Grand Theft Auto V counted $1 billion in sales during the first three days of release, drawing headlines for its infamous digital mayhem.
The video game also has a complex story and social satire wrapped inside the violent plot, as critic Christopher Byrd pointed out in his essay, “Should Thomas Pynchon play Grand Theft Auto V?” Here’s an excerpt comparing the social satire between the game and Thomas Pynchon‘s new novel:
Like “Bleeding Edge,” GTA V devotes much of its satire to calling out our technological passions. (As Pam Grier, who appears as one of the radio hosts in the game, puts it, “Music ain’t ever gonna stop making people happy, and technology ain’t gonna ever stop making people boring.”) Such as micro-blogging: “Bleeter is the perfect storm of blogging, social networking, and text messaging. We’re demolishing 100,000 years of complex linguistic development 140 characters at a time.”