2008 Woodie Awards
Chicago pulls Grand Theft Auto IV ad campaign
Victoria Vlisides
Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Lifestyle
A week prior to the April 29 release of the Grand Theft Auto IV the Chicago Transit Authority removed advertisements for the videogame based on earlier complaints of inappropriate violent content from the Governor.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the controversy was partly based on a debate over its value and how to keep children away from the "mature" rated game.
Associate Professor of Communication Elena Bertozzi, who also teaches a game development class, felt the ads should not have been pulled.
"Censorship of videogames is idiotic," Bertozzi said. "We don't censor slasher horror movies or Quentin Tarantino, who films movies bathed in blood."
She felt claims of children translating videogame violence into the real world was erroneous.
"There are no studies that demonstrate that [from] playing violent videogames," Bertozzi said. "Video games do stimulate players and their levels of arousal go up in response to what they see in the game."
Last Tuesday marked the release of the fourth Grand Theft Auto.
The game was in very heavy demand with some stores even opening at 12:01 Tuesday morning.
Junior Harry Draayers was among the lucky ones who bought a copy on Tuesday before it was sold out.
Senior Zachary Churan had to buy Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA) at the Kmart in Janesville just a day after its release because the Whitewater Wal-Mart and Janesville Best Buy were sold out.
Based on his first impression, Churan thought the game had about the same amount of violence as the previous games.
Draayers felt the game was slightly more violent.
"It's pretty close, but there's more gore and blood in this one," he said.
Bertozzi respected the game despite its violent undertone.
"The GTA games are the best in the industry," she said. "The environments are lushly and exquisitely drawn, the audio is fabulous."
Churan and Draayers agreed the fourth version contained superior graphics and was more detail-oriented.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the controversy was partly based on a debate over its value and how to keep children away from the "mature" rated game.
Associate Professor of Communication Elena Bertozzi, who also teaches a game development class, felt the ads should not have been pulled.
"Censorship of videogames is idiotic," Bertozzi said. "We don't censor slasher horror movies or Quentin Tarantino, who films movies bathed in blood."
She felt claims of children translating videogame violence into the real world was erroneous.
"There are no studies that demonstrate that [from] playing violent videogames," Bertozzi said. "Video games do stimulate players and their levels of arousal go up in response to what they see in the game."
Last Tuesday marked the release of the fourth Grand Theft Auto.
The game was in very heavy demand with some stores even opening at 12:01 Tuesday morning.
Junior Harry Draayers was among the lucky ones who bought a copy on Tuesday before it was sold out.
Senior Zachary Churan had to buy Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA) at the Kmart in Janesville just a day after its release because the Whitewater Wal-Mart and Janesville Best Buy were sold out.
Based on his first impression, Churan thought the game had about the same amount of violence as the previous games.
Draayers felt the game was slightly more violent.
"It's pretty close, but there's more gore and blood in this one," he said.
Bertozzi respected the game despite its violent undertone.
"The GTA games are the best in the industry," she said. "The environments are lushly and exquisitely drawn, the audio is fabulous."
Churan and Draayers agreed the fourth version contained superior graphics and was more detail-oriented.
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