Massacre game website removed

By Shaun Davies and Jay Savage
ninemsn

The website of an Australian man who made a computer game out of the Virginia Tech massacre has been taken down.

Western Sydney resident Ryan Lambourn's V-Tech Rampage game caused outrage after it was posted on popular games site newgrounds.com and Mr Lambourn's own website, googumproduce.com.

The furore around the site increased after Lambourn posted a message, saying he would take the game down and apologise if enough people donated money to him.

Visitors to googumproduce.com now receive a message saying the account has been suspended.

But the game is still available on newgrounds.com, where Mr Lambourn, an unemployed 21-year-old, has posted a message about the suspension of his website.

"LOL my site is down because they got too many angry emails and they wont put it back up with vtech still on it. At least Newgrounds still believes in freedom of speech, thanks (sic)," the message said.

Yesterday Lambourn told ninemsn he wouldn't take the game off the internet or apologise, even if he received the US$3000 ($3600) ransom he was asking for.

V-Tech Rampage lets the player simulate the path taken by Cho Seung-hui the morning he killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.

Victims can be heard screaming as they flee the gun-toting character past key shooting landmarks such as Norris Hall and the campus's postal office.

Mr Lambourn said he created the game because making people angry was "funny".

"They could be angry about a lot of things, but they choose to get angry about this," he said.

"I've done really controversial things before that didn't become very popular. These things are done every day. This one just took off."

When asked how he would feel if he upset the relatives and friends of those killed in the massacre, he said he "didn't want to touch" the subject.

"There are people who have already replied saying I'm related to such and such victim. I don't know how many of those are really real," he said.

NSW Police Minister David Campbell last night contacted the federal government about the existence of V-Tech Rampage.

"This computer game, V-Tech Rampage, is absolutely disgusting in its celebration of a tragic mass murder," Mr Campbell said.

"I will urgently speak to the Federal Government to see if they can shut down the site.

"While at first glance the game does not appear to break any laws, its insensitivity and lack of basic community standards will offend all decent Australians."

The game's message boards have been flooded with notes of outrage, but a surprising number of people also expressed admiration for the game.

"This isn't about free speech and censorship or the political backlash over games like this (sic) . . . These people are angry about the complete lack of respect you have shown for those who are grieving," said one.

But another wrote: "Dude! Super cool. I love it how people are crying all over this game."