Ooh, dis!

Such a silly thing. Like we say at Impatient Sufferance, leave this stuff to the parents. You end up looking silly otherwise.
[impatientsufferance.com]

GTA4 is more like a Real-Life simulation of one of the worst possible living conditions in America. "You get points for Drunk Driving", untrue wholeheartedly. If you count the "Cash" as points, then you LOSE points as it's impossible to outrun police in this state and you get pulled over so easily. And they fine you.

That's not really true...aren't there gamer score points for driving drunk.

These people, everything. used to be with music, turned into video games. Come on people. Where are the parents at?

why is this on consumerist ? whats next "Hooters loses liquor license for selling beer to minors" or "Minors complain for not being able to buy cigarettes"

All they are trying to ensure is that only mature audiences play this game which is rated M.... the group being familiar about the game or not has really nothing to do with it.

I remember the first time I got drunk with a pal in GTA IV. The game told me that it was preferable to get a cab instead of my own car. When you're driving drunk, your wanted level increases if you drive past a cop. Taking a friend to a bar isn't a required activity in the game.

It's ridiculous to think that the game encourages drunk driving, even more so by awarding you these nonexistent "points."

@mgresser: Agreed. It's just too bad that the parents aren't parenting.

@Alex Brewer:
I guess not, no gamer score achievements related to drunk driving.

If anything, it shows that driving drunk is a bad idea. You can't even walk to your car 5 feet away without falling down 3 or 4 times. If you do decide to get in your car, you can't even drive straight 3 feet before it totally veers off, and the cops pull you over. Either take a cab or get something to eat and it goes away.

It's so funny how many people want to talk shit about this game and they never even played it, just heard things about it on tv or the internet.

Although, I kind of am for fining video game places for selling this game to kids, I don't know about 5gs though.

@moorie678: It's already rated M which means it shouldn't be sold to minors. Of course it's up to the retailers to enforce this policy, not the game publisher. Also it's up to the parents to know that Johnnie doesn't drive/walk to Wal-Mart and buy a $60 game without them knowing about it.

@Ray308win: I've managed to outrun them a few times really... They only get you if you are drunk right in front of them / hit something. If you see a cop, all you need to do is stop the car and wait until they have passed.

Actually, so far they never arrested me in the game, they shot me thrice, but that's about it.

First game to warn of alcohol content?

Eh???

Everquest 2 has that warning - and it's been out since 2004.
(you can get silly drunk in that game, and you get skill points increased by getting drunk - all though, currently, there is no use for this "skill")

Shred credibility at the door...

That guy is a Tw@

@moorie678: Because it is about a group that advocates proposed legislation that regulates what consumers can buy and I posted it.

strangely they didn't mention about the hookers and wanted levels in the game.

@unklegwar: Seriously, there are plenty of good things our government should be regulating, but why are we always so upset about books, movies, music and video games?
[www.nytimes.com]

@graffiksguru: Seriously. Shit, the way the screen shakes so bad when you're drunk, I have to put the controller down and wait for Niko to sober up before I try to move because it starts making ME dizzy IRL. The only time I've attempted drunk driving was the very first time when you get drunk with Roman, and I've never done it again. If anything it's turned me even more off from doing it IRL.

Mario eats mushrooms and pacman eats pills...kids are not that stupid and if they are, they were not meant to be on earth for long...

Who are these stores they are always talking about? I see the Gamestop near me carding kids all of the time.

@moorie678: The reason it's on consumerist is your mom's a whore.

Why am I not surprised it's this dumbass group again? They seem to be singlehandedly behind virtually every whiny push for media censorship out there these days.

I'm 35 and Gamestop cards me.

All they are trying to ensure is that only mature audiences play this game which is rated M...the group being familiar about the game or not has really nothing to do with it.

@moorie678: It has EVERYTHING to do with it!
Just because I want some company (say Wal-mart or Best Buy) to have better customer service doesn't mean I can make up stories about their employees beating me up. It's a lie.
If you're going to complain that something is bad you better know what the Hell you're talking about. Seriously, who heads the PTC, Laura Mallory?

Furthermore, if a sixteen year old's parents feel they're mature enough to play a rated M game that's none of the PTC's business.

Didn't one of the earlier GTA games have a drunk driving mission? I'd swear I've played a game with that before.

Also...is this really the first game with an alcohol "warning" on its rating?

@Snowrunner:

Cops don't really ARREST people all that much anymore. They are more quick to pull you out into the street beat you within an inch of your life, or shoot you 50+ times in a matter of seconds.

Sounds like the game has a pretty neat level of attention to detail..

@TechnoDestructo: There's a mission in Vice City where you have to drive drunk, after you get boozed up by the bombmaker who lives in the trailer park.

@moorie678:

A free people have no need for thought police. In a free-market system, free people should be FREE to make their own choices in the market place. Wether or not your child has morals has absolutely nothing to do with these government agencies. If you believe that it does, you are not mature enough to buy these games anyways, so don't worry about it.

I got no problem with fining a vendor for breaking the rules. I don't agree with the rules, but then you don't to choose which ones apply to you and which ones don't. Though I'd like to see some fines for the parents for letting their kids go out and buy they game as well. You know, if we're going to be pointing fingers, lets make sure everyone gets their fair share.

@ShirtGuyDom:

And with this ridiculous logic a game like Predator would encourage me to hunt space aliens and collect their skulls.

Mario Brothers would make me want to eat colorful mushrooms and physically abuse aligators.

or maybe Major League Baseball for Nintendo would make me shoot up steroids and default on my mortgage...

wait.. nevermind.. that's real life..

@LibertyReign: Yes, it pretty accurately simulates being a minority in a city.

The $5,000 fine is unconstitutional under the 1st Amendment. Many states have tried to restrict the purchase of M-rated games to minors and each and every one have had their laws shot down in court.

The MPAA rating system is voluntary. I can set up a theatre and allow anyone to come into any R-rated movie and not get in the slightest bit of trouble from Johnny Law.

@PhilVillarreal:

You'll rue the day, Trebek!

it possible to drive drunk and get away from the cops - i did just that, although no points were awarded. and i felt bad about it.

I can't stand the PTC. I went to a conference where the president of the PTC, Tim Winter talked. His message was full of contradictions. Screw them. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Just because you want to shelter your children, does not mean that everyone else wants to be sheltered by whats on TV. I don't have kids nor do i get offended by stuff I see on TV. And yes, I do have a copy of GTA IV, the best GTA yet.

@stinerman: Except that no studio would rent you movies if you don't follow the rating, and the cops/court can get creative (Or not even creative) and charge you with corrupting minors, presenting minors with obscene (read boobs) material, etc.

You get points for making mortgage loans to people who really can't afford them!

You also get points for cutting unicorns in half with their very own rainbows!

Man, there's nothing GTA IV can't do.

Let me state now, I am a somewhat conservative person. I say that, not because I want to make this about politics, but because I want to demonstrate that not all conservatives share these people's views.

That said, as an adult I expect the right to buy any game I want, and I will fight to my last breath the publishers right to sell it. At the same time, I reserve the right to prevent my kids from accessing these games. Lastly, I consider it a collaborative effort to prevent my children from accessing games such as GTA4. I expect that if I do my part, the resellers will do their part, and I will accept nothing short of their culpability if they don't.

I 100% completely support this guy, after all anytime your child does something wrong or you don't approve of you should first blame someone else, then sue/fine them. Being a parent is just to damn hard, heaven forbid you catch your young child with an M video game and instead of blaming your child you bitch to some 16 yr old clerk making minimum wage. Grow some balls and beat your children America.

P.S. America means the US, eat it Canada.

Has anyone read the interview with Jack Thompson and Adam Sessler where Mr. Thompson actually admitted - after all the GTA VI bashing he has done - that he's never actually played the game?

That was good for a laugh.

@humphrmi: Why does it need to be a law though? You could just punish the stores that have policies you don't like by not shopping there. Or you could, y'know, actually monitor what video games your kids play in your home.

I think the greatest issue in the game that no one has addressed yet is that the character you play as, "Niko Bellic," is an immigrant who starts driving as soon as he gets over here.

WHERE'S HIS GOVERNMENT ISSUED DRIVERS LICENSE???

"This isn't Vietnam. There are rules."

@Parapraxis: I haven't played this game yet, so I don't know the backstory... But, it is legal to drive in the U.S. with an "international" driving license. Here in the US, the AAA generally issues them. In other countries, the same authorities that issues a domestic-use driver license also issue them.

Maybe Mr. Bellic has one of them ;-)

Ugh... "the game doesn't have points." What a terrible, lame ass response. How about addressing the actual content of the statement rather than a minor and retarded point that is not even correct on his part.
Actually, you DO get points. It's called MONEY. The point system the anti-M-rated-games-to-minors was referring to is probably the star rating, which is sort of like points too.
Again, lame. I'm not opposed to GTA, violent video games, or even selling it to minors. Way to completely trivialize everything, starnet moron.

@josh42042:

I drunkenly drove away from the cops, too. I was pretty happy, coz Dwayne was with me and I didn't want him to be found in violation of his parole and put back in jail. (Not that that can really happen, but I'm kind of attached to the characters right now.) No game awards, but I gave myself a pat on the back for keeping Dwayne out of trouble.

That rectal ventriloquist Kevin "Virtual Orgasmic Rape" McCullough must have a long lost brother.

Or is this stupidity just contagious?

@ trujunglist: you do earn money throughout the game, but not for driving drunk. As people have stated earlier, your character tells you that he shouldn't be driving. The response may not have been the most eloquent, but it showed how little the PTC member actually knew about the game.

And your 'star rating' fluxuates. Ideally, you don't want to have any stars, so they're really not at all like points in the manner you or the PTC is describing.

Video Games are just the latest scapegoats, like rap was in the early nineties with 2 Live Crew. Making the critics feel foolish is important if only because they will then be more likely to actually learn about the object of their scorn before they open their mouths again.

PWND!!!!1!!1