If you’re a gamer, you’ve heard this played out story non-stop for the past few years. Violent video games directly result in violent crimes being committed.

It doesn’t matter whether a school shooting took place by a kid who didn’t own a console, the media is sure his friends did or that he played Doom or Quake on the PC. Regardless, the mainstream media will push it down your throat that violence always stems from gaming despite the fact that a lot of people would probably be out committing crimes if they didn’t have games to stay inside and play, right? Maybe? Alright.

In a letter sent out to its investors last month, Capcom outlined the problems that its upcoming 2010 lineup may have in regards to sales. One of the key aspects of that list involved how mainstream media outlets relating violent crimes to violent video games may have an adverse effect on the company’s sales.

The message sent to investors is below.

“Some of our popular software titles have provocative graphics and text, such as violent and grotesque scenes. Accordingly, in the event of violent incidents and other criminal cases involving juveniles, we may be subject to a smear campaign by some sections of the mass media which often point out the correlation between crime and games.

Therefore, there is a risk that it may result in having an adverse effect on our business performance, corporate value and narrowed distribution channel under instructions by the relevant authorities.”

While Jack Thompson is probably smiling, knowing that he’s helped propel this type of concern for gaming publishers world wide, it should go without saying that Resident Evil will sell well in name alone, despite the public’s concern for violent video games.

What do you guys think about a subject like this? Does the mainstream media need to finally let go and look at improper parenting as a possible reason for violent crime or should they just stick to video games being the cause?