Review of Grand Theft Auto IV, based on it’s audience, not the video game itself.
9pm - I was walking to meet a friend on Monday night in Union Square, Manhattan, New York. And there’s a video game store on 14th St. between Irving Place & 4th Ave. It was raining aka pouring - raining enough to make a wet mess of your clothes. All these “kids” but not really “kids” standing in line, they were more like adulty types, sitting in lawn chairs and wearing sweat pants and were all pretty big (in size) guys. Not so much college or high school guys, but like guys who were in their late twenties to some even in their forties. I walked past these dudes, turned around and asked what they were waiting for. A couple of them who looked least annoyed at my question yelled, “Grand Theft Auto!” Then they said they had been waiting since the store closed at 8pm and would have to wait until midnight. I gave them a thumbs up, turned around and walked away and they actually put a smile on my face. I wish I had that much passion about something to stand in the rain for hours on end.
But why do people wait in these lines to buy these kinds of games at midnight? When all they’d have to do is go get it at 9am the following morning? Are these games that amazing? How do they make people feel? Are they experiencing euphorically induced feeling?
I don’t understand.
NY Times Review of the game itself…
It dawned on me…video game people are freakin die hards. Duh, did my Super Mario Brothers and Metroid cravings ever die? Those games for me in the late 80s/early 90s ran my life, but I was a kid. I’m still a kid…but I still don’t see how someone’s life can revolve around a video game console. Am I crazy? These dudes are as die hard as NASCAR fans, or Boston Red Sox fans (I’m kidding guys), or WWF fans. Is video game culture the new Dungeons and Dragons?
WEIRD!!
TAGS: Boston, Grand Theft Auto IV, kids, Manhattan, New York, Red Sox, Review, Video
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