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GTA IV adds drunk driving, strip clubs

DERRIK J. LANG

Associated Press

Latest comment posted at 3:33 PM EDT 30/04/08

Long known for pushing buttons and fuelling gaming controversies, next edition in popular franchise readies for April release ...Read the full article

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  1. Charlemagne From Dartmouth, Nova Scotia from Canada writes: This game looks very sweet I hope it better then the other ones.
  2. Bob Fugger from Victoria, BC, Canada writes: I can't WAIT for this game to come out. Rockstar has always pushed the envelope and good on them for generating sales out of controversy. I can't wait for the senseless violence, over-sexualization and the opportunity to drive drunk in this game!

    And before my fellow readers jump to castigate me, please rest assured that I am someone who clearly sees the distinction between fantasy/escape and reality. The bleeding hearts needn't worry - I don't plan to take to the mean streets of Victoria picking off cops with my gatt while driving down the wrong side of the road with a flask of Jim Beam in my hand.

    Which is why I agree that this game isn't appropriate for all ages. Go ahead and rate it AO, but don't restrict it's sale. The controversial content of GTA4 is no match to the hipporacy of the Wal-Marts of the world, whose business practice of not carrying AO titles go beyond any state-sanctioned censorship. Mind you, that is their choice - just like their reprehensible labour practices.

    People who want this game won't be detered by not being find it their and other, smaller retailers will flourish.
  3. Sean Kelly from Nova Scotia, Canada writes: I agree with Bob. Games are just that. Whatever rating, we'll manage to get a copy one way or another.
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    Paul Hume from oakville, Canada writes: This will be the console game of the year, hands down. GTA/SA still stands up from a gaming perspective as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure that Fox will show there ignorance by having it reviewed by people who have never played it....like the what they did with Mass Effect.
  5. Neiland Robert from Canada writes: ZZzzzzz.... When you have lived it, why play the game?
  6. Some Guy from Canada writes: 'adds' drunk driving and strip clubs???
    Dear G&M, play the previous games and you'll find those elements there too. Your headline is misleading
  7. J S from Toronto, Canada writes: I think this game goes a long way in showing us how sick our society really is.
  8. P.erry Chahil from Surrey, Canada writes: Sick? Yes, Entertaining? Definitely.
  9. Granny Rose from Saint John, Canada writes: I hardly tell anybody, but VC and SA have been two of my favorite games. They're more funny and captivating than violent, and the characters and stories have been some of the best I've ever seen in a video game. Most "R" movies are far worse. Anybody know when we might reasonably expect this to hit the PC?

    And "Some Guy", you are right - I do seem to recally Tommy giving Phil Cassidy a drunken ride to the hospital, and the "time" he has to go through to earn the Pole Position asset!
  10. D. Clearwater from Lethbridge, AB, Canada writes: Yikes, are they still releasing games in this series?

    Just kidding ;)

    I am not really interested in the series anymore but it will be interesting to see how well it sells these days as the series is, in some ways, getting a little long in the tooth. I say that because we are in a period where we might start to see the end of long-running and successful franchises... I guess because developers/publishers might want to move on and/or the audience is aging and moving into different directions. I am sure GTA4 will sell well even just on notoriety alone but I do wonder about its future.
  11. Bored Worker from Woodstock, Canada writes: Can't wait! Love the previous releases! This might make me put down rock star...
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    Paul Hume from oakville, Canada writes: I always loved the radio stations in the games. Definitely one of my favourite elements. It actually blew me away how much content is in one of these games. And it's actually a great value considering how many games are now designed to essentially be weekend rentals. I have a buddy who is still looking for horseshoes in LV. lol

    Drunkeness is in a lot of games. My current game of choice is still World of Warcraft. There's a yearly two week brewfest in that one. When a character gets drunk, the screen becomes like "Walleye vision", and the toon stumbles around a bit. I thought it was fun til she ran off a set of stairs 11 stories up. lol The motto, you can't control yourself as well when drunk.
  13. The Wight from Canada writes: "I think this game goes a long way in showing us how sick our society really is."

    The entire series was intended to be a satire of/homage to gangster movies. They've covered the Italian Mob (original up to GTAIII), mid-80's cocaine culture (Vice City - think Miami Vice) and most recently, hip-hop gansta culture (San Andreas). If you take them 100% seriously, you are completely missing the point.

    Do yourself a favour ... check out some of the GTA audio files floating around the web. Most of them are copies of the various radio shows that you can listen to while you are in the cars driving around. If you can listen to a new-ager interview Thor, the Thunder God about his new self-help book and keep a straight face, they you are irredeemable.
  14. Sask Langer from Canada writes: For those of us who know it's something you normally don't do in polite society, it's a good thing there's at least an electronic medium that will let you drunkenly ramp a schoolbus over an airplane and into the side of a hospital. Or get in your convertible with a parachute and "Thelma and Louise" it off a placard on the top of a mountain. Keep it coming, Rockstar. You taught me how to properly get a tank up a hill (turn the turret around and fire backwards) or just what happens when you hit an oil tanker with a rocket launcher. Good times...
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    Michael Tripper from Canada writes: Zzzzzz.... When you have lived it, why play the game?

    because it's not illegal or dangerous to others lik reality - more like a thrilling ride through memory lane

    not that I would know anything about that.....>:p
  16. Sask Langer from Canada writes: "What are you doing?"
    "I'm getting a parachute"
    "You're driving a hearse off a mountain. Think about it."
    "Good point. Let's use this hearse for its exact purpose."

    "You were right, that was totally worth it"
    "... where's that tractor?"
  17. Ontarian in Quebec from Canada writes: Yeah, I can't wait for this game! I hear that there is multiplayer as well for it....I hope that's true!
  18. D K from Canada writes: I am shocked. It's not like any of those activities have any basis in reality. ;)
  19. Ryan Fillmore from Sackville, Canada writes: I am so excited about this game, and with it being released the day before my birthday!!! Its simply awesome timing! But in reality, this game is the reason I have bought an xbox 360 and why my next purchase will be a HDTV. The GTA series puts at your thumbs, what society does in reality, yet makes and example of it and makes fun of it. The next thing that needs to come from Rockstar is GTA online (a GTA world closely resembling the real world, with the same Geographical tensions playing out in the background, while individual players build gangs and cartels to rule the drug/black market underworld).
  20. Not right or left from Canada writes: I've been waiting for GTA 4 for a couple of years now. It looks like its going to be a good game.
  21. Eric the Red from Canada writes: " J S from Toronto, Canada writes: I think this game goes a long way in showing us how sick our society really is."

    Cue the violin music.

    Where were you when they started airing Jerry Springer and Ricky Lake?

    Society is already sick as it is and if a video game is the only way for you to judge it, then I suggest a Xanax prescription for the ensuring shock in realizing that reality may be stronger than previously thought.
  22. Dan Thomas from Canada writes: Forget ingame drunk driving, play this game while drunk. I tried a couple times with SA and damn it was hard to stay on the road.

    Neiland Robert. You have gone on a crazy shooting spree? Kill all in your path and pulling out the chaingun to shoot down helicopters? Blown up tanks with rocketlaunchers? Let me guess you drove around with a man tied to the hood of your car trying to scare the crap out of him too right? Save the BS.
  23. Gabriel Stefan from Toronto, Canada writes: It's a game people. More then likely the guys driving around like a drunk psychopath on the streets of the GTA world are perfectly sensible drivers that will never even consider driving drunk, driving on the sidewalk, visiting strip clubs, selling drugs, picking up prostitutes, etc etc.

    Regardless of what some fear mongering fool on Fox News will tell you I can assure you all that the human mind is more then capable of distinguishing between reality and virtual world.
  24. K Kal from Canada writes: rockstar is the best

    must get hdtv and ps3 or xbox 360 to play this game

    come on tax return!!!
  25. Tiu Leek from T.O, Canada writes: "I can't wait for the senseless violence, over-sexualization and the opportunity to drive drunk in this game!"

    Hey, you can do all that stuff now if I wanted to. What do you need the video game for? :)
  26. Jake Richardson from Kingston, Canada writes: only one moralizing tsk-tsk-ing comment! Yay! Time to kill EVERYONE!!!

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