Postal 2 blamed for arsons

THIS JUST IN: A woman was seen trying to climb down, And swing rope to rope by the himalayas earlier today. She says an evil conspiracy was behind an artifact lying deep into the himalaya mountains, And she even sighted dinosaurs near the spot. She was seen with very shorts shorts, Extremely large breasts in a tight tanktop, And went by the name lara. Apparently she htought the video game tomb raider was based on a true story and went over to uncover the truth the developers had secretly hidden in this video game. More info on the DumbSh*Ts Who believe videogames are to blame at 11.

HAHAHAHAHA Viedo games make me kill people.

Postal didn't make them do it they did it because they wanted to becasue these are three grown men so there is no excuse ive been saying this for years we can't keep blaming video games for people's actions everyone must be held accountable for theie own actions

I lawl'd. :lol:

mitu123 said: "This is getting old, if I hear another one of these stories, I'm going to lose it." And they'd probably blame that on video games too. :-)

Retardedness found inside NC's police department. More details at 9.

This is getting old, if I hear another one of these stories, I'm going to lose it.

Me too, but wtf? I played violent video games so i kill people?

"I miss read the title. I thought it said Portal 2 and I was like "Yeah! There's already a new Portal coming out!" Then I saw this and I was like "There's a game called Postal? There's two?"" -Shifty7 Dude, same! Except for not knowing what Postal is.

I miss read the title. I thought it said Portal 2 and I was like "Yeah! There's already a new Portal coming out!" Then I saw this and I was like "There's a game called Postal? There's two?"

Just remember...personal responisibility doesn't exist because teh videogame made me do it! It has nothing to do with some pre-existing tendency toward violence and destruction. Nope. Those kids were angels until teh evil Postal 2 warped those young men into evil arsonists. It is always the game's fault, never any other factors ever...

whats postal 2, a game. i thought they ment mail.

wait, so one of them was charged with arson BEFORE this happened? Then the other two most likely did it because they were influenced by the guy who had been previously charged. I doubt he went to jail the first time after playing postal 2.

I continually wonder when I will stop losing faith in such a large chunk of the human race. Blamed on Postal 2... you gotta be kiddin' me. Personally I find it slightly amusing that some people actually beleive that Postal 2 caused a string of arsons. I can tell you exactly why, 'cause these "kids" didn't have the moral decency in them to NOT burn someones car, to NOT burn a vacant house down. Violence will always be everywhere, in movies, in books, in music, in games, in reality, and in anything else that comes along. It appeals to us on a primal level and that will never ever change. The only thing that keeps people from going all renegade rambo and shooting things up or setting buildings on fire are the morals and standards of common decency that we set in society. This being said I am a true fan of violent games, I buy every single GTA that comes out and I love nothing more than pumping some guy full of ammo in a video game. However I want you to look at the last 4 words of that sentance (In a video game) . Simple as that.

Why would ANYONE be inspired by this to commit arson? OR, for that matter how could it inspire anyone to do anything other than throw it in the garbage? The game was a clunky and random stream of tasks, filled in with a bunch of poor-man's butt jokes; certainly some of the most disjointed play yet to be seen in the anti-hero genre. But I guess in some areas of North Carolina a criminal investigator's intelligence is about as deep as his gene-pool. Ok, I'll digress a little....Using this line of thinking perhaps everyone will grow up to reflect the characters they play in the various games they love game. That will make me a Jedi, dressed in an HEV suit, who enjoys lining up gems then smashing them, while jumping out of helicopters to assault various ultra-nationalist Russian or Nazi factions.. I will also be a fabulous football, rugby, or soccer player, and my hobby will be saving princesses while dressed in a plumber's outfit (a Jedi has to have some down-time too; otherwise they end up getting too fussy about little things like that Anakin/Vader guy) . These folks probably did this stuff because they are messed up wackos with no sense of obligation to adhere to the rules of society. They probably blame everyone else for their problems, and will never just buck-up and admit to themselves that they have never taken personal responsibility for anything. Cheers, RQ

It isn't the video games, it the kids' mind set. I don't play GTA and then get the urge to go do some henious crime (Ill let your imagination fill in the rest). Bad parenting, poor guidance, and the callous and stupid attitude of taking the path of least resistance. Blame the game, just blame it. That is what everyone thinks they can do, and do they do it well. It isn't the games making these kids' do these things. If that were the case, I would be shooting aliens in powered armour long ago because of Halo,; but alas, that isn't happening. Extreme example but it fits perfectly. Something was messed up in the mind to begin with, otherwise the kids wouldn't be drawn to, and still be playing this game. Pysc. tests? Behavioural displays? Interaction with others? Mood swings? Mindset? Did these goddamn investogators, and the goddamn media, take these factors into account before they made this? I bet my left kidney they didn't. They want a scapegoat, they need a scapegoat; all because these idiotic parents and the society around them don't want to admit their faults. They NEED SOMETHING to push this onto, something that won't fight back. Games happen to be the most prefect scapegoat. The story is bullcrap and the media really needs to take a long look at what the hell it is doing. These stations only hurt their credibiity with the smarter people, the people who know exactly why these kids did what they did. For gods sake you can bend the truth a little but what they are doing is as good as betraying the public and making you out as fools. Finally, to Gamespot. We don't give a **** when this kind of stuff happens. Sad and tragic yes, but we no longer care when something like this happens. It has been happening for far too long and we just don't care anymore. So for your own sake, stop posting this crap. Your only hurting yourselves. You want to keep us informed, fine. Link off to the site that is publishing this, or even better don't say a damn thing at all. You wanna fuel the fire go ahead, but your just hurting your credibility in the long run.

lol lol lol

I would rant right now, but I can't with this kind of parental ignorance.

hahahaha. i must admit i have an unhealthy relationship with this game. I used to come home from school and shoot the crap out of the town in this game in the most horrible ways. amazingly fun game. silly police.

Why am I not surprised that the families of these criminals are blaming yet another videogame instead of re-evaluating their bad parenting skills. Just because someone does something violent or destructive doesn't mean a freakin videogame caused this behaviour. How many times do us standard gamers have to scream at the top of our lungs that videogames, television, movies, books, and w/e else society uses as a scapegoat is not the reason for humans being pricks and committing crimes......these things are caused by people that just have a serious mental instability directed towards not conforming by societies rules.....the people are the criminals not the random toys people blame this **** on.

When will criminals learn that video games are not scapegoats?

Postal is just plain distasteful and an embarrassment to the video gaming industry.

Wow, i can see that people will be blaming games, books, movies and everything else for their acts.Imagine if someone would buy Hitman then play it non-stop then go around the country sniping random people beacuse its just like in the game but a bit more real? I dont give a **** for what people say about the games i play tons of violent games and im actually really calm and peaceful. Just put those "kids" in a dark cell away from the outer world so they will have time enough to think about what the game "told" them to do.

I am an avid gamer, however I say this as a student of psychology. Claims like this are looking at the matter the wrong way. Rather than "The game caused the person to want to burn things", it should be approached as: "The personality of the person is such that they would enjoy doing such things anyway, and thus they would also be drawn to playing games that depict similar activities." It is a logical fallacy however, to claim that the game was the cause of the behaviour because one person who played it engaged in criminal activities. With that same reasoning we could say that all people who eat at McDonalds are fat, but that's simply not true.

I can't wait until the day that people stop blaming video games for their own stupidity. The real reason: the kids wanted to vandalize property and screw the people over, because they just wanted to, and possibly get on TV. Not Postal 2's fault, even if it is a pretty gruesome and disgusting game... but if I were them, I would blame a more "out there" mainstream game. Like Manhunt 2! But I would never do that because I know I could be stealing and burning from Bill Gates (who apparently has hella money)

Watching Office Space caused me to get a job in an office. Thank heavens I watched television shows that showed men married to women, otherwise I would be gay Cheech and Chong saw to it that my friends and I did drugs in college. If it were not for the influences on my life, I would not know how to make a decision for myself. I am sure that my decisions and pre-dispositions have nothing to do with my taste in entertainment.

lol i love postel 2..HAHA...wow how come video games are bieng blamed not the messed up in the heads teens ?????????

Oh my GOD!!! Someone actually played Postal 2?!?!? Shocking news indeed.

we have to agree with playa42018. gamespot reporting these stories just lends creditability to these baseless accusations that video games "cause" violence. do we have to read about *every* act of vandalism vaguely reminiscent of a video game? or read about *every* incident where the defense falls back on "video games made me do it"? christ, just imagine if they printed every time someone broke the law and blamed it on listening to god.

Yeah, we all know its the game's fault for lousing parenting and just plain ignorance and unlawfulness. C'mon man, be real. What did the game do? The game designer made the game to be played, not as some tool to get illegal ideas from. If I legally sold you a gun specifically designed for killing animals, am I responsible for what you do with it from that point on? No. End of story. Step up your game parents.

Haha, Postal 2 is great. Absolutely no way those kids can realisticly blame their crimes on that game though.

buuulll **** So your telling me 3 19 year olds burned down houses cuz they saw it on a game and thought it might be cool? bull****. Obviously those guys are ****ed up in the head in the first place, don't try to pin it on a game.

Dude who still plays Postal 2?

Gamespot and all other gaming news sites should stop reporting these articles because all they do is fuel the fire.

this just in: people are f***ing retards. its obviously just a ploy by Jack Thompson. think about it: postal 2...who plays that game? even harder to believe, who actully liked that game enough to do something from it? easy: no one...except maybe ol' jacky

"ElPuerco People in our society today refuse to take accountability for their own actions. We always need an excuse, because without one it may really be -- gasp! -- our fault!" couldn't of put it better myself.

[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

Is it so hard to come up with the idea of burning things that they needed a game to tell them to? All signs point to no.

Wow, yet another case of blaming a game for someone's doing. They need to realize, games are games. They're not real.

Yes of course, cause people don't just break into cars and steal stuff because they want to sell the stolen property for money..... And commit arson cause they're -crazy- or anything

People in our society today refuse to take accountability for their own actions. We always need an excuse, because without one it may really be -- gasp! -- our fault!

i sometimes wish Gamespot didn't make articles about this...

Games, movies, books, and other medias are easy targets to blaim instead of bad parenting, poor government, and callous attitudes. It's easier to blame an inanimate object instead of looking at yourself and realize you are to blame for everything you've done, and say "Hey, it's my fault I did this and I accept the responsibilty". They may have got caught now, but Lord knows what these 19 year olds have done prior to this.

This just in...kids were charged with arson....some other kids thought it might be cool, so they did it too! So lets outlaw the news! "[The man behind the Montreal shooting rampage] liked to play Postal." And the Christian who lives down the street who goes to church every Sunday beats his wife. Try making a valid point for once! And if they were 19, it means they are adults and not "kids." So that supposedly means they know the difference between right and wrong and are legally old enough to play Postal. I'm in the mood to blow crap up in Postal 2 now with the full understanding that its just a game.

that's so stupid, the video game didn't force the peson to set cars on fire

1. Police said that teens broke into the cars and stole valuables 2. One of the teens had previously been charged with arson this is **** that these **** kids blame the game to try and get off easier. I think they should be more penalized for just blaming the game. Blame the kids themselves!

I'm really waiting for the moment when this whole "let's accuse video games because we can" trend takes a turn for the really bizarre. Soon, in a few years, we'll probably read articles about people saying that Animal Crossing promotes being raised by wild animals, Persona 3 inspires rounds of Russian Roulette, Trauma Center makes people think they can be black market surgeons, and The Sims condones manipulating people to the point of being nearly cult-like. The whole idea of blaming a certain media isn't new, but I wait with morbid curiosity for the time when the accusations start to get really "creative" and not just point to the supposedly blatant bad influences.

Sure, kids never stole anything or set stuff on fire until Postal 2 was released, so it must be the games fault. *rolls eyes*

I don't think you can blame a game for that sort of mess.