There’s been a bit of a violent crime spree in London this year, with 18 teenagers dying due to crimes involving knives. Granted, 18 murders seems to be quite small by American standards, but in the UK, where guns are not sold to civilians (it’s unlikely you’ll even see police packing heat), violent crime of any sort is quite rare. Oasis singer Noel Gallagher thinks he knows what’s behind all this and, not surprisingly, video games are partly to blame.

"People say it’s through violent video games and I guess that’s got something to do with it," he told the BBC after the Silver Cleft music awards. "If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitized to crime because they’re playing these videogames, it’s really, really scary."

Ah yes, the "video games desensitize kids and turn them into mindless killing robots" routine, we’ve heard this one a few times before. Maybe it should be pointed out to Mr. Gallagher that when people aren’t blaming video games or TV for violent children, the often point the finger at music. Not Oasis of course, their songs are all about... wait, what’s "Wonderwall" about again? Anyway, the point is everyone loves a scapegoat, and now Gallagher is taking the typical uneducated celebrity stance and pinning it all on something he doesn’t know much about.

Is anyone going to ever take the parents to task for the behavior of their children, or maybe the kids themselves? Have we really just thrown personal responsibility completely out the window?

- Via GamesIndustry.biz