Scots game maker faces £315m suit over murders

The $600 million action alleges that Cody Posey, then 14, played the game "obsessively" for several months before he shot his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004.

The game and others in the series allow gamers to punch, stamp on, shoot, decapitate and burn animated human characters at will.

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against Posey, the Sony Corporation of America, and Grand Theft Auto makers Take-Two Interactive Software and its subsidiary Rockstar Games, which is based in Edinburgh.

The lawsuit claims the games are "virtual reality murder simulators" and alleges: "But for Posey's use of these products ... he would not have killed."

Posey, now 16, was sentenced this year to remain in custody until he is 21 after being convicted of killing his father Delbert, stepmother Tryone Posey and stepsister Marilea Schmid. He shot them in the head on the New Mexico ranch belonging to prominent American television journalist Sam Donaldson.

Lawyers for the Posey's uncle, Verlin Posey, and his stepmother's father, Pat Basham, claim the game trained him how to point and shoot a gun in a way that made him "an extraordinarily effective killer without teaching him any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity".

They say the firms should have foreseen that their entertainment "would spawn such copycat violence".

Last night, Jim Anker, for Take Two, said: "We believe the suit is without merit and we will strongly defend the company."

Posey told police he shot his family after his father, the ranch foreman, slapped him for not cleaning horse stalls fast enough. His lawyers claimed his father had abused him for years and that the killings were committed in self-defence.

The game's makers have not defended the violence in its games since last year, when the Take-Two chief executive, Paul Eibeler, said in a release: "Take-Two and Rockstar Games have always worked to keep mature-themed video game content out of the hands of children.

"We will continue to work closely with the authorities and community leaders to improve and better promote a reliable rating system to help consumers make informed choices about which video games are appropriate for each individual."

Since its launch in 1998, the Grand Theft Auto series has been hit with a number of civil suits in the United States and Europe by people who blamed it for driving them to violent acts - though none of the actions are believed to have been successful so far.

But a study published in the Archives of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reported that young men who play Grand Theft Auto III were more likely to drink alcohol, smoke marijuana, and be "defiant" than those who played a game based on The Simpsons TV series. Grand Theft also caused a rise in the blood pressure of players from homes or neighbourhoods troubled by violence, according to the study.

Thompson, the lawyer for the Posey family, is also involved in a $600 million lawsuit that blames the game for the 2003 murders of two police officers and a dispatcher at a rural department.

Crash course

IN GRAND Theft Auto, the best selling video game series for PlayStation, players are given various missions, such as bank robberies, assassinations, and other crimes.

Points are earned for each crime committed, with more heinous acts reaping greater rewards. Ramming one car into another scores ten points, while killing a police officer gets 1,000 points.

Nearly any criminal act is possible. Players can decapitate police officers, kill them with a sniper rifle, massacre them with a chainsaw, and set them on fire. Players are also free to steal cars, beat up the local population for their money or weapons, spend time with prostitutes and even kill them. The series now has more than a half-dozen versions set in different US cities. including New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Rockstar Games official website: www.rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto/