Warning: This video contains scenes of explicit video game violence.
US President Donald Trump's administration has produced a horrifying, blood-spattered video showcasing extreme video game violence - and the YouTube clip has quickly become an internet hit.
Less than 24 hours after the White House uploaded it to YouTube, the gory and ultra-violent video has been viewed more than 600,000 times. The video was screened during Mr Trump's meeting Thursday with game-industry execs, watchdog group reps, lawmakers and other attendees, and released on YouTube afterward.
Mr Trump had suggested that video games may play a part in leading to mass shootings like the attack in the Parkland, Florida high school last month in which 17 people were killed.
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However, there has never been any evidence that fantasy video game violence correlates with real-world violence, as the video-game industry pointed out.
The White House's video-game violence reel was supposed drive discussion of whether "games that graphically simulate killing desensitise our community to violence", according to the press office.
It now ranks as the White House's fifth most-viewed video on YouTube since Trump took office.
The 88-second video depicts numerous violent deaths including beheadings, clubbings, and stabbings, as well as people's heads being shot off and a mass shooting with automatic weapons. The White House moved the video to "unlisted" status (meaning it does not appear on the channel) shortly after uploading it.
Games in the video include Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout 4, Wolfenstein: The New Order and Sniper Elite 4.
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Why the video has gone viral is open to interpretation. Many viewers may simply be curious about what the White House decided to cherry-pick as examples of appalling video-game violence.
But the montage has also drawn fans: A Newsweek writer, for example, called the White House video "awesome", saying that it's a "tribute to why people love video games".
Comments on the video itself were also largely positive.
"Pretty good first effort for a montage Mr President, but needs more Doritos logos, Snoop Dogg gifs, and dubstep drops," wrote YouTube user Nerd City.
"The Wolfenstein one was an old man killing a Nazi to save his wife and Jewish Granddaughter, is that not a good thing?" asked IdarkphoenixI.
"Damn. Good montage. Really hit me right in the nostalgia bone. Good emotional scenes," added Thekukills.
Reuters / Newshub.
