Media take on GTA, Sparking the Violent Games Debate…Again
A Daily newspaper, famous for its topless page 3 models and stories about celebrities taking drugs, has blasted the makers of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, for the inclusion of a drug-dealing mini-game.
The UK’s Sun paper reports – and I say that in the loosest sense of the word – that the game has been attacked by charities, including Drugline, whose spokesperson Darren Gold says: “Anything using drug-dealing as entertainment is sending out the wrong message.
“Glamorisation doesn’t help our work trying to educate kids of the dangers of substance misuse.”
The newspaper is clearly trying to spark the violent games debate, one that game players are all extremely bored of hearing, just so they can sell more papers.
Brilliantly, the generally family/kiddie game orientated, Nintendo are pretty happy to have the game on their DS console.
Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser in the latest issue of Edge said: “Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn’t want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren’t interested in making a game we wouldn’t normally make.”
Up to this point Nintendo has gone to a lot of trouble to make the DS a console for families and girls. Who can forget the adverts with Nicole Kidman, or more recently Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton? Is the time right for Nintendo to show that the DS has a gritty side?
With the millions of units sold, it has a solid fan base established, however sales are beginning to wane slightly so perhaps a shake up is needed, and of all upcoming titles GTA is the most likely to do just that. The major risk is upsetting that warm and fuzzy fanbase, they are the ones who continue to by terrible games about dogs and ponies, but DS is severely lacking in the male 18-34 demographic, which as most people know, is the main gaming area.
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