Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Society as we know it will end!

For those of you that are living in a hole let me be the first to tell you that perhaps you should dust off your Y2K gear in preparation for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. The game has basically been blamed for every social ill in the last ten years, and while I have not had a chance to see it's new content, I am sure that some conservative parental group will soon be lobbying hard for its removal from shelves to preserve the innocence of our youth. I have never bought into the negative press against the Grand Theft Auto series, and personally I find it offensive that individuals would blame a video game for downright poor parenting. I can't tolerate another round of self righteous parents who blame video games for everything that is wrong with America. My advice would be as such. If you think the game is crap, then don't buy it for your child. If you are "duped" into buying the game for your child then you lack the parenting skills to have children. If you are personally turned off by the game, once again, don't buy it. I don't push my religion on you, don't push your family values on me. 

2 comments:

Xircuits said...

Woohoo!!! I completely support your stand on blaming video games. My parents let me watch and play any game I wanted to. I started playing Doom and Doom II when I was 10 years old (back when it first came out on like 5 diskettes). The one thing my parents always reminded me was: "It's not real." Meaning don't go out there pretending every fat man is a Demon (pink hunched-back type creature) and trying to shoot them.

I read in Metro at the end of last year when the film/tv writers were on strike, someone woman said, now that there's no new episodes, I spend more time playing with my baby. What does that tell you about parenting these days? It's pretty sad. I have GTA: VC and I told my father once that I loved playing it and he replied "It's fun to play a vigilante without having to do it in real life." I have to agree and with that, I'm getting a new Xbox360 with GTA: IV, The Ghostbusters, and Ninja Gaiden 2 (NG2 has more blood and guts you were ever see on GTA). Enjoy.

JamesBedell said...

I spent a summer living in a house with a PSII and GTA: VC. I played a little bit and I got a point where I was trying to intimdate a witness by smashing their car in, when a cop saw me. My first thought was "I better beat this cop to death with my hammer before he calls for backup."

That's when I put the controller down. Doesn't make me a good person. Just someone that got freaked out at the idea of beating someone to death with a hammer.