James Lee
12:14 (BST)
04/08/2008
Thailand pulls GTA IV from shelves
New Era Interactive Media, Grand Theft Auto IV 's Thailand distributor, has pulled the game following a murderer's claims to have been inspired by the title.
The distributor issued a call to pull GTA IV from store shelves after a teenager confessed to robbing and murdering a taxi driver, claiming he was recreating a scene from the game.
"We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games... We are also urging videogame arcades to pull the games from service," Sakchai Chotikachinda, sales and marketing director of New Era Interactive Media, told Reuters.
The 18-year-old offender, now in custody, was reportedly an obsessive player of GTA IV before he went out to rob and murder a 54-year-old taxi 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 chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak.
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