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Underage US gamers buying GTA: IV

Or parents buy it for their kids to play

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According to a report by Game Daily, Nielsen Games questioned US GTA: IV gamers and found that 17 per cent of those who had purchased the game were between seven and 16- years-old.

Of these gamers, 61 per cent claimed to have bought the game themselves, despite the title having a "Mature" classification - restricting it from sale to anyone younger than 17-years-old.

GTAIV_US

GTA: IV is rated Mature in the US

However, parents and friends of the underage gamers were also shamed by the research because Nielsen discovered that 39 per cent of the gamers had had the title bought for them by someone of legal age.

Of the young gamers who’d had the title bought for them, 80 per cent had been bought it by their parents and 20 per cent had been bought it by an older friend or sibling.

Nielsen’s research mirrors an earlier undercover operation by Trading Standards in Harrow, UK, which discovered that several High Street stores would sell 18-rated videogames to a 15-year-old girl, including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

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Latest Comments

"all video games are for children"

surely all video games are childish things for children?

just like all cartoons must be for children :P

. . . frankly anyone under these misapprehensions should be forced to watch all of the Urotsukidōji (legend of the overfiend) movies in continuous rotation until they understand that the delivery mechanism does not predicate the content!

paris has a better idea of content than a lot of parents...

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