NYC Enraged Over Grand Theft Auto IV
"The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers," said Jason Post, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto franchise is already known for controversy, and it got a boost when its new trailer showed various New York landmarks despite the fact that GTA IV is technically set in the fictional Liberty City.
In previous versions of the Grand Theft Auto series, gamers would kill both police officers and prostitutes. They also could sell pornography to children.
"Setting Grand Theft Auto in the safest big city in America would be like setting Halo in Disneyland," NYC councilman and public safety committee chairman Peter Vallone said.
The trailer released for the new Grand Theft Auto game was released on the internet Thursday.
The trailer shoes the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Coney Island Cyclone. This is all as a voice is saying, "Life is complicated. I killed people, smuggled people, sold people. Perhaps here, things will be different."
This is not the first time that a Grand Theft Auto game was based off of a real-life location. Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories also took inspiration from New York City. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories drew inspiration from Miami, while Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas featured fictional versions of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. The original GTA had an expansion pack that placed gamers in 1969 London.
New York political leaders said that New York City and Grand Theft Auto IV have nothing in common other than the visuals.
According to crime statistics, New York is America's safest big city. Statistics show that there has been a 58 percent drop in autho thefts since Bloomberg took office as mayor in 2002. NYC's murder rate is also down by 28 percent so far this year when compared to last year's data.
"It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be," said New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly.
Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to be released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in October, just in time for the holiday season.
Sources:
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=192043
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/46391
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6 Comments
Post a CommentTheres a reason this game is rated "M" so that minors arn't corrupted by the simple act of virtual killing, The "M" rating ensures that only adults with the compacity to know what is right and wrong will play this game knowing its entirly fictional. I've played the entire series and, i know this may be a shocker, i have yet to kill a policeman
Yeah, this is by far the worst example of overhyped, twisted and simply wrong journalism ever. People go to lengths to attack GTA but few arguably use lies.
1) There are no children or pornographic materials in the whole GTA series
2) You do not "earn points" for killing, you earn points for completing missions.
3) Prostitutes are everywhere, and in GTA they are of entertainment value, as they are cast in jest.
Get your facts right Jack before you launch into a moral majority tirade about something you have never so much as laid your glazed eyes on.
"They also could sell pornography to children." - You fail at Journalism.
That has NEVER happened in GTA, partly because you have never sold pornography in GTA, and partly because there are no children in any of the GTA series. You also missed out the fact that the original GTA was set in three cities; Liberty City (New York), Vice City (Miami) and San Andreas (San Francisco).
Also, for the love of whatever deity you believe in get and use a spellcheck.
Is the new york chief really that stupid?? o common now THIS IS JUST A VIDEO GAME!! there's no harm in killing police officers or prostitutes in video games becouse it's virtual not real life ... jeezz you stupid official should stop saying these stupid comments....
I'm not bothered as a New Yorker. As a gamer I'm itching with excitement at the chance to elude authorities in a stolen vehicle and go steaming over the Brooklyn Bridge and blow past a road block/barricade. I can't wait.
Egad, it's worse than the last one?