A

fter the release of the first trailer for

the game, New York City officials were

appalled with the choice of their city as
the inspiration for the setting of Grand
Theft Auto IV, and said that a game
like GTA does not represent the city's
crime levels accurately. A spokesperson
for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "The
mayor does not support any video game
where you earn points for injuring or
killing police officers." Although no points
are awarded throughout the game, the
player is required to kill or injure police
officers on certain occasions to advance in
the game's main story.

As a response, Jason Della Rocca, executive director of

the International Game Developers Association,
accused New York City officials of double standards, for
criticising video games but not other forms of
entertainment, such as books, films and television
shows, which use New York City as the setting. Gary
Wyman was said to be inspired by the game, claimed
his parents. This was as he played the game moments
before he ran off and successfully attempted to hijack a
car and murder an innocent civilian. He confessed that
the games lead him to his actions but others claim he
was already at an unstable mental state. Theories
suggest that the game had brought out his inner
unstable psychology and directed him towards the
murder. He is facing court trials while his parents are
attempting to sue the game creators.

Thompson said the game should be

rated Adults only, saying, "The sex in the
game was taken out so it could even be
sold to adults in Australia." Thompson
claimed that the ESRB rating for the
game was "phoney", to appease large
stores that refuse to sell adult rated
games. Gary was under the legal age
when the game was purchased for him.
The parents believe the game does not
warm of the content well enough,
nevertheless he is being blamed fully for
his actions. Investigators claim to have
found evidence that the game was the
main reason for the actions. His parents
state: he has always been good
suggesting that the game is responsible
and manipulative. Rockstar (the game
company) say warnings are visible;
however this did not stop them.
They are suing for $60 Million

On his program, Glenn Beck, a conservative US talkradio host, used GTA V as an example to make wider
claims about the use of violent video games by the US
military, repeating claims made by Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman that the US military uses first person shooting
games to de-sensitise soldiers to killing.
In the second segment of the show, Beck spoke to Jack
Thompson and Gavin McKiernan, national grass roots
director for the Parents Television Council. Thompson
called the game "a murder simulator" and went on to
make unsubstantiated claims about actions that the
p
layer could perform in the game. McKiernan added
" T his is really an adult product we're talking about"
a
and went on to claim that research into media
I
violence had shown the potential effect violent
m
media could have on children. He claimed

There is a definitive difference