TORONTO – There may be a dark spot in the glowing reviews of video game “Grand Theft Auto V,” but it likely won’t stop most gamers.
Britain’s Metropolitan Police say a 23-year-old man was attacked near a supermarket in north London, U.K. in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Just after buying his midnight copy of the video game, he was hit with a brick and stabbed.
The thief made off with his cellphone, watch and copy of the new game.
Police say the victim is in stable condition in hospital, and no arrests have been made.
The latest installment from the much-anticipated billion-dollar video game franchise went on sale at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday worldwide, and as BBC radio personality Steve Saul tweeted, lineups were long in London:
Luckily things were quieter in Toronto, where a downtown Best Buy store held a launch party with prize giveaways. Just after 10 p.m. Monday night, about 40 gamers were lined up, and the crowd grew as the 12:01 a.m. release approached.
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Best Buy employees said the Dundas store sold over 200 copies of the game during its pre-sale, and just like in the U.K., some planned to take a “sick” day off work to try it out.
“This is very much a regular occurrence for me and it doesn’t get any less exciting,” said first-in-line software developer Aubrey Cottle, 26, who planned to take Tuesday off work to play.
Reviews from tech sites have been overwhelmingly favourable. Mashable called GTA V “deeper and better than ever” with “TV-caliber drama” in the city of “Los Santos the Beautiful.”
Wired headlines that it “blows all other GTAs away” writing that maker Rockstar “finally fixed the gameplay” and hailing the writing, acting and comedic timing.
Gamespot UK reviewer Carolyn Petit also celebrated the game for pushing “open-world game design forward in amazing ways,” but pointed out something the male reviewers may have missed: rampant misogyny.
“Characters constantly spout lines that glorify male sexuality while demeaning women, and the billboards and radio stations of the world reinforce this misogyny…” she wrote in her review.
But – it’s not bad enough for her to stop playing: “Your time in Los Santos may leave you with a few psychological scars, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from visiting,” wrote Petit.
And what pop cultural event would be complete without comment from satirical news site The Onion?
A joke-list of new features includes “character now steps in gum,” and “gamers can dress characters up in any outfits they want, much as a 5-year-old girl would with her doll.”
And then there’s what every non-gamer is thinking:
“After you finish playing it for the first time, you will become known by friends and coworkers as a very cool guy, and everyone will want to talk to you about your fascinating exploits in the game.”
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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