German played Far Cry 2 the night before shooting 15

Tim Kretschmer, the German 17 year-old responsible for killing 15 people at his school last week, played Far Cry 2 the night before committing his crime, the Times reports.

Kretschmer played the FPS from 7.30pm to 9.40pm the previous evening. The Times report claims there are "remarkable parallels" between the game and Kretschmer actions the following day, in that he hijacked cars and wore a camouflaged uniform.

"Most sinister of all," the Times went on, "Far Cry 2’s killer uses a Beretta 92 handgun, the weapon fired 112 times by Kretschmer. The game, which carries an 18 certificate in Britain, includes sequences in which the aiming, firing and reloading of a Beretta are portrayed in vivid detail. It also rewards players who shoot their victims in the head, the style of killing chosen by Kretschmer."

Kretschmer also played Counter-Strike on the same night.

The report does add, as its final two paragraphs, that Walter Hollstein, a sociologist working with the Council of Europe, said: “It’s nonsense to assume they turn adolescents into school shooters.

“A variety of factors, such as helplessness, anger and loss of control, must come together for them to become the trigger, but the games themselves don’t make anyone a killer.”

Glad that's cleared up.