Midnight and the game of good and evil

I haven't played it long enough to find the new equivalent of the "hot coffee" sex mini-game that caused such outrage with

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

. Maybe there won't be one. But I've been playing

Grand Theft Auto IV

long enough to realise it is one of the few games actually worth the $120 price of admission.

But I had to rub shoulders with some genuine game geeks to get hold of a copy last night at a crowded EB Games store in Wellington. It was the most crowded I've ever seen it, more crowded that for the midnight launch of Sony's PSP handheld console back in 2005. The average age of those on the store was probably 18 at best, there were even what appeared to be some parents on hand to pick up copies (for their underage kids, I was thinking)?

There was soft drink, potato chips and free stickers on offer which sort of sums up the tone of this launch event. Here's how the conversation in the queue behind me went:

Game geek 1: "You so have to call in sick for work tomorrow."

Game geek 2: "It's too late it already is tomorrow."

Game geek 1: "How about I kick you in the balls so you can't go to work?

Game geek 2: "Hey that reminds me of that time..."

It was an interchange that could easily have been between GTA IV's protagonist Nico Bellic and his seedy, good-for-nothing cousin Roman.

EB Games

had so many people turning up to pick up their pre-release copy they'd organised a raffle system where everyone was given a number and had to wait for it to be called so they could pick up their game.

Still, it was an efficient system and by 12.40am the store was pretty much empty, groups of gamers dispersing up Cuba Street to race home and fire up their game consoles.

I've only played the early missions in GTA IV so far but what has struck me so far is the excellent look of the game on the PS3, especially as you see Liberty City in the afternoon sun or at sunrise.

The scenery is excellent as is the size of the map you are able to roam over. There are few seams visible - the characters look lifelike, and there is enough variety in cars and people to keep things looking quite realistic. As for Nico, he's a sympathetic character only because he's a stranger in a hard city and his cousin is such a useless slob.

One of Nico's first joyrides in my hands was along the runways of the Liberty City Airport after which his car was shot to pieces by a Swat team. Nico tried to swim to safety, but a police sharp shooter in a speedboat soon raced out to finish him of.

That's just one example of the random activity that can keep the blood pumping between the story instalments that unfold in the early stages at a leisurely pace, reminiscent of a gangster movie like

Goodfellas

. As the stakes escalate and Nico starts to pursue the condo, cars and girls Roman had sent stories home to the old country about, the action accelerates and the carnage begins. That's about when, bleary eyed I went to bed.

I know of at least one gamer who has taken off the week to devote himself to the game. It will be interesting to see how much debate the violence and seediness of GTA IV will generate in the next few days. I was already getting a lot of email on the subject even before the launch.

Take this one from "Tommygun" who is upset that New Zealanders have received a censored version of the game (and excuse the spelling): "... At the moment MY freedom is being destroyed and walked all over by THE MAN. Me and millions of other adults are not going to have a game that is as the designers intended. What happened to freedom of artistic expression? Think of it Peter, what if you were watching a movie that you paid for on a $6000 TV you bought just for scary movies and a sound system to match in a lazy boy you paid WAAAAY too much for and when all the scary bits come on the screen these hands come out from behind you and clasp over your eyes and plug your ears with there pinky finger!!

"I have spent THOUSANDS of dollars on all this equipment to enjoy games online with my friends I have known for years. Gaming is growing up Peter. Google the average age of a gamer Peter. Youll quickly understand that We are the masses. Just like rock music we are painted with an evil brush."

Then there's the other point of view from Mike: "Hi Peter; am I getting old, or does someone need to make an issue of this? Beating up women on a video game (or is it OK because they're prostitutes)??

"As a parent, I wonder who has the right to expose my kids to this kind of thing. We don't have a PS, but plenty of their friends and older brothers do..."

All I know is that I've been playing violent video games over half my life without any particular impact one way or other (as far as I know). I'm a big fan of GTA, it's hard not to like it really, it's an intelligent game. You don't get too many of those these days.

But I'm not a parent and they will understandably tend to have a different outlook. As the guy in my local kebab shop related to me yesterday, he hit the roof when he came home recently to find his five year old playing GTA, which had been brought over by a friend of the family.

The game was immediately banished from the house and the kid is now playing

Jak and Daxter

. GTA is an R18 game for a reason and the responsibility to keep this type of content away from impressionable minds lies not primarily with the chief censor, but with parents and responsible adults in the home.

What are your early impressions of the game?