New York officials have spoken out following the release of the GTA IV trailer last week. It seems that the Bloomberg administration isn't too happy about the suspiciously NY-esque backdrop to the game.
According to the New York Daily News, City Councilman, Peter Vallone, said, "Setting Grand Theft Auto in the safest big city in America would be like setting Halo in Disneyland."
The NYPD wasn't too happy, either. Police commissioner Raymond Kelly stated, "It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be."
The mayor's office also chipped in, adding, "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers."
While it's always nice to see politicians getting their undies in a knot, however, their statements don't quite smack of outcry. SPOnG would like to draw your attention to the word “would” in Vallone's statement. We'd also like to point out the lack of acknowledgement that the game's setting is indeed supposed to be New York from Kelly and the Mayor's office.
It looks suspiciously like, upon seeing the Chrysler Building in the trailer, the Daily News whipped out its Rolodex to try and stir up a bit of controversy. Enter perplexed city officials with (we hope) little time to spend idly looking at games trailers and out pops a bland, non-committal-but-suitably-pc comment.
Still, SPOnG can't help but wonder how long it will be before our pal Jack Thompson pops up in New York with something suitably inflammatory to say on the subject.
According to the New York Daily News, City Councilman, Peter Vallone, said, "Setting Grand Theft Auto in the safest big city in America would be like setting Halo in Disneyland."
The NYPD wasn't too happy, either. Police commissioner Raymond Kelly stated, "It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be."
The mayor's office also chipped in, adding, "The mayor does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers."
While it's always nice to see politicians getting their undies in a knot, however, their statements don't quite smack of outcry. SPOnG would like to draw your attention to the word “would” in Vallone's statement. We'd also like to point out the lack of acknowledgement that the game's setting is indeed supposed to be New York from Kelly and the Mayor's office.
It looks suspiciously like, upon seeing the Chrysler Building in the trailer, the Daily News whipped out its Rolodex to try and stir up a bit of controversy. Enter perplexed city officials with (we hope) little time to spend idly looking at games trailers and out pops a bland, non-committal-but-suitably-pc comment.
Still, SPOnG can't help but wonder how long it will be before our pal Jack Thompson pops up in New York with something suitably inflammatory to say on the subject.
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Comments
config 2 Apr 2007 13:44
1/3
All the NYC landmarks are there - Chrysler, Empire and Flat Iron buildings, Statue of Liberty, Times Square and the Brooklyn Bridge - HOWEVER - every single bit of signage mentioning a location say "Liberty City", from the "Liberty" Ferry Terminal and the "Liberteen" building sign and to the billboard advertising the "Liberty Tree" newspaper and "Liberty City" as the registered port of harboured "Platypus".
This is NYC in form, but not in name it would seem - and that's very much like the original 3D GTA, which given a more powerful platform, would most certainly have been more like the real NYC.
Also Driver: Parallel Lines; set in NYC, involving lots of crime - I don't recall outraged official bleating about D:PL.
This is NYC in form, but not in name it would seem - and that's very much like the original 3D GTA, which given a more powerful platform, would most certainly have been more like the real NYC.
Also Driver: Parallel Lines; set in NYC, involving lots of crime - I don't recall outraged official bleating about D:PL.
realvictory 2 Apr 2007 17:16
2/3
Most of all, it's only a game. No one's giving you points for killing real people.
How about every game that's set on the "real" Earth, for example, where you do something bad to win? Who complains about that?
Anyway, they're just giving the game free publicity - talk more about Super Paper Mario or something instead.
How about every game that's set on the "real" Earth, for example, where you do something bad to win? Who complains about that?
Anyway, they're just giving the game free publicity - talk more about Super Paper Mario or something instead.
Joji 2 Apr 2007 21:48
3/3
Crazy politicians. Who cares where its set because like a book or film, games are creative media. Changing the name does little to how it looks.
Like you say free publicity is good, but its tiresome to see Rockstar/Take Two getting so much stick already from these fools.
That's all good but New York wasn't always safe. There used to be rife crime til they fixed the problem. I still feel 9/11 has left them very sensitive to New Yorks' image though.
You only have to look at the cuts to the Spiderman film (of Spidey on WTC) to see that. What's funny, is that Spidey is a positive crime busting character but the chops still happened to please politicians. No one else would have cared (a fitting tribute if it were left in, I reckon). SO GTA is in town and gets this bs.
Works both ways I say.
Like you say free publicity is good, but its tiresome to see Rockstar/Take Two getting so much stick already from these fools.
That's all good but New York wasn't always safe. There used to be rife crime til they fixed the problem. I still feel 9/11 has left them very sensitive to New Yorks' image though.
You only have to look at the cuts to the Spiderman film (of Spidey on WTC) to see that. What's funny, is that Spidey is a positive crime busting character but the chops still happened to please politicians. No one else would have cared (a fitting tribute if it were left in, I reckon). SO GTA is in town and gets this bs.
Works both ways I say.