Computer games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) has been criticised for a computer game advert that seemingly promoted violence.

A poster ad for driving game Burnout Dominator that was displayed on the London Underground last year drew 37 complaints that it was likely to "encourage violence, dangerous driving and antisocial behaviour".

Britain's advertising watchdog today upheld these complaints, ruling that the ad should not be shown again in its present form.

The advert showed a wrecked sports car crashed into a wall with fragments of glass scattered on the floor and a loose tyre in the foreground. Accompanying this image was the message 'inner peace through outer violence'.

In its response to the Advertising Standard Authority's (ASA) investigation, EA said the intention of the campaign was "to reflect the consumer experience within the game environment" and "help relieve the stress and tension of the real world".

The US games company defended the ad by saying it was "obvious" it was referring to a video and "would not be seen to support real-life violence or antisocial behaviour", adding that the ad "intentionally featured no people and thus focused directly on the destruction seen in the game rather than on violence against people in real life".

Although EA had launched an accompanying ad campaign featuring a toned down slogan, the ASA noted in its adjudication that the poster appeared in an untargeted medium on the London Underground.

"We considered that the vivid depiction of the crashed car and burning tyre, combined with the slogan's implication that people could achieve inner peace through acts of violence, was likely to cause serious or widespread offence," an ASA spokesperson said.

"We considered that the images of a car that seemed to have crashed at high speed and a burning tyre, together with a reference to violence, could be seen to condone a violent lifestyle, anti-social behaviour or dangerous driving. We concluded that the ad was irresponsible."

EA says it has no plans to re-run the offending advert for Burnout Dominator, which was released last December on Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable consoles.

Earlier this month the British Board of Film Classification banned Manhunt 2 on the grounds of its ultra-violent content from sale in the UK, the first time it has done so in a decade.

The ban followed the controversy of Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man using Manchester cathedral as a basis for level, while a game based on US cop drama Law and Order was pulled from shelves after it emerged a picture of murdered toddler James Bulger featured as a clue for players to solve.

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