Oh no! Not Again

It's time to batten down the hatches for a heck of a storm. GTA IV is on the way (some copies already downloaded) and I'm sure that the horror stricken media and parent groups will soon begin their campaigns to ban the game. You would think they would have learnt by now that they cannot stop or even slow down the dissemination of this game worldwide (Bully, anyone?). Will it be full of violence and mayhem - of course - otherwise, what's the point. What amazes me is how much this game has advanced in graphics, game play and storyline since the release of the first GTA in 1997. In fact, you can now download GTA and GTA2 directly from Rockstar Games for free. I remember when my son and I first saw the pre-rendered screen shots of GTA3 and being 'blown away' by the concept and the promised graphical look of the game. In fact, I didn't really believe that Rockstar could pull off such a major improvement to the admittedly, basic original game. Even if, by some miracle, the game is banned - so what? The normal rules of obtaining games or watching R-rated movies goes out the window due to the possibilities of the magic of downloading. Almost any reasonably intelligent teen knows how to download what they want and how to then use that download on 'modded' equipment - it ain't hard. I think that there are more important issues out there - such as how to deal with those troubled people that can't tell fantasy from reality.