When was Grand Theft Auto the video game first released?
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
"Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City" is a standalone compilation of the episodes for "Grand Theft Auto IV". It contains both "The Lost and Damned" and "The Ballad of Gay Tony" on one disc. It was released on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and on 13 April 2010 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3. Microsoft added "Episodes from Liberty City" to its backwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
"Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" was released for Microsoft Windows on 12 May 2003, supporting higher screen resolutions and draw distance, and featuring more detailed textures. A GameCube release was planned, but later cancelled. For its release on the Xbox in December 2003, "Vice City" was bundled with "Grand Theft Auto III" in a compilation titled "Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack". The Xbox port features custom soundtrack support as well as improved audio, polygon models, and reflections over the previous ports. "Double Pack" was later bundled with "San Andreas" in a compilation titled "", released in October 2005. "The Trilogy" was also released for OS X on 12 November 2010. For the game's tenth anniversary in December 2012, War Drum Studios ported "Vice City" to several iOS and Android devices. The port is almost identical to the Windows version of the game, but with enhanced visuals and a customisable layout. A PlayStation 3 version of "Vice City" was released on 30 January 2013 via the PlayStation Network. The original PlayStation 2 version of the game was released for the PlayStation 4 on 5 December 2015.
Grand Theft Auto
During interviews to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of "Grand Theft Auto III", producer of the Street Fighter series, Yoshinori Ono, said "It would be no exaggeration to say that "Grand Theft Auto III" changed the industry, and we can basically separate the time before and after its emergence as distinct eras." In the same article Bethesda studios director, Todd Howard, said "The mark of a truly great game is how many people try to recapture or emulate it and fail. There's a long line behind this one."
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Within 24 hours of its release, "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" sold over 500,000 copies. Within two days of its release, "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" sold 1.4 million copies, making it the fastest-selling game in history at the time. It was the highest-selling game of 2002 in the United States; by 2004, the game had sold 5.97 million units, and by December 2007 it had sold 8.20 million. By July 2006, it had sold 7 million copies and earned $300 million in the United States alone. "Next Generation" ranked it as the highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country, beating "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". In February 2005, it was re-released as part of PlayStation's Greatest Hits selection, indicating high sales. In Japan, "Vice City" sold about 223,000 copies in its first week and over 410,000 by January 2008. The game earned a "Diamond" award in the United Kingdom, indicating over one million sales. By March 2008, the game had sold 17.5 million units worldwide, making it one of the best-selling PlayStation 2 games.
Video game culture
In 2001, "Grand Theft Auto III" was released, which started the controversy over again.
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
The game was originally intended to be named "Race'n'Chase" and to be developed for the Commodore Amiga, starting in 1996. However, it was nearly cancelled due to production issues.
Grand Theft Auto IV
The initial version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" released in Australia and New Zealand was pre-censored by Rockstar to allow the game to meet the perceived requirements of the Australian classification system. However, the game was resubmitted to the New Zealand OFLC by Stan Calif, a 21-year-old student who was unhappy that New Zealand received an edited version of the game as a result of Australian censorship laws. The unedited version was subsequently given an R18 rating and cleared for sale in New Zealand. For the PC release, the uncensored version of the game was awarded MA15+ in Australia. Following the release of "The Lost and Damned", Rockstar distributed a patch which uncensored the Australian console version.
Take-Two Interactive
In March 1998, Take-Two acquired BMG Interactive, the dormant video game publishing division of BMG Entertainment, for 1.85 million shares (16% of Take-Two's common stock), worth about . In the previous year, the United Kingdom-based DMA Design and BMG Entertainment had just released "Grand Theft Auto", and while it financially performed well but was not a critical success in Europe, it had sparked controversy over the use of violence in video games, with United States Senator Joe Lieberman speaking out strongly against it. Seeing the opportunity to capture attention on the game, Brant had initiated the acquisition of BMG as to acquire the "Grand Theft Auto" property, and at the same time, contacted BMG's Sam and Dan Houser (both instrumental to getting "Grand Theft Auto" to market), Terry Donovan, and Jamie King to found a new label within Take-Two, called Rockstar Games for which to develop more titles like it. Electronic Arts' (EA) 2008 CEO, John Riccitiello, stated that, with the establishing of Rockstar, Take-Two effectively invented the "label" corporate structure, which EA would follow into in 2008. With the rights to "Grand Theft Auto", Take-Two expanded its publication into North America, and the game became Take-Two's first finanicial success with over 1.5 million copies sold.
Rockstar Leeds
Rockstar Leeds' first projects under Take-Two Interactive's ownership were announced as early as January 2005, that being a PlayStation Portable port of "" and an original PlayStation Portable game in the "Grand Theft Auto" series set in Liberty City, the location previously seen in 2001's "Grand Theft Auto III". The "Midnight Club 3" port was developed under the oversight of the original game's developer, Rockstar San Diego, and released in June 2005. In May 2005, the original "Grand Theft Auto" game was revealed to be "", developed in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North. Like the studio's "Max Payne" conversion, "Liberty City Stories" sought to include everything that was previously found in "Grand Theft Auto" games, just in a smaller format, so to optimise it for a handheld platform. "Liberty City Stories" was released in October 2005, to very positive critical reception. A successor to the game, "", was again developed by Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, and announced in May 2006. Released in October 2006, the game attempted to vastly improve on the previous instalment, and "smash expectations of portable gaming".
Grand Theft Auto
Most games in the series are set in fictional locales modelled on cities, usually either Liberty City, Vice City or San Andreas, which are stand-ins for New York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively. The first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of action-adventure, driving, third-person shooting, carjacking, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The series focuses on many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier beat 'em up games from the 16-bit era. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Debbie Harry, Phil Collins, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda.
Grand Theft Auto III
"Grand Theft Auto III" is considered to have a leading role in the popularisation of sandbox games, inspiring those such as "True Crime" (2003–05), "Saints Row" (2006–present) and "Crackdown" (2007). The term ""Grand Theft Auto" clone" is frequently used to describe subsequent video games released with similar open-ended gameplay as "Grand Theft Auto III". While previous video games used open world design, including earlier "Grand Theft Auto" games, "Grand Theft Auto III" took this gameplay foundation and expanded it into a 3D world, offering an unprecedented variety of minigames and side-missions. Due to the greater success of the game over its predecessors, it is credited with popularising the open-world genre; Dan Houser felt that the game made it "one of the most vibrant genres today".
Grand Theft Auto Advance
The game is set in Liberty City, a fictional city that appeared most prominently in "Grand Theft Auto III", in the year 2000. Indeed, the earliest announcement of this game was that it would be a port of "Grand Theft Auto III", but at some point in development (it is unclear exactly when this occurred) this idea was rejected, probably due to technical limitations and the time needed to reconstruct the previous game's missions in the new two-dimensional environment.
Grand Theft Auto III
"Grand Theft Auto III" is considered to be the first 3D game in the series, using Criterion Games' RenderWare game engine. When designing the game, the development team expanded upon concepts introduced in the previous "Grand Theft Auto" games. Benzies stated that the intention was to recreate the "freedom and diversity" of the previous games in a "living, breathing 3D world", using the power of the PlayStation 2 to do so. The console's ability to use DVDs, an improvement over the PlayStation's limit to CDs, allowed the team to store more data, such as animations, music and environments. Despite this, the team found it difficult to fit the game into the PlayStation 2's 32 megabytes of RAM, due to the scale. The game's size also created difficulties for the testers, due to the variety of options. Benzies felt that creating a living city was the "underlying principle" of the game's concept during development. Executive producer Sam Houser felt that the game's 3D element allowed the "chemistry of the team [to come] together perfectly for the first time".
Grand Theft Auto
After the release of "", modders managed to find the unused code in the game and released unofficial patches for the Windows and Xbox (with a modchip) versions as well as a PlayStation 2 version through the use of an Action Replay code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game). These mini-games were left partially intact in the game's code. This prompted application of an AO (Adults Only) ESRB rating to the version of the game containing the leftover code. Take-Two Interactive was forced to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class action lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at its music, gameplay and open world design. However, the game also generated controversy, with criticism directed at the depiction of violence and racial groups. The game sparked lawsuits and protests while being labelled as violent and explicit. "Vice City" became the best-selling video game of 2002 and has sold over 17.5 million copies. Considered one of the most significant titles of the sixth generation of video games, and one of the greatest video games ever made, it won numerous year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. Since its release, the game has received numerous ports to many gaming platforms. Its successor, "", was released in October 2004, and a prequel, "", was released in 2006.
Grand Theft Auto III
"Grand Theft Auto III" was released to critical acclaim. Metacritic calculated an average score of 97 of out 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 56 reviews. It is the sixth-highest rated game on Metacritic, tied with a number of others. Reviewers liked the game's sound, gameplay, and open world design, though some criticism was directed at the controls. Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer called "Grand Theft Auto III" "a luscious, sprawling epic", and "Official PlayStation Magazine" named it "the most innovative, outlandish, brilliant video game". GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann described the game as "an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed by anyone"; IGN's Doug Perry named it "one of the best titles of the year, on PlayStation 2, or on any system".
Grand Theft Auto V
The game was first announced by Rockstar Games on 25 October 2011. They released its debut trailer one week later, with an official press release acknowledging its setting. Journalists noted that the announcement ignited widespread anticipation within the gaming industry, which they owed to the cultural significance of the series. The game missed its original projected Q2 2013 release date, pushed back to 17 September to allow for further polishing. To spur pre-order game sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to make a special edition with extra in-game features. They ran a viral marketing strategy with a website for a fictional religious cult, "The Epsilon Program", that offered users the chance to feature in the game as members of the cult.
A re-release of the game was announced for Microsoft Windows (PC), PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at E3 2014. This enhanced version features an increased draw distance, finer texture details, denser traffic, upgraded weather effects, and new wildlife and vegetation. It includes a new on-foot first-person view option, which required the development team to overhaul the animation system to accommodate first-person gameplay. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were released on 18 November 2014. The PC version, initially scheduled for simultaneous release with the console versions, was delayed until 14 April 2015. According to Rockstar, it required extra development time for "polish". The PC version is capable of 60 frames per second gameplay at 4K resolution, and the Rockstar Editor lets players capture and edit gameplay videos. Design director Imran Sarwar announced in October 2017 that the game would not receive single-player downloadable content, despite Rockstar's original plan for a 2014 release, citing the continued growth of "Grand Theft Auto Online" and the upcoming "Red Dead Redemption 2" as reasons for the cancellation.
Rockstar North
BMG Interactive, publisher of "Grand Theft Auto", were bought by Take-Two Interactive in March 1998 for 1.85 million company shares, around 16% of their common stock, and some staff, including the Sam and Dan Houser, were carried across to Rockstar Games, which was formed as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in December 1998. During the changes in management, DMA Design lost many employees, including Kay, Hammond and Dailly. Several games were also scrapped during this time, including Nintendo 64 ports of "Grand Theft Auto" and "Wild Metal Country", a 64DD port of "Unreal" (1998), and a game known as "Attack!". On 29 September 1999, Take-Two Interactive announced that they had acquired DMA Design from Infogrames for . Sam Houser, who became Rockstar Games' executive producer, said that "the ability to align Rockstar with a development house [...] that is clearly approaching video-game development in a new and exciting manner, makes this a perfect match".
Grand Theft Auto
Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. "Chinatown Wars" was released for iOS in 2010 and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. For their tenth anniversaries, "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Vice City" were both re-released for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively. In 2013, "San Andreas" was ported to iOS, Android and Windows Phone and RT; the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox 360 in 2014, the year of the game's tenth anniversary, and the following year for PlayStation 3. In 2015 "Liberty City Stories" was ported to iOS, Android and Fire OS.
Grand Theft Auto III
"Grand Theft Auto III" received multiple nominations and awards from gaming publications. It was awarded Game of the Year at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and from GameSpot and GameSpy. It was named the Best PlayStation 2 Game by Game Revolution, GameSpot, GameSpy and IGN. It also won Best Action Game from Game Revolution, GameSpot, and IGN, and Most Innovative from GameSpot, as well as Excellence in Game Design at the Game Developers Choice Awards. GameSpy also awarded the game Most Offensive, Best Use of Radio, and tied for Best Artificial Intelligence.
Development of Grand Theft Auto V
A trailer released on 9 July features the first gameplay footage. It demonstrates the shooting and driving mechanics, and the ability to instantaneously swap between characters. "Grand Theft Auto Online" was unveiled in a trailer released on 15 August. The video displayed activities like bank heists, small robberies, "traditional" game modes, purchase of property and bicycle-riding. The final pre-launch trailer was released on 29 August, intended to be a television advertisement. The song "Sleepwalking" by American band The Chain Gang of 1974 was used in this trailer.
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
"Grand Theft Auto" was to be released on the Sega Saturn, but due to the console's rapid decline in popularity before development was finished, the project was halted and the game was never released. After the PlayStation's successful release, development began on "Grand Theft Auto 64", a port of the game for the Nintendo 64, rumoured to have graphical enhancements and new missions. However, development was cancelled without ever having a public appearance.
Grand Theft Auto IV
In the first week of availability, the Windows version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" debuted at seventh place on the weekly charts; by the second week, it had left the top-ten. Based on unique user counts, the game was the most played Games for Windows – Live game in 2009 and 2012, and the second-most played in 2011.
Grand Theft Auto
"" and "", originally released for PlayStation Portable handheld console and later re-issued for other consoles, are set few years before their previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities. The maps for the two cities remain the same, with some differences in terms of buildings and geography to reflect the different time periods.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Considered one of the sixth generation of video gaming's most significant titles, and by many reviewers to be one of the greatest video games ever made, "San Andreas" received rave reviews by many critics who praised the music, story and gameplay. It became the best-selling video game of 2004, and has sold over 27.5 million copies worldwide ; it remains the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. The game, like its predecessors, is cited as a landmark in video games for its far-reaching influence within the industry. However, the violence and sexual content of "San Andreas" has been the source of much public concern and controversy. In particular, a player-made software patch, dubbed the "Hot Coffee mod", unlocked a previously hidden sexual scene. The next main entry in the series, "Grand Theft Auto IV", was released in April 2008. "San Andreas" has been ported to various other platforms and services, such as OS X, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Fire OS).
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is an action-adventure video game developed in a collaboration between Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North, and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 24 October 2005, for PlayStation Portable, it is the ninth game in the "Grand Theft Auto" series and was preceded by "" and succeeded by "". It is a prequel to "Grand Theft Auto III".
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
It is the thirteenth game in the "Grand Theft Auto" series, and the first for Nintendo DS and iOS. "Chinatown Wars" is currently the best reviewed Nintendo DS game and the second best reviewed PlayStation Portable video game on Metacritic.
Grand Theft Auto
Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The 2008 title "Grand Theft Auto IV" focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. "Grand Theft Auto V", published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. It was released to massive financial success, breaking multiple records. It was later re-released with various enhancements, in 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in 2015 for Microsoft Windows.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Following its announcement in May 2006, "Grand Theft Auto IV" was widely anticipated. Upon release, the game received universal critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at the game's narrative and open world design. However, the game also generated controversy, with criticism directed at the game's depiction of violence and players' ability to drive under the influence of alcohol. "Grand Theft Auto IV" broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history at the time, earning in its first day and $500 million in its first week. Considered one of the most significant titles of the seventh generation of video games, and by many critics as one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. Its successor, "Grand Theft Auto V", was released in September 2013.
Music of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
"" is an open-world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. First released on 26 October 2004 for the PlayStation 2, "San Andreas" has an in-game radio that can tune into eleven stations playing more than 150 tracks of licensed music, as well as a talk radio station. The songs featured on the radio stations originated in the early 1990s, the period in which the game is set.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
On 27 July 2017, the Psychic Friends Network sued Rockstar over the character named Auntie Poulet who shares similarities to the late psychic Miss Cleo who was actually voiced by Miss Cleo.
Mike Snider of "USA Today" wrote that "Vice City" "raised the bar for video games", citing its interactivity, violence, and soundtrack. "Kotaku"s Luke Plunkett and "PC Magazine"s Jeffrey L. Wilson both named "Vice City" the best game in the series, with the former naming it the "perfect "Grand Theft Auto" experience". The readers of "Official UK PlayStation Magazine" named "Vice City" the fourth-greatest PlayStation title ever released. "Vice City" also appeared on Japanese magazine "Famitsu"s readers' list of top 100 games in 2006; it was one of the only Western titles on the list. Art director Aaron Garbut felt that, alongside its predecessor "Grand Theft Auto III" and successor "", "Vice City" led the trend of open world games.
Grand Theft Auto
The controversies flared up again with "Grand Theft Auto III", since the 3D graphics made the violence more realistic, and players could pay for the services of prostitutes to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back.
Grand Theft Auto IV
"Grand Theft Auto IV" is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. It is possible to have several active missions running at one time, as some missions require players to wait for further instructions or events. Outside of missions, players can freely roam the game's open world, and have the ability to complete optional side missions. Composed of the fictional city of Liberty City, the world of "Grand Theft Auto IV" is larger in area than most earlier entries in the series. At the beginning of the game, players can only explore the first island–composed of Dukes and Broker–with all other islands unlocking as the story progresses.
Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto V
"Grand Theft Auto V" is an open world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. Upon its release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 17 September 2013, the game generated controversies related to its violence and depiction of women. A mission that requires players to use torture equipment in a hostage interrogation polarised reviewers, who noted its political commentary but felt that the torture sequence was in poor taste. The mission also received criticism from politicians and anti-torture charity groups. The game became subject to widespread online debate over its portrayal of women, particularly in the wake of backlash against GameSpot journalist Carolyn Petit after she claimed the game was misogynistic in her review. After Petit's review webpage received more than 20,000 largely negative comments, many journalists defended her right to an opinion and lamented the gaming community's hostility towards criticism. Television personality Karen Gravano and actress Lindsay Lohan both filed lawsuits against Rockstar in allegation that characters in the game were based on their likenesses. Target's Australian division pulled the game from their 300 stores following a Change.org petition that claimed the game "encourages players to commit sexual violence and kill women", despite the petition being criticised as misleading and portrayals of sexual violence in games already being illegal in Australia.
Grand Theft Auto clone
"Grand Theft Auto III" took the gameplay foundation of the first two "Grand Theft Auto" games and expanded it into a 3D world, and offered an unprecedented variety of minigames and side-missions. The title was a much greater commercial success than its direct precursors, and its influence was profound. As such, "Grand Theft Auto III" is credited with popularizing this genre, let alone inventing it. Its release is sometimes treated as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of "Doom" nearly a decade earlier. GamePro called it the most important game of all time, and claimed that every genre was influenced to rethink their conventional level design. IGN similarly praised it as one of the top ten most influential games of all time. Subsequent games that follow this formula of driving and shooting in a free-roaming level have been called "Grand Theft Auto" clones.
Grand Theft Auto Advance
Grand Theft Auto Advance, marketed as Grand Theft Auto, is an action-adventure video game developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Rockstar Games for the Game Boy Advance, released on 26 October 2004.
Grand Theft Auto III
Prior to the initial release, several modifications were made to the game. While changes are frequent during game development, the changes in "Grand Theft Auto III" were noted to be around the time of the September 11 attacks, which led to speculation that some changes were motivated by the attacks. On 19 September 2001, Rockstar delayed the game's release by three weeks, citing the attacks as an influencing factor in the delay. "Everyone had someone who had an uncle or brother [who was impacted by the attack]", said Paul Eibeler, then-president of distributor Take-Two Interactive.
Grand Theft Auto V
"Grand Theft Auto V" received multiple nominations and awards from gaming publications. Prior to its release, it received Most Anticipated Game at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards. The game was review aggregators Metacritic and GameRankings' highest rated for the year 2013. The game appeared on several year-end lists of 2013's best games, receiving wins from independent journalist Tom Chick, CNET, "Edge", the 31st Golden Joystick Awards, the 5th Annual Inside Gaming Awards the Spike VGX 2013 Awards, Slant Magazine and "Time". It was named the Best Xbox Game by Canada.com, GameSpot, and IGN, and the Best Multiplatform Game by Destructoid. Rockstar Games and Rockstar North won Best Studio and Best Developer from "Edge", and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award at the 10th British Academy Video Games Awards.
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony is the second of the two episodic expansion packs available for the PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 versions of "Grand Theft Auto IV", developed by Rockstar North. It was first released for Xbox 360 on 29 October 2009, before then being released for PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 13 April 2010. It is the fourth expansion pack in the "Grand Theft Auto" series and the 14th release in the series.
Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV
"Grand Theft Auto IV" is an open world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. Upon its release on 29 April 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, "Grand Theft Auto IV" generated controversy. The game's depiction of violence received mass commentary from journalists and government officials, occasionally being referred to as a "murder simulator". The ability to drive under the influence of alcohol in the game also received criticism, resulting in a request for the ESRB to change the game's rating. Similarly, some gameplay features were censored for the Australian and New Zealand versions of the game, though these censors were subsequently removed. Several crimes that were committed following the game's release, such as murder and sexual violence, were attributed to the perpetrators' experience with the game, generating further controversy. Former attorney Jack Thompson, known for his campaigns against the series, heavily criticised "Grand Theft Auto IV" prior to its release, filing lawsuits against parent company Take-Two Interactive, and threatening to ban distribution of the game if some gameplay features were not removed. The game also generated further controversy and lawsuits from city officials and organisations.
Grand Theft Auto
"Grand Theft Auto V", released in 2013, is set in a revised depiction of southern San Andreas that only features Los Santos (Los Angeles) to the south and the rural Blaine County to the north. It includes revised landmarks such as the "Vinewood" sign (instead of Hollywood), Rockford Hills (instead of Beverly Hills), Del Perro Pier (instead of Santa Monica Pier), Los Santos International Airport (LSX) (instead of LAX), Los Santos Golf Club (instead of Los Angeles Country Club.), and Galileo Observatory (instead of Griffith Observatory). The game also features the town of Ludendorff in the fictional state of North Yankton. Los Angeles was extensively researched for "Grand Theft Auto V". The team organised field research trips with tour guides and architectural historians and captured around 250,000 photos and hours of video footage during these visits. Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. "The New Yorker"s Sam Sweet notes that, with sales of game reaching thirteen million copies, "there will be more people living in the imaginary state of Los Santos than in the real city on which it was modelled."
Grand Theft Auto
In 2006, McFarland & Company published "The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto". Compiled by Nate Garrelts, the 264-page book is a collection of essays regarding the "Grand Theft Auto" series, to help audiences better understand the games and to make a point about due diligence of game criticism. The book is divided into two parts: the first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the second half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy.
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar North began to develop "Grand Theft Auto V" in 2008, following "Grand Theft Auto IV"'s release. Development was conducted by a team of more than 1,000 people, including Rockstar North's core team and staff from parent company Rockstar Games' studios around the world. The proprietary Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) was overhauled for the game to improve its draw distance rendering capabilities. The Euphoria and Bullet software handle additional animation and rendering tasks. Having become familiar with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hardware over time, Rockstar found they were able to push the consoles' graphical capabilities further than in previous games. Analyst estimations place the game's combined development and marketing budget at more than (), which would make it the most expensive game ever made at that time.
Rockstar North
On 17 September 2013, the studio released "Grand Theft Auto V" on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which became one of the most critically acclaimed games ever. The game was a return to the fictional city of Los Santos, last seen in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". The game also introduced multiple playable characters for the first time in the series, allowing players to switch between Franklin, Michael and Trevor. It quickly became the studio's most commercially successful release, as well as one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, surpassing the total gross of "Grand Theft Auto IV" within its first week and breaking the one-day gross record for video games.
Grand Theft Auto III
Following the game's success, Rockstar developed further titles in the series. "Vice City" and "San Andreas" are set in their titular locations in 1986 and 1992, respectively. "Grand Theft Auto Advance" (2004) is set in Liberty City roughly one year before the events of "Grand Theft Auto III". "" (2005) takes place three years before the events of "Grand Theft Auto III" in the same rendition of Liberty City. A completely redesigned version of the city was later used in "Grand Theft Auto IV" (2008), "" (2009), "" (2009) and "" (2009).
Development of Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar Games first confirmed the game's existence on 25 October 2011 in an announcement on its official website and Twitter feed. Take-Two Interactive's share price subsequently increased seven percent. Journalists said the announcement ignited significant anticipation within the gaming industry, which they owed to the series' cultural significance.
Grand Theft Auto
"Grand Theft Auto Double Pack" was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It includes "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Vice City". "Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy" is a compilation of "III", "Vice City", and "San Andreas". The compilation was first released in 2005 for the Xbox. Later it was released for the PlayStation 2, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 4. "The Trilogy" also served as the revised package for "San Andreas", which had to be pulled from shelves due to the controversial "Hot Coffee" mod.
Grand Theft Auto III
"Grand Theft Auto III" was released on 21 May 2002 for Microsoft Windows, supporting higher screen resolutions and draw distance, and featuring more detailed textures. A GameCube release was planned, but later cancelled. For its release on the Xbox in December 2003, "Grand Theft Auto III" was bundled with its sequel "Vice City" in a compilation titled "Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack". The Xbox port features custom soundtrack support as well as improved audio, polygon models, and reflections over the previous ports. "Double Pack" was later bundled with "San Andreas" in a compilation titled "", released in October 2005. "The Trilogy" was also released for OS X on 12 November 2010. For the game's tenth anniversary in December 2011, War Drum Studios ported "Grand Theft Auto III" to several iOS and Android devices. The port is almost identical to the Windows version of the game, in addition to enhanced textures and models and touchscreen controls. A PlayStation 3 version of "Grand Theft Auto III" was released on 25 September 2012 via the PlayStation Network. The original PlayStation 2 version of the game was released for the PlayStation 4, as a PS2 Classics title, on 5 December 2015. In 2012, a modding community under the name RAGE Classic Team released the map of "Grand Theft Auto III" ported over to "Grand Theft Auto IV", named "Grand Theft Auto III: RAGE Classic".
Grand Theft Auto Online
Grand Theft Auto Online is an online multiplayer action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 1 October 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and was released on 18 November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with a Microsoft Windows version on 14 April 2015. The game is the online multiplayer mode of "Grand Theft Auto V". Set within the fictional state of San Andreas (based on Southern California), "Grand Theft Auto Online" allows up to 30 players to explore the open world and engage in cooperative or competitive game matches. The open world design lets players freely roam San Andreas, which includes open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles).
Gangstar: Crime City
"Gangstar: Crime City" received mixed to positive reception from critics, with praise given to the gameplay and Gameloft's efforts at bringing a "Grand Theft Auto"-like experience to mobile devices, which hasn't seen any official release from Rockstar up until the tenth anniversary mobile release of "Grand Theft Auto III" in 2011. IGN's Levi Buchanan gave "Crime City" a score of 7.4 put of 10, stating "If you can get into Gangstar without any expectation other than a reasonable facsimile of the GTA experience on the smallest screen at a bargain price, there are definitely some kicks to be had. Just keep your tongue planted firmly in cheek while playing." In a similarly positive review, Pocket Gamer also noted the game being heavily based on "Grand Theft Auto", stating "although it's not the best it could be, Gangstar: Crime City is a good stab/shot/other-violent-metaphorical-verb at turning GTA into mobile form. Solid, if not completely polished," While both reviewers noted the game's open world and missions, its stereotypical portrayal of gangsta rap and hip-hop culture was criticised and ridiculed as being cliche and tongue-in-cheek.
Sam Houser
Credited as executive producer, Houser is also the creator of several of the games in the "Grand Theft Auto" series with his brother Dan. On "Grand Theft Auto III" his responsibilities were, in his words, to be "militant on ensuring the game had a look, a sound, a story and a feel that worked." His description of the series as a whole is that the three sixth-generation "Grand Theft Auto" games form a "trilogy, [featuring] our distorted look at the East Coast around the time of the millennium ("Grand Theft Auto III"), followed by our reinterpretation of '80s Miami (""), and lastly, our look at early-'90s California ("")."
Marketing for Grand Theft Auto IV
The first trailer was released on 29 March 2007 at 22:00 UTC. At the time the trailer was released, Rockstar's servers for the trailer's official website became almost immediately overloaded.
Grand Theft Auto Online
The "Online Heists" update was a highly anticipated feature of "Grand Theft Auto Online". After numerous delays, the update launched on 10 March 2015, suffering some initial technical difficulties due to the increased user load. "Ill-Gotten Gains Part 1", released on 10 June 2015, added additional vehicles, clothing items and weapon decals. Some gameplay features were also affected, such as a redesign of the in-game car websites, the addition of a first-person vehicle hood camera in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, and the ability to cycle through targets when using lock-on missiles, among other minor changes. "Ill-Gotten Gains Part 2", released on 8 July 2015, added vehicles and weapons. It also added the radio station "The Lab", previously exclusive to the Windows version of the game, to all other versions. This was also the final update for both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, citing hardware limitations. "Lowriders", released on 10 October 2015, added a new set of missions, hosted by Lamar, additional vehicles, available vehicle upgrades, weapons, clothing items and Benny's Original Motor Works vehicle shop. The update gave players the ability to obtain and customise Lowriders, including upgrades such as interior customisation, hydraulics, and decals. The update also introduced the machete and machine-pistol weapons. "Halloween Surprise", released on 29 October 2015 for a limited time, featured two new Halloween-themed vehicles, flashlight and additional masks and ornaments, along with slasher-themed Adversary Modes. They were available until 16 November 2015. The "Festive Surprise" update returned on 21 December 2015. In addition to the items available in the previous iteration, the new iteration added new festive themed clothes, fifteen new masks and a new car. The update also added a new Adversary mode on 23 December 2015.
Grand Theft Auto
The "Grand Theft Auto" series is set in a fictional version of the world, in a number of different time periods. The original "Grand Theft Auto" introduced three main cities: Liberty City, based upon New York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of California. In the first "Grand Theft Auto" game, San Andreas was based on San Francisco and parts of Las Vegas. Expansion packs later set the game in London.
Grand Theft Auto III
Upon release, the game received critical acclaim, with praise particularly directed at its concept and gameplay. However, the game also generated controversy, with criticism directed at the depiction of violence and sexual content. "Grand Theft Auto III" became the best-selling video game of 2001, and has sold over 14.5 million copies since. Considered one of the most significant titles of the sixth generation of video games, and by many critics as one of the greatest video games of all time, it won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. Since its release, it has received numerous ports to many gaming platforms. Its successor, "", was released in October 2002.
Grand Theft Auto IV
The story of "Grand Theft Auto IV" was written by Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries. Unlike previous "Grand Theft Auto" games which have a strong cultural or cinematic influence, "["Grand Theft Auto IV" doesn't] really have any cinematic influences", as explained by Houser. "We were consciously trying to go, well, if video games are going to develop into the next stage, then the thing isn't to try and do a loving tribute or reference other stuff. It's to reference the actual place itself". Houser also said, "In terms of the character, we wanted something that felt fresh and new and not something that was obviously derived from [a] movie. [...] Maybe [we] could do something ourselves that would live alongside that stuff".
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The game is set in 1986 in fictional Vice City, which is based heavily on the city of Miami. Vice City previously appeared in the original "Grand Theft Auto" (1997); the development team decided to reuse the location and incorporate ideas from within the studio and the fanbase. They wanted to satirise a location that was not contemporary, unlike "Grand Theft Auto III"s Liberty City. The team wanted to choose a location that had various similarities and differences to New York City—the inspiration of Liberty City—eventually leading them to Miami, which producer Leslie Benzies describes as "a party town, all sun and sea and sex, but with that same dark edge underneath". Sam Houser called it "the grooviest era of crime because it didn't even feel like it was crime ... it was a totally topsy-turvy back-to-front period of time". The team intended to make Vice City a "living, breathing city", for the player to feel like "life still goes on" while the character is inside a building.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Two episodic packs for "Grand Theft Auto IV" have been released. These two episodes were first released separately, exclusively on Xbox Live, as downloadable content (DLC), requiring the original game to play. They were later released together as part of a standalone game, titled "Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City", which does not require the original game to play. Dan Houser stated the episodes shows "a different side of Liberty City".
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
"Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment. It has a different presentation from previous games in the series, by partially resembling the first "Grand Theft Auto" titles. Instead of a ground-level view behind the protagonist or a top-down perspective, "Chinatown Wars" uses a fully rotatable camera angled down at the action. "Chinatown Wars" also uses cel-shaded polygons with black outlines to produce a comic book-like aesthetic — a first for the series. The title takes place in the "Grand Theft Auto IV" rendition of Liberty City, with the exception of Alderney.
Video gaming in the United Kingdom
In 2009, the profits of Britain's video game industry exceeded those from its film industry for the first time. Many major video game franchises are developed in the UK, including "Grand Theft Auto", "Tomb Raider", "Burnout", "LittleBigPlanet", "Wipeout" and "", making UK the third largest producer of video game series behind Japan and United States. The best-selling video game series made in the UK is "Grand Theft Auto" (primary developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland) which the series has sold over 150 million copies as of September 2013, the recent instalment "Grand Theft Auto V" became the fastest-selling video game of all time by making $815.7 million (£511.8 million) in sales worldwide during the first 24 hours of the game's sale. "Grand Theft Auto V" went on to break several other records such as Best-selling action-adventure video game in 24 hours, Fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion, Fastest video game to gross $1 billion, Highest grossing video game in 24 hours, Highest revenue generated by an entertainment product in 24 hours and Most viewed trailer for an action-adventure video game.
Multi Theft Auto
The initial version of the software was dubbed ""Race"" and unveiled on Sunday 22 January 2006, when the first playable content was released. This version featured a networked vehicle racing game mode and a map editor that allowed users to create custom environments and races. The advanced nature of the engine's early incarnation allowed the developers to develop a sophisticated integrated WYSIWYG editor for adding gameplay elements such as checkpoints, spawn points, power-ups and various objects ranging from ramps to exploding barrels.
Grand Theft Auto IV
On 6 August 2008, Rockstar announced that a Microsoft Windows version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" was in development by Rockstar North and Rockstar Toronto. The game was originally announced for release in North America on 18 November 2008 and in Europe on 21 November 2008 but was later pushed back to 2 and 3 December 2008, respectively. It contains expanded features, including traffic density control, draw distance configurations and a replay editor. The replay editor allows players to record and edit game clips, videos can then be uploaded to Rockstar's Social Club website. It utilised Games for Windows - Live for online play and supports 32 players for multiplayer. SecuROM protection is utilised and a one time online activation is required in order to play the game. The game was made available on Steam on 4 January 2009. On 9 February 2017, the Xbox 360 version of "Grand Theft Auto IV" was made available for backwards compatibility with the Xbox One.
Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto
Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto is a 2012 book by David Kushner that describes the history of "Grand Theft Auto" and its founders Sam Houser and Dan Houser. It describes some of the controversies that the game went through, such as fights with Jack Thompson, its continual attempts to push up against societal limits, and the attempt to cover up the Hot Coffee mod in the release of "".
Grand Theft Auto clone
Ultimately, rival developers were unable to match the reception of the "Grand Theft Auto" series. Rockstar North released "" in 2004, which featured an open world on the scale of three distinct cities. The game also allowed players to customize the player-character and vehicles, as well as compete for turf by fighting with rival gangs. The continued success of the "Grand Theft Auto" series led to successful spin-offs, including "" in 2005, "" in 2006, and the 2D "Grand Theft Auto Advance" for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. A market analysis in early 2006 found that new games in this genre would have more difficulty than new first-person shooters or racing games, and noted that overall revenue for this genre declines during periods without a new "Grand Theft Auto" game. By 2006, developers were producing fewer games in this space, estimated at half the number seen in 2005. "Grand Theft Auto" clones for mobile phones were also released by a number of developers, most notably those from Gameloft's "Gangstar" series, the first being "" in 2006.
Grand Theft Auto
The series has included a wide variety of voice actors. The original "Grand Theft Auto", its and its sequel, as well as "Grand Theft Auto Advance" and "" did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. The first game in the series to do so was "Grand Theft Auto III" which, despite a limited budget and the series' low profile at the time, featured several notable actors from film and television. These included Frank Vincent, Michael Madsen and Kyle MacLachlan, who all had prominent roles. At the time it was rare for a video game to use such high-profile actors, and "Grand Theft Auto III" is considered a pioneer in doing so. The next game, "", featured more film actors, including Ray Liotta as the player character. Although the following title, "", also featured many notable film actors—such as Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods—it had been decided that the use of such actors should be reduced, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in "San Andreas" were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
In 2008, the original Xbox version was released on Xbox 360; an emulated port as part of the Xbox Originals line-up. However, in late 2014 it was removed from the Xbox Live Marketplace and replaced with a port of the mobile version on 26 October 2014, the game's tenth anniversary. It featured HD 720p resolution, enhanced draw distance, a new menu interface, and achievements. While it introduced many new features, around ten songs were removed from the HD version that were present in the original due to licensing issues, and numerous new bugs were introduced. A physical release followed on 30 June 2015 in North America and 17 July 2015 elsewhere, under the "Platinum Hits" banner ("Classics" in PAL regions).
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
The game was a best-seller in the UK. By November 1998, global shipments to retailers of "Grand Theft Auto" computer and PlayStation versions had surpassed 1 million units combined. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €17 million in the European Union during 1998. The game was a commercial success, though it received mixed reviews upon release.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 March 2009 for Nintendo DS, 20 October 2009 for PlayStation Portable, 17 January 2010 (iPhone and iPod Touch), 9 September 2010 (iPad) on iOS, and 18 December 2014 for Android and Fire OS devices.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
A port for PlayStation 2 was released on 6 June 2006 in North America. At the time of release, the recommended retail price of the PS2 port was around half the price of the PSP version. The PS2 port does not feature the custom soundtrack ripping capability, in comparison to its PSP counterpart. It was also released for iOS, Android and Fire OS devices on 17 December 2015, 11 February 2016 and 11 March 2016, respectively.
Grand Theft Auto Online
"Grand Theft Auto Online" launched on 1 October 2013, two weeks after the release of "Grand Theft Auto V". Many players reported that they had difficulties connecting to the game's servers and the Social Club web service, and others further reported that the game would freeze while loading early missions. Rockstar released a technical patch on 5 October in an effort to resolve the issues. The microtransaction system, which allows players to purchase game content using real money, was also suspended as a fail-safe. Problems persisted the second week following launch, and some players reported their player-character progress as having disappeared. Another technical patch was released on 10 October combating the issues, and players experiencing issues were told not to recreate their multiplayer avatars. As recompense for the technical issues, Rockstar offered a stimulus of GTA $500,000 (in-game currency) to the accounts of all players connected to "Online" since launch.
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.
Grand Theft Auto
The "Grand Theft Auto" series is split into separate fictional universes, named after the primary level of graphics capability used in each era. The original "Grand Theft Auto", its expansions and its sequel are considered the "2D universe". "Grand Theft Auto III" and its sequels are considered the "3D universe". "Grand Theft Auto IV", its expansions and "Grand Theft Auto V" are considered the "HD universe". Each universe is considered separate with only brands, place names and background characters shared between them.
Music of Grand Theft Auto V
The game's music has been released on three official soundtracks: "The Music of Grand Theft Auto V", released alongside the initial launch of the game, consists of three volumes comprising the score, and selections from the in-game radio; "The Cinematographic Score — GTA 5", an electronic album released in March 2014, comprises tracks composed and produced by Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese; and "Welcome to Los Santos", released with the Microsoft Windows version of the game, features songs from the in-game radio station "The Lab", produced by The Alchemist and Oh No. Critical reception to the soundtracks was positive, as reviewers felt that the music connected appropriately with the gameplay.
Multi Theft Auto
The first version of "Multi Theft Auto", dubbed "Grand Theft Auto III: Alternative Multiplayer", attempted to fill in this gap by extending an already existing cheating tool with functionality that allowed the game to be played with a very crude form of two-player racing over a computer network purely as a proof of concept, similar to how the now-defunct XBAND service worked by manipulating game memory in order to add online multiplayer functionality. Newer versions of "Multi Theft Auto" with increasingly better gameplay and other improvements were released based on the same concept of game manipulation, by a small team of developers.
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
The game was originally titled "Race'n'Chase". It was originally planned to be released on MS-DOS, Windows 95, PlayStation, Sega Saturn and the Nintendo 64. However, it was never released for the two latter consoles. During the development of "Grand Theft Auto", many people overseeing the game's progress attempted to halt the development, which led the crew at DMA Design to have to convince them to allow them to continue.
Grand Theft Auto V
"Grand Theft Auto Online" launched on 1 October 2013, two weeks after "Grand Theft Auto V"s release. Many players reported connection difficulties and game freezes during load screens. Rockstar released a technical patch on 5 October in an effort to resolve the issues, but problems persisted the second week following launch as some players reported their character progress as having disappeared. Another technical patch was released on 10 October combating the issues and Rockstar offered a GTA$500,000 (in-game currency) stimulus to the accounts of all players connected to "Online" since launch as recompense. Because of the widespread technical issues present at launch, many reviewers bemoaned their "Grand Theft Auto Online" experience but generally recognised its open-ended exploration and dynamic content as strengths.
Grand Theft Auto clone
Games of this type are sometimes defined under the broader terminology "open world games" or "sandbox games". However, many games that predate "Grand Theft Auto III", such as "Metroid" from 1986, are also called open world games. Conflictingly, games such as "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Body Harvest" are credited with inventing this genre more than a decade later. Furthermore, reviewers have stated that this genre does not include every game with a freely explorable world and that this genre is much more specific, thus excluding the free-roaming titles "Spider-Man 2" and "" from this class of games. The terminology is inconsistent, sometimes including any game with open level design, while other times focusing on a specific genre created at the turn of the century.
Grand Theft Auto IV
When "Grand Theft Auto IV" was released to Microsoft Windows in December 2008, it received generally positive reviews. Metacritic calculated an average score of 90 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 40 reviews. Reviewers liked the enhanced visuals and the additional features, but criticised the port for its inferiority over the console versions.
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
The original "Grand Theft Auto" was developed for MS-DOS, but then later ported to Microsoft Windows (using SciTech MGL), PlayStation (developed by Visual Sciences using their "ViSOS" framework), and Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color version was technologically unabridged, which was quite a technical achievement due to the sheer size of the cities, converted tile-for-tile from the PC original, making them many times larger than most Game Boy Color game worlds were because of the handheld's limited hardware. To cater for the target younger generation, however, the game was heavily censored, with gore and swearing removed.
Grand Theft Auto
The game was controversial from the very first incarnation of the series. "Grand Theft Auto" was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", and Brazil banned it outright. Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the first game.
Grand Theft Auto III
Grand Theft Auto III is an action-adventure video game developed by DMA Design and published by Rockstar Games. It was released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2, in May 2002 for Microsoft Windows, and in October 2003 for the Xbox. An enhanced version of the game was released on mobile platforms in 2011, for the game's tenth anniversary. It is the fifth title in the "Grand Theft Auto" series, and the first main entry since 1999's "Grand Theft Auto 2". Set within the fictional Liberty City, based on New York City, the game follows Claude after he is left for dead and quickly becomes entangled in a world of gangs, crime and corruption.
Gary Penn
Gary Penn is a former British games reviewer who wrote for Zzap!64 in the 1980s and is a games industry veteran. He later was editor of The One from 1988 to 1990 and was Creative Director at DMA Design where he supervised the release of the first "Grand Theft Auto" game in 1997. Penn has described the game as taking years to develop and almost being cancelled.
Grand Theft Auto IV
"Grand Theft Auto IV" was released to critical acclaim. Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating in the 0–100 range, calculated an average score of 98, indicating "universal acclaim". It is the second-highest rated game on the site, only behind "". Reviewers heavily praised the game's narrative, open world design and combat system. Hilary Goldstein of IGN felt that the game "sets a new benchmark for open-world games", and Andrew Reiner of "Game Informer" wrote that the game "completely changes the landscape of gaming".
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
On 12 December 2013, "San Andreas" was released on select iOS devices. The upgrades and enhancements from the original game include newly remastered graphics, consisting of dynamic and detailed shadows, greater draw distance, an enriched colour palette, plus enhanced character and car models. The Android and Amazon Kindle version was released on 19 December 2013 and Windows Phone version on 27 January 2014.
Rockstar North
"Grand Theft Auto IV" was released on 29 April 2008, after around four years of development, for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, marking the debut of the developer’s wildly popular "Grand Theft Auto" franchise on the seventh-generation of video game consoles. "GTA IV" was another huge financial and critical success, breaking sales records amongst all types of entertainment media. Rockstar North continued work on "GTA IV" in the form of two pieces of downloadable episodic content. The first of these, titled "", was released on 17 February 2009, with the second, "", released on 29 October 2009. Rockstar Games later released a disc based version of both episodes for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, titled "".
Grand Theft Auto clone
Open world, 3D action-adventure games existed for years prior to the release of any similar game from the Scottish developer DMA Design. "Mercenary" (1985) has been described as a major ancestor to the "Grand Theft Auto" series, because it featured an open world which the player could explore freely. "The Terminator", released in 1991, was a free-form, open world game that set its action in a modern-day city that extended for miles, and included the ability to fire at civilians and steal cars. This game was also among the first American-developed games to feature these elements.
Grand Theft Auto (video game)
An original design document, dated 22 March 1995, was posted online by Mike Dailly on 22 March 2011. The author of the document credited is K.R. Hamilton, and the released version is 1.05. It contained information about elements of the game discussed in various meetings held from 23 January 1995 to the writing of the document which also contains many similarities to the 1986 Commodore 64 "Miami Vice".
According to the original design document, the introduction to "Grand Theft Auto" is a pre-drawn/rendered animation. The Windows 95 version was developed using Visual C++ v2.0. The DOS version was developed using Watcom C/C++ v10, Microsoft MASM 6.1 and Rational Systems DOS extender (DOS4GW) v 1.97.
The program used to make "Grand Theft Auto" was said to produce "a 3D array which can [be] used by both the perspective and the isometric engines". It was said to consist of "a grid editor which is used to place blocks on a grid, with a [separate] grid for each level", and "allow any block to be placed at any level". It was said that the world may have had to be 256×256×6 blocks.
Grand Theft Auto (film)
The film was released on Region One DVD in 1999 and re-released in 2006 and 2008.
Rockstar North
DMA Design began developing a new game, "Race'n'Chase", in April 1995. The development team consisted of mostly inexperienced members, who struggled with the task until producer and creative director Gary Penn joined the project. Originally scheduled for release in late 1996, the game was ultimately released as "Grand Theft Auto" in October 1997 for Microsoft Windows, following many development issues. The game was a critical and commercial success, and ultimately spawned a successful series. Following the release of "Grand Theft Auto", DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive for in 1997.
Grand Theft Auto
According to "The Guinness World Records" 2008 and 2009 Gamer's Edition, it is the most controversial video game series in history, with over 4,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes.
Grand Theft Auto clone
The subgenre has its origins in open world action adventure games popularized in Europe (and particularly the United Kingdom) throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The release of "Grand Theft Auto" (1997) marked a major commercial success for open-ended game design in North America, and featured a more marketable crime theme. But it was the popularity of its 3D sequel "Grand Theft Auto III" in 2001 that led to the widespread propagation of a more specific set of gameplay conventions consistent with a subgenre. The subgenre now includes many games from different developers all over the world where the player can control wide ranges of vehicles and weapons. The subgenre has evolved with greater levels of environmental detail and more realistic behaviors.
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.
Marketing for Grand Theft Auto IV
On 8 February 2008, Rockstar Games released five teaser trailers for "Grand Theft Auto IV".On 21 February 2008, two further teasers were released.On 7 March 2008, another two teasers were released.On 11 April 2008, two teasers were released.On 25 April 2008, a teaser was released.On 4 April 2008, a commercial was released, showing Niko walking towards the camera in many areas, from a prison to an airport. The main purpose of the video is to showcase both the realistic environments and the fluid walking animation of the main character. The video is 0:59 in length, however there is a shorter version that is about 0:30 in length. In Europe, the advert advertises only the Xbox 360 version and not the PlayStation 3 version. It features the typical 'Xbox Swoosh' at the end. It also mentions a price reduction in the system. The song used in the video is called 'Get Innocuous!' by LCD Soundsystem.
Grand Theft Auto V
The development of "Grand Theft Auto V" began soon after "Grand Theft Auto IV" release and was shared between many of Rockstar's studios worldwide. The development team drew influence from many of their previous projects such as "Red Dead Redemption" and "Max Payne 3" and designed the game around three lead protagonists to innovate on the core structure of its predecessors. Much of the development work constituted the open world's creation, and several team members conducted field research around California to capture footage for the design team. The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years.
Grand Theft Auto V
Post-release content is continually added to "Grand Theft Auto Online" through free title updates. Some updates add new game modes and features, and others feature themed gameplay content, such as the Independence Day Special update that added patriotic-themed content on 1 July 2014. The widely anticipated Online Heists update launched on 10 March 2015 and suffered some initial technical difficulties due to the increased user load. Shortly after the game's PC release, some players reported being banned from "Grand Theft Auto Online" for using field of view and cosmetic mods in single-player. Rockstar stated in their official blog that nobody had been banned from "Online" for using single-player mods, but that recent updates to the PC version had the "unintentional effect" of making such mods unplayable. They stated that mods are unauthorised and may cause unforeseen technical problems and instabilities.
Computer and Video Games
Until the closure of CVG, their official YouTube channel provided a variety of video game related content, providing everything from walkthroughs of games to news regarding video game consoles and regarding gaming events. Their second longest running series, "GTA V O'clock" covered news and conspiracy theories regarding Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto V" and "Grand Theft Auto Online". It was also one of the only publications invited to see and play "Grand Theft Auto V" before its release to the public on 17 September 2013 and re-release for PC on 14 April 2015.
Driver (series)
The first game of the "Driver" series was released for the PlayStation on 25 June 1999 in Europe and 30 June in the U.S. It was later released for Game Boy Color in April 2000, Windows in September 2000, Mac in December 2000, and iOS in December 2009. In the game, the player controls a former racecar driver turned undercover police detective named John Tanner. It featured a storyline inspired by 1960's/70's car chase movies such as "Bullitt" (1968) and "The Driver" (1978) and based in four real-life cities; Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. It was the best selling game of the "Driver" series and an evolution of the freedom to explore a city as brought forth in the early "Grand Theft Auto" games.
List of accolades received by Grand Theft Auto V
"Grand Theft Auto V" is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. Players can freely roam the open world of the fictional state of San Andreas (based on Southern California), composed of open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos (based on Los Angeles). The game was first announced on 25 October 2011, and was widely anticipated. At the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards (now the VGX), it was awarded Most Anticipated Game. It was released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in April 2015 for Microsoft Windows. Review aggregator Metacritic, assigned the game a normalised score of 97 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on 50 reviews for the PlayStation 3 version, 58 reviews for the Xbox 360 version, 66 reviews for the PlayStation 4 version and 14 reviews for the Xbox One version. Within twenty-four hours of its release, "Grand Theft Auto V" generated more than $815.7 million in worldwide revenue, equating to approximately 11.21 million copies sold for Take Two. Three days after release, the game had surpassed one billion dollars in sales, making it the fastest selling entertainment product in history.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 26 October 2004 for PlayStation 2, and on 7 June 2005 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. A high definition remastered version received a physical release for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on 30 June 2015 and 1 December 2015, respectively. It is the seventh title in the "Grand Theft Auto" series, and the first main entry since 2002's "". It was released on the same day as the handheld game "Grand Theft Auto Advance" for Game Boy Advance. On 8 June 2018, the game was added to the Xbox One Backward Compatible library.
Grand Theft Auto
The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped more than 250 million units, making it the fourth-highest selling video game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo's "Mario" and "Pokémon" franchises, and "Tetris". In 2006, "Grand Theft Auto" was featured in a list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum. In 2013, "The Telegraph" ranked "Grand Theft Auto" among Britain's most successful exports. The series has also been controversial for its adult nature and violent themes.