Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star has interviewed a spokesman from the Parents Television Council, a group that is lobbying for a $5,000 fine against retailers who sell “M” rated games to youngsters, about the scourge that is Grand Theft Auto IV. It seems that the group’s spokesperson isn’t really all that familiar with the game…
Parents Television Council: “I’ve actually played ‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ and it’s right in keeping with previous versions. The series continues to lower the bar and this is the first game that has an alcohol content warning. You get points for driving drunk in this game.”
Mr. Villarreal: “You know that’s not true, right? The game doesn’t have points.”
[PhilmGuy]
(Photo: meghannmarco )
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Wasn’t MADD sold to some corporation and is a total farce now? A buddy told me he saw that on 60 mins I think.
Still an effective group tho…
@FilthyHarry: I don’t agree with the rules, but then you don’t to choose which ones apply to you and which ones don’t.
What? Absolutely you get to choose which rules apply to you. You are a free person. Just because some idiot with the power to make a law tells you “no”, doesn’t mean you have to listen to him. What makes his opinion more important than your own? The fact that he got himself elected? Hardly. He’s just another guy, like anyone else.
Each and every one of us has the responsibility to pick and choose which laws we follow. Stupid laws should be ignored, flagrantly. Don’t just bend over and take whatever they tell you. And before some idiot comes along and accuses me of saying it’s OK to kill people, stop there, because that’s not what I mean and you damn well know it.
Next, GTA V, Philadelphia, where you are constantly pulled over and beaten up under code DWB (Driving While Black).
Has anyone heard anything from the United Council for Prostitutes? I am sort of shocked because I heard you can do sex things to them in these games. I think it’s time they get off their knees and take a stand.
As for the PTC, I challenge them all to a round of Turf War. I promise I won’t shoot them in the face. I might run over them with my Taurus wagon, though. Oh, while drunk, too.
Driving drunk, while fun, is of no benefit to the player.
It summons the cops, but you can get away. I ALWAYS DO.
But the content of the game shouldn’t matter anyway. It’s for adults.
@trujunglist:
It’s not trivial. The comment about points implies that the gamer is rewarded for driving drunk, which is a disingenuous way of beefing up the case against the game.
Actually, the stats screen tells you how many times you’ve driven drunk, so TECHNICALLY, you do get one “point” every time you drive drunk.
Anyway, the drunk driving is much less distasteful to me than, say, going out and killing people for talking trash about Brucie. Even Niko thinks that’s a crappy thing to do and calls Brucie out on it.
@joellevand: They do that in new york too.
No, the next GTA is GTA V, Boston Massacre. In one mission, you drive around placing led signs… errrr… Hoax Devices to screw with the police. In another, you have to find some traffic counters to replace with real explosives for when the dumb, er, bomb squad shows up.
@trujunglist: The Star Rating? A point system? Man have YOU even played gta either? The more Stars you have, the more fucked you are. More Stars = More cops looking to shoot your ass 50 times. more stars = near inescapable army tanks and helicopters chasing after up. Ideally, you try to keep the stars low or zero otherwise you die and have to restart the god damn mission.
And unlike the stars, you do not get points, or money for driving drunk. Hell, you don’t even get money for randomly hitting people anymore, short of missions and killing frenzies.
My nephew has been playing GTA for 3-4 years, and he’s not even 16 yet. As for his character? He’s quite an upstanding teenager, who works 2 jobs, goes to school, saves his money, and is the most RESPECTFUL kid I’ve ever seen to his “elders”
So, yes- LEAVE IT UP TO THE PARENTS. (or grandmother in this case, because his mother is a drunk whore who deserted him and his brother for a case of the clap and a shot of whiskey)
Yeah this game promotes drinking all the way.
I took Carmen to a club and we both got trashed. While crossing the street she fell in front of a car and got “injured” like 20 feet into the air.
@TechnoDestructo:
There’s a mission in Vice City where you inhale vapors caused by an explosion and have to bring that one-armed guy to a hospital… or something.
But yeah, it was like being drunk.
That’s on par for most of these groups…they are up in arms over rumors and anything of mature content: “Think of the children!”. Meanwhile, they have a vague idea of what the product they are against actually has in it. Reminds me of a lady I knew when I worked at a christian college. All of the younger people were stating how much they liked the new Harry Potter movie. She went on to say it isn’t appropriate for children, it tells them to use black magic, worship the devil, and a bunch of stuff not even in the movie. We ask her “have you even seen the movie?” “Well..no, but I’ve heard a few things.”
@franksinatra: Someone had to say it.
@Starsmore:
‘Id like to please ask our contestants to refrain from using ethnic slurs, ok so on with the show, here we have Mr. Connery wi…’
‘You think your so smart Alex Trebek with your Greasy hair and your Dego mustache.’
‘What did I just say about ethnic slurs!?’
Maybe we should start legislating that you can’t buy books or movies with arbitrarily decided ‘mature’ themes without showing an I.D. proving that you are 26 years of age.
LOL, the game rewards you for driving drunk. Anyone that has played the game knows the game actually PUNISHES YOU! for driving drunk. Every cop in the city will instantly give you a one star wanted level even though you appear to be driving the car just fine. Then you realize that it is a bit more difficult to control your car and keep it going straight. Not only that, but the game gives you the option to hail or call a cab to take you anywhere in the city.
@joeblack13:
Thanks for explaining, I’ve played every Grand Theft Auto.
I guess you guys are fucking morons too.
@ChuckBlack: MADD’s founder broke ties with the group and called them “neo-prohibitionist” because they expanded the scope and went totally ultra-conservative. Example would be the “buzzed driving is drunk driving” idea. MADD was also trying to spearhead lowering the legal limit to something like .05.
Check out http://www.activistcash.com for more information.
@Parapraxis: Niko isn’t an immigrant. He’s an illegal alien who just hopped of the boat.
That’s why I won’t play the game. I want to shoot the illegal aliens, not help them. [*sarcasm detected*]
@Alex Brewer: One, not that I’ve seen on other’s Gamer Profiles. And two, isn’t there something out there known as a PS3?