Grand Theft Auto
"Grand Theft Auto", the first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in 1998 and the Game Boy Color in 1999. "Grand Theft Auto 2" was released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Work on "Grand Theft Auto IV" began in November 2004, almost immediately after the release of "" (2004). Around 150 game developers worked on "Grand Theft Auto IV", led by core members of the team that previously worked on "Grand Theft Auto III" (2001). For the game, Rockstar used their proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE), which was previously used in "Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis" (2006), in combination with the Euphoria game animation engine. Instead of pre-written animations, Euphoria uses procedural animation to control the way the player moves, enabling character movements to be more realistic. The Euphoria engine also enables NPCs to react in a realistic way to the player's actions. In one preview, a player knocked an NPC out of a window and the character grabbed onto a ledge to stop himself from falling. The game also uses middleware from Image Metrics to facilitate intricate facial expressions and ease the process of incorporating lip-synching. Foliage in the game is produced through SpeedTree.