Grand Theft Auto (video game)
Grand Theft Auto is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by BMG Interactive. It was first released in Europe and North America in October 1997 for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. It was later re-released on 12 December 1997 in Europe and 30 June 1998 in North America for the PlayStation. It is the first instalment of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, to be followed by 1999's "Grand Theft Auto 2". The series, which has led to five main entries and several special edition games over 16 years, has sold more than 150 million units as of September 2013. The story follows a group of criminals in three fictionalised versions of US cities as they perform bank robberies, assassinations, and other illegal activities for their respective crime syndicates.
Grand Theft Auto clone
DMA Design began pursuing open world game design with the first "Grand Theft Auto", which allowed players to commandeer various automobiles and shoot various weapons within a mission-based structure. Unlike later games in the series, and indeed many earlier influences, the first two "GTA" games were 2D. In 1998, DMA moved many of these design concepts into a 3D world, with "Body Harvest", a Nintendo 64 game developed by DMA Design (which eventually became Rockstar North when it was acquired by Rockstar Games). This title featured an open world with nonlinear missions and side-quests, as well as the ability to commandeer and drive a variety of vehicles. As such, it has been retroactively called "GTA in space" (despite the fact that most of the game takes place in various settings on Earth), and is credited with making "Grand Theft Auto III" possible. Dan Houser has also cited the 3D "Mario" and "Zelda" games on the Nintendo 64 as major influences.