1. An Adult Gaming Franchise... Hot Coffee Anyone?
A lot of the entries in this article have focused on the latest Grand Theft Auto game and the forerunner Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. This omission does not remove the fact that Rockstar has lied about and around other Grand Theft Auto games in the series, all the way back to the initial releases like Grand Theft Auto: London and expansion pack 1961, among others. However, there is a lie that encapsulates the entire franchise. It is a lie that has become so synonymous with the franchise that it is barely acknowledged to exist anymore, it has become the background to which Grand Theft Auto games are released and is as ignored as the ugly wallpaper you see everyday. The fact is that Rockstar has always approached and marketed Grand Theft Auto as a truly adult franchise and gaming experience. It isn't. The puerile humour, pandering and childish play-style of the game is no bad thing; adults can and often do enjoy acting childishly more than they would a different experience. It would simply be beneficial for Grand Theft Auto and Rockstar to accept what they are and stop pretending to be something they are not and will never be. There have certainly been attempts, the infamous Hot Coffee being the most notable, to take the game in a very adult direction and to lean away from the veneer of crass humour for crass humours sake, funny to five year olds and fifty year olds alike. Unfortunately, it seems the world is not ready for a video game that actually let's you do things that an adult is perfectly capable of doing. Having sex with a prostitute and then shooting her in the head to retrieve the money is fine, but if a quick time event is needed to have sex with that prostitute then Rockstar employees receive death threats. Utter lunacy in his purest form, and one that holds back an art form. It may be rude, lewd and downright reprehensible, but as a creative vision Grand Theft Auto deserves the same opportunities other mediums had at this early stage in their lifecycle. Films are the most common comparison, as the next youngest medium apart from video games, and the consequences that were applied to early attempts at adult filmmaking (no, not the porn) are now universally seen as a mistake from a more conservative time and a fettering of creative vision that held the medium of film back that is still felt today. Rockstar may lie to us occasionally, but the result of it all is a technological marvel and a creative masterpiece. Running Grand Theft Auto V on a launch day Xbox 360 is frankly a minor miracle. Sure they may fib occasionally, but when it comes right down to it, wouldn't you rather not know? Ignorance is bliss, after all...
