Get ready for a mainstream media frenzy over Grand Theft Auto IV, the new Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 driving/shooting game scheduled for release tomorrow. Gamers who've seen review copies are going ga-ga over the title, while mainstream media outlets are lining up authorities who say the violent title is bound to corrupt tender young minds.
A looming problem for the game may be a GTA IV machinima that depicts sex acts and murder (Warning: Not safe for work, unless you work in porn). Never mind that it was created by IGN, a gaming news site, and not the game's creators, Rockstar North and Take Two Interactive -- Florida attorney and anti-videogame crusader Jack Thompson is using the machinima as ammunition in his fight to have the title removed from retail outlets and Take Two sanctioned, reports Ars Technica.
Thompson will have a tough time using the machinima to spark a legal case against retailers and Take Two. This isn't a developer's easter egg. It's a video created by fans of the game. Anyone with the right skills could make a video that contains simulated sex scenes and killing, using far more mundane titles that are not in Thompson's crosshairs.
But most parents and mainstream media reporters won't make these distinctions. If the IGN machinima gets a lot of play this week in the mainstream press, it will damage the reputation of GTA IV, its creators, and the gaming industry as a whole -- an outcome which Thompson and his supporters would surely welcome, regardless of any official actions against the title.
Ian Lamont is the author of The Social Enterprise blog on TheStandard.com. Comment below, or email Ian at ian@thestandard.com. Follow Ian's updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ilamont, or visit his personal blog. Ian's bio and disclosures are located here.
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