Liberty City to Wall Street: Grand Theft Auto wags a finger

by Patrice Sarath, March 13th, 2009, Friday.

From the Department of Audacity Department: The makers of Grand Theft Auto are having fun tweaking the “smartest guys in the room” over the recession brought on by corporate greed and outright malfeasance.

If you don’t want to click on the trailer (seriously, it’s safe, it was on TV), here’s some of the dialog:

Wise elder: Nephew, what is the key to building an empire?
Grasshopper: Become a banker and get a government handout?

Grand Theft Auto has been on the receiving end of plenty of tsking and finger shaking itself, and rightfully so for over-the-top violence. So it probably pleased the marketing department to no end that they could make a few “pot, meet kettle” shots of their own. After all, when the bad boys of video games get self righteous, you know things are bad.

Maybe the next iteration of the game will have cameos by Bernie Madoff or Ralph Cioffi.

Patrice Sarath is a writer and editor for Hoover's, covering the insurance and construction industries. Patrice also writes science fiction, fantasy, and screenplays. Her novels Gordath Wood and Red Gold Bridge have been published by Ace, an imprint of Penguin.