Violent Xbox video games are being fingered by a top police officer in New Zealand as a possible cause of rising violence among young people.

Superintendent Bill Harrison, national manager of police youth services, says at a youth offending conference in Wellington on November 27 that youth violence rates have jumped in the past two or three years throughout the Western world, coinciding with the rise of new products such as the Xbox. Harrison provides statistics and arguments.

However, Auckland University psychologist Dr Ian Lambie said violent video games had no effect on most people.

[ by Simon Collins for The New Zealand Herald on November 28, 2007 ]
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The infamous Hot Coffee Modification from GTA: San Andreas is going to cost Rockstar's parent company at least $1.025 million in settlement benefits.
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An exhibition entitled "Love & Money: The Best Of British Design Now" is touring Asian countries currently. The synopsis is below:

"...Love & Money, organised jointly by the British Council and UK Trade & Investment, features twenty projects and designers that balance business ambition and commercial success with the invention and experimentation for which Britain's creative industries are internationally renowned."

Within the exhibition is a space dedicated to Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto Series.

GTA is considered to be a benchmark for modern design values. This is a very positive nod towards gaming and in particular one with such a criticized content.

Had this N4G member not have stumbled upon this showcase, it may well have slipped silently into the night. Here is a link to the offical exhibition page

http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-design-love-and-money.htm

Enjoy
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Sept 25, 2007 While certain other Grand Theft Auto mods may have caused Rockstar a degree of aggravation in the last few years, you can't help but admire the talent that's gone into this anime-themed job. Not only have the modders managed to change the lead character into a saucer-eyed, gun-toting schoolgirl, there's robots! Suddenly the oft-rumoured GTA Tokyo seems like a brilliant ... » Read More

We know that plenty of people think gore-fest Manhunt has no place in the happy world of videogames, but former Rockstar employee Jeff Williams has revealed on his blog that the controversial game also caused a swell of disquiet at the company's New York HQ. "It may sound surprising, but there was almost a mutiny at the company over that game. It was Rockstar North's pet project - most of us at Rockstar Games wanted no part of it. We'd already weathered plenty of controversy over GTA3 and Vice ... » Read More

What if your Fizzlybear developed a taste for the 40 ounce? Or your Fudgehogs started puffing blunts and cruising in lowriders? Here's how we envision the mean streets of South Central Piñata Island, a magical land where throwing your ho a beating might make candy come out! Minors beware, this video has more swearing than you can shake a stick at - definitely not safe for work or children. But then, this is why we love the internets more than TV, ... » Read More

Ever since the release of 2001's groundbreaking Grand Theft Auto III, there've been seemingly hundreds of games that shamelessly rip off its free-roaming, carjacking open-world formula. But as hard as the pretenders try, there's still only one ... » Read More

The funny thing about inventing a genre of videogames is that, until it becomes completely played out, every game that emulates your formula is going to be attached to your name. Games that feature a wide-open, freely explorable world, for example, will have a hard time avoiding the label of "Grand Theft Auto clone," especially if their worlds are littered with vehicles to steal and drive. In the six years since Grand Theft Auto III, a slew of games have tried to become "the next GTA," but so ... » Read More

The official trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV is only a few days away as of this writing, and publisher Rockstar has promised that it won't just be some infuriatingly quick teaser. Instead, it'll offer up the first substantial look into what the game is all about, and internet speculation over what that might be has kicked the rumor mill into high gear. We've got our own theories on what the game might be like, ranging from a futuristic dystopia with flying cars to a college-crime romp ... » Read More

At last. Real scientific evidence that GTA is good for brains: according to the scientific lab boffins at FKF Applied Research and the UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, squishy skull-encased sponges simply love GTA. Or, at least, they dig this spoof ad for Coca Cola. In an experiment to record the effectiveness of adverts during the recent Super Bowl, it was discovered that the amusing GTA -inspired ad was one of the "best testing" and "fired the region of consumers' brains ... » Read More

Who said the Japanese don't like Western games? The Capcom published Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas made its Japanese debut last week, moving a healthy 227,261 copies, twice that of local hero Dragon Quest Monsters Joker numbers. Not bad.
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Rockstar Games announces that it plans to release Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas together as the original trilogy for the PlayStation 2 system. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy will ship to retail stores in North America on December 4, 2006 with a retail price of $39.99.
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A number of US retailers are refusing to sell after another twist in the controversial game's tale, resulting in the American game rating body upgrading the title to 'Adults Only' and developer Rockstar promising to start work on a new version. These dramatic moves come as a response to the discovery of a cheat mode in both the PS2 and PC versions that reveals explicit scenes of CJ making the beast with two polygonal backs - the so called 'Hot Coffee' modification. Rockstar has been keen to ... » Read More

Official ELSPA Entertainment Top 20 Software Chart (all prices) - week ending 18 June1 (1) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas(PS2, Xbox, PC)2 (NE) Medal of Honor European Assault(PS2, Xbox, Gamecube)3 (NE) Juiced(PS2, Xbox, PC)4 (2) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith(PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA, DS)5 (3) Lego Star Wars(PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA)6 (NE) Batman Begins(PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA)7 (4) Area 51(PS2, Xbox)8 (6) Pro Evolution Soccer 4(PS2, Xbox)9 (5) Championship Manager 5(PS2, Xbox, PC)10 (7) FIFA ... » Read More

Official ELSPA Entertainment Top 20 Software Chart (all prices) - week ending 11 June1 (RE) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas(PS2, Xbox, PC)2 (1) Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith(PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA, DS)3 (2) Lego Star Wars(PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA)4 (3) Area 51(PS2, Xbox)5 (4) Championship Manager 5(PS2, Xbox, PC)6 (6) Pro Evolution Soccer 4(PS2, Xbox)7 (5) FIFA Street(PS2, Xbox, Gamecube)8 (9) Splinter Cell Chaos Theory(PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)9 (19) Cold Winter(PS2)10 (15) Guild Wars(PC)11 ... » Read More

While most of the world are still ploughing their way through the trail of the dead in , GTA's developers Rockstar are already planning their next headlong plunge into the immoral world of mouthy mobsters. Their latest move has been to send a group of lawyers out to sign up a variety of potential game names, while at the same time lazily reaching out a paw to give the rumour mill a quick spin. We have uncovered five potential titles for their next GTA game, with each one having been ... » Read More

Official ELSPA Entertainment Top 20 Software Chart (all prices) - week ending 20 November1 (2) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)2 (NE) Need For Speed: Underground 2(PS2, Xbox, PC, Gamecube)3 (NE) Half-Life 2(PC)4 (2) Halo 2(Xbox)5 (3) WWE Smackdown vs Raw (PS2)6 (4) FIFA 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GBA, Gamecube, PC)7 (6) The Getaway: Black Monday (PS2)8 (7) Pro Evolution Soccer 4(PS2)9 (10) The Urbz: Sims In The City (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA)10 (5) Football Manager 2005 (PC)11 (14) The ... » Read More

Official ELSPA Entertainment Top 20 Software Chart (all prices) - week ending 6 November1 (1) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)2 (2) FIFA 2005 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)3 (NE) Football Manager 2005 (PC)4 (3) Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PS2)5 (6) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)6 (5) Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2, Xbox)7 (4) Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, GBA)8 (10) Shark Tale (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, GBA)9 (9) The Sims 2 (PC)10 (11) Sonic Heroes (PS2, ... » Read More

Official ELSPA Entertainment Top 20 Software Chart (all prices) - week ending 30 October1 (NE) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)2 (1) FIFA 2005 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)3 (2) Pro Evolution Soccer 4 (PS2)4 (3) Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, GBA)5 (6) Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2, Xbox)6 (RE) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC)7 (7) LMA Manager 2005 (PS2, Xbox, PC)8 (4) Star Wars: Battlefront (PS2, Xbox, PC)9 (5) The Sims 2 (PC)10 (8) Shark Tale (PS2, ... » Read More

We could say that those who live by the jemmy, crowbar and balaclava die by the jemmy, crowbar and balaclava. But we won't because even Rockstar, those riders of the gaming crime wave, have become the latest victims of pilfering software pirates. Just as with Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 before, some deviant sort has pilfered the game and set it up for download on various websites along with copies of the manual and even parts of the packaging. No-one seems sure of the origin of the leak but today ... » Read More