Violent games pulled from rest stops in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has removed nine violent arcade-style games from rest stops on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Charlton, Ludlow, Lee, and Beverly, according to a Boston Globe report.

The move comes less than a month after the December 14 schoolhouse massacre in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six adults dead. Transportation secretary Richard Davey said pulling the games just made sense in light of the events.

“Bottom line is I think there isn’t a person who doesn’t ­believe that there isn’t too much violence in our society, and games can glorify that,” Davey said. “A video game in a public space could be used by anybody of any age. At the end of the day, those games are there to entertain kids, probably for a few minutes, while their parents are resting from a long trip."

Two of the games removed by the state were Time Crisis and Beach Head 2000. The others were not specified. Driving games like H20 Overdrive were left at the rest stops to "challenge driving skills."

US Vice President Joe Biden will meet with representatives from the video game industry today in Washington, D.C. as part of a wider task force aimed at examining the role of violent media in mass shootings.