Why we kill: what is it that makes us find videogame violence so entertaining?

[wraggster]

After wrapping your fingers around his throat, you smash his face into a burning hot-plate and hold it firmly against the bright red steel while his skin chars and blisters. His screams hint that he’s about to give in and rat on his friends. In Splinter Cell: Conviction, torture is a gameplay mechanic. Put a new disc in. Now you’re Ezio Auditore Da Firenze jamming knives into the throats of your family’s enemies – a particularly terrifying and gruesome way to be murdered, if it’s possible to rank such things.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/why-we-kill/