It is a wake-up call to parents in Ireland, Canada, and worldwide. At a time when "kill" and "dead" are two of the most frequently used words in the vocabulary of children as young as five or six, the harm caused by violent computer games is pandemic.

Youngsters who at an early age are unable to comprehend the meaning of death and killing are being inculcated with the thought that to kill is a natural act, without consequences. After all, the "bad guys" come back to life the next time the computer game is played.

And from computer games they graduate to videos where violence is the ultimate form of gratification. Without parental education to guide them, they accept the make-believe they see and enjoy, as the natural way of life.

From "wiping out" individuals and whole armies at the touch of a computer button, the transition to meaningless violence in real life is a dangerous next step.

There have been horrifying examples of this in the United States and elsewhere, murders, mutilations, even school massacres.

Condemnation has come from many sources. Concern is widespread.

One of the most recent was that expressed by Marie Murray, Director of Psychology at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, Dublin, commenting on the release of Doom 3, one of the most violent computer games of its genre.

She described violent computer games generally as "a very dangerous psychological milieu to expose children to," adding "parents shouldn't allow violent computer games into their homes at all. The information is available to us that violent games and violent images can harm children developmentally, yet we refuse to acknowledge this."

She said that violent games and violent images affect individuals, and children in particular, in three ways. "They desensitize people to violence; they can be highly addictive which means they displace other activities such as reading or playing sport, and they have an impact in terms of the kind of message they send children, which is that violence is rewarded".

She said that where young persons had other problems, such as social isolation, violent games could have an adverse effect on them.

Activision, the game's publishers, have responded through Tim Ponting, head of Activision's European Corporate Communications, who said it was "a game suitable for an adult audience, marketed appropriately to adult consumers who make their own choice whether to purchase."

From "Bang, bang! You're dead," in an earlier generation, to "Kill him, kill him! Look at all the blood!" on a computer screen is worrisome and disturbing.

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