Here we go again .... the grand theft auto complaints !

[Darklord Dave]

What's the difference between "M" and "AO" - are any games rated "AO" besides virtual reality porn?

 

[IrishJedi]

What's the difference between "M" and "AO" - are any games rated "AO" besides virtual reality porn?

One big difference is that most stores won't even carry any "AO" rated games.

 

[Gahgantu]

-_- screw them. the game is awesome.

 

[Darth Madden]

What's the difference between "M" and "AO" - are any games rated "AO" besides virtual reality porn?

I think you can get it for violence sometimes. Wasn't "Thrill Kill" going to be rated AO before EA pulled the plug on it?

 

[McHavyck]

What's the difference between "M" and "AO" - are any games rated "AO" besides virtual reality porn?

having a AO game is the kiss of the death for the publisher because it means it could only be sold online, which would kill sales.

and the only difference with M and AO is the gratuitous sex. Both God of War's had partial nudity but the actual act was done off camera.

oh, and i guess depending on what it is some violent acts could end up with an AO (like Manhunt 2).

 

[Chimera 1]

If parents let the kids watch The Family Guy they will let them play GTA IV. After all it is only a cartoon.... right?

 

[SOLIDSNAKE]

There is nothing wrong with this game.

100% amazing !

If people are offended by it DONT BUY IT.
the game has a mature rating for that reason.


I hate censorship.

 

[Amir]

I love how people complain and moan about this 'game', the very word should be enough to silence all critics, it's a 'game', not real, make belief, get over it

 

[darthviper107]

having a AO game is the kiss of the death for the publisher because it means it could only be sold online, which would kill sales.

and the only difference with M and AO is the gratuitous sex. Both God of War's had partial nudity but the actual act was done off camera.

oh, and i guess depending on what it is some violent acts could end up with an AO (like Manhunt 2).

Also, I think the consoles are actually programmed not to be able to play AO games anyway.

It's kind of ridiculous though, R rated movies have way more graphic violence and sex than M rated games.

 

[Shropt]

Also, I think the consoles are actually programmed not to be able to play AO games anyway.

It's kind of ridiculous though, R rated movies have way more graphic violence and sex than M rated games.

All 3 current systems have a feature that can prevent games of a certain rating from playing. This option is somewhere in the set up of the system and is the same thing as the V-chip on a TV.

The only problem is whether the parent is smart/educated enough to turn it on.

 

[creature4000]

See the problem is when the parents themselves are too dumb to read about what they are buying there kids... i.e. the Parental Locking.

Stupid is as Stupid does I guess.

 

[Fives]

people who sit around and complain about gta should 1. never ever play or hve anything to do with gta and 2. get life. i dont understand these people, havnt they got anything else to do?????

 

[OSCORP]

This is what a stupid ^^^^^ from our local paper wrote.

Katherine Kersten (a columnist with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune) has joined the ranks of pseudo-media personalities complaining about the evils of Grand Theft Auto IV. Unlike most columnists that rage against the GTA series, however, Kersten does make a point of focusing on the thirty-some male, acknowledging that the average gamer isn't a fifteen year old reclusive hiding in the basement. But here's the twist: If you play games like Grand Theft Auto, you're a bad father, a bad person, and a bad influence.

The average 32-year-old man who plays violent video games — and spends his free hours fantasizing about murdering passersby and roughing up strippers — is likely to be someone’s husband and father. What qualities of character will his wife find when she looks to him for love, steadiness and fidelity?

And when his young son looks to Dad as a role model — well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?​

The article also talks about humanity's "dark side", reminding us of ancient history (Romans and all, no pun intended), Nazi Germany, the Rwanda genocide, and so on, suggesting that GTA IV "stimulates" our "dark side".

Our own age has witnessed the horrors of genocide in Nazi Germany and Rwanda. These atrocities were not perpetrated by a handful of human monsters, but by thousands of ordinary people.

Contemporary Americans are not immune from sadistic impulses. The renegade U.S. soldiers who humiliated and maltreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib were reportedly imitating the pornified culture from which they came.

Games like GTA IV stimulate and glamorize our dark impulses. They create a taste for the psychological thrill that can come from dominating and degrading others. They encourage us to strip our fellow human beings of their dignity, and view them merely as objects of violence or sexual desire.


I'm 32 as well. I guess i'm just a bad person.
​

 

[Starkiller]

Relating the genocide in Nazi Germany to a video game...classy.

 

[Moonloop]

See the problem is when the parents themselves are too dumb to read about what they are buying there kids... i.e. the Parental Locking.

When I went to pick GTA IV up at midnight. We saw a young kid....I mean I don't know how old this kid was....maybe 10-12 (did not look like a teenager at all)? But he looked very young...very, too young to play the game. Anyways he was with his dad and they were there to get GTA IV.

 

[lerath666]

I'm not so sure on this one. Lets look at it like this, It's got some...shall we say.. interestng content, but lets face facts. The ratings do dick. I worked retail at gamestop for four years, and was told to "go ahead" on several sales to minors of M rated games. Kids DO buy these games. Is censorship wrong? yes, I think so, but there does need to be a line drawn somewhere. Even if it's just people's parrents, and other responsable adults actuly paying attention to what kids want to buy.
Failing that, sit with your kids while they game, bond with them, and see to it, while your at it, that they understand the difference between reality and fantasy.
Using drunk driving as an example, Yes. it may be frowned upon in the game, but you can allways not save. In highschool i knew a few people who liked to race drunk. I asked them about it one day, "it's fun" was the response. My frind got involved with it.
6 yearss ago he wrapped himself and his motorcycle around a telephone pole in a RESIDENTIAL STREET doing 120 mph. Some fun.
point is, not everyone is smart enough to know what's what. Personaly? that scares the ^^^^ out of me.

 

[Chimera 1]

This is what a stupid ^^^^^ from our local paper wrote.

Katherine Kersten (a columnist with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune) has joined the ranks of pseudo-media personalities complaining about the evils of Grand Theft Auto IV. Unlike most columnists that rage against the GTA series, however, Kersten does make a point of focusing on the thirty-some male, acknowledging that the average gamer isn't a fifteen year old reclusive hiding in the basement. But here's the twist: If you play games like Grand Theft Auto, you're a bad father, a bad person, and a bad influence.

The average 32-year-old man who plays violent video games — and spends his free hours fantasizing about murdering passersby and roughing up strippers — is likely to be someone’s husband and father. What qualities of character will his wife find when she looks to him for love, steadiness and fidelity?

And when his young son looks to Dad as a role model — well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?​

The article also talks about humanity's "dark side", reminding us of ancient history (Romans and all, no pun intended), Nazi Germany, the Rwanda genocide, and so on, suggesting that GTA IV "stimulates" our "dark side".

Our own age has witnessed the horrors of genocide in Nazi Germany and Rwanda. These atrocities were not perpetrated by a handful of human monsters, but by thousands of ordinary people.

Contemporary Americans are not immune from sadistic impulses. The renegade U.S. soldiers who humiliated and maltreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib were reportedly imitating the pornified culture from which they came.

Games like GTA IV stimulate and glamorize our dark impulses. They create a taste for the psychological thrill that can come from dominating and degrading others. They encourage us to strip our fellow human beings of their dignity, and view them merely as objects of violence or sexual desire.


I'm 32 as well. I guess i'm just a bad person.
​

What about the movie industry. Has she not heard of Saw I - IV, Hostel I and II, Wrong Turn, Hills have eyes I and II. These films are even sicker than those movies in the 80's/90's everyone was watching Faces of Death. What about 3/4 of the action movies out there? Hell some of the cartoons on the Cartoon network (not including adult swim or anime). Her point is mute unless she looks at the entertainment media as a whole and even then she can't compare that to real life. You can't compare a videogame to atrocities. Real life is always scarier than fiction.

 

[OSCORP]

I dunno man she sounds like a stupid ^^^^ to begin with anyways.

(probably doesn't know the first thing about the GTA universe, and this is probably the first GTA game she's looked into)
These idiots gotta have something to write about.

 

[Darth Madden]

Hitler played GTA too.... dang.

 

[jocco]

Really?? You guys don't really think MADD is in the wrong on this do you?? They are promoting a very worthy cause.

I understand Rockstar's desire to build a living, breathing world, and the "TOTAL" experience of NYC, but drunk driving is really pushing the limits. People at least need to be aware that drunk driving is a part of this game. There are far too many parents that are unaware of everything that goes on in the GTA universe.

Stopping distribution of the game is a knee-jerk reaction, but Rockstar saying GTA's "mature audience" is smart enough to know the difference is a huge falsehood. The amount of "kids" playing this game cannot be left out of the equation.

REALLY??!! A game where the object is to steal cars and shoot cops, and you think they are not wasting there time with this. It is a cartoon game. You really think someone is going to be playing this game and say "Gee, you know, when I was shooting all those cops, raping and killing all those prostitutes and running over those blind children crossing the street, DRIVING DRUNK made it that much more FUN!!! I think next time I drive, I am going to drive drunk." Give me a break. Anyway, it is a mature game, and children have no buisness playing it. It's called being a parent.