German ministers attack "Killerspiele"
Want to ban them by September elections.
A group of German interior ministers plans to ask the Bundestag to ban the production and distribution of so-called "Killerspiele" - or violent videogames.
According to Welt Online (thanks Eurogamer.de), the interior ministers for Germany's 16 federal states believe the games reduce our inhibitions and therefore pose a risk.
The ministers were acting partly in response to the Albertville-Realschule massacre in Winnenden in March, in which a 17-year-old boy went on a shooting spree that claimed 16 lives. The perpetrator, Tim Kretschmer, reportedly played games like Counter-Strike and Far Cry 2.
Welt Online quotes the ministers' draft bill as saying, "the production and distribution of games in which a substantial part of the game consists of realistically portrayed killing or otherwise gruesome acts of violence against human or human-like creatures are to be forbidden" (thanks to Alex from EG.de for the translation). They hope to get it through the Bundestag before Germany's federal election in late September.
Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but Welt Online is clearly sceptical - pointing out that even Germany's reigning coalition government was forced to withdraw attempts to ban paintball in the aftermath of the Winnenden murders due to protests.