And if you work at Rockstar, you make your living supplying terrible parents with their stock in trade. Like a company that makes lawn darts or those little magnets that tear holes in childrens' bowels. Or the malt liquor company that gets daddy drunk every night. That type of business.
Well, it's true. Just like you wouldn't take your 12 year old to see Scarface. As far as I can tell, the only reason that video games are subject to so much more moral panic than movies is because those who don't play them assume that they're kids stuff.
The GTA series are adult games. Imagining that Rockstar makes their money off of the 12 year old punks who pirate the games behind their parents' back is absurd.
For a child, most Rockstar-style content would sail over his head, leaving him with nothing but a vague impression of brutality. For an adult, they can be delicious. Beyond the gray areas the games relish in the play itself (oh, you thought you were virtuous? well, decide this, then), some of the offhanded news, radio and television media parodies they've done are better than almost anything out there, but obviously not designed or written to be remotely intelligible to anyone who hasn't lived through some adult absurdity.
@5: Yes, the media parodies are some of the best parts of the game. GTA IV has this Rush Limbaugh knock-off who gets the voice and tone of oblivious self-importance dead-on.
@1- No, that's not true and you (as someone who posts their opinion on the Internet and not an employee of Rockstar) don't know what you're talking about.
The child wouldn't have to consider the actions in the game if the parent explained exactly what a video game is. Age surely play a part, in the sense that you probably don't want the 12 year old to play halo just yet, but at some point that child is going to have to tell the difference between fantasy and reality, and I think GTA could help with that understanding if the parent was willing to watch, monitor and maybe even play with the child. I think there's a lot we don't know about video games, but generally I'd agree with his statement, because if the kid is begging you to buy it, and you oblige without knowing anything about the kind of games rockstar produces, that should be considered child endangerment or something.
The GTA series are adult games. Imagining that Rockstar makes their money off of the 12 year old punks who pirate the games behind their parents' back is absurd.