A new version of the video game series Grand Theft Auto IV
debuts Tuesday and may well come out of the blocks with $400 million in sales by some estimates. It could rival Halo as a blockbuster despite protests and despite the fact it only plays on XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 games.
The game includes carjackings, simulated drunk driving, shooting and more.
USA Today points out:
The Chicago Transit Authority is pulling ads for the game off its
buses. The Parents Television Council is calling on retailers to keep
it away from children. The PTA has a campaign to explain ratings.
The story adds:
Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment
Consumers Association, says generational bias fuels the criticism:
"People who haven't grown up with games won't understand them."
A new book, Grand Theft Childhood, says games, even some violent ones, may have social benefits.
"Video games are now a social tool for boys,"
who use them to interact and build friendships, says co-author Lawrence
Kutner, who is on the Harvard medical school faculty. The games also
teach kids to solve problems, the book says.
A Web site for the book says:
In 2004, Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl
K. Olson, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School
Center for Mental Health and Media, began a $1.5 million study funded
by the U.S. Department of Justice on the effects of video games on
young teenagers. In contrast to previous research, they studied real
children and families in real situations.
Here are some excerpts from the book.
The Washington Post says the new Grand Theft Auto game hits all the hot buttons:
It contains "blood," "intense violence,"
"partial nudity," "strong language," "strong sexual content" and "use
of drugs and alcohol."
The game's developer, Rockstar, has mostly kept quiet about the
storylines of its latest game, set in Liberty City, a satirical version
of New York City. Previous installments of the best-selling games have
all followed the paths of young strivers who go from rags to riches,
building careers as gangster kingpins. On the way, there tend to be a
few zillion explosions, flattened pedestrians and rival gangs that need
to get squeezed out.
What should parents do about violent video games?
One suggestion from Harvard
professor Michael Jellinek is that parents should play the video games with their children. Jellinek said few parents know anything about the games.
Nice to see some information that presents a fuller view...
