GTA4

Grand Theft Auto 4 has some problems, and I'm not talking about the ones that get lots of press. I mean it hangs consistently on some game systems. We have one. After trying five copies from a local big-box retailer and finally persuading them to find a way to work around their no-return policy on games, we decided to try a specialty game store to see whether we might have better luck with a different pressing of the disk.

We walked in, and it was just us and the young woman (yay!) behind the counter. Ben asked, "So, have people been returning GTA4?"

She said yes, and we sighed. He explained our situation and that we were hoping they'd be able to fix it. "Oh," she said. "I hadn't heard about that. They returned it because it was too violent."

Blink.

Blink, blink.

Blink.

"Right. We'll take a copy then. Thanks." We managed not to laugh until we got out of the store.

What planet do you have to live on not to know what to expect from a GTA game? How do you maintain that level of ignorance and still be in a position to buy and play it?

That copy didn't work either, by the way. So now we're screaming for the patch.