Categories Games

The GTA Phenomenon

We all know that the Grand Theft Auto series has always been very popular. From the now simplistic looking GTA and GTA 2 to the latest GTA IV with fantastic graphics, massive cities, a deep story line and a huge dose of questionable and immoral activities, its pure success might be hard to understand for some.

Personally, I’m not really a person that enjoy playing games with strong sexual themes, a lot of cussing and extreme violence and my faith keeps my from getting into games like GTA IV as well. Yet, as I sit here and I listen to those that complain and I listen to those that say how terrible this game is, it can’t be denied that there is a huge demand. After all, Rockstar raked in $500 million in the first week of sales alone.

$500 million! It’s an amount that’s difficult to comprehend. This is in one week! We talk about blockbuster movies when a movie makes $50 or $60 million in a week and here’s a video game that earned hundreds of millions of dollars just on launch day, even beating out the latest Halo game.

I haven’t played GTA IV but I have seen it in action and I have to say that what I have seen is very impressive. It looks great, the action is great and really, I could play this game all day just driving around in the cars and interacting with the environment. Now, will I? That’s a separate question all together, naturally, and at this point, my answer to that is no. I really don’t have a desire to play this game (yeah, call me strange). But, I do have to say, I’m not surprised that Rockstar has made so much money. I expect that they will make quite a bit more before everything is said and done. It is a game that is technically superior to most games out there. The graphics are amazing, the sound is amazing and the game play is amazing. I think I can safely say that even though GTA IV stands for so much that many people don’t like, GTA IV is a great example of how video games should be made (I’m not talking content here, necessarily).

Anyway, it’s time for me to get back to my Ubuntu adventures and leave gaming alone for a bit.

mattias.ahlvin@gmail.com

I'm just one of those guys that like technology...as well as drawing, writing, reading, coding and a whole bunch of other things I rarely have time for.