Grand Theft Auto IV: Discuss

Depending on the news source, Grand Theft Auto IV is either the greatest thing to ever happen to gaming, or the surest sign yet that the world is already doomed. The reality is something in between: GTA is entertainment software that provides a lot of enjoyable gameplay and will hopefully make players think about the world we all live in. It will also help move a lot of game consoles for Microsoft and Sony; for a long time to come.


First of all, GTA is a game for people who already understand that it is not acceptable to drive 115 MPH down the wrong side of the street in Manhattan with a machine gun hanging out the window, finger firmly on trigger. The Grand Theft Auto series has always danced on a razor’s edge and helps illustrate how carefully constructed modern life is and how most of the population automatically obeys the really important rules. The latest installment of the franchise is fun, insightful, sickening, violent, thoughtful, clever, frustrating, and just a little scary. It should be a little unsettling that anyone with a gun or vehicle can unfurl the fabric of modern society. It should raise the hair on your neck that anyone with a little willpower or the right acquaintance can obtain the tools of wanton destruction. Welcome to western society, please obey the rules.

Second of all, the boring stuff. Grand Theft Auto IV, with a rumored budget of $100 million and a team of more than 150 developers is the largest video game project to-date. More than 6 million copies were pre-ordered across the PS3 and Xbox 360. Estimates from various sources place initial weekly sales at 6-8 million copies and year end 2008 sales above 11 million. It is already the fastest selling game in the UK, and the franchise has sold in excess of 70 million copies worldwide since its initial 1997 release. The game also helped publisher, Take2 Interactive, resist a hostile takeover bid valued at over $2 billion from rival Electronic Arts.

Third of all, the controversy. Does GTA beget homicidal maniacs? Does the game celebrate ultra-violence or deride it? Does the fact that you have to press buttons and waggle little sticks make game interactions more violent that the latest horror film gore fest or crime spree movie where the body counts include everyone in the credits? Should the developers have included better controls for drive-by shooting? All good questions and all will remain contested. The developer, Rockstar North, certainly thrives on controversy and is known for outspoken commentary and perhaps clueless management. Regardless, they make popular games and know how to stoke a fire to boost sales and ensure their products remain in the spotlight.

There is one sure thing however: GTA is now a part of popular culture. As has gone on for centuries now, stories and media stay with us and are constantly consumed, re-imagined, and passed on: Beowulf, Shakespeare, Hitchcock, The Godfather, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Superman, Gone With the Wind, Playboy, James Bond, Halo, etc, etc, etc. Grand Theft Auto is a permanent fixture of society now. The more is cried out over the game, the more popular it will become. The more players push it up as the ‘best game ever’, the more it will be torn down and criticized. Besides, history repeats itself and the tired cliché is still correct: from Comic Books to Elvis, from Doom back to theater with the first female actresses; there will always be something terrible to stand up for or protest. Accept it, everything will be ok.

Nintendo. Sony. Microsoft. Ready: Fight!

The big three console manufacturers; Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are set to release their latest quarterly results in the next few weeks. The last quarter will probably be pretty sunny for two for the three: Nintendo cannot keep the Wii on store shelves and Microsoft just dropped prices on the Xbox 360 in Europe and reported that sales have more than doubled. Sony will surely be content with third place; waiting in their cave and thinking of the day they finally get back into the lead. That won’t be anytime soon though.

With more than 20 million consoles shipped, Nintendo leads the pack for worldwide console sales. Nintendo’s innovative motion-based controls and refusal to compete with Sony and Microsoft on the graphics technology front has freed the company to deliver a console with more appeal across all consumer demographics. The upcoming US and European release of Wii Fit, a yoga and exercise focused game and wireless balance board peripheral, should only increase the mainstream and non-gamer appeal of the Wii console. Wii Fit was released in Japan on 12/1/2007 and has sold in excess of a 1.4 million copies to date. The $89.99 Wii Fit bundle would surely help move more Wii consoles; if only there were more on store shelves to purchase.

In the Sony and Microsoft camp, the release of Grand Theft Auto IV will help sell consoles and is already set to be the largest media release in history. It is the first time the franchise has been released on two formats simultaneously; and with pre-orders through the roof, both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game will surely sell untold millions of copies. Currently, the Xbox 360 version is anticipated to sell more copies due to a larger installed base of the Microsoft console and a downloadable content deal with publisher, 2K Games. While the deal is exclusive to the Xbox for the time being, it is widely speculated that the downloadable content will eventually be available for the PlayStation 3. However, Microsoft’s marketing team is not going to let anyone forget that the content will arrive on their console first, and among gamers this is a significant fact.

In addition to the significant game releases in the next few weeks, there is another category that console owners are starting to weigh in their purchase decision: premium video downloads. Next-generation game consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360™ and Sony’s just-launched PlayStation®3 are a new device category capable of acting as a media server or adapter. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 provides a glimpse at the potential role a networked game console can serve in the connected home. Since Xbox 360’s debut in November 2005, Microsoft had sold more than 17 million units globally as of January 2008. The console has incorporated Microsoft’s Media Extender technology, which can stream multimedia content from the home network (most likely a Microsoft Media Center PC) to a home stereo or a TV set. Most recently, Microsoft added hundreds of full-length TV shows for download to own and movies for download to rent from major TV networks and movie studios through the Xbox Live service.

Although Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console has lagged behind Microsoft’s Xbox 360, worldwide sales have now exceeded ten million units. Sony has also recently announced that – like Microsoft – it will begin offering premium content through its PLAYSTATION Network service, although it has not provided much in the way of specifics, saying only that they will be offering a video download and streaming service.

Examining sales of the three major consoles (the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, and the Nintendo Wii), last year saw 32.6 million units sold to consumers. Among that figure were 15.6 million Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. For 2008, we are projecting Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sales to tally more than 14 million units.