Not Playing Around

November 27, 2005 by

Uh-oh. CSI: Miami has made some enemies.

It’s latest episode, “Urban Hellraisers” depicts college students acting out a “Grand Theft Auto” knock-off video game on the streets. Their extreme violent behavior, geeks and gamers feel, has given an industry already cloaked in stereotypes an even worse image.

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When I first saw the reports Monday morning on various geek news sites warning that the upcoming episode of “CSI: Miami” involved a plot in which college students run amok around town imitating scenes from a game called “Urban Hell Raiser” (an obvious homage to “Grand Theft Auto”), I found it hard to get riled.

I was more amused than anything else — who can’t grin at the thought of one medium already under (misguided) assault for purveying murderous schlock going after another? Sure, TV rots your brain, the producers seemed to be conceding, but, but, but, look over there — video games destroy your brain cells even faster.