Any gamer will tell you that today's release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a pop culture event on a par with the opening of a Star Wars film or the launch of a Harry Potter book.
It is impossible to overstate the popularity of Rockstar Games' most valuable franchise - and it has been predicted that 4.5m units of this game - Rockstar Games' most valuable franchise - will be sold globally in its first week on the shelves.
But what makes Grand Theft Auto so desirable and addictive? And is it acceptable to play a game in which you can get a prostitute to service you in her car, then shoot her to get your money back?
Of course it is. GTA: San Andreas will inevitably attract attention for its violent content. It is set initially in the Los Santos gangland - a thinly disguised Los Angeles - and you soon find the character you play back with his old gang, the Orange Grove Family, and virtually eliminating a rival gang in a drive-by.
But what makes GTA: San Andreas repugnant to some constitutes is its attraction to some , and not just real-life delinquents and sociopaths. The chance to perform actions that would, in real life, lead to the destruction of property, loss of life and jail time, is deliciously attractive.
Who hasn't, after a bawling out from the boss, or an idle day spent pushing paper clips around their desk, fantasised about being Tony Montana from Scarface or Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver? The Grand Theft Auto games allow you to live out such fantasies without affecting anything other than a stream of data.
But there is much more to the game than its inventively violent missions. The landscape spans three cities - Los Santos, San Fierro (an analogue of San Francisco, complete with gay policemen and Bullit-style missions) and Las Venturas (a virtual Vegas), as well as all the spaces in between.
What sets these games apart is the ability to roam freely around the harsh but exciting environments. You can earn money by driving an ambulance or fire engine or by cat-burgling houses in rich neighbourhoods.
My hairdresser, for example, a mild-mannered individual, completed the missions in Grand Theft Auto III, then obsessively spent two weeks learning to master a light aeroplane within the game.
Working through the GTA: San Andreas storyline merely frees you up to hop in a monster truck and perform doughnuts in fields, or spend hours working as a pizza delivery boy.
There are parallels with the success of the biggest selling PC game of all time: the Sims. This game, which gives you fine control over the entire lives of families of virtual humans, demonstrates beyond doubt that that the ability to live vicarious lives is central to the appeal of video games.
Surely those who strive to do good in their day-to-day lives deserve, more than anyone, the chance to pop a virtual cap in some virtual ass when we feel like relieving our pent-up frustration?
· Steve Boxer is a specialist games writer
