According to the arrest affidavits, Trujillo told investigators she and Roberts were babysitting Zoe and her twin, 3-year-old sisters, while their mother worked at the Corral Bar about five blocks away.

Trujillo said they were acting out the video game "Mortal Combat" by savagely hitting and kicking Zoe, even dropping her on her side, which broke her wrist. Roberts, who claimed to be a martial-arts expert with his hands registered as "lethal weapons, said Zoe had asked him to stop hitting her but that he didn't because "...I was drunk."

Violent video games have been around almost as long as video games themselves.

Video games such as Mortal Kom bat, Doom and Grand Theft Auto, which allow players to act out brutal violence, have sparked a heated debate regarding their effects on children.

In the case of teens Heather Maria Trujillo, 16, and Lamar Roberts, 17, they may have acted out the violence, hitting and kicking Heather's 7-year-old sister, Zoe Garcia, last week in a game they called Mortal Kombat.

In 2000, the American Psychological Association released a report that specifically cited Mortal Kombat as a video game that can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior.

Mortal Kombat is a video game, created by Midway, that allows players to choose a character and fight to the death using a variety of moves and weapons. Since the game's inception in 1991, there has been opposition to the animated violence and blood.