There are all kinds of strange signs that gaming is changing. With the recent release of Grand Theft Auto, I had to wonder if even Rockstar was getting into the blue rinse game, appealing to seniors in subversive ways. Steal a car in GTA 1V and you can now tune in to Public Radio—last time I checked, retirees made up the core demographic for National Public Radio listeners. Is this the ultimate play for EA’s $2B hostile bid for Take-Two right now?

Nintendo’s Wii is partially responsible for opening the new game demographics. The Wii’s great controller and a low price appeal to a broader audience than the traditional male hard-core gamers. Young kids, women and older consumers, long ignored by the mainstream video-game industry, have discovered gaming through the Wii. Unfortunately, they haven’t discovered very many games!

These new gamers just play the games that they have, content to replay the Wii Sports game that comes with the machine. They don’t buy new games with the obsession of the traditional gamer who is constantly seeking new stimulation.

Today we’ve got senior citizens working out on the Wii aboard cruise ships and boomers attempting to ward off dementia playing Brain Age. Or how about the game “Bread ‘n Butter,” a virtual baking competition with 30K regular players, published by Outspark less than three months ago. Who know the virtual equivalent of the Pillsbury Bake-off could be so, er, sexy?

Call it “FaceliftBook” or “GreySpace” or even “Web 65.0”, this generation of consumers coupled with new online trends are having a profound impact on our industry. Companies are ready to put the “entertainment” into “retirement” and to monetize the returns. Canadian media mogul Moses Zneimer, recently launched a multimedia play aimed at ageing boomers, combining radio, television and social networking. Is it only a matter of time before he, Oprah and Martha Stewart – who can all be described as audience aggregators for the aging set – are playing hardball with Vivendi and EA?

Storytelling is critical to compelling entertainment, videogames included. So with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, I was psyched to see a game that Gamespot praises for its “superb” storyline and characters.

The key to the franchise’s success is storytelling, GTA IV writer/director Lazlow Jones said in a recent radio interview: “Fundamental storytelling that becomes so engaging that you find yourself emotionally involved with polygons. None of this exists, but we’ve made a living, breathing world.”

Fans and critics alike are raving about GTA IV’s attention to detail and hyperrealism, which — combined with satire — make this game great. The Starbucks in the game is called Bean Machine: “All Beans Lovingly Picked by Children in Central America.” The Statue of Liberty is replaced with the Statue of Happiness, her torch now a grande-sized coffee. Times Square billboards riff on underwear-as-fashion. “It’s a satire of not only New York, but of American consumerism and culture,” Jones said in his recent NPR interview.

In today’s America, spanking consumer culture may ultimately prove more subversive than stealing cars and shooting people.

Surprised that even National Public Radio fanned the flames for the heralded “video game event of the year”? Maybe it was a case of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Because in the GTA IV’s crazy hall-of-mirrors world, you can steal a car and tune in to any number of radio stations, including one that sounds suspiciously familiar to public radio listeners.

Ultimately, if convergence is about strange bedfellows: you’ve gotta love the hook-up between action adventure shooters and public broadcasting.