Halo 3 Criticized In Murder Conviction

oldwindways writes "An Ohio teen was found guilty of murdering his mother and shooting his father in the head after they took away his copy of Halo 3. One has to wonder if this is going to have any effect on the games industry. Clearly, the AP thought they could stir up something controversial by asking the IP owner for a statement: 'Microsoft, which owns the intellectual property for the game, declined to comment beyond a statement saying: "We are aware of the situation and it is a tragic case."' I suppose the good news is they did not accept his insanity plea, so no one can claim that Halo 3 drove him insane. Even so, I don't think anything good can come out of this for gamers." Unfortunately, it seems somebody can claim that the game was a contributing factor; the judge who presided over this case said he believes that the 17-year-old defendant "had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever." GamePolitics has further details from the judge's statement. It doesn't help that the boy's lawyers used video game addiction as a defense.

Comments

No on actually reads that thing

[elrous0]

I often wonder how many people who hold up the Bible as this great moral document to guide our modern times have ever *really* read the thing. I don't mean read as in "listen to my local minister/priest/rabbi talk about some cherry-picked passage and then read that passage," I mean really READ the entirety of the texts that make it up (and not just some Talmudic interpretation or minister's inspirational book of happy Jesus sayings). I have to wonder what a modern Christian would think when they read about their great loving God sending his angel of death to kill every innocent first-born child of Egypt just because some Pharaoh was a dickhead; or about God's chosen one, Moses, fucking his daughters; or about the rampant polygamy among God's chosen leaders (one man/one woman my ass!); or about the slaughter of entire tribes (men, women, and children) not only endorsed by, but actually ordered by, their "loving and compassionate" father-figure in heaven.

Either God went through a pretty radical transformation at some point, or the God they're worshiping bears a much stronger resemblance to the modern conception of Satan than some loving, monogamy-supporting hippie.

Re:No on actually reads that thing

[Darby]

I have to wonder what a modern Christian would think when they read about their great loving God sending his angel of death to kill every innocent first-born child of Egypt just because some Pharaoh was a dickhead;

It's even worse than that. Pharaoh wanted to relent, but god hardened his heart and forced him to keep being a dick, just so god could murder all the innocent children.

Completely throws away free will, and the idea that god is anything but an evil asshole. That's why sane and decent people are very nervous around any human sick and diseased enough to worship such pure unadulterated evil.