Taking the Parents Television Council up on an interview offer, Phil Villarreal of the Arizona Daily Star spoke with Dan Isett (left), PTC Director of Public Policy about Grand Theft Auto IV.
Along with a number of other watchdog groups, the PTC has been highly critical of GTA IV in recent days. Villarreal, however, reports that Isett's knowledge of what is actually in the game is a bit lacking:
Isett: I’ve actually played ‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ and it’s right in keeping with previous versions. The series continues to lower the bar and this is the first game that has an alcohol content warning. You get points for driving drunk in this game.
Villarreal: You know that’s not true, right? The game doesn’t have points.
Isett: If nothing else, it’s a rewarded activity. Necessary for advancement.
Villarreal: I don’t think so.
Isett: But there’s an alcohol content warning and a scene of drunk driving, correct?
Villarreal: Yes. Did you play that part?
Isett: No, no. I didn’t get that far...
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Journalist Calls Out PTC on GTA IV Drunk Driving Claims
May 9, 2008
Poll
Shout box
DorthLous: Anybody tried Hiversaire? Thoughts?05/22/2013 - 5:48pm
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E. Zachary Knight: New Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. Alan Wake: https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly No Linux or Mac support. :(05/22/2013 - 1:46pm
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E. Zachary Knight: Microsoft talks about the lack of backward compatability. You're backwards. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192801/If_youre_backwards_compatible_youre_really_backwards.php05/22/2013 - 1:39pm
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E. Zachary Knight: That is absolutely nuts there. As bad an experience XBox Indie Games was, the problems weren't with the self published side of things. Forcing a publisher onto independent studios is not going to help.05/22/2013 - 10:43am
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MaskedPixelante: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-05-22-microsoft-wont-let-indies-self-publish-on-xbox-one And the hits just keep on coming.05/22/2013 - 9:20am
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E. Zachary Knight: AE: You beat me to it. That's what I get for taking the night off.05/22/2013 - 7:40am
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E. Zachary Knight: To continue the confused and convoluted messaging system present in EA, They are making Wii U games: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/192753/EA_is_working_on_Wii_U_games_after_all.php05/22/2013 - 7:33am
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Imautobot: I gotta admit, I seriously believed Microsoft was going to "Bring It" with this new console. But they failed, and I think that failure might be Epic.05/22/2013 - 7:27am
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Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm
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PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm
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Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm
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Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm
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Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm
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Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm
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Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm
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james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm
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Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm
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Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm
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PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm
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Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm
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Comments
Fangamer
That was a mandatory mission in the game, and it is quite clear that these type of people don't play the game; so they would have no idea that it's in there. Besides, the naysayers focus on the optional, non-important aspects of the game.
That's totally the same as the game requiring you to drive drunk in order to advance, right?
Why didn't the interviewer tell him that? His response of "I don’t think so" is so disappointing. I wanted to hear that ignorant asshole get *shut down*. It was a perfect opportunity, wasted. :(
Isett = Fail
Actually, this is par for the course. The 'experts' have seen 5 minutes of video, have never played the game, and are latched onto an idea that can easily be proven as wrong.
Just a normal day in the week for Game Politics I think.
Just about every crime you break in a GTA game is a punished behavior. You rack up money (Might as well be points, I guess), but the higher that wanted level goes, the harder it is to do anything except hide under a bridge and hope the cops keep driving into the river instead of taking the ramp around the other side. Its fun going on a rampage, but if you're in the game to finish it (which is what I generally consider the "reward"), you're not getting very far by making a big scene all the time.
In fact, as others have said, the game consistently punishes 'violence for its own sake'. The best course of action is almost always to keep the level of violence low. For instance, when you're tasked with killing a gang and the police show up you'd be crazy to start shooting police. The only mission I've seen where this isn't the case is the bank robbery, where you have to defend yourself by shooting cops.