Preparing for the Storm: Grand Theft Auto IV Preview

With over 40 million units sold worldwide, the Grand Theft Auto series ranks among the most successful franchises in the history of gaming. The GTA series is also well-known for its ability to spark controversy among critics and politicians for its graphic violence and sexual themes. Earlier this week on April 29, the fourth proper installment in the series released to the sheer excitement of gamers and utter dismay of opposing legislators. With the next generation of hardware, the developers at Rockstar North have available the technology to push gameplay to new levels of innovation, and spurring even greater controversy in the process.

Grand Theft Auto IV tells the story of Niko Bellic, a Russian immigrant trying to make it to the top of Liberty City from the bottom of the streets. Liberty City is a realistic rendition of modern-day New York City, from the Statue of Liberty to the Coney Island Cyclone. The team of artists took a trip to the city to take over 10,000 photos worth of reference shots for the team to construct a digital version of New York City and New Jersey. This architecture lays the canvas for the player to create pure chaos in more ways than one can imagine. As Associated Press editor Derrik Lang writes, players are free to choose between "blowing stuff up, driving drunk, meeting someone online, going on a date, hailing a cab, listening to the radio, killing innocent bystanders, patronizing strip clubs, flying helicopters, earning cash for criminal activities, running from the police and, of course, hijacking lots of cars." This is a small list of the opportunities available to the player while engaging with Grand Theft Auto IV. Due to the vast possibilities of interaction in this simulation-based game, GTA IV will receive a M rating for "Mature" by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, making it suitable for people 17 and over. According to the ESRB's description, M-rated games contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. However, this rating that is clearly placed on the front of the box is not enough for anti-gaming legislators who fight to place a ban on sales.

Attorney Jack Thompson is the most outspoken activist in opposition of violent video games. His aim is legitimate: to keep Mature-rated games out of the hands of children. However, Thompson has attempted to achieve this goal with rather ineffective strategies. For example, in every school shooting since the Columbine case, Thompson has made appearances on news media blaming video games as the cause. In the recent Virginia Tech shooting, Thompson claimed that the suspect trained on a murder simulator, more commonly known as the popular PC game "Counter-Strike." Thompson made these claims without knowing any information on the shooter whatsoever besides his name, and it was revealed after authorities completed a search of the suspect's room that no video games were found. Over time, Thompson has accrued a reputation of an "ambulance-chaser" among the gaming community, someone who cries foul at every attempt to point the finger at gaming. His numerous fruitless lawsuits against Rockstar Games for the violent and sexual themes in its GTA series have resulted in the court threatening to disbar Jack Thompson.

Controversy is already brewing around one feature in particular: the drunk-driving mini-game. After the main character consumes too much alcohol, a mini-game plays out in which the player must attempt to drive (or walk) home safely with a shaking blurry camera to simulate the effect of drunkenness. It might sound like a fun activity to try out in a video game, but by no means is it acceptable in the real world. I feel that the game could do without this small aspect. Plenty of critics feel the same way, fearing the consequences of a child playing the game and forming dangerous ideas. Then again, shooting civilians and stealing cars aren't exactly respected activities, so maybe this goes along quite well with the philosophy behind Grand Theft Auto.

Sam Houser, the President of Rockstar Games, is accustomed to the publicity that the GTA series has garnered over the years. In a Yahoo Entertainment article, Houser comments, "'I wish people would treat video games the same as other media. They seem to not want to do that for reasons that I don't understand. It's a convenient enemy for people.'" Video games are a new medium, and since many questions remain unanswered, it is simply easier to lay the blame on them for society's issues. As games undergo further testing for their effects on human behavior, one thing remains unquestionable: parents must exercise proper judgment in allowing what games their children play. The blame should not fall on developers for the products they create. Grand Theft Auto IV has achieved the most remarkable critical acclaim any game has ever received in the history of the medium. But it is also sure to be one of 2008's most controversial video games, so in the coming months we will see how the general public responds to GTA IV.