Video Games and Teens

[AOL_blows911]

So, looking at the 'Rap Music Bad Influence On Kids?' thread, I started to wonder, what really is a bad influence on todays teens? Then on a different forum, I came by this:
http://www.petitiononline.com/shutjack/petition.html

For those of you who don't know who Jack Thompson is, he is a lawyer from Florida. Wikipedia Jack and you get:

"John Bruce “Jack” Thompson (born July 25, 1951) is an American attorney and activist, based in Coral Gables, Florida. Thompson describes himself as a Christian conservative and a Republican.

After an initial foray into politics, Thompson concentrated his legal efforts against obscenity, particularly in rap music and broadcasts by radio personality Howard Stern. More recently, he has focused on violence as well, particularly in the content of computer and video games and their alleged effects on children."

This basicaly sums the man up. Very active against violence and obscenity in the media (particularly in video games and music), Thompson has caused so much trouble that he is being prosecuted by the Florida Bar Association for inappropriate conduct. He preaches that todays video games cause teens to be violent, and games such as Halo (both 1&2) and Counter Strike teach teens to kill without excitement or remorse and can even teach the kids the skills they need to pull off actions such as school shootings. He has also recently gone so far as to blame the Virginia Tech shootings on violent video games. He did so hours after the actual event, before anything had been discovered about the shooter. To me, that seems like an action that was purely to advance his personal career. Not to mention, it was extremely stupid and offensive of him.

So my question is: what are your opinions on violent video games? I, being 16, personaly play a lot of shooter games. I played at least an hour of Halo 2 every day online after it came out, personaly headshotting other players. However, I realize that this is a game, NOT REALITY. I find it ignorant and offensive of Thompson to say that, because I am young and because I play Halo and Counter Strike, I'll go on a killing rampage at my school and feel no remorse about doing so. I can see where some violence may follow games such as Grand Theft Auto, but too a point. If a person is going to go kill other people, then they will kill them regardless. That person has a problem, and needs help. But this is not because they played video games, it's because they already had a mental or emotional condition that put them over the edge.

So....discuss.