minorthird

This is pretty rediculous, if you ask me: Video game co. agrees to remove dialogue

I love Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It might be the best game I’ve ever played — well, at least in the top 5. I guess a few of the missions in the game that call for you to “kill all Haitians” has offended Haitian Americans, as well as the Haitian government, which as declared it “an incitement to genocide.”

Genocide? Ummm…maybe in the game, but not really. We’re talking about 20 or 30 digitized representations of people who have been labeled as Haitians. In the context of the game — Miami in the mid-80s — it doesn’t seem to be out of place. I’m not saying that I agree with the broad stereotype that all Haitians, Cubans, and Colombians in Miami at that time were gang members or drug lords, but come on!! It’s a freakin’ video game!!

Maybe it’s too much to ask to suspend disbelief while maintaining a semi-realistic environment. I mean, while playing the game, I can climb on to the roof of a building, and fall off, only to have my health reduced by upwards of 30-50%. Then I walk away. I don’t have a broken leg, or am I knocked out, bleeding in the streets. Realism with a touch of disbelief…it sells games. If it was too real, nobody would play it as it would be too difficult.

Take-Two and Rockstar’s apology and explaination.

“As its name implies, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a virtual crime world, in which characters are involved in criminal activities, including fictional gang warfare between rival groups. In creating the game, it was not our intention to target or offend any group or persons or to incite hatred or violence against such groups or persons.

“In addition, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is “M” rated; it is not intended for sale to under-17 audiences. Contrary to what some may believe, it must be recognized that videogames have evolved as an adult medium, not unlike literature, movies and music. The fact that the game is popular does not mean that it will encourage players to act out hatred or violence against any group or persons in the “real world.” Certainly, this is not our intent, nor is it the effect of the game.

If, after playing GTA, you’re dumb enough to go out an try any of the stuff in the game, you’re fucking retarded, and deserve to find out, quite quickly, that in real life it takes one bullet to kill you, and there are no place to restore your health, and if you shoot at a cop or fuck with a gang you will die.

If this were a book, or a movie — hrmmm, Scarface, anyone? — it might in an award…

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