My thoughts on…the GTA IV hype
Before I start this post, I’d just like to say, HALLELUJAH! Exams are over! I was gonna post yesterday, but I was so mentally exhausted that I just couldn’t bother. I really taxed my intellect this semester, and I was surprised as to what I was capable of. And I will achieve more in final year. Anyways, back to the post.
I haven’t kept up on gaming much, as schoolwork has absolutely consumed my time, but I have heard of all the hype surrounding GTA IV. I know that GTA is and has always been a game of controversy, but my God man, this time it’s been taken to ridiculous levels. Countless parents have been bawling again that GTA turns their precious snowflakes into delinquents. The gaming Anti-Christ Jack Thompson has been woken from his slumber once again to stop GTA’s sales to minors. New Zealand and Australia want the game tamed, again. You’d think a country that used to be a prison colony wouldn’t mind a bit of violence in their games.
But this time the hype has reached insane levels, which makes me ask myself, do people really know that this is a video game? It got to a point where Obama himself had to address it. He didn’t quite bash it, saying that these games were for adults and that they were raisng American kids (I knew there was a reason I liked him). In a beautiful case of art imitating life, a gamer got stabbed while waiting in line for the game. With such overwhelming publicity, there’s no wonder that it had the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history (Note: Entertainment, not gaming only), as it brought in US$186 million in its first 24 hours with 2.5 million copies sold in the US. Wow. That’s a lot of white punks that wanna play gangsta. I suppose they deserve it, as it had cost Rockstar US$100 million, making it the most costly videogame of all time.
Still, I can’t see why it’s so much more popular. It’s a great game. I mean which red-blooded young male doesn’t like rampant violence and lawlessness? But it’s the same ol’ story. Sure the game’s got new characters, new stories, online multiplayer (Dear God. Imagine the white kids dropping f-bombs and talking gangsta), a redesigned Liberty City, more realistic physics among other things, but its essence remains the same. I guess in the recession, people need to let off some steam.
