March 31, 2007 -
That didn't take long.Take Two Interactive's new management team, which seized control of the company via stockholder revolt late Thursday afternoon, is facing its first public relations crisis. Not surprisingly, the uproar is related to the controversial Grand Theft Auto series.
Just hours after new chairman Strauss Zelnick and his team wrestled control of Take Two from embattled former CEO Paul Eibeler, the company released the first video trailer for GTA IV, scheduled to hit retail on October 16th. The picture at left is a screen shot from the trailer.
While game websites analyzed the trailer frame-by-frame in an obsessive hunt for clues to GTA4's game play, officials in New York City began doing a slow burn over the Big Apple's obvious inclusion as Liberty City, the setting for the crime-oriented game.
As reported by the NY Daily News:
The latest version of an ultraviolent video game will unleash its murderous mayhem on the streets of New York. And outraged political leaders say the rampant brutality of the game, Grand Theft Auto IV, has little in common with reality.
...(GTA4) is set in a mythical city that bears a striking resemblance to New York... the trailer shows well-known landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Cyclone in Coney Island...
Said City Councilman Peter Vallone, who chairs the Council's Public Safety Committee:
Setting Grand Theft Auto in the safest big city in America would be like setting Halo in Disneyland.
A spokesman for NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg added:
The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers.
Take Two, of course, had no comment. So even though management has changed, the company's unfortunate duck-and-cover P.R. strategy apparently remains.
Comments
Re: GTA4 Trailer Outrages NYC Pols - Honeymoon Over for New ...
All RockStar have to do is create one paragraph in the manual saying 'This online game is set in an alternate universe where public transport is still at 1970-80's stages, but medical knowledge can completely re-assemble a human being from just a few cells. It is impossible for anyone to die, why do you think you wake up in a hospital after being hit by a rocket launcher?
Re: GTA4 Trailer Outrages NYC Pols - Honeymoon Over for New
Brilliant - I'm a brit and I've been playing GTA4 for a while now. I'd LOVE for a future GTA to be set in London or Manchester.
Some of the Halo/Disney references are awesome.
Its mental that these politicians are so concerned about a fictional game and don't seem to care about real life issues. I bet they play GTA4 when they're supposed to be working on climate change legislation "From Home"
(*still wishes foer edit and delete buttons*)
Now they'll have to cancel the accompanying documentary.
IT'S A GAME!
How many movies have depicted New York unrealistically, it's fiction, get over it.
First, Las Vegas politico decries Rainbow Six Vegas, then Juarez politico decries Dhost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, and now this.
At least they understand it's nowhere near reality, but they continue to take this the wrong way. Berg, as you said, IT'S A GAME. Get over it.
I guess it's just another case of video games are still not taken seriously by a lot of people, and this is something each game company should start working on. I mean, the industry's worth billions, surely some positive PR should be in order?
On a side note, did they kick off when Driver Parallel Lines was released, or is it just a case once again of only attacking the most popular titles!
"In previous incarnations, players advanced through the game by killing cops, selling pornography to children and killing prostitutes. Details of the latest version have not been released."
Sorry, but in which mission do you "sell pornography to children" - surely this is liable of the highest order and T2 should do something about it... Oh and of course, you don't 'advance' by killing cops and prostitutes.
1. Gta 3,
2. True crime: streets of new york
3. Fahrenhiet/Indigo prophecy
And tons more.
Where was the outrage when these games depicted new york, in many cases showing it negitivly.
These besides, last time I checked, since they aren't useing any offical names or copy righted material, it's all clear.
So, NYC politicos, STFU and GBTW.
"Safest big city in the country" Who are you kidding?
gang type activity going on, trust me i've been living in Los Angeles
for 2 years.
And by the Way, i liked the Idea of a Disneyland mod for Halo - could someone make that?
Peter Vallone needs to focus on more important things. Like catching the Joker.
I would hardly call Bloomberg conservative bully, or blame him for the GTA4 backlash.
Brokenscope said it best, video games are politician's cultural whipping boy. Both parties are guilty of pet anti-game projects for winning quick campaign fodder.
The Political Spectrum is more like a circle, people too far left or too far right are the same type of person- those beyond the hope of making compromises or questioning there own beliefs.
There is no one answer that fixes everything. A guy once told me that I couldnt support Englands actions in WWII and Martin Luthur King Jr (btw I'm white) because they didn't agree with each other or some BS along those lines. This statement dumbfounded me. If you play a any video game, watch any movie, read virtually any book, ask military generals, or even look at history you will learn that different promblems require different solutions. If a guy pisses you off, you walk away rather than punch him. But if that guy is raping a girl it'd be better to punch him, and then call the police.
Anyone else think it's ironic that we teach children history so "they won't repeat the same mistakes of the past", but virtually all politicians/leaders do just that?
BULLSHIT
Take off your blinders you some of you so conveniently throw up every time a "conservative" does some thing fucking stupid remember that a "liberal" just as far on the other side of the spectrum would do the samething or something just as stupid.
Neither party is a really the industries friend. both parties only give a fuck about votes. Get that through your skull. If there is a cultural whipping boy the only question is which party is hitting it harder.
God sometime you people piss me off.
Nasty.
"WE'RE NOT BIASED, LIBERALS ARE EVIL!"
"I'M NOT BIASED, GAMEPOLITICS IS EVIL!" Or whatever. I dunno what word would be good besides "evil."
"Grand Theft Auto IV, has little in common with reality."
err.. isnt that true for all games?
And halo would rock if set in disneyland :P
Cortana: "...Chief, why did the mouse have to die?"
M.C.: "Sorry. My sniper scope needs cleaning. Thought he was a grunt."
You say we wish Take-Two would vanish?....
There's only one person who really does wish that, and he's not allowed to come here.
I wonder who this UnBiased guy really is?...
Probably higher than most amusement parks.
http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/deaths.htm
"What is that you say? This game is pissing off politicians in New York? Awesome it must be one hell of a game if they are so fired up about it."
Well good. You don't earn "points" for killing cops, you earn wanted status and the cop's weapons. :3
"ultraviolent" "The mayor does not support any video game where you !!!!!!!!!!earn points for injuring or killing police officers!!!!!!!."
Jack thompson please step up.
People should dig a little deeper before saying things, especially since NYC is safer than all of the major cities in overall crimes. Check it out maybe...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_New_York_City
Seriously? Because if New York equals Disneyland, I'm guessing Detroit equals Cedar Point? And I'll tell you something, I don't think I'd want to walk into downtown Detroit and pay someone to "ride the roller coaster".
What I'm getting at is: this is a ridiculous comparison. Don't politicians have more to worry about (like poverty in New York, crime rate, etc) instead of video games ABOUT New York? Sheesh.
*sigh*I think the terrorists have already won....
I think if Bostan has the right to say that pranks are not allowed because of 9-11 i think that New york is also not allowed to say its the safest city.