GTA4's Only Issue
by mgcrider08 on Comments
All of us are highly excited about the arrival of GTAIV to the 360 and the PS3, as well we should be. IGN has already given it a 10 in every single category, and liked it enough to write 7 pages about the game without even giving away a lot of information. There will only be one foreseeable issue with GTA, and it is of no fault to the creators of the game. The issue will be that countless millions of young kids will get their hands on the game and play it. The fact is, while some games rated mature can be played by kids as long as they have a mature mindset, GTA SHOULD NOT BE PLAYED BY ANYONE UNDER 16. I honestly believe this, and I remember playing GTA3 when it came out in like 2001. I was in college and it was the only game that ever made me think I might be able to do something I had only seen in a video game (i.e. - run a car through another car, commit crime, etc.). I might sound loony, but if you play a game long enough, and we will all be playing GTA a lot, you can see where that could happen. So if those silly images were in my head at 20 years old, imagine what a 12-year-old is thinking. Kids have a harder time separating fantasy from reality. At 20, even though I had those images, I could laugh because I knew I wasn't really going to do it. But a kid getting their hands on this game might get the idea that gunning people down is cool because you just come right back to life (we all know the truth, however). I'm not a fanatic about making companies reduce violence and other things in games, because they have the right to put it out there. I also think that a mature ADULT can really enjoy this game, especially people who are familiar with the GTA series (which is quite a few people). But they are supposed to, it's created for adults. I know adults aren't always mature, but they can be put in jail if they are still mentally incapable of handling the stories of GTA. I truly believe we need to make a push to make sure mature people are buying AND playing the game. I'm not hating on kids, I'm just saying this a game they should not play.