Found an article in the Chicago Suntimes paper today:




The game that the photo in the article is taken from is Grand Theft Auto 4. Probably the most violent video game from the mind of a non gamer. Now the paper is read by many people including parents. So they see an article about videogames and the photo is "That damn violent video game" It just seems odd that out of all the Xbox 360 games the paper decides to show GTA4.

There was also a fox news report on tv about videogames and the first clips they showed were of violent videogames.

Do you think this sends an intentional subconscious message that makes the parents and other non gamers think that All videogames are violent?

I think GTA 4 is the most popular game right now (except maybe Rock Band) and (I think) that's why they show it. People want what's hot, so seeing a hot game should help sell the system.

I'd say it's more stereotypical rather than subconscious.

Did you think they would show Viva Pinata?

No.

For the most part, I'd say the most iconic games for the 360 are violent shooters. If it wasn't GTAIV, it'd be Halo or Gears of War... a racing game just doesn't give that same kind of visual for an article.

It would be odd if they had a Wii article and featured Medal of Honor or something... even though that game is on the Wii, it's not the image that most would associate with the console.

You do realize that Rock Band has sold a fraction of what GHIII has sold, right? Rock Band gets love from the hardcore crowd and internet folk but the GH brand dominates it. Probably the biggest franchise going right now. The DS game is even flying off the shelves at $50 a pop.

The real subconscious message is that "bigger Xbox" means a physically larger console.

It would never occur to me to say "I have a bigger PS3 now" since I replaced the hard drive.

I think it is a subtle jab, considering newspaper's target audience, to show an image of a criminal having a machine gun battle with the police... they're trying to feed into their readers' prejudice

And -what's- he shooting at?! Cops!

I think it's subliminal, and paid for by rockstar


Look, you are saving 50 dollars on the new 360... that is just about the same price as our game GTA IV *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

If you flip through the pages of the newspaper really fast it says "360" every 1/30th of a second.

Rogert Ebert doesn't care about X-box

you do realize that the guys who made rock band started the whole guitar hero franchise right?

The subliminal message is that you'll need those extra gigs for the DLC for GTA next year.

He does, but that wasn't the point (nor does your retort apply at all to the argument).

While the GH franchise (regardless of developer) has sold far more copies than RB, I think the original point stands. Rock Band is a phenomenon the Guitar Hero never was. Granted, without the groundwork that GH laid, there wouldn't have been a Rock Band.

You can get families around Rock Band, you can't really do that as well with Guitar Hero. That's about to change when the GH franchise does its best RB imitation in a few months. From the looks of it, it looks good, but for all intents and purposes, Rock Band is the current leader in that regard.

Of course, but like Pinata said it your reply doesn't apply to my post or the discussion at hand.

I was merely replying to:
by the numbers:
GTA: 9.89 mil.
GHIII: 11.73 mil.
Rock Band: 3.21 mil.

My argument is that it GTAIV cannot be the 'most popular' game out there when there is a game selling better than it. GTA may have more 'media awareness' because of J.T. and negative press, but that is not the same as 'most popular.' I don't even think there is an argument for Rock Band outside of the net and gaming communities.