the game rag

Carlo Yelrod, a 13 year old from Pasadena, CA was killed in an accident when his parent's car ran off the road and collided with a tree. Authorities say that the boy was inspired by an advertisement he saw for the EA game Burnout Dominator.

"We believe that after seeing this ad, the boy was led to believe that car crashes are cool," said Cpt. Reginald Maptain. "He wanted to see what it was like to be in a car crash and died as a result."

The parents were driving the car at the time and authorities are saying that they are denying that the boy even asked them to do this.

"We asked the parents why they would allow their son to be in a car crash and even aid in the driving," said Cpt. Maptain. "They are saying that their son never asked to be in a car crash. This was purely an accident. Obviously, we don't believe them."

The advertisement being blamed for the child's death depicted a crashed car surrounded by broken glass and featured the slogan: "Inner peace through outer violence." An ASA spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that 37 complaints were received about the poster.

"The complainants described the advert as offensive as it condoned and was likely to encourage violence, dangerous driving and anti-social behaviour such as vandalism," said the spokesperson. "37 complaints is something like .0000006% of the population. We've got to take care not to offend those people."

This is not the first time an advertisement has been branded as inspiration for children. Last year, a 9 year old girl bought a Bratz doll as a result of an ad she saw in Disney Magazine. In 2004, a 10 year old boy ate a Lemonhead after seeing a picture of one in a store window.

EA is not being charged with anything just yet, nor are the parents. Cpt. Maptain wants to investigate the situation further before the police make any claims.

"We are certain that EA will be taken to task over this and we are definitely certain that the parents are lying. That much we know. We just have to trick them into saying it."