“It's a satire of not only New York, but of American consumerism and culture…” Those words came from Lazlow Jones , one of the creators of Grand Theft Auto IV, which hit stores yesterday.
Now, take that quote and lay it next to the fact that GTA IV is the most highly anticipated video game release ever. Early estimates say it will sell over $400 million this week alone—making GTA IV both a critique of American consumerism and one of its greatest benefactors.
Is that even possible? Can you be both of those things at once?
Our Starbucks in the game is called Bean Machine. Its slogan: All Beans Lovingly Picked by Children in Central America.
Chapter four of the Grand Theft Auto story is being written all across America. Millions of people are stepping into the virtual world of Liberty City to steal cars, kill people and deliver pizzas. And while the violence and seediness of the game is ripe for criticism, one thing must be said: You are whom you chose to be in Liberty City.
Niko Bellic is the protagonist of the story line you enter when you turn your gaming council on, but the life that Niko leads is entirely up to you. If you want to follow the narrative line that the game makers have constructed, you will be pumping ‘people’ full of lead and dealing drugs in no time. But that is not the only option in GTA. And, it is this open world of choice that makes it so popular.
You can [and I know college students who have done this in GTA III] play the game for hours doing nothing more than walking the streets, delivering pizzas or even taking people to the hospital in an ambulance [sure you stole the ambulance, but let’s not get lost in the details here]. You don’t have to be a bad guy in Liberty City.
But we all will.
We will all jack a car.
We will all run a few people down on the sidewalk.
We will all squeeze off a few rounds.
The question is, why?
