Nielsen: 17% of GTA 4 buyers underage, exclusive DLC deciding factor for purchase |
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A new survey by Nielsen has revealed that despite the mostly successful enforcement of game ratings in retail stores like GameStop and Best Buy, M-rated titles are still ending up in the hands of underage gamers.The survey, which focused on Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), reports that about 17% of the respondents who had purchased the game were between the ages of 7 and 16. Of the underage gamers, 61% said they bought the game themselves while the remaining 39% said that someone else bought the game for them.
What's particularly interesting is that according to the Nielsen report, "parents/guardians were pegged as the biggest facilitators for getting the controversial game into the hands of these young respondents, garnering 80% of the response. Friends, siblings and other relatives rounded out the other 20% of the response."
The report also touched on the effects of Microsoft's exclusive GTA4 DLC on their respondents' purchase decisions. The DLC was the deciding factor for 25% of those who bought the game's Xbox 360 version, while 64% said they just preferred the Xbox 360 version over the PS3 version.
Related articles:
- FTC: game industry's rating system usage improved
- GTA 4 DLC still slated for Fall 2008, says Microsoft
- NPD May results finally out: PS3 overtakes Xbox 360, GTAIV for Xbox 360 still leading
Buy: [Grand Theft Auto 4 (PS3)]
Buy: [Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360)]
Via GameDaily
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Comments [refresh]
all those people who bought gta4 for the DLC probably don't even play the game anymore...
The Downloadable content was a deciding factor for buying a 360 for me, and ill be in that 39% that got my parents to buy iy for me
If you're mature enough to handle the content and your parents don't have a problem with you playing an M rated game, that's awesome.
There's nothing wrong with that so long as parents are being intelligent about what they expose their kids to and are willing to accept the responsibility if they are wrong.
My biggest problem with the whole argument is how much of a scare tactic it is. These biased surveys and watchdog groups act like violent video games are as bad or worse than cigarettes, or actually put guns in the hands of children. That's Jack Thompson's argument anyway.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years with varying degrees of violence. I was exposed to Mortal Kombat in the arcade when I was "underage", but I never once tried to rip my brother's head off. I knew the difference between reality and fantasy, right and wrong.
Those of us old enough to remember arcades and how violent some of those games were should easily see how bogus these surveys are. I still believe in the ratings system as I's a good measure for what is acceptable, but parents should be able to evaluate the maturity of their children and be able to decide if their children can handle more mature content. That's why children under 18 are allowed to enter an R rated movie in the presence of a parent or guardian.
It's 17 to get in to R movies and to buy M rated games.
My bad, however my point still applies.
The survey appears to be meant to scare us into believing that underage children are able to purchase M rated games without some kind of adult approval. The 80% parent/guardian facilitation and 20% sibling or other relative facilitation figure shows that 100% of these purchases were made by an adult who then gave the game to the kid.
My concern is that the extremist mental cases like Jack Thompson will see this as the next bad thing and try to make it illegal for parents/guardians to buy such games for children who are actually mature enough to handle the content.
im sry, "just preferred the Xbox 360 version over the PS3 version."
did it actually say that or is qj just making up the rest of the percentage
because who the ***** would prefer it on the xbox360,
fair enough there was in-game music
as well as it being a native console
and the fact that there was a glitch in the ps3 version
but why buy a game for a less powerful game, when your pretty sure the game will get updated due to rockstar going into such detail
i can see gta becoming the next warhawk, getting updated regularly, and is it not best to get the more powerful console incase later on in gta4 life the 360 cant handle it
yh im sure many did, but not that high of a percentage
It's just a freakin game people. Get over it. It aint gonna hurt anyone. Games don't kill, Jack Thompson does.
but its as if they will have new reson to play it when the DLC comes out! wow!
You seem retarded.... maybe they "preferred" the 360 version of the game because they don't own a ps3.
Also, you gave 3 glorious reasons many people would prefer the 360 version over the ps3 and forgot one more: Exclusive DLC.
"but why buy a game for a less powerful game, when your pretty sure the game will get updated due to rockstar going into such detail"
The game is not less powerful, the game is the same on both ps3 and 360. ps3 has just a tiny bit crispier graphics and 360 has more vibrant colors. And people aren't just "pretty sure" it's getting updated. DLC was announced from the beginning.
"and is it not best to get the more powerful console incase later on in gta4 life the 360 cant handle it"
Im also pretty sure rockstar would never ditch microsoft to go exclusive to the ps3 with GTA. There gonna stay wherever the money is, wherever revenue is the greatest, and if anything, they'll shape the game to be better whilst keeping it on the ps3 and the microsoft console.
Oh and don't be a douche and bash QJ because your ps3 fanboyish mind blinds you.
Well there goes this game, yet another one ruined by PURCHASABLE DLC.....(looks at CoD4...)
It won't be ruined. Companies like RockStar are smart enough (and rich enough) to ignore the idiots like Jack Thompson and whoever did this survey. No body gives a crap about anything they have to say. Thats why GTA always sells extremely well.
people buy the game for the system they own. it's not like they are going to buy a 360 just to play gta 4 with some questionable downloadable content. what a crock.