There were indeed fans lined up along the streets of New York City awaiting the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV on Tuesday morning. According to the experts, they will not be disappointed.
Even the New York Times lavished praise of a sort on the video game from Take-Two Interactive’s Rockstar studio: “‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ is a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun.”
Though the vast majority of gamer blogs were even more emphatic in their love of the game, there were bound to be many naysayers if only because “GTA” deals with such edgy content, in this case an Eastern European immigrant who runs drugs, shoots cops and beats up prostitutes. The Parents Television Council thinks retailers shouldn’t carry the game according to Variety magazine.
Keep an eye on:
- Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million bid for New York’s Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, puts the News Corp chief on a collision course with the U.S. regulators. (Financial Times)
- Clear Channel Communications said a Texas court dismissed a request by a group of banks to delay a trial over funding for the $20 billion buyout of the radio station operator. (Reuters)
- Blockbuster is in talks about taking a stake in a new Viacom-led premium television channel that plans to compete with HBO, Showtime and Starz. (WSJ)
(Photo: Reuters)
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3 comments so far
This game is incredible. It delivers an (up until now) unparalleled amount of detail and realism.
With a few stark gameplay exceptions, GTA4 successfully mimics our real world with sheer content.
As any media, it has its share of edgy content. There happens to be a lot of content, so there’s naturally more edgy content than your average game.
It’s a game based on the real world, so naturally there are prostitutes. It’s a game wherein players can live the story or they can do their own thing.
Subsequently, if the player is interacting with a Lot of prostitutes, you can rest assured they do so of their own volition.
That said, GTA IV is all about choice.
The very beginning of the game introduces players to conundrums in which they may have a date, at the same time their friends need assistance in a fist fight.
Choose Your Own Adventure had edgy content too.
- Posted by DooleyDisagree. They removed the “in game economy” completely, no planes, and a bunch of other things that make it less realistic than San Andreas.
As far as customization it’s worse than San Andreas on many levels. Overrated and overhyped.
- Posted by Rentals EsteponaI enjoyed this game very much.
- Posted by Warezko