Posted on 05/04/2008 9:39:13 AM PDT by rhema
Grand Theft Auto IV hit the stores last week like a tsunami, and is expected to become one of the biggest sellers in video game history. Commentators agree that the game, with its sophisticated graphics, sets a new standard for realistic violence and sex.
News reports and game-related websites give the flavor of what avid gamers are getting for their 60 bucks. GTA IV opens with an S&M sex scene. Players can gun down ordinary citizens, beat up prostitutes, murder cops and enjoy lap dances from strippers. This mayhem is accompanied by what the Associated Press called a "nearly constant stream of filthy language."
"[T]eenage boys of America," wrote one reviewer, "... you can still kill and maim and plunder and screw until your heart is full," but now "the violence is no longer cartoonish." Thanks to GTA IV's new realism, when G-stringed strippers grind the main character's lap, the player's controller vibrates in response.
The launch of a game like GTA IV -- labeled "M" for sale only to buyers 17 and over -- always seems to provoke the same debate. Critics charge that the game harms children, who can easily get their hands on it.
Research confirms that violent media increase young people's aggressive thoughts and behavior and decrease their self-control and the inclination to help others. Adolescents who play violent video games tend to be more hostile, to argue more with teachers, to get into more physical fights, and to do more poorly in school, one national study reports.
Video game representatives make two arguments when faced with such data. First, they insist that parents are the gatekeepers for their children's play.
Sounds good, but ask any 15-year-old male if it's really true.
Second, industry spokespeople downplay the youth problem's relevance,
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
LOL
heh....Pacman. Reminds me of one of the best lines ever on MST3K: I can’t remember which movie it was but the camera pans acress a Turkish flag and Tom Servo says, “Huh. Pacman’s got his own flag.”
GTA is a storyline action game with a lot of parodies.
It isn’t necessary. But when you get right down to it video games aren’t necessary. It’s a form of entertainment just like any other, some comedians are clean some aren’t, some song writers are clean some aren’t, some movie makers are clean some aren’t. We have various forms of ratings and a society that pushes info around at quite a clip so you never need be surprised.
Well then you need to see that TV commercial I watched the other night, because they were hitting the immigrant angle really hard.
Serbs are Christians, Orthodox Christians. Same ethnic stock, and Latin Christian is called Croat, same ethnic stock and Muslim is called Bosniac.
I hope that helps.
Oh, and names derivative from Nicholas tend to be Christian.
No, you play what seems to be either a Russian or possibly Serbian immigrant.
That, and one of the first missions is to save your cousin from an Albanian loan-shark... so you get to beat the cr@p out of an Albanian (aka... the same muslims that gave us Kosovo).
Okay, that is teh r0x0r.
Seen it, just reminded me of many of the recent mafia styled movies like Lord of War, Boondock Saints, Snatch, etc.
I used to have N64. I loved Mario Kart. I played it for hours. I would like to get a Wii at some point. I’ll have to buy a copy of the game.
Snatch was a great movie.
I can’t see them banning this. Heck, they won’t even ban hardcore porn, and that’s real in that the people in it are actually engaging in sex and whatever other perverted acts the porn producer wants in the film.
I couldn’t help but infer from your question that...
1. you don’t know much about the stuff that happened in the Balkans during the 1990s.
and
2. you’ve probably judged the news, political events, and people based off that lack of knowledge.
And the answer is that there really aren’t any Serbian Muslims. Muslims in that area tend to be either Bosnian or Albanian in ethnicity. And some of the Albanians decided that it’d be a great idea to move into Kosovo, and after a few decades, demand secession from Serbia.
Huh. Another reason I don’t play video games.
Well said, very well said indeed.
His immigrant status is mainly a story device to get him to America. With Rockstar, it is also an opportunity to criticize America—the whole “the American Dream is a nightmare” scenario. The masterminds behind GTA are Brits, and they don’t seem to have a lot of love for either America or capitalism (except the millions they make, of course). The main arc of the character is that he did some bad things in his homeland and has fled to America to try for a new life, but the situtation in America pulls him even further into the criminal underworld. I doubt if his religion plays much of a part, because religion is another thing Rockstar despises. I have no real information on this angle, however.
If anyone wants to dispute my take on Rockstar’s outlook, I’ll be happy to read it. But, don’t assume it comes from ignorance and a reflexive dislike of GTA. I can understand why people on the right would hate these games sight unseen—sort of like it how it chafes me when a leftist movie comes out and is played up by the press—but I have played all of the GTA III games and particularly love San Andreas. I have spent untold hours in that world. They mainly get their philosophy across in the radio commercials, and I tend to switch the channel when they come on.
It is funny how full-circle we’ve come, however. I believe the Hausers are socialists at best, and they are making “poor people are forced to become gangsters in capitalistic America” games. 70 years ago, writers like John Bright were full-on communists making movies like The Public Enemy that took the same view. And, like Rockstar, Bright would be appalled by my politics, but I enjoy his work anyway.
Well, you can get to hear it a second time... I’ve played GTA before, and I didn’t really enjoy it much. I was mostly driving around, although I think my character wound up in a morally not-so-good state because I kept hitting anything and everything on accident, and shooting random stuff (and people, maybe?) while I was figuring out the controls. At that point, I’d take PGR or something any day if I was interested in games that involved driving. I prefer some FPS games, and really really love RPG’s (Fable for xbox and Assassin’s Creed for the 360 are my two favorites so far).
So I'm on my guard... (Crow suddenly runs screaming behind Mike) Told you so. (Then Servo runs behind Mike with a large weapon of some kind)
TOM: I'll get you! You wont get away from me ET!
MIKE: (Turning head and staring) Huh, well, Servo there has been playing some of those violent games on that new fangled Nintendo thing... What was the name of that game again?
TOM: (Pops head back on screen) Oh, that, DOOM 64, and Hexen 64, now I have some arse to roast! ("the chickens have come hommmmme to roost!")
MIKE: Well, personally, I've never got beyond the good stuff, the first Super Mario Brothers..
CROW: Mike help me out here! (runs behind Mike the other way. with Servo following)
MIKE: Pac Man.. Now that was a good game... Then they came out with that whole Zelda thing...
CROW: Mike I can really AHHH!! (a flash is seen off screen)
MIKE: I used to pump tons of quarters into that Pac-Man game... I think it was rigged..
TOM: Die! Die! Die! (Crow runs behind Mike with a huge hole in his beak, Servo runs by and shoots flames in Crow's direction. Crow screams, and Servo charges forward.)
MIKE: We'll be right back.. That guy who gave the quarters was a jerk...
MIKE: Ms Pac-man... Now that was a good game.. That guy who handed out the quarters had a thing against me... He mocks me in my dreams...
CROW: Hey Mike? Could you patch me up soon? (Crow is on fire and full of holes...) And maybe get Servo to apologize!?
TOM: Sorry, you just look like an imp...
CROW: That's no excuse to blow me to itty-bitty pieces!
TOM: Oh yes it is!
CROW: Oh no it isn't!
TOM: Oh yes it is!
CROW: Oh no it is- (mad light) Oh, TV's Fish is calling.
Mike?
MIKE: Oh yeah... Ms Pac-Man....
http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.tv.mst3k/msg/3c3f97e9b77c3216
Well the CIA Factbook would beg to differ:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rb.html#Peoplehttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html#People
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