At first i was like "Whaa?!", but now i see IGN actually have a valid point.

The thing that gets me the most angry about reports which will no doubt use this video as evidence is they make it look like you do nothing but sleep with hookers and run people over. Lets pay no attention to the story of the game and everything in context...that would be stupid.

Pulling this video might have been worse then leaving it up though. Now big news can have a story about a evil video clip removed for being over the top even for gamers!

Cowards, cowards I say!

Didn't gametrailers have a clip up called "Refund"?

I watched it yesterday at 'ahem' work and a large group gathered. It definitely shows the most graphic aspects of the game and I was surprised they have plus sized prostitutes, talk about realistic! Not surprising to me in the least that you can do these types of things and should not be shocking to anyone who has played the series before.

Is it just me or are News Corporation's subsidiaries just causing trouble? FOX News, MySpace, IGN. I think they're working together hand-in-hand for attention.

Why is it necessary to shoot a hooker in the game? Is this game suppose to appeal to the mass of people who feel good doing this stuff?

Ok, you can do this in all the GTA 3 and above games. Get the prostitute, and then run her over or shoot her to get the majority of your money back. Was this not noticed in the other GTA's? Or are they more irritated that Niko is dry-humping her?

Doesn't Fox show TMZ on TV?
Isn't that kind of the same thing? Death and hookers all around.

IGN posts clip of the most extreme and objectionable behavior in the game.

Fox News, owned by News Corp. like IGN, uses the clip to 'prove' that video games are evil and morality destroying.

Does anyone else see this happening?

@redrabbit: It's a game, no one is actually shooting real people.

So yes, I feel good playing a game, and the game allows you to do this.

Would I feel good actually shooting a hooker? No, because I am a stable human being.

No one is going to magically become unstable from this game. If someone goes out shooting hookers after this, they were already screwed up.

And that is a point that the media always overlooks.

maybe IGN just made a tribute to the oldest job ever.:)

@redrabbit: Err.. it's not necessary at all. In fact, it's entirely optional. GTA is an open-world game. You may have heard of it.

Now I actually want to see the clip. I hate censorship.

Wow, people actually think that there is a conspiracy with IGN and Fox? LOL. XD

Kotaku has been really going after IGN this past week or so.

@RTW:
That's what I was wondering. I mean, it's not ALL about that, but... yes. Generally in 3D GTA games you hire hookers, if you play the most efficiently, you shoot them (or run over to save ammo) and take your cash back. You shoot police. Most people go on shooting rampages to attract police attention when they're bored...

There are missions too, but let's not whitewash the game as if you just get up in the morning, hop into your purchased car (Grand Mortgage Auto!) and drive to work at the speed limit before contributing to society at a boring job all day and then come home and go to bed. It's a series where you see how much crime you can get away with, blow away some cops/feds/army if they get in the way, and escape to murder and steal another day. If sold only to adults, that's alright, but yeah... it's not Super Mario Bros here.

Why can't people just shut up?

:(

@parad0x360: Right, because outside of the debauchery, Niko can volunteer at the local animal shelter and help old ladies cross the street.

Face it. This kind of stuff is indicative of what the average GTA player loves about GTA. Why bother to pretend it's not there? Because IGN didn't want to do Fox News' editing for them?

Christ, day two and I already feel like my head's going to explode. I've been at my desk at work on the internet most of the day (slow day) and everywhere I go, even non gaming related sites have posts about IV controversy. I walk into the break area and it's some dumbass blond anchor on CNN interviewing some game journalist who did an awful job defending the game as she was trying to stir shit up. I'm already sick of it. I just need to get home, put on the headphones and enjoy the shit out of GTAIV. I think I need a break from the internets, I need to find some work to do tomorrow.

@cpmui99: If it happens you can bet that Fox News won't ask for permission to use the clip.

This is why I stopped reading IGN a long time ago. Theyre pandering to the worst side of the worst type of audience, and hurting the industry by doing so.

So I called my psycho-analyst and she was out. So then I called my life-coach and she couldn't take my call as she was picking up a copy of GTAIV for her husband (whom I game with).
Man, I'm gonna be killin hookers this weekend! Da!

I can't say that this doesn't make GTAIV more... wantable...

@fuchikoma: I'd love a GTA where you could pick up a boring 9-5.

So now you're criticizing Fox for something they haven't even done yet? How about waiting until they use the clip in a misleading report before declaring them guilty of that?

How is this story any different than the things you guys have rightly criticized Fox for?

Also, the parent company of this site doesn't exactly have a sterling record. But you guys on Kotaku usually do a great job. Almost always. It's too bad about the other times.

i dont feel bad because they are already dead inside... THANKS Peter Griffin!

"two elements ... that some critics say is entirely what the game is about: sex and shooting women"

yes, critics who have no freaking clue what the **** they're critiquing, but who want a juicy headline or soundbite

that said, I have no idea why IGN made that video -- the game certainly didn't need it to help sales or popularity, and it only reflects poorly on Rockstar ("look what sick and depraved games they make"), on IGN itself ("look what sick and depraved things they like to do in the games they review"), and on gamers ("look what sick and depraved people they are for enjoying such sick and depraved games")

Wimps.
We're all doing it.

@ekkobi:
I'd love an Animal Crossing where you could beat and rob people. ;p

@PatMan33: Because that would show humans have a spec of intelegence, witch if my spelling is any proof, we don't

@fuchikoma: LOL it'd be even funny when you try to sell it back to tom nook because he's the only person to sell things to "hey wasn't that the clock that was in here yesterday" "hey racoon thing, stfu and buy this before i take maor stuffz"

I swear, if this particular clip shows up on Fox News, I'm completely boycotting IGN. I already cut my traffic to the site a lot since the buyout, but I'm gone if they pull a cross-promotional effort like that.

@akira1984: LoL i was about to say that

Like Fox News can't go out and shoot their own GTA4 hookers? Why would they need the IGN clip?

@Ess: Because then they wouldn't be fulfilling their Fox News duty of not actually playing the game before reporting on it.

Personally, I thought the clip was funny.

@Roto13: I agree with you.

While the media doesn't know what they're talking about very often (see: Mass Effect having explicit sex scenes claim), this is the gameplay of GTA.

Out of context? Is there ANY context shooting a hooker looks less offensive?

GTA is an offensive game. There is a story line that may soften it, many things are optional, but it's pure violence and crime. This is GTA.

The problem with the media is that they'll then go reporting it incorrectly because no one who has actually played the game works on the story, again, just like when they said Mass Effect was porn.

However, this is GTA. I don't see why there has to be a conspiracy here. Does anyone actually play GTA in a "classy" manner? It's almost unavoidable to hit innocents while driving. You shoot people. You steal cars and you pursue crime.

As long as it's rated M, I have no problem, and I'm enjoying my copy. But I don't see how we can defend GTA from the clip because...it's there. Sure, it's optional for the most part, but this is GTA gameplay.

Some of you commenters above have no damn sense. This clip was publicly available for anyone to watch. Is it really the kind of content you want a 7 year old to have easy access too? I don't think it's suitable at all for public viewing and IGN/Fox has a responsibility to cater to their whole audience. If you actually think from their perspective then maybe some of you will actually realize they made the right decision.

Lollipop girl is way hot.

@Lstormy10: how is it a conspiracy? fox newscorp owns IGN

I like how the only defense coming up is "well, you don't have to do these things!" How the hell is that a valid point? It's a crazy, over-the-top game that has an M rating for a reason.

I can't believe Mur(der)doch owns IGN, oy. That is disgusting as looking past Reagan's charm and finding how much he sucks.

Forget Fox and the tragically lame IGN clip.

The Daily Show covered the GTA IV launch in their own special way, focusing on the hordes of umbrella-wielding maniacs attending midnight events, and with a "special correspondent from Liberty City". Good stuff...

You can watch a couple of clips on the show's website. Here's one: [www.thedailyshow.com] "$2.99 for a peach? Not today, fuckface!"

And have a look at the "Grand Theft Semantics" clip, while you're there:
[www.thedailyshow.com] . It's a bit long, but the GTA IV bit doesn't work without the build-up.

@LittleBigPlaneteer: There is tons of objectionable content posted all over the Internet that's available for anyone to watch, including other material at IGN. That's why they all force you to enter your birthdate before viewing them nowadays (as useless as that practice is).

I don't see how this is any different at all. In principle, if you remove this, you basically have to remove everything else. Banging a hooker and then killing her isn't what the game is about, but it is something you can do in the game, so it deserves the same treatment that any other aspect of the game does. If they want to show it, let them show it. Gametrailers has a hooker-killing clip up that's 20x worse, anyway.

IGN is crap anyway

It's somewhat odd that they pulled it and let it turn into a news item int he first place, but ultimately I think that they did the right thing. It's not censorship, because they're doing it to themselves, willingly, and putting this sort of stuff out in the open doesn't do much for the legitimacy of the video game industry. I guess if you want to shoot yourself in the foot with a shotgun, that's your prerogative, but I wouldn't recommend it when you're trying to show your mature side.

why are people shocked at violence/sex/whatever its a flippin mature rated game for christ's sake...

IGN opens a door giving the media more fodder to attempt to burn Rockstar and GTA IV... Hasn't anyone learned from the whole Manhunt 2 incident? There's no longer a such thing as bad publicity.

Bah... I'm gonna play some more GTA IV, it makes me happy... a bonus with all this negative bullshit building from all corners of the interwebs.

It seems as though Rockstar, though they didn't create the opportunities to orchestrate these types of ethically-challenged scenarios, has certainly scaffolded them really well with dialogue and other crafted elements. They can still maintain that these gruesome acts weren't part of the way that they designed the game, bue purely a result of the user making choices in an environment they created.

I love GTAIV, got it the day it came out, but I can't just go around murdering people, even if it is a game.