Grand Theft Auto IV | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

TODAY IS SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2009

Friday, May 2, 2008 at 11:00 AM EDT

Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV, out this week in its millions of red hot copies, is a vast sensation in the video gaming world. It’s a blockbuster — bigger than movies or music and way bigger than books.

It is – as usual – bloody, brutal, grim, dark, wild — a no-holds-barred video crime spree set in Liberty City, a huge digital approximation of New York. But is it art?

Some say that the richest video games are growing a new narrative richness. Moral dilemmas. Nuance. Truth and consequences.

This hour, On Point: Grand Theft Auto IV, and the evolution of the video game.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Chris Baker, senior editor at Wired, his review of GTA IV, “It’s Not Just About Killing Hookers Anymore,” appeared this week on Slate.com.

Steven Johnson, co-founder and CEO of outside.in, and Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University, he’s the author of several books, including “Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.”

Stuart Andrews, self-professed game nut and videogame reviewer for the online journal Trusted Reviews and the London Sunday Times.

Tags: Grand Theft Auto, technology, video games

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