17 year old boy kills mother and wounds father over Halo 3. Is the game to blame?

I'd have to say it is the parents' fault. Video games and the people who create them are not responsible for the players' actions - the person playing them and, quite possibly, the people around them are. I started playing some pretty violent video games at a very early age, and look how I turned out - perfectly OK. That's because my parents handled my game playing very well and taught me that the things in the game may be an all right part of that virtual world but has very serious consequences in real life. That and they allowed me to play as long as I wanted as long as I was reasonable and got the things I needed to do done.

Obviously, the parents handled the son's gaming very badly. If they felt the need to put the damper on his playing, they probably should have been more reasonable and limited the time of play maybe to 10 hours or a little less (but not too much less). Then the kid probably wouldn't have had the bad reaction he did.

The game isn't to blame. I am a gamer myself and I play around 8-12 hours a day. I attend college and high school, at the same time, and I still make outstanding grades! I have a big social life! Some children need to be parented in a way so that an addiction doesn't start, and obviously, this child wasn't parented that way. So no, the game shouldn't EVER be blamed.

There are plenty of people who play games and yet have never done anything like this, normal people with normal lives. Obviously this kid has issues. He could have been addicted to...I don't know, anything else, his music, his iPod...

By the way, spelling "losers" correctly is a good way to go.

I wouldn't say that gamers are losers, but this kid definitely had some problems.

Sounds like they had it coming. They raised the little bastard, after all.

I am a gamer and I have excellent social skills. This kid needs a girlfriend and friends

Indeed. The kid has probably never kissed a real girl. Lara Croft dosen't count.

Nor princess Peach

Just because a gamer hasn't kissed anybody, doesn't mean he has no social life. This kid obviously needed parenting, not necessarily a girlfriend. Friends? I do agree with; just maybe someone for him to talk to.