got the caught the right person...)
Aero @ Aug 4th 2008 12:40PM
I don't understand this quote in the Reuters article:
"Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."
Is this implying that the death of a video game shop owner is worse then the death of a cab driver?
Pico Suarez @ Aug 4th 2008 3:25PM
Of course! Because it's closer to us, and we can relate and be more afraid. And if it can happen to Video Game Shop Owners, it can happen to video game buyers. And if it can happen to our moms, it can happen to us.
[/sarcastic retard rant]
Brendon @ Aug 4th 2008 1:08PM
I just glad that OUR media would NEVER falsely imply video games as a motive for murder.
deadjesterx @ Aug 4th 2008 1:11PM
Ah for fuck's sake, don't people believe in personal responsibility anymore?
Regardless of whether GTA4 actually influenced him (in which case it shows that the kid was psychologically unbalanced to begin with, he could have gotten his influence just as easily from religion or a book in that case) or is using GTA4 as some form of scapegoat the idiot should be held personally responsible for his actions. The video game shouldn't play into the equation at all.
What's going to really suck is the mob of politicians and massacre-chasing lawyers who are going to exploit this tragedy as some sort of "proof".
crazypenguin @ Aug 4th 2008 1:13PM
maybe we should have some sort of new rating "not meant for idiots" type of thing. either this guy is really an idiot about "i wanted to try it in real life" or he's a psychopathic freak. i seriously hate people like this.
Shagittarius @ Aug 4th 2008 1:22PM
The way these games turn people into murderers I can't wait till until we reap the reward of all the Guitar Hero players, cause there's about 6 million Jimi Hendrixs out there just waiting to be discovered!
Hey you think if we make a game about curing cancer someone will cure cancer in real life? Why hasn't anyone done this yet? We can solve all the wordls problems by making games about them, if only someone would use the medium in a positive light instead of just for making murder simulators.
Brig Kline @ Aug 4th 2008 1:27PM
Hmm... I don't recall people freaking out like this (which would have been a feat, seeing as I was not even born) about "The Catcher in the Rye" when it ended up being the motivation for John Lennon's murder... or Hinkley Jr's. attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Because it's GAMES that make you evil, books/movies/etc have NEVER done that...
Vcize @ Aug 4th 2008 1:39PM
How many people have killed in the name of religion?
Maybe they should "pull" that too.
killerpickle @ Aug 4th 2008 5:02PM
Ha!
Pull religion...lol.
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 4th 2008 2:49PM
Wait a sec? She was 18 you say? I could understand at age 14 thinking that, but 18? Whats wrong with that girl?
Maverick Saturn @ Aug 4th 2008 2:51PM
Sorry, dunno where I got the idea he was a she, correction.
Danny @ Aug 4th 2008 4:47PM
All of you people saying he should be killed, and then he should burn in hell are creeping me out. How are you not just as bad as him? That is to say if you believe that he's going to get his what's the point in tainting yourself by killing him? Are we not better than this? Do we still think with an eye for an eye? I guess it gives some of you solace to dream about seeking vengeance and murdering as well. Funny thing is, all of you on your high horses probably couldn't finish the job if it was in front of you anyway. And if you do does that not make you a killer? Is one life not as important as another?
I'm not about to get into a theology discussion but I'll just say this, killing a person is wrong always.
J.D @ Aug 4th 2008 6:15PM
Retribution is a bitch.
Madster @ Aug 4th 2008 9:39PM
He will now find out that real life has no respawns.
That's the part that makes it harder.