Some GTA IV stories

GTA IV has been a massive popular cultural event and as such it has spun off all sorts of interesting stories.

  • Well known sicko Jack Thompson stars in GTA IV special podcast. Jim Sterling speaks to Jack Thompson for the very first time. In this historic event, Jack Thompson actually makes good on his promise to appear on a videogames podcast.
  • Games Radar produce a video of zany GTA IV tricks. They put a crack team of daredevils to work squeezing every ounce of madness out of GTA IV’s wide-open sandbox. They turned helicopters into people-blenders, stared down speeding trains and pulled off some of the sickest automotive stunts you’ll ever witness.
  • Apple parody in GTA IV. If you browse the internet enough on GTA, you might come across an Apple ad parody. The not so subtle mockery of Apple consists of a computer ad for “Fruit”, that implores you to “THINK Simple. THINK Minimalism. THINK Overpriced.” Ouch. There’s also an ad for a banana shaped “iFruit Phone” with “No buttons. No Reception. No storage capacity. All ego.”
  • GTA IV can physically make you sick. Drinking in GTA IV has a severe affect on your character in the game, the camera gets heavily affected and the graphics become blurred. Your character will have a very difficult time walking down the street without stumbling and losing health, let alone driving. During these scenes the effects on screen not only affect your onscreen avatar, but can also make you a bit nauseous or even dizzy from looking at your character stumble around.
  • Liberty City Google Mapped. Google Maps in association with IGN has just added a Liberty City module to it’s reputua, with full location spotting and interactivity. Pretty neat little mod, and should help those getting accustomed to Liberty City’s majesty.
  • Barack Obama talks GTA IV. Addressing citizens in Indiana, Obama made reference to the game’s popularity – before seeming to back the industry’s message of it being an ‘adult game for adults’.
  • Mothers Against Drunk Driving get their knickers in a twist. MADD wants a stricter rating on “Grand Theft Auto IV.” The organization is calling on the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, the independent organization that assigns video-game ratings, to reclassify “GTA IV” as an Adults Only game. The action-driving game, which includes the ability to drive while intoxicated, is currently rated Mature.
  • New York cops hate the game. New York City officials were outraged over the game taking place in a city resembling theirs. Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated that the city would not support a game where you were rewarded for killing police officers.
  • Chicago bus advertising pulled. Due to complaining from a local Fox News associate, however, the ads were pulled by the Chicago Transit Authority, following nine shootings in the city (NOT related to the game).
  • Top 5 Non-Violent Things You Can Do in Grand Theft Auto IV.  You can get your kicks in with GTA’s massive extracurricular sandbox worlds, too. But there’s always been more ways to spend your gangsterific time than running from the police and beating up strangers.
  • GTA IV pedophiles – did Rockstar go too far?If players visit a particular website described as a site for child beauty pageants (www.Littlelacysurprisepageant.com) using the game’s in built fantasy Internet, they instantly become wanted by the in game police for viewing questionable material.
  • GTA 4’s Production Budget Estimated at $100M. Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies revealed in an interview that the recently released Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360) had a budget of roughly $100 million, marking the title as the most costly development of any game to date. GTA IV’s massive budget pins the title above the previous front-runner Shenmue, released for the Dreamcast in 2000 and costing an unprecedented $70 million to produce.
  • Lady blogger gets knickers in twist about violence towards women. Not only can you pick up and have sex with prostitutes, but then you can kill them: with you car, a gun, or whatever you have lying around. The sex is graphic (the video game is realistically rendered), and the killings have great tag phrases.
  • Keith Vaz Jumps on the bandwagon. No surprise here. Reacting to the falsely reported stabbing story. He said ” GTA is a violent and nasty video game and it doesn’t surprise me that some of those who play it behave in this way.” Idiot.
  • Sad psychiatrist doesn’t understand why adults play GTA IV. “Why would adults even be playing them? I have no idea. You get rewarded for going to the prostitute. You get more health benefits, and then if you steal her money, beat her up and steal her money, you get more.” He need to go back to college.
  • Video game veteran thinks that GTA IV is pornography. “If adults want to do it, that’s their choice. But that’s not where the problem is… Personally, I think it’s sick and twisted… They should be putting this stuff behind the counter so that the adults that want it can come in and ask for it, like they would an adult magazine…” So he got his three minutes of fame.

There are plenty more, but the above gives you an idea of the huge social resonance this game has. Which is brilliant for our industry. We really are becoming mainstream.

3 Comments


  1. Very interesting collection of articles. Thanks for collating and sharing them.

    Its such a great game that I am having trouble fitting RL in around it.

    I will be attempting some of the stunts. I haven’t actually completed any missions thus far as the sandbox environment is just too much fun!


  2. How do you find the time to track down all these stories and play the game as well? (Or do you?)

    I saw the story about MADD- I presume that they haven’t found the time to play the game either. Otherwise they would know that the game actually suggests that you get a taxi home after drinking…


  3. i love gta iv

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