Neowin.net

Tim Kretschmer, the 17 year-old gunman responsible for the shooting rampage last week at his school in Germany, played Far Cry 2 the night before killing 15, the Times Reports. Kretschmer played the first-person shooter from 7:30 to 9:40 the previous evening.

The Times found "remarkable parallels" between the video game and Kretschmer's actions on the day of the rampage. The guman hijacked cars and wore a camouflaged uniform similar to the characters in Ubisoft's Far Cry 2. "Most sinister of all," the Times continued, "Far Cry 2's killer uses a Beretta 92 handgun, the weapon fired 112 times by Kretschmer. The game, which carries an 18 certificate in Britain, includes sequences in which the aiming, firing and reloading of a Beretta are portrayed in vivid detail. It also rewards players who shoot their victims in the head, the style of killing chosen by Kretschmer."

In addition to Far Cry 2, Kretschmer played Counter-Strike on the same night.

The report does however add that it's highly unlikely that violent video games can turn teenagers into murders. Accoring to Walter Hollstein, a sociologist working with the Council of Europe, "It's nonsense to assume they turn adolescents into school shooters." "A variety of factors, such as helplessness, anger and loss of control, must come together for them to become the trigger, but the games themselves don't make anyone a killer."