Posted Mar 26, 2007 at 04:38AM by Victor B. Listed in: PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox 360 Tags: SFGate
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GTA - Image 1


The news is saying that someone took their video game fantasies into the real world, and is now paying for it with a hefty prison sentence. While we don't necessarily agree with that connection, SF Gate's article about it does bear some mention. The founder of the Nut Cases street gang was recently sentenced to a minimum of 75 years in prison for killing an acquaintance of his.

Gregory Colbert, 27, was convicted in Alameda County Superior Court in December for the June 7, 2004 killing of 20-year-old Glen Phaso. Deputy District Attorney Michael Nieto said Colbert, already a convicted felon, killed Phaso either because he raped Colbert's good friend the day before the murder, or because Phaso refused to commit a murder that Colbert ordered.


According to the rest of the SF Gate report, the Nut Cases were a gang who were known for getting high while playing Rockstar's supposed "murder simulator" and then resorted to acting out what they played in the game. While the coverage manages to be fair with most of it, we certainly don't agree with how games are portrayed here.

For one thing, there seems to be a history of violence within the family. The report also notes that his half-brother, Demarcus Ralls, was also found guilty of a set of murders of his own. That would seem to indicate more of a predilection towards violence than a love of acting out game violence.

Still, to paraphrase the old adage, there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies.


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32 Comments


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   by Futurama_Freak1 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-27
 » Ahhh!

Just yesterday i was playing mario,
then i had a sudden urge to run around outside looking for gold coins jump on turtles slide down green pipes and smash bricks with my head

   by p0stal_sean (Unregistered) - 2007-03-28
 » o rly

i can say from personal experience that pot heads are lazy and gamers are evin lazyier so what make u think that that has anythign 2 do with it. shoot a person has a better chance of killing someone from hearing about all the killing on the news or listening to rap music then playing a video game. maybe they should change from 18+ to not intended for dumm audiences. shoot i know 10 year old that have somehow convinced there parants to buy them gta and still know the difference from reality and fiction. blame all bad news on things u dont like thats the media way bash bash bash and if that dont work then bash some more. i dont think this guy who obviusly is dum for being in a gang anyways can blame any of his actions on videogames no idfferent than the insanity plea not saying it dont apply to some but other than that its an scapegoat (thats how u spell it) quit blaming bad choices on other elements and take responcability maybe this guy will learn this by the end of his sentance



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