US campaign group, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is demanding (via) a stricter rating on Grand Theft Auto IV because the game – which currently has a Mature rating - includes the ability to drive while intoxicated.

The group is also calling on publisher Take-Two Interactive and developer Rockstar Games to consider stopping distribution of the game “out of respect for the millions of victims/survivors of drunk driving.”

“We have a great deal of respect for MADD’s mission, but we believe the mature audience for ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ is more than sophisticated enough to understand the game’s content,” Rockstar Games said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday. “For the same reason that you can’t judge an entire film or television program by a single scene, you can’t judge ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ by a small aspect of the game.”

Discredited American lawyer Jack Thompson has also waded in to make the bizarre assertion that “Grand Theft Auto IV is the gravest assault upon children in this country since polio.”

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