I think the part of this article that is most telling but least explored is the part about the boys parents...

He wanted money to play the game to escape from his parents arguing and having no money.

They should ban parents immediatly and take them off all supermarket shelves

Stuart Thomson, Stirling, The Democratic Republic of Scotland

The media is full of death, destruction,, murder, and rape, most of all the soaps, you know, light entertainment. It can be found documentary style, fantasy style, and if you wish to use the net, well. So..... let's blame a video game. I would rather my kids played on GTA than turned on the TV.

mark, maidstone , kent

This headline is all wrong! You can go through the whole game without killing any taxi drivers. The game encourages you to pay taxi drivers to drive you to your destination so you don't have to. This game is all about choices. The game did not make this man, he made himself what he is.

Mike, Hong Kong, China

Windsor!? Anyway, I'm Autistic and I have ADHD and I've NEVER had thoughts about doing ANYTHING that the games portray! Its just as bad as saying movies glorify Ciggrettes! I tried ciggrettes when I was 12!? ITs more of an influance from the parents
I understand that some 'kids' or 'adults' (Again)

Daniel, Nottingham, England

Stan, Portland, OR, USA... what a ridiculous thing to say. Implicate the whole of Scotland because a game was produced there?! You're having a laugh surely?!

Xavier, Berlin, Germany

1. This is a 19 year old MAN not a child.
2. Games/Films/Music OR interactive media cannot be blamed for violent outbursts any more than ignorance can be justified as a valid opinion.

Scapegoating is a pathetic excuse for lack of action/understanding for the real cause of violence/social problems.

Daniel C, Windsor, UK

As a parent I agree with Craig. I will not let my eight year old son own or play the game even though he really really wants too! Yet his friend (the same age) is allowed, so I had to forbide him from going over there. Not a popular decision to say the least but what else is a parent to do?

James, Warsaw, United States

Surely this has more to do with being addicted to gaming than the affects of one game. The fact that he killed for money to continue playing and spent all his time gaming is surely important.

Rob, Singapore,

Why has no one implicated Scotland as being a violent country which breeds this sort of entertainment, as they undoubtedly would if the game had been produced in the US?

Stan, Portland, OR, USA

games are passed through a rating system just like films, if a game gets into the hands of those who it is not intended for it is not the fault of the developer or the industry it is the fault of the parents who do not monitor what their children are purchasing or playing

Craig, Stirling,

This is just the latest of new media that is blamed for violence in youth. People who kill cab drivers are more likely to play video games, read comic books, watch TV, listen to metal, rock, jazz, or big band music (in ages past).
Smarten up people. Economics and society cause crime, not games.

Thomas, Lubbock, Texas, United States

I work in the video game industry and used to be one of the people who said that "it's not the games fault that stuff like this happens", until I realized the power that any form of media has over us all today. Everyone who worked on this game has dirty hands, like a crack dealer dealing crack.

John Brooks, Victoria, Canada

It's hardly surprising is it? These games are very enjoyable to play - I enjoy them myself, but there's absolutely no doubt that they engender a fascination with violence. The fact that first-player role play is always going to do that is indisputable.

Alastair, Alicante, Spain

Another newsflash: there were murders before video games! Your chances of getting murdered were vastly higher back in the 16th century. Presumably something to do with a violent broadsheet known only as Grand Theft Oxcart.

Random killers were going to do it anyway: the trigger is irrelevant.

Chris, London,

Its sure convenient that just when the "culture ministry" ( and isn't that a charming idea) is looking to ban GTA some criminal comes forth and blames his heinous crime on it. Seriously the reason someone decides to knife someone 10 times for pocket change is irrelevant, the actor it is responsible

Tom Henderson, Andover, US

YOu cannot blame someones actions on a videogame. this is not the fault of the game, but of the parents not teaching their kids that it's only a game and that you cannot function in a society where people act like this. He should serve time for his actions, that is all...

Dave, Akron Ohio, USA

I predicted this would happen, on national media, and now it has.

Jack Thompson, Attorney, Miami, FL USA

Jack Thompson, Attorney, Miami, Florida, usa

In other news someone was speeding and crashed their car. Lets ban racing games. Lets ban anything any killer says influenced them. GTA has sold millions of copies. One person has gone nuts. In statistics this would be ignored as an anomaly. A little common sense is required here folks.

Matt, Didcot,

Naysayers who insist that computer games are 'neutral' in the effect they have on people's behaviour should remember that unlike other forms of entertainment they are 'interactive' , can be highly addictive and designed to make the player an integral and participating entity in alternative reality.

David Cooper, Stockton-on-Tees, United Kingdom

Is a 19 year old a vulnerable human being, George?

Myself and all my mates played this game when it first came out when I was about 12 or so and none of us have tried to replicate any of it because 99% of people can seperate reality from fantasy. Those who can't are a timebomb anyway.

Andrew, Swansea,

Perhaps someone could invent a game where you have to get your character up, sit him at a desk for 8 hours before driving him home (in his own car) in rush hour in time for a quiet evening in.

Entertainment isn't expected to reflect reality otherwise it wouldnt really be entertaining, would it?

Andrew, Swansea,

To Kingkerouac

People need knives for cooking.

People don't need to pretend to be murderers.

Get a grip on reality before you start talking about 'insanity'.

Emma Norman, Nottingham, UK

"Today it is a cab driver but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."

For that would be far worse?

Gill Mcportney, Hacklesbury, North Hampton, France

What about banning the knives he bought.
Oh, and Tesco.
Oh and what was the make of the car?
Of course they'll have to arrest his parents.
And what about his friends, classmates and relatives.
The teachers at his school.
Please, The Times, ignore this insanity.

Kingkerouac, London,

Miserable sod, why is he still getting pocket money at 19? And living like a child, playing video games all day? Pathetic , loathsome brat. Didn't know there was Tesco in Thailand!

Amy Allen, London,

Does anyone in their right mind think that these games, especially this one is good for kids. My child complains all the time but I tell him it is wrong and he cant play these games, anywhere, I do not buy them for him, simple. Children are vulnerable beings and we are teaching them violence????

George, London, UK

Well, I guess they should ban all forms of entertainment Pychopaths might try to re-create a scene from Pulp fiction next. Books should go as well, who knows what filithy dangerous idea's we can get from them. Ban everything, then finally we might see that the nutters are still there and still nuts.

Richard, Manchester,