Mikel: It's tempting, isn't it? Realism aside, this is still GTA, and if it doesn't let you harmlessly take out your violent frustrations on a "living" world, then a lot of people are going to be pissed.

Charlie: Speaking on the violence, did you guys feel slightly disturbed at the thought of violence in GTA IV? Mikel mentioned not wanting to punch the guy on the doorstep. I felt the same way. So how are we going to feel when we inevitably shoot, stab, beat, chainsaw or ignite that guy to see what happens? Or when we plow through a sidewalk full of pedestrians? It's GTA, so that stuff has to be possible, but the idea of actually doing it seems surreal, and excessively violent, in such a realistic world. Am I just being a prude here?

Mikel: I'm not entirely sure that it'll be any more disturbing than Gears of War. My response to the people on the street - by which I mean not wanting to mess with them - has more to do with the fact that their human-like behavior makes them a little easier to empathize with. They're minding their own business; why ruin their day? But it's a good point that you raise; with that kind of empathy, it's going to be a little weird, particularly if they behave realistically when they're hurt. If you shoot someone in the kneecap and they just lie on the ground, clutching at their wound and screaming for their mommies, well, that'd kind of make you feel like a bully, wouldn't it?

Maybe that's the point - maybe Rockstar wants people to think more about the consequences of violence. Or maybe - just maybe - we'll go plowing through pedestrians and they'll go flying everywhere and it'll be totally hilarious.

Eric: I was just thinking along the exact same lines. I believe it's actually a good thing that it's all more realistic, because it will help put the violence in context and make many players less likely to go around mowing down everyone in sight and so on. Which, in turn, will lead to fewer uninformed politicians and mommies seeing fifteen seconds of footage and knee-jerkedly blaming the game for all of society's ills.

Mikel: Are you kidding? We're going to see all kinds of gruesome close-ups of screaming pedestrians. The nightly news will eat it up and put out story after story about how "THIS is what they're making your kids do!" The context and the point will be completely lost on non-gaming culture watchdogs if Rockstar goes that route. We'll get it, but will they?

Although in the end, does it really matter? Rockstar shouldn't have to make their games thinking every second what Hillary Clinton is going to think.

Eric: I agree totally. You make a great point. I don't know how many times I heard that the goal of the PS2 games was to beat and kill hookers - I even saw Al Franken mention it at a college commencement speech - despite the fact that I never once had to kill a hooker in any of the five PS2 games.