Another add-on version of the violent and bloodthirsty game, Half Life: Blue Shift, was released in Australia only two weeks before the shooting murder of security guard and father-of-seven Steven Rogers at a Melbourne abortion clinic.

It is ranked the second-biggest selling computer game in Australia this week.

The Australian Security Industry Association yesterday labelled the game a disgrace.

They want it pulled from the shelves amid fears it may encourage more attacks on guards.

Commonwealth censors have rated all three Half Life packs MA15+, or restricted to those older than 15, but younger children have no trouble getting their hands on a copy.

Australian Security Industry Association executive director Terry Murphy said he was appalled.

"It's not something the association would like to see, where security guards are being shot and killed for fun in a game," he said.

"These sort of things, they just encourage the wrong sort of behaviour.

"It wouldn't matter if it was a security guard or police officer or any other person that serves the community.

"It's still over the top."

He said the ratings system was a joke, with children having no trouble getting hold of violent games or movies

Outrage over the game yesterday coincided with the release of an Ameri-

can study that found three out of five video games rated suitable for children reward players for injuring and killing characters.

The Harvard University study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, looked at 55 games with an E rating.

The American-style E rating is used for material considered suitable for ages six to adult. It is equivalent to a G or G8+ rating in Australia.

Researchers Kimberly Thompson and Kevin Haninger warned parents that many of the games were too violent for children, despite their family-friendly ratings.

"An E rating does not automatically signify a level of violence acceptable for very young players," they said in the study.

"Many E-rated video games do involve violence, killing and the use of weapons in the normal course of play.

"Physicians and parents should understand that popular E-rated video games may be a source of exposure to violence for children that rewards them for violent actions."

The study found 35 of the games listed as suitable for children included deliberate acts of violence.

Twenty-seven of the games also depicted deaths from violence.

Most are available in Australia.

"Action and shooting games led to the largest numbers of deaths from violent acts, and we found a significant correlation between the proportion of violent game play and the number of deaths per minute of play," the report stated.

But Megan Simes, head of the Australian Visual Software Distributors Association, rejected the American study.

Ms Simes also denied suggestions that popular games involving decapitation, amputation and murder were too violent for young people.

"We don't have excessively violent games in Australia," she said.

"Australian research shows games are not considered to cause violent behaviour."

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