Thai Distributor Halts GTA IV Sales After Murder

If this was in the U.S., you can bet Jack Thompson would be all over it.  Since it's Thailand, not exactly a media-friendly country, we may never hear about it again, except perhaps in shareholder reports.

Police claim that the youth showed no sign of mental instability while he was being questioned. He told police that he hadn't intended to kill the 54 year old driver. "He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game," said the police chief.

A government official with Thailand's Cultural Surveillance Center told Reuters: "This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse... Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."

If an 18-year-old --that's an adult, not a child -- can't understand that robbing a taxi driver isn't the best idea, it's not because a particular video game has warped his mind.

Depending on which report you read, the teen was either 18 or 19, and his name either Polwat Chinno --- or Chino. Additionally, further reports indicate he didn't even own the game, though he did play it at a game center.  And besides wanting to find out if robbing a taxi was "easy," he apparently wanted the cash to fund more gameplay at the center.

While only one distributor has halted sales, New Era Interactive Media, it's apparently the biggest distributor in Thailand.  Readers, what do you think about this?  Overreaction?