The surrounding Eidos' soon-to-be-released driving-shooting game 25 to Life continues to rumble stateside, in the wake of Senator Charles Schumer's criticism of the game's depiction of against police. Like forbearer Grand Theft Auto, the title pits players directly against the police (or the police against the gangsters), and critics like New York Senator Schumer have called for from platform holders and Microsoft. for there part recently defended the rights of publisher to sell the game, pointing to the first-amendment's role in protecting creative expression; freedom of speech. Now chat show Nancy Grace has waded into the debate, showing violent footage on air, and featuring a discussion between perennial game-basher Jack Thompson and attorney's Dino Lombardi and Debra Opri. Thompson called games like 25 to Life and "murder simulators", citing a survey from Indiana University linking games with copycat violence.

The attorney's contented the study, mooting a lack of similar actions against equally violent films, and citing the first-amendment. Interestingly, the role of parents in protecting children from unsuitable content was only touched upon briefly, despite their obvious significance to the debate. Of course, the adage 'people kill people, not games' ran throughout the argument too. Eidos would not involve themselves in the debate, presumably happy to just sit back and soak up the hype. Thompson is involved in on-going legal battles about the impact of games like GTA on society. 25 to Life is out the and in October. More soon.

By Luke Guttridge