| Grand Theft Auto IV is anticipated to become best selling video game ever by selling six million copies worldwide with in the first week of its release. The game which has an 18 certification, is set to break the previous record by another video game, Halo 3.
It is a violent video game in which players rob and murder their way through the criminal underworld and is expected to become the biggest-selling entertainment title of all time when it goes on sale next week. |
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Because of its violent nature staff at Britain’s largest retailers have been told to request ID from anyone looking underage but parenting groups fear some children will still be able to buy a copy. There are some concerns about the game which follows an Eastern European criminal as he comes to the United States and turns to a life of crime, will fall into the hands of younger children.
According to director of the Parent Organization, Andrew Hibberd “There will undoubtedly be older looking children who will buy it. The danger these games is the message that they send out. They tend to glorify a criminal lifestyle. Of course, not everyone will copy what they see, but the truth is that some do. We see 14-year-old children driving reckless in the streets, crashing cars and getting into trouble with the police.”
Gennaro Castaldo, of HMV, insisted staff has received “rigorous” training to ensure that the game was not sold to anyone under the age of 18. “As with any video which has an 18 certificate, our staff will always ask for ID if they think someone is too young to buy the game,” he said.
The British Board of Film Classification has already given an 18 certification to the game because it contains “strong violence, very strong language, and sex and drugs references”.
Its release on Tuesday on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles comes only weeks after Tanya Byron, the television psychologist, recommended that video games carry cinema-style classifications to stop children accessing graphic images.
Ed Barton, a games analyst at Screen Digest, praised the game for its compelling story lines and sophisticated graphics, saying that it “raises the bar for games development”. However, he added: “I think most people will agree that this game is not suitable for the under-18s.
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