Grand Theft Auto happens to be a franchise that wants to bathe itself in controversy, shower itself off in heated debate and deodorize in wild accusations. Whether it is the intentionally amoral gameplay or perhaps the amazingly unsexy “hot coffee” debacle, GTA has proved repeatedly that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Gamers on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are eagerly awaiting the newest instalment inside GTA series later this coming year, and once the real sequel to GTA III, the amazingly-named GTA IV launches (there were several spin-offs since GTA III, including Liberty City Stories, etc). The web was alive with downloaders recently when RockStar finally allowed gamers their first peak on the game inside the shape of your teaser trailer.
Within hours though, while gamers dissected the footage, politicians leapt directly into criticize. What were they criticizing? The fictional setting, Liberty City, which resembles New York. A lot. City politicians were aghast for the idea of the piece of fiction portraying violence within the streets on New York, apparently being blind to pretty much the full work of Martin Scorsese.
“Setting Grand Theft Auto inside the safest big city in America could well be like setting Halo in Disneyland,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone, chairman on the Council’s Public Safety Committee to The New York Daily News. He’s not alone to have a go, either. Spotting a way to look good, a spokesman for your mayor a go too: “The mayor isn’t going to support any video gaming where you earn points for injuring or killing law enforcement officers.”
Oddly though, New York City hasn’t gave the impression to have were built with a problem with movie companies setting their violent and action thrillers inside city, with roads closed for that Die Hard 3 film, for instance. Had RockStar appeared with huge amounts of money in order to shoot town for textures with the games, would we have seen praise galore to the realism the action offered?
All on this criticism, obviously, overlook the whole “it’s fiction” nature on the game which ends up in the question of whether future novelists, film makers, animators, artists and games companies are going to be asked never to show the location with any violence from it. Because fiction has got to reflect reality apparently, somewhat destroying the purpose of fiction.
As on the trailer itself, there is not a hint of violence. It’s undeniable that the overall game features a fictionalised version of NYC. As the GTA IV preview in P3Zine, the free PlayStation 3 magazine shows, but already game commentators are theorizing that GTA IV will feature more realism and fewer violence without repercussions, as RockStar has supposedly been speaking with ex-cops about precisely how much harder organised crime is to purchase away with such days.