"Driving while talking on a cell phone"

geez, I wonder who does that? :P

Now remind me.

How in GTA when you press triangle and you get in a car instantly without even hotwiring it, that helps you hotwire a car in real life.

In fact I'd say anyone so retarded to think thats true would let themselves get thrown in jail as they get in the car which is MAGICALLY UNLOCKED then expect to just drive away. Maybe they'd be so idiotic they'd just get shot and be nominated for the "Darwin Award".

I thought Jack Thompson was taking the piss but this, this takes the biscuit then blames the stealing of the biscuit on a videogame.

'Gamer' eats, sleeps and drinks like most other regular people. 'Gamer' somehow also represents all other 'gamers' by driving through storefront. Gives other 'gamers' bad name and is somehow duly associated with them. Probably because they play 'games'.

J.T. is just biding his time. He's waiting until the GTA4 hype goes out of control and then he will start suing companies right and left again.

Mark my words.

Dum dum duuuuummmm.

Oh man im already doing things in GTA4!
Talking on a cell phone. Looks im one bad cat, Watch Out World! Here I Come!

It's so stupid how a video game can be blamed for a car theft or a murder or something like that, but a movie shows the actual hot wiring or mechanisms of a working weapon in much greater detail.

Obviously this country, and the world as a whole, has a long long way to go before games and gamers will truly be accepted beyond a novelty or a scape goat.

Didn't know that you can do that many things with prostitutes in GTA4.....

I just wish GTA would stop coming out and Rockstar would just go out of business. Then Jack Thompson would be completely out of work and the world would have one less drab, uninspired series on the shelves that people can praise as if its any different than the other games in the series, even though the graphics are only marginally better and rank as the worst looking games on their systems. Hell, I'm surprised this casual fest doesn't have its own Game Fuel.

@jihadjoe343: This world, and not only gamers, its the whole media medium and FCC in particular that is pretty much ruled by retarded conservatives with no clue between right and wrong.

They still believe the internet is a tube.

"Robbing a bank staffed entirely by prostitutes."
"Players score points by running over prostitutes while drunk."
"Players use a cell phone to call prostitutes to stand in front of their moving cars."

Sadly, these ridiculous claims (a clever way to drum up interest in your game, by the way) will probably be echoed -- unintentionally, of course -- by mainstream media.

At least there have been enough alarmist articles for people to be able to fake some of their own.

@usfslacker: Dude, are you crazy? the more games like that Rockstar makes, aka, Bully, aka Manhunt, aka, GTA, etc, the faster it will be accepted by the majority of conservative idiots in the world, same as movies that depicts violence are accepted and yet movies that show even half a skin of a naked girl is immediately mature only O.o

go figure...

That not a real news paper clip, that can't be ...

It seems to me that the crimes blamed on games don't even have to actually be represented in the game for it to be targeted in the media or courts. Unfortunately GTA IV will inevitably end up being a magnet for whatever crime ends up being flavor of the month.

"The game - in which players score points for running over prostitutes while drunk."

Okay. WTF...?

@usfslacker: I don't see how capitulating and giving into psychos like Jack Thompson would do anything positive for the game industry.

The best thing to do is keep fighting (metaphorically) the good fight and show that just because we play video games doesn't mean we have uncontrollable urges to murder people while having sex in a stolen car as our buddies listen in on our cell phone.

Err... I don't know if some people are aware that these are fake news headlines written by Games Radar, satirizing the mainstream media's obsession with "violent" video games. :P

Quite hilarious

@ffmusicdj: Of course not. They were made to add to the humor of the article.

Sad how close they are to reality, though.

Did I miss something? If that is a real newspaper clip, it says that the man bought a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. Maybe someone should tell them that that's impossible, because the game isn't even out yet?

"Players use cell phones to call prostitutes to stand in front of moving vehicles."

Cuz that's what I'd do with my cell phone.

@Snake726: Check the link, it's a faked clip. ;)

@Snake726:

Please read the article before commenting.

GamesRadar did a great job with this. Now let's sit back and see what prediction will come true!

Ok, now this kind of shit pisses me off.

How is it that as soon as something happens the media, parents, cops, and everyone that doesn't play games jumps in and automatically blames it on our hobby/lifestyle? There is no excuse for that. They don't even consider the criminal's life, habits, or mental state.

A line needs to be drawn and it needs to be drawn right fucking now. Jack Thompson, Hillary Clinton, the media, and every other anti video game-ist need to stop being asshats and look at the big picture. You can't constantly blame video games with the real problem. Look at 9/11. We didn't go all up in their faces and say: "Well, since you're the government and you have all the power, we're just going to blame it all on you."

Give me a fucking break. Get a grip on reality and arrest the real criminals. Quit assuming that people do these things because of video games. Get your head out of your ass and stop making the rest of us look like the criminals of America. You make yourselves look bad as well as 70% of the country.

This is actually really good writing... Why can't the average American write like this?

I'd actually read more often!

@usfslacker ; there's a baby in that bath water

@Blake Ruff: I agree, fake news designed to point out the ills of society in a humorous and poignant way should be stopped and stopped NOW!

@Snake726: It's fake...

Next time sum1 hotboxes, guess they'll have a scapegoat. :( Luckily the ones around my area only use the internet for porno... They don't check for information or news or comedy.

@Snake726:

THEY'RE JOKES

The articles are hilarious and what not, but chances are these will be cropping up when the time comes...

@dead_red_eyes: I'd guess all of them. Probably verbatim. Don't know whether to laugh or cry.

@dumanue:

He'd go broke if he tried. He can't file free suits anymore, he needs to hire a lawyer now since his right to file was revoked.

At most, he'll either go broke, or he'll make noise on "faux" news.

I'm going to blame the next Crime I commit on No More Heroes... Just to see what happens. Or I can bypass the crime and make another fake article... hmm.

@dead_red_eyes: All of them. I've already taken care of driving on the phone and telephone line theft and I can't wait to get a jump on stabbing... while drunk driving.

"Robbing a bank staffed entirely by prostitutes." lol

I always thought that the character in GTA was sober when he did those things.

@myself

Hint to self: Read everything more carefully next time to get jokes.

@ST19AG_WGreymon: You can get drunk in GTA4. And since you can also drive, you can also invariably drunk-drive.

Should make for some terrific tabloid fodder. This is spot-on satire.

Our society and "supposed protection" love to spread bullshit until the sun comes up. Humanity in general is failing because we continue to ignore the real problems in life.

We're destroying our planet constantly with CO2 emissions. What about solving the real problem in Iraq? We continue to pour billions of dollars into that so called "war effort". It isn't even a war anymore. It's more like a one sided argument. We continue to overpower a society but get nowhere. How do you think the families over here feel? I love America to death, but I feel more sympathy towards the children that get strapped with these bombs. How can you do that? Yet, we stay there anyway. We aren't solving anything. We are approximately 9 trillion dollars in debt and counting. A recession doesn't help either.

So, in short...we have more important issues to worry about than the "video game criminal."

hmm, this reminds of a part of The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet that my girlfriend was watching a couple of weeks ago. They were talking about a group of 3rd graders who plotted to revolt against a teacher by tying her up and possibly stabbing her. One of the hosts, Juliet, asked something to the effect that "is it because of video games that children are becoming more violent"

The person they were talking to about it said no, and that there are many factors to take into account. So it's not just video games, it's media in general.

He also said that the 3rd graders probably wouldn't have done it because they probably would have gotten over it and moved on to another moment.

I wish I could find a video of it. Juliet was posed to pounce on video games for blame.

This media violence thing is becoming something like "which came first the chicken or the egg". Only in this case it's "which do we blame, the media or the people". Except it's a ridiculous question being that media is made by people. Attacking a faceless idea is always easier then dealing with an actual person.

Honestly I don't think we should focus on blaming anything. We should focus on taking responsibility in any case. Suspects blame games/ media, or bring it on as some sort of accomplice. The news then runs with the idea and investigates the "harmful reality".

Fear becomes the message. Fear becomes the MEME. Fear spreads through the mind by the hand of popular media, the people. It spreads like an infection, especially to those who supplicate themselves before it, narrowing their vision.

#&@$ fear.

I want to see the world encourage understanding. To encourage a willingness to learn...

I think I've ranted a bit too far, and am sorry for the digression.

I love how every single one of those fake articles manages to shoehorn in a reference to the hookers in the game, even when it's completely unrelated to the subject XD

Of course, when you begin to seriously consider that that's what the mainstream coverage will look like when the game comes out, it gets a lot less funny, and a lot more scary.

Excuse me for not reading into the thick sarcasm :P

I still want to know if they are going to have JT in GTAIV. ;D

Would be funny if hes the one giving out papers with all these fake articles in them.

@Witzbold: They could do it, just call him Tom Jackson :D

Had to do one myself. [i39.photobucket.com]

@Snake726: God damn it, why does no one read the damn article before commenting anymore?

@ShaggE: XD, brilliant.

@ShaggE: Nice, that's awesome.

@Bam345:
@ggodo:

Heh, thanks. Wish I had more room to work with, though. I had about fifty more jokes I could have used there.

@Bam345:

I have you there. I DID read it.

I'm just an idiot.

@Blake Ruff:

Did you even READ the linked article? It's FAKE. You're getting your knickers all in a bunch over FAKE news.

C'mon guys, READ THE FUCKING ARTICLE! Please do so before commenting. That way you won't come off sounding like a crazy person.

@ShaggE:

Haha! That's hilarious.

@Communist_Gamer:

You have to die to be eligible for a Darwin Award. You know, survival of the fittest, and thinning of the stupid from the gene pool.

Most of those awards turn out to be urban legends anyway.

@Witzbold: - "I still want to know if they are going to have JT in GTAIV. ;D"

Me too.

When will the media pull the stick out of their ass?

@Erwin: - "I can't wait to get a jump on stabbing... while drunk driving."

How in the hell would a person do such a thing? Either way, it's an impressive goal. Best of luck to you sir!

@VixDiesel:

RTFA, IT'S A JOKE!

Argh.

I swear Witzbold, I don't know who's gonna have a heart attack first ... me or Bash.

@VixDiesel: Dont worry this article is fake. ;D

@dead_red_eyes: Prior to writing my response I did read the article, and although funny it is sad to think that those articles could actually happen.

I don't care. I'm still trying to state the problems with what has been accused on people in past articles.