Hello there, and welcome to my blog! You can find a little bit of information about me here. I’ll be writing about video games in this space, so if you’re interested in gaming as a hobby, or simply as a curious party, I hope you’ll stick around. And please, feel free to leave comments and engage in discussion!

So, let’s talk about “Grand Theft Auto IV” for a bit. I’m guessing most people reading this have heard of the game by now. If you haven’t, read on for a bit of a primer.

In its first week of release, “GTA IV” sold around 6 million copies and raked in $500 million. This is more than San Luis Obispo County’s budget. This is at least twice what the hit movie “Iron Man” pulled in over its first week. This is not a niche product for stereotypical antisocial gamers. This is mainstream entertainment. Tomorrow is the two-week mark — what will the numbers be like then?

Critics — mainstream and enthusiast — laud the game. The New York Times loves it. Time magazine was impressed enough to do an early review and write a follow-up.

However, as is now the norm for the “GTA” series, there are many detractors. One, a columnist for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune worries about the game’s influence on men of my generation. She frets, “The average 32-year-old man who plays violent video games … is likely to be someone’s husband and father. What qualities of character will his wife find when she looks to him for love, steadiness and fidelity?”

I double-checked with my wife this afternoon: She’s satisfied with my love, steadiness and fidelity even though I’ve played the game for a number of hours now, and have played others like it for many years. She thinks the mild guilt of playing “GTA IV” drove me to do a sink full of dishes earlier than I otherwise might have; there appear to be no further ill effects. But hey, I won’t be 32 for a few years yet; maybe the game will break down my moral fiber by then.

I could go on (and on and on), but I’d hate to kill off my potential blog readership with a long, boring first post. So I’ll cut my losses and let it go as a short, boring first post. I’d like to direct you to a few resources, however.

The first is the widget on the upper-right corner of this blog. This tool from the Entertainment Software Rating Board lets you plug in the name of a game and instantly get back a rating and criteria — “Grand Theft Auto IV” is listed as Mature for intense violence, blood, strong language, strong sexual content, partial nudity, and use of drugs and alcohol. By all means, search for a game if you’re wondering about it.

The second is a Web site called GamePolitics. Owned by the Entertainment Consumers Association, it’s a great resource for tracking legislation and controversy concerning video games. The site doesn’t hesitate to call out the game industry when it makes itself look bad, but it’s quick to rebut spurious arguments and criticize opportunistic pundits and politicians.

(Images courtesy of Rockstar Games; illustration by Justin Hoeger)