(UPDATE) Thailand-based distributor stops sale of GTA

By Agence France-Presse BANGKOK--Copies of the GTA were taken off the shop shelves in Thailand on Tuesday following news about a teenager allegedly killing a taxi driver in a copycat crime. The New Era Interactive Media company, the only legal distributor of the games and software, expressed regret over the incident on its website. "We have stopped selling Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and inform all legal vendors to withdraw the game from their shelves," the company said in an online statement. "The company will not import GTA 4 (the next in the series) to distribute in Thailand," it added. The company also warned people to be careful about the types of computer games they buy and urged friends and relatives of gamers to watch their behavior closely when playing. A Thai teenager incensed that he could not afford to play the violent computer game GTA robbed a taxi driver and stabbed him to death in his cab, police said Monday. The 18-year-old male high-school student whose name was withheld was arrested on Sunday after police found the bloody body of a 50-year-old Bangkok taxi driver slumped in his car. "He confessed that he committed the crime because he had copied it from the game he played," Bangkok police Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak told Agence France-Presse. The teenager was charged with robbery and possession of a weapon, and could face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted, Veerarit said. "He wanted money to play the game. His parents, who work as civil servants, did not have enough money to give him," he added. Instead, the teen spent his 500-baht ($15) allowance on two knives. The Grand Theft Auto computer game series, which has sold about 70 million copies, has come under fire for its graphic depiction of casual violence, drug dealing and prostitution.