Has the coffee gone cold?

on March 19, 2009 by Administrator

The first of two expansion packs for Grand Theft Auto IV was released recently, and with it came an interesting twist on the controversy that often surrounds new releases of the series. In GTA IV: The Lost and Damned, players leave behind the story of Niko Bellic and instead control Johnny Klebitz, playing out his role as the leader of a biker gang. The add-on has been described as darker and more gritty than its predecessor but it's not the brutal scenes (a sledge hammer to the face being most prominent) which are generating the news. Instead what jolted bloggers and online game journalists into action was something deemed far worse, something far more likely to bring society to its knees; the inclusion of a penis.

A penis being in a game rated for 18s and over should really not shock anyone, especially when it is flaccid and is only shown for seconds during a non-sexual sauna scene. Yes, it is the first time a modern, fully 3D game had done this but if anything shouldn't we be asking why it has taken so long? Apparently not, if the majority of game journalists are anything to go by. Some simply used it as a way of making puns and jokes, whilst others appeared intent on hyping up the predicted reaction of the mainstream media. Irresponsible as it may be, anyone who can remember the