It seems as though "anything goes" is the operating principle of Rockstar's largely successful, yet controversial video game series, "Grand Theft Auto." In the newest installment of the game, players will sell drugs to earn money as they drive around town. We can complain all we want about the negative aspects of the game, but the game continues to sell, and the controversial aspects add publicity to the series and only seems to serve to increase sales.
Earlier this week, news broke that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars -- the forthcoming Nintendo DS rendition of Rockstar's immensely popular crime series -- would feature a drug-selling mini-game, where players could earn money peddling six different kinds of narcotics around town.
Unsurprisingly, this isn't going over very well with anti-drug organizations. GamePolitics reports that in a story by the British tabloid The Sun, a member of the charity Drugsline condemns Rockstar's use of illegal narcotics.
"Anything using drug-dealing as entertainment is sending out the wrong message," said Darren Gold, on behalf of the Drugsline organization. "Glamorization doesn't help our work trying to educate kids of the dangers of substance misuse."
In Chinatown Wars, players will sell weed, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, acid, and downers.
Source: Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20080929/tc_zd/232528
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