At the midnight launch last night I counted about 150+ people, and a good 1/4 of the total crowd were underage guys (and girls!) with parents in tow to pick up the game. The process this time around was for a line to form at 10pm at which time you finished paying for your game or confirmed that you had prepaid in full. You were carded no matter what your age because according to my GameStop manager there had been a lot of "undercover ESRB" employees targeting their location the past year. (This is indeed true as I was present for the prompt firing of an employee due to his failure to check the age of a 13 year old kid buying Gears of War)

Then the 2 hour wait began. At midnight the line ushered into the store where you were carded a 2cd time and received your game. Tight security for sure with mall rent-a-cops everywhere. I narrowly escaped their body odor and got out into the fresh night air. During my 2 hour wait I got to chatting with a lot of the younger kids around me, particularly those with parents. One such kid was Tom.

Myself: So how old are you Tom?
Tom: I just turned 12 this month!

Myself: Happy belated! Have you been looking forward to GTA IV?
Tom: Oh man totally for over a year at least!

Myself: How many games in the series have you played?
Tom: Um well only 3. I played San Andreas, Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories. I didn't get to play the original Vice City yet, but I'm trying to find an XBox Copy used.

Myself: I see you're hear with your mom so you can pick up GTA IV tonight. What does she think about video games in general, and the GTA series?
Tom: Well I think she really just wants to be "in the know," know what I mean? We had a serious talk when I first started getting into older games, like uh more mature stuff like Call of Duty, Halo and things that involved a lot of shooting and war. She's not bothered so much by the violence. I mean at this point I'm allowed to see some R-movies and most of the stuff on TV is pretty violent I think.

Myself: I agree, are you a fan of 24?
Tom: Yeah I love that show.

Myself: Well last season was probably the most violent out of all of them I'd say.
Tom: Oh yeah he bit that dude!

Myself: So Tom's Mom, (chuckle), do you think he's pretty spot on with how you feel?
Tom's Mom: For the most part. Tom has always been into war games. That Call of Duty series is one I actually like because I feel like he actually learns more about World War II by "experiencing" it. We rented Saving Private Ryan and watched it with him, and there's some pretty horrendous scenes in there. I can't imagine Grand Theft Auto getting much more realistic than that. I just want to know what my children are playing. I've never worried much that my son was going to go out and steal a car or go all Columbine or something.

Myself: Do you think there are any misconceptions by other parents regarding violent video games?
Tom's Mom: I think a lot of parents aren't privy to what their kids play and that's the biggest problem. If you've talked to your kids about things and put it into perspective then there shouldn't be a problem. When kids get their hands on adult-themed games and they've had no introduction to it they don't know how to separate it from the real world.

Myself: I would agree. Well in any case it's nice you came out here tonight to stand with your son for two hours. Not many parents have the patience for that.
Tom's Mom: Tom and I have an understanding-he keeps his grades up and he's allowed to play games. He hasn't let me down yet, but we'll see after GTA IV is out!
Tom: MOM!

Check out this article on What They Play.com. It deals with kids views on GTA IV and why they want to play so badly. It's a good read.