Drug runner vs. Superhero

The fact that any great number of people would spend their time and money on either of those instances of big-budget flashy entertainment bodes ill for the social and cultural development of Western civilization - but, it does bear mentioning that, whereas the game provides perhaps several dozen hours of "entertainment," compared to the two-ish of the movie, the final gross of each (which is just another form of expressing the price differential) is further rendered a non-issue.

I wouldn't be surprised if roughly the same demographics were responsible for the majority of the gross of both products. As far as "statements about the industries," I think that the fairly clear picture being presented is that video games have (partly as a result of eschewing any of their early charm, innovation or requisite intelligence, i.e. adventures, grand strategy, dialogue-heavy RPGs, etc.) basically caught-up to the mind-numbing mass-media juggernaut that is the film industry in terms of general appeal. But, whereas the financial statements of each industry are public information, this is not a new conclusion - it is established in industry records. In fact, many published figures support the proposition that whereas console-based videogames are inherently more difficult to pirate, copy, trade and play than are films (which at present have no server-based DRM protection except in a few special circumstances, unlike Xbox's protection that neutralizes accounts of piraters) the games industry will fare better than the film industry throughout the aborning global recession. I think it has something to do with kids' whining for the things, too, though.

There is, however, another statement being made that is far more deserving of attention - and one that is perhaps hinted at in your message title and initial line: that of a society grossly and openly infatuated with violence, crime and immorality. I don't regard the film as being much improved over the game in that regard, as the function of superheroes is to inflict violence upon the supposedly criminal and immoral; the attributes are just as intense and focal, and the violence is still being vicariously exercised by the audience through the main character. The audience is still enthralled by the spectacle of an avenging crusader - a lone judge and executioner, dictating his or her own principles, through physical coercion, to the rest of the world, in the spirit of imperialism. Both (most of) the game(s) and (most) film(s) are just examples of a culture of violence and judgement. How can one form of unaccountable self-righteousness, where the world revolves around the whims and powers of a single individual, be a better example than any other - when every problem of our age, and every solution to those problems, is social in nature?

But that statement, its rationale and its logical conclusions are obviously not going to be popular either here or in the entertainment industry, and for all the difference it makes to have typed them here, I may as well not have made the effort at all.

Also, I hear that the driving controls suck in GTA IV.