MP wants to restrict child access to violent video games

MINISTERS will come under pressure this week to clamp down on violent video games of the type accused of inciting a teenager's murder last week.Tam Dalyell, Labour MP for Linlithgow, said yesterday he would seek to restrict the access of children to the worst of the games in which players carry out violent killings to reach their objective.One of the most graphic games, Manhunt ? from Edinburgh-based software developers Rockstar North ? was blamed last week by the mother of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, for inciting her son's murder by his friend. Warren Leblanc, 17, pled guilty at court in Leicester to battering Stefan with a hammer and stabbing him to death. In the game, players disembowel and decapitate people with machetes or batter them with baseball bats.Mr Dalyell admitted yesterday that devising the right mechanism for restricting access would not be easy.He said: "I am against censorship but some things go to far, and there does seem to be some anecdotal evidence from the courts that they have had terrible effects. Unfortunately the evidence has not been tested in the courts."I am wary about censorship. But I think before these games go on the market we should have someone vetting them, perhaps under the auspices of the Scottish Education Department and the Department for Education."Age limits are ridiculously unrealistic. If a youngster wants one he can get his 18-year-old big sister to go and buy it. If they are on the market, given the purchasing power of young people, it is very unrealistic to say you can't have it."But if you are looking at an outright ban, what exactly is it you are banning, that's the trouble. You have to be clear about it. You can't just ban every game of aggression ? we had war games when I was a boy."Rockstar Games, Manhunt's publisher, is a division of US-based Take-Two Interactive Software. The parent firm gave a statement last week rejecting any link between the game and the Pakeerah murder.