Do you think video games encourage real violence?

 

The long-running debate about violence in video games was rekindled over the weekend with reports that an 8-year-old boy who police say shot and killed his elderly caregiver had been playing "Grand Theft Auto IV," a game rated as appropriate for adults.

To be sure, there's plenty of content in video games that's not for kids. Virtually everyone agrees on that, and there's an industry-created ratings system in place to help parents decide which games are appropriate and which ones aren't.

The ratings, like those at a movie theater, provide guidelines and create rules for game retailers. (California's law, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2011, would have judged games differently though, making it a crime if a retailer doesn't follow them.)

But even the current ratings system was born out of controversy. And, as games get more graphic and complex, it hasn't stemmed the tide of complaints about some titles.

Studies have been inconclusive about what role, if any, video games play in encouraging real-world violence. But the argument isn't new.

In light of this week's shooting, here's a look at 10 video games that sparked controversy with their violent content -- and what it was that made them so polarizing.

1. 'Death Race' (1976)

At this point, it's downright quaint.

But when it hit arcades more than three decades ago, "Death Race" (based on the cult movie "Death Race 2000") may have been the first video game to spark controversy for its violence.

In the chunky, black-and-white pixilated graphics of the time, players ran down "gremlins" in their vehicles. The targets squealed and cried, and were then replaced by tombstones on the screen. It didn't help when word leaked that the working title had been "Pedestrian."

It was enough to prompt the National Safety Council to call the game "morbid" and earn it a spot in a "60 Minutes" segment on violence in games.

2. 'Mortal Kombat' (1992)

The '90s classic has spawned innumerable sequels that have found themselves pretty well in the middle of the pack in terms of fighting-game violence.

But when it hit arcades in 1992 and home consoles the next year, "Mortal Kombat" jumped out because of the gore it depicted in digitized graphics.

Brandishing severed heads, ripping out hearts and spines and the like helped put "Mortal Kombat" at the head of a pack of games that prompted hearings in Congress and, eventually, led to the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

The gore also helped it to become one of the most popular video games of all time.

This year's reboot (often called "Mortal Kombat 9") does its best to uphold the tradition. Options include eating an opponent's head, pulling out their stomach after spitting acid down their throat and slicing them in half with a buzz saw.

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