my 10 yr old son...11 in may...has been playing on his friend's (aged 7!)Grand Theft Auto game on psp and keeps asking me to buy it for him.Would you?

[cutekids]

it's got an 18 on the cover but I do know that he's played other 15 games etc.His Dad doesn't seem to have a problem with him playing on them....Am I being over-protective?I don't generally shelter my kids from anything on tv etc.I think it's just because the name of it is such a bad one lol!

no don't listen to all of these hypocrites. trust me, I'm 13 and i've played gta on psp, its not bad. ps3 versions are worse but psps are alright

GTA is aimed at mature gamers for two reasons;

1. It's violent, and includes all sorts of sexual content that kids shouldn't be exposed to.

1. It's satire, riffing off a whole host of cultural references that a child will simply not get. Beating someone with a dildo? Ripped off Clockwork Orange. Camera angles get ripped from Reservoir Dogs, plot lines from Scarface. One mission in GTA:Vice CIty had you selling smack from the back of an ice cream van; a wee reference (for those who know the entire GTA series is Made In Scotland) to the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars.

If the player isn't of a certain age they're going to miss all of this, and be oblivious to half the effort that went into the game.