Jason Kingsley, vice chairman of UK game developers body, TIGA and CEO of Rebellion (owner of 2000AD comic and developer of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron) has said that the UK should celebrate GTA IV.

"This is world's biggest launch in the games market and the intellectual property is actually British made", Kingsley said. "I think that's fantastic. It should be celebrated."

His comments were made to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee investigating violent video games. He was there to discuss the current ratings system and also made an observation from a recent trip to various retailers, saying, "I watched people purchasing games and you clearly get a 12-year-old child picking up a game that is unsuitable for them, going up to the counter and then being told they cannot purchase it and then their guardian comes up and says 'oh I'll buy that' and that disappoints me because the labelling is very clear.

"It appears that parents are perhaps not taking responsibility the way they should be and I think that is something for wider society rather than any one section of the media."

SPOnG spoke to a source from a major British retailer yesterday and was told anonymously that a number of children - often as young as 11 - attempted to buy GTA IV but were refused by staff. While SPOnG is encouraged that the 18-rated game did not make it into the minors' hands, this clearly illustrates that either children don't understand the ratings system or don't take it seriously. You wouldn't catch an 11-year-old trying their luck with buying vodka, after all.

^{Sources: Strategy Informer, The Guardian}