Rockstar VP confused by violence complaints

Rockstar Games vice-president Dan Houser has admitted that he does not understand why the issue of violence in video games still causes controversy.

Houser, who was a co-writer of Grand Theft Auto IV, insisted that the games should not be viewed any differently to TV shows and movies which feature violent scenes.

"If you don’t like any violent content in your entertainment, then I apologise because I do. And I’ve unfortunately been exposed to it my entire life. I agree that the world would be a greater place if all of the guns and all of the bombs disappeared, but that certainly is not in the agenda," Houser explained in an interview with New York Magazine.

"If we equally got rid of a lot of books that talk about violence, okay. But if we don’t like these games because they've got content that we’re happy to see in movies and TV shows, then what you’re saying is you don’t like the medium because we don’t have a George Clooney type sticking his face in front of the camera.

"There is nothing in the game you would not see in a TV show, or a movie a hundred times over, so I don't understand what the conversation is about. We set out to make games that felt like they could culturally exist alongside the movies we were watching and the books we were reading, and hopefully we're getting close to those goals."

US presidential candidate Barack Obama recently claimed that Grand Theft Auto IV and similar games are "raising our kids".