Grand Theft Auto V News: Gold, Spoilers & Unfortunate Death

It has been a busy weekend for Rockstar Games, the developers of Grand Theft Auto V. Not surprisingly the popular game series has been the center of multiple controversies, most of them unfortunate to different degrees of severity. Let’s get you caught up on all things GTA V.

–Rockstar Games has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto V has gone gold, signifying the final version of the game being ready for mass production. With more than 3 weeks in advance before the release date of September 17th, there should be more than enough time to prepare enough copies to match the overwhelming hype and demand for the game. However, the moment of jubilation was short lived.

-The PlayStation Network Europe version of Grand Theft Auto V was available for pre-loading earlier this week, allowing users overseas to download the game ahead of time and install the necessary data to shorten up wait time once the game actually releases. Normally, users should have been locked out of any confidential game files via encryption, however some tech-savvy users were able to access the game’s audio files, many of which include character dialogue in cutscenes. Because of this, some of GTA V’s story is known to a small amount of the public.

The PlayStation blog has already issued a statement apologizing for the whole ordeal, but the news is spreading. Numerous forums (4chan’s /b/ and /v/ boards, Reddit, GTAForums, etc.) are starting to receive numerous spoilers about the game, spread by some mean spirited fans of the series. Word of warning to fans who don’t want to have Grand Theft Auto V’s story ruined for them; remember to tread lightly. (spoiler free)

-Grand Theft Auto V’s predecessor, GTA IV, has been mentioned in a truly unfortunate death. On Sunday an 87 year old woman by the name of Marie Smothers was found dead in her mobile home in Slaughter, Louisianna by an apparent gunshot wound to the head. The wound was allegedly made by her 8 year old grandson who, as reported by the local Sheriff’s Department, “was playing a video game on the Play Station III ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’, a realistic game that has been associated with encouraging violence and awards points to players for killing people, just minutes before the homicide occurred.”

Instead of the police making a bigger issue out of why an 8 year old child had access to a fully-loaded handgun (and disregarding the fact that at no point in GTA IV are you “awarded points for killing people”), the story focused more on the debate of whether violent video games like Grand Theft Auto V are responsible for real life violence.

In fairness to CNN, who ran the story, they have posted editorials in the past by the brilliant minds of Fareed Zakaria and Christopher J. Ferguson outright denying any correlation between the two. Additionally, studies have shown no causal link between fictional violence and real life acts of carnage. Still, with the anticipated blockbuster release of such a well-known game like Grand Theft Auto V, we might be in store for yet another public outcry.