Silicon Insider: Applying 'Grand Theft Auto' to Business

May 2, 2008 — -- Can "Grand Theft Auto IV" get any bigger?

Yes. As a matter of fact, I don't think "GTA 4" is big enough. Let me explain why.

The latest "Grand Theft Auto" arrived at our house -- thanks to an Amazon pre-order -- early this week and, needless to say, it has had a profound effect upon our household.

My younger son Tim ordered it with his own money, so it is officially his (yeah, parents, go ahead and try to ban it -- your kids have probably already seen the entire game, without you knowing it, via YouTube screen grabs). But that hasn't kept Tad from hectoring his little brother every 20 minutes for a chance to play it .

Meanwhile, Tim has already managed on two separate days to get himself into that bloody-eyed, stiff-legged zombie state that comes from staring at a TV screen too long with an Xbox 360 controller in your hand. I've already taken the game away from him twice -- that's in two days, mind you -- and made him do his homework, eat, sleep, breathe, etc.

Frankly, it's hard to blame him … and I don't even like video games. But even to a nongamer, "GTA 4" is simply dazzling. And scary.

First the bad news (or good, depending upon whether you are younger than 25 or older): "GTA 4," like its predecessors, is basically the devil's spawn. As with the "GTA San Andreas," "Vice City," etc., your character is essentially a homicidal sociopath, illegal immigrant Niko Bellic, running amok and slaughtering, robbing or hijacking people across a noir-meets-'70s grimy urban landscape.