Controversy and GTA V With Rockstar's Dan Houser

[samsonguy920]

Politicians will always have something point to for scapegoats, that's one reason they are politicians. Frankly I would find it better to just ignore the complaints, and produce what you want that will get sold, with at least an ear to the governing climate, but if that were to ever change to actual restrictions(which would be political suicide for whoever put forward such bills as well as those who vote for it.), well then can't do much anyway short of changing the format or just changing where you sell your product. Actually 'fighting' the system by putting out even more violent content would most likely backfire, because there is actually a certain level of gore that most buyers can take, to where the entertainment is lost. If all you want out of a game is nothing but gore and nothing else, then I can safely say you are in the minority. Enjoy your Saw game and unrated Manhunt 2. I'm not saying we need less gore, but going the opposite way just to spite the man, may sound like a cool idea, but it will only be counterintuitive. If you want to keep games safe from restrictions, then do what you can to keep the 'gamebullies' out of government. Looking at you, Oz.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

Since when do we need a politicians approval on anything, look how far we have come in gaming without em. Although Rockstar disappointed me alittle here and there, they are part of the family and I"m willing to help em out. Its nice to have a brick-n-mortar stores like Gamestop, and Gamestop, and of course Gamestop(Is there really another national store that is equal to them?) but digital disturbion is practically limitless, the politicians can take it away. Aalong as there is one steam client running, there will always be gaming.

 

[syndicated44]

Ignoring the rest of the article I love the fact he said we'll think of a city first. GTA is always so intertwined with its city and the characters express it. Its just why GTA is just a fantastic game even if I have so many arguments with IV I still sit down and experiance the story more then I have any of the other GTAs (except vice city I have lost count on how many times I have played that).

On the rest of the article I am more moved by violence in movies then I am games. However it depends on the movie I am watching like say for instance Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan the violence in the movie is used for effect and I am completely sucked in and I genuinely feel sick afterwards. With a game I feel it is more expected and I have not really played a game that really tugs at my heartstrings with the violence.

Then there are movies that base themselves around violence and gore for example Saw or Hostel. Now the difference between a game and a movie in this sense is that I havnt really played a game that the point is to cause the pixels on the screen to have the most horrific death humanly possible. Then again I dont look for games or movies like that because to be honest there is no real place or point to it other then to show as much red stuff pour at as possible.

There will always be controversy with games simply because it is not necessarily understood. Whereas movies and television have been around since the 20's and plays have been around since the begining of mankind. Videogames are a newcomer to the audiance and until we are able to sit down and make a game that actually shows the impact that our violence causes there will always be this problem.

Games are about killing or destroying and games about creating usually are not as big. Also with the enhanced graphic engines and with games having more mainstream attention you are going to bring more attention to yourself. Look at Postal if that came out tommorow it wouldnt fly. They would shut it down so fast you wouldnt be able to get your shovel and protest it. However it did come out a few years ago and there was a lot less attention on video games back then.

I remember going into a game store and actually seeing the occasional X rated game. That was back when I was just a wee lad. However now this doesnt happen, games have become more and more mainstream and like I said with that attention brings both negative and possitive attention.

 

[matrix3509]

GTA V should be set in a place with a truly heinous crime rate for a change. I'm thinking Johannesburg: The car-jacking capital of the world. It would be perfect for a game essential based on and named after car-jacking. That way Rockstar could also use some of those hilarious South African accents.

 

[VanityGirl]

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a wise man.
I've been wondering how movies don't triggers violence if video games supposedly do. This man has made a very good point. My hat's off to him.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Has rockstar publicly admitted "Hey, we screwed the pooch on GTA IV. It sucked, we're sorry, and we'll try to return to GTA: SA perfection next time." ?

I don't see why we started hating GTA IV. The story was great. The gameplay was great. The graphics were great. And it was FUN. Sure, it may be too bent on realism, but it just made the more unreal situations more interesting and fun than it was in most games that aren't trying to be realistic.

 

[Starke]

The really sad thing about all the attention GTA4 got, was it was released about the same time as Saint's Row 2 which is, content wise, had so much more potential to be controvercial than GTA4 did. Ever bit of restraint that Rockstar has placed on the GTA franchise is delibratly avoided for SR2, and yet, GTA4 is the one that got the media atention as "a villian in our midst" or whatever.

That said, it's also been far more addictive for me... hmm...

 

[Erana]

I think it's moved on. It's not like MW2 has kicked up like a GTA used to. Sure, the media is all over, but eventually they'll realise that the audience, their audience, is exactly the market that is playing these games and shut up out of embarrassment. How many of their own workforce do you think are playing these games? A fair few given the average gaming age these days.
Sure, kids'll still get hold of these games but is it really any worse that those of us who used to sneak-watch The Evil Dead or Rambo when we were kids?
It's easy to say these children will turn into killers, but if anything the Comic / Punk Rock/ Video Nasty debacles have shown us throughout history it's that these theories are usually utter bollocks.

What are you talking about? Things of the youth have always been terrible influences. I mean, look at that swing music! Its like sexual acts set to music! It encourages wild behavior and inappropriate dress!
Its nothing but a form of escapism that makes people forget reality!

(Yes, my Jazz history professor is awesome, why you ask?)

 

[Svenparty]

I don't know about video games, but "3-D" movies make me particularly violent.

"It's.... A.... GIMMIIIIICK!!!!"

I'm not on any huge hype train but I do believe 3D movies aren't just Gimmicks: Take UP for instance which was very well crafted indeed better than WALL.E

 

[The_Deleted]

I think it's moved on. It's not like MW2 has kicked up like a GTA used to. Sure, the media is all over, but eventually they'll realise that the audience, their audience, is exactly the market that is playing these games and shut up out of embarrassment. How many of their own workforce do you think are playing these games? A fair few given the average gaming age these days.
Sure, kids'll still get hold of these games but is it really any worse that those of us who used to sneak-watch The Evil Dead or Rambo when we were kids?
It's easy to say these children will turn into killers, but if anything the Comic / Punk Rock/ Video Nasty debacles have shown us throughout history it's that these theories are usually utter bollocks.

What are you talking about? Things of the youth have always been terrible influences. I mean, look at that swing music! Its like sexual acts set to music! It encourages wild behavior and inappropriate dress!
Its nothing but a form of escapism that makes people forget reality!

(Yes, my Jazz history professor is awesome, why you ask?)

Perhaps, but these things are a release, escapism, as you say. Not a catalyst for murder rates, sexual deviancy or rape.
Admittedly music has always been a kind of 'foreplay' in the right circumstances, but that's not to say it's evil.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Oh yay, time for Grand Theft Auto III part 3.

 

[calelogan]

The ESRB age rating exists for a reason. Not only that, but countries world wide also implement ratings on games. Some aren't as adequate as they should, like Australia, for example, but ratings are still a very important part of the "freedom of speech" process.

Games should have the liberty to express themselves, no matter the content. As the medium grows only resisting laymen don't realize the artistic and cultural potential of games.

 

[Byers]

One sentence about their game design process when it comes to GTA, is enough to tag GTA5 in the title. Cheap ploy to get someone to read a poor article.

"...as well as (very) briefly touching on the next Grand Theft Auto game" in the teaser text.

Not sure how much clearer you'd want it. Your failure to read does not constitute there being anything wrong with the article.

 

[Terramax]

but with that game coming under fire from both the media and politicians in the US and UK respectively, it's difficult to agree with Houser's position that the debate is moving on.

The fact that a newspaper would even give an interview for a videogame developer to voice their opinion is a form of showing things have moved on. They just haven't moved fast enough.

 

[Lullabye]

man i can't wait until the japanese eroge games industry makes a global debut.Then they'll forget all about gta and we can play in peace.

 

[copycatalyst]

The Times Online article mentioned has probably the best sentence to sum up GTA, quoting Dan Houser: ?The game is set in a world that is like the world would be if it were the way the media says it is.?

Too bad the irony is lost on the pundits.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Has rockstar publicly admitted "Hey, we screwed the pooch on GTA IV. It sucked, we're sorry, and we'll try to return to GTA: SA perfection next time." ?

While I agree that they screwed the pooch, the game didn't necessarily suck. It was a very well made game it was just a poor gta game. I think pretentious is the best word to describe it: they wanted us to take the game seriously for some reason.

But they aren't going to admit to that; at least not while they're still trying to sell it to half the install base. I just hope that the next one will be fun... without having to spend an extra $20-40 on it.

The Times Online article mentioned has probably the best sentence to sum up GTA, quoting Dan Houser: ?The game is set in a world that is like the world would be if it were the way the media says it is.?

Too bad the irony is lost on the pundits.

Like above, news pundits aren't going to admit their stupidity while trying to force feed it to a good fraction of the public.

For gta4, the line would've been better as: ?The game is set in a world that is like the world would be if it were the way the boring crime dramas says it is.?

I don't think we have long to wait before the media/attentionwhores find their new whipping boy.

We should just be glad they didn't try banning dogs after they caught the son of sam.

 

[Aaron Martinez]

The creators of grand theft auto needs to make a grand theft auto game that takes place in Colorado with every thin that going on in life and make the game to where you can be a kid teen or a adult in the game and make the laws in real life and put it in the game.