$ man blog

There’s a great article on Kotaku about impoverished blacks and Hispanics in Harlem finding an emotional outlet in Grand Theft Auto IV. This comes four days after the Sean Bell acquittal, which set three police officers free after firing fifty bullets at an unarmed man outside a nightclub on the day before his wedding. Inhabits of the real ‘Liberty City’ say Grand Theft Auto lets them vent their frustrations against law enforcement in a safe environment. If riots are found to decline nationwide due to GTA catharsis, will Jack Thompson’s head explode?

The article reads like something out of the NY Times: one of the finest written and researched blog posts I’ve ever seen. It provides a decidedly even-handed (okay, pro-gamer) view on the GTAIV release. It also showcases some parents deciding whether to let their kids play the game based on their maturity level and the ESRB rating. Even in a community with a $15,000 median income, their parenting skills put most suburbanites to shame.