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Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto series logo, which has
been used since Grand Theft Auto III
Genre(s)Action-adventure, open world, crime
Developer(s)Rockstar Games
Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design)
Rockstar Leeds
Rockstar Toronto
Rockstar Lincoln
Publisher(s)Rockstar Games
Creator(s)David Jones[1]
Dan Houser
Sam Houser
First releaseGrand Theft Auto
October 1997
Latest releaseGrand Theft Auto: Vice City – 10th Anniversary Edition
6 December 2012

Grand Theft Auto (commonly abbreviated GTA) is a video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly[2] then later by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series is derived from grand theft auto, a term referring to motor vehicle theft. The series has won multiple awards.

The series is set in fictional locales heavily modelled on American cities, while an expansion for the original was based in London. 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, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. The subject of the games is usually a comedic satire of American culture, but the series has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes. The series focuses around 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 antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress.

Video game developer DMA Design began the series in Template:Vgy, and it currently has ten stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, was widely acclaimed, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive experience, and is considered a landmark title that has subsequently influenced many other open world action games and led to the label "Grand Theft Auto clone" on similar games. Subsequent titles would follow and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III. Film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Danny Trejo, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Debi Mazar, Jenna Jameson, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Phil Collins and Peter Fonda have all voiced major characters, and the series is critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having sold more than 114 million units, as of September 2011.[3] The fourth era of Grand Theft Auto included lesser known actors, such as Michael Hollick, Jason Zumwalt, and Scott Hill.

Overview

Each game in this series allows players to take on the role of a criminal or a wannabe in a big city, typically an individual who rises through the ranks of organized crime through the course of the game. The player is given various missions by kingpins and major idols in the city underworld which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other crimes feature regularly, but occasionally taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto 2, the player is given a more developed storyline in which he is forced to overcome an unfortunate event (e.g., being betrayed and left for dead), which serves as motivation for the character to advance up the criminal ladder and ultimately leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline. The Grand Theft Auto series belongs to a genre of free-roaming video games called sandbox games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional action games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in GTA the player can determine the missions that he wants to undertake, and his relationships with various characters are changed based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game Turbo Esprit,[4][5] the cities of the games can be roamed freely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world video game environments which offer accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot, and some city areas must be unlocked over the course of the game.

Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games have more voice acting and radio stations, which simulate driving to music with disc jockeys, radio personalities, commercials, talk radio, pop music, and American culture.

The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as The Simpsons Hit & Run, which has less emphasis on crime or violence.

Setting

Subsequent games in the series have re-imagined and expanded upon the original locales. Grand Theft Auto III is set in a different rendition of Liberty City only loosely based on New York City.[6] A revised Vice City is depicted in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the location of San Andreas takes the form of an entire state, instead of a single city. The state of San Andreas is based on the states of California and Nevada, and consists of three major cities: Los Santos (Los Angeles), San Fierro (San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Surrounding towns and areas of desert, water, woodland and countryside lie between the three cities.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities.

Grand Theft Auto IV and its subsequent expansion packs The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are set in a third revision of Liberty City, set in 2008. A version of New Jersey, known as Alderney, is depicted adjacent to the city. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, although the state of Alderney is not present.[citation needed]

Other places in the same fictional universe as the Grand Theft Auto series also exist. Carcer City and Cottonmouth are two different cities featured in the Manhunt series. There is also the town of Bullworth from another Rockstar Game's release, Bully.[citation needed]

Only the expansion packs for the original Grand Theft Auto, London 1969 and London 1961, set in London, have featured a location outside of the United States and used a real-life location.

The upcoming instalment Grand Theft Auto V will be set in a revision of Los Santos (Los Angeles), a city set in the state of San Andreas and will feature the surrounding hills, countryside and beaches.[7] Los Santos will also be bigger than the worlds of GTA: San Andreas, GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption combined.[8]

Games

Year Title Developer(s) Platform(s) Era[9]
Console Computer Handheld Mobile
1997 Grand Theft Auto DMA Design, Tarantula Studios PS1 Windows, MS-DOS Game Boy Color 2D
1999 London, 1969 DMA Design, Tarantula Studios,
Rockstar Canada, Runecraft 		PS1 Windows, MS-DOS
London, 1961 Windows
Grand Theft Auto 2 DMA Design, Tarantula Studios PS1, Dreamcast Windows Game Boy Color
2001 Grand Theft Auto III DMA Design, Rockstar Vienna PS2, Xbox Windows, Mac OS X iOS, Android 3D
2002 Vice City Rockstar North, Rockstar Vienna PS2, Xbox Windows, Mac OS X iOS, Android
2004 Advance Digital Eclipse Game Boy Advance
San Andreas Rockstar North PS2, Xbox Windows, Mac OS X
2005 Liberty City Stories Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North PS2 PSP
2006 Vice City Stories PS2 PSP
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Rockstar North, Rockstar Toronto PS3, Xbox 360 Windows HD
2009 The Lost and Damned Rockstar North PS3, Xbox 360 Windows
Chinatown Wars Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North PSP, DS iOS
The Ballad of Gay Tony Rockstar North PS3, Xbox 360 Windows
2013 Grand Theft Auto V PS3, Xbox 360

History

Template:Grand Theft Auto chronology

The Grand Theft Auto series is considered by Rockstar Games to be split into separate fictional universes, named after the primary level of graphics capability used in each era.[9] The original Grand Theft Auto, its expansions and its sequel are considered the "2D universe". Grand Theft Auto III and its prequels are considered the "3D universe". Grand Theft Auto IV, its expansions and Grand Theft Auto V are considered the "High-definition universe". Each universe is considered separate, with only brands and background characters shared between them.[9]

Grand Theft Auto (1997)

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto (video game) and Grand Theft Auto: London
The original Grand Theft Auto.

Grand Theft Auto, the first game in the Grand Theft Auto series, was created by video game developer DMA Design, and was released for Microsoft DOS/Windows in 1997/1998 and also for the PlayStation.[10] The game is set in three different fictional cities, Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City. A reduced Game Boy Color port was later released.

Subsequently, two expansion packs, Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961, were released on 31 March and 1 June 1999, respectively.

In in-game chronological order the first generation Grand Theft Auto games are:

Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)

Main article: Grand Theft Auto 2

The second game in the series, Grand Theft Auto 2, was developed for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, and Dreamcast and released in the year 1999. Set in the indeterminable future,[11] it featured updated graphics and somewhat different gameplay based upon the player's appeal to various criminal organisations. Grand Theft Auto 2 takes place in a retro-futuristic setting, in an unnamed American city.

A reduced Game Boy Color port was also produced. It is the only Grand Theft Auto game to have a "T" rating for a PlayStation console, it is also the only numbered sequel to have a digit in the title instead of a Roman numeral.

Grand Theft Auto III (2001)

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto (Game Boy Advance), Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

Grand Theft Auto III was released in October 2001, and served as the breakthrough for the franchise.[12] The game's setting takes place around that time,[13] in fictional Liberty City, which is loosely based on New York City, but also incorporates elements of other American cities.[14] Grand Theft Auto III brought a third-person view to the series, rather than the traditional top-down view of earlier titles (although the view is still made available as an optional camera angle). For the first time, the problem of navigating in the huge sandbox game was solved by implementing a constant GPS triggered mini-map that highlights the player's position as well as those of current targets. Graphics were also updated with a new 3D game engine. The gameplay engine expanded the explorable world of GTA III, using a mission-based approach. Multiplayer was discarded (third party mods were later released, allowing for multiplayer gameplay), but GTA III improved in many other areas such as voice-acting and plot (in previous games, there was speech only in short animated cut scenes between levels, while other communication was simply subtitles running on the bottom of the screen).

On 13 October 2011, Rockstar announced the release of Grand Theft Auto III on iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and smartphones, along with various other handheld consoles, celebrating the 10th year of the game's release.[15]

After the success of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002. This game was set in 1986 in Vice City, which was based on Miami, Florida. The game's plot focuses on the cocaine trade during the 1980s. Vice City was the first game to introduce fully functional flying vehicles that could be used by the player, such as seaplanes and helicopters. It also featured a variety of new weapons and vehicles.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in October 2004, is set in 1992, focusing on California gang life and the awakening of the drug epidemic brought on by crack cocaine. The setting was in the fictional state of San Andreas, which was based on some California and Nevada cities, specifically Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Their counterparts are Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas respectively. The game also included a countryside in between Los Santos and San Fierro and also between Los Santos and Las Venturas, and a desert in between Las Venturas and San Fierro.

Grand Theft Auto Advance (simply called Grand Theft Auto in the cover), for the Game Boy Advance, was also released in 2004. Originally developed as a top-down conversion of GTA III, it eventually became an original game. Unlike the Game Boy Color ports of Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto did not tone down the violence and profanity common to the GTA series. The game received an "M" rating from the ESRB. It was developed by an external developer, Digital Eclipse.

Two games for the PlayStation Portable, both developed by Rockstar Leeds. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III and set in Liberty City in 1998. A PlayStation 2 port was released by Rockstar on 6 June 2006.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories was released for the PlayStation Portable on 31 October 2006 and set in Vice City in 1984, two years before the events of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. A PlayStation 2 port of the game was released on 6 March 2007. It is the last game of the third generation series, and the final game in the Grand Theft Auto III canon.

In in-game chronological order the third generation Grand Theft Auto games are:

Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned, Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Grand Theft Auto IV was released on 29 April 2008, after a six month delay.[16] It was the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released simultaneously for both Sony and Microsoft's video game consoles. In August 2008, Rockstar announced that it was going to publish GTA IV for PC. GTA IV's game engine is the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) used in Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis and the Euphoria physics engine.

Grand Theft Auto IV has much more realistic gameplay than its predecessors, no characters from previous games appear in GTA IV; according to Dan Houser "virtually none of the characters from the previous games returned, as a lot of them are dead anyway."[17] The game once again takes place in a redesigned Liberty City that very closely resembles New York City, much more than previous renditions.[18]

Microsoft officially announced a "strategic alliance" with Rockstar Games over the rights to episodic content through their Xbox Live service at their X06 event. This content was released as Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned on 17 February 2009, and it was available for download, exclusively for the Xbox 360. This was because of the substantial $50 million that Microsoft paid Rockstar to keep it exclusive. The strategic alliance was however timed and both DLC episodes and the compilation pack were released on 13 April 2010 on PS3 and PC.[19] The expansion adds some new elements to the existing game and focuses on Johnny Klebitz, the vice president of "The Lost" motorcycle gang.

The second and last Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content episode was called Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony[20] and was released on 29 October 2009. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is a compilation pack released for the Xbox 360, later also released on the PS3 at the same time as The Ballad of Gay Tony. It contains The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disk and does not require an original copy of GTA IV.

Grand Theft Auto IV officially introduced online multiplayer to the series. In most games, a customisable character is used to play, and money earned in game is translated to levels, with more customisation available at higher levels. The game does not offer split screen or local area network (LAN) multiplayer modes on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, but there is LAN on the PC mode. Up to 16 (32 on PC) players can play together, doing a variety of games including Death Match, Cops 'n' Crooks, races, Deal Breaker, and Mafiya Work as well as team varieties of Death Match, and Mafiya Work to name just a few.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is the first Grand Theft Auto game to be released on the Nintendo DS, and was announced at the E3 Nintendo Press Conference on 15 July 2008. This game has several new features, such as touch screen mini-games. The game was released on 17 March 2009 in North America and 20 March 2009 to Australia and Europe. The game is rated 18+ by PEGI and the BBFC (Europe, UK) and M by the ESRB (North America). A PSP version was later announced on 22 June 2009[21] and was released in North America on 20 October 2009. It was also released on the Apple iOS platform 18 January 2010.

In chronological order the fourth generation Grand Theft Auto games are in order:[22]

Grand Theft Auto V (2013)

Main article: Grand Theft Auto V
File:Grand Theft Auto V logo - transparent background.png
The logo for Grand Theft Auto V with the 'V' in the style of a bank note

On 26 February 2011, five websites were discovered which seemed to indicate a new title in the Grand Theft Auto franchise. There have been several minor leaks of supposed GTA production including websites, casting calls featuring GTA characters,[23] and an IGN editor who has said the next game will be released in 2012.[24]

On 25 October 2011, Rockstar changed their homepage to display the logo for Grand Theft Auto V with the "V" styled like a bank note.[25] A message was printed below the logo stating that a trailer would be released on 2 November 2011.[26]

On 2 November 2011, Rockstar released a debut trailer for GTA V. Giving fans a first look at the upcoming title, the trailer revealed the setting to be Los Santos, the fictional version of Los Angeles and its California surroundings, including Hollywood ("Vinewood") and rural hills and valleys. Additional features revealed in the trailer included golf, planes, jet skis, a working gym, and police chases, making it look like a spiritual successor to 2004's GTA: San Andreas. The song used in the trailer is "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" by the British band the Small Faces.[27][28]

On 3 November 2011, Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto V was in full development and that it would take place within Los Santos and its "surrounding hills, countryside and beaches", and that it would be "the largest and the most ambitious game Rockstar has yet created". Rockstar parent Take-Two calls GTA V "a bold new direction in open-world freedom, storytelling, mission-based gameplay and online multiplayer", while confirming that its story will focus on "the pursuit of the almighty dollar in a re-imagined, present-day Southern California."

On 8 November 2011, Take-Two's second quarter financial earnings report included an update on future product launch dates, with the newest game to be added to the list was GTA V, which carried a "TBA" release.[29] On 2 February 2012, during Take-Two's third quarter financial report, CEO Strauss Zelnick said developer Rockstar is making "incredible progress".[30] On 13 February 2012, in a Question and Answer section on their blog, a nameless Rockstar representative said that the developer is toiling away diligently and hopes to reveal more in a few months time.[31][32]

On 29 October 2012, it was reported that a Polish fan site had published an image of some pre-order posters, which suggested that the game would arrive in "Spring 2013". The image contains the previous "Pest Control" artwork, as well as a previously-unseen illustration of a thug with a baseball bat and an angry-looking dog on a chain.[33] A day later, it was reported that a branch of the British videogame retailer Game had leaked two further Pre-Order artworks on Twitter, one showing a female police officer arresting a woman, and the other of a man sitting on a quad bike, holding what looked like a sniper rifle. These images both had "Spring 2013" as the release date. The tweet was later deleted. Later that day Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto 5 will be released sometime during Q1/Q2 2013. Posted on their newswire they said "Today, we're proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto V is expected to launch worldwide during Q1/Q2 2013 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360." They also stated that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto V would start on 5 November 2012, .[34]

On 14 November 2012, Rockstar Games released a second trailer for Grand Theft Auto V, providing an official release date which is Spring 2013 and that the game is available to pre-order.[35]

On 31 January 2013, Rockstar announced that GTA V would miss its original spring launch window, and would be released on 17 September 2013. Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser attributed the delay for "extra development time" on the project.[36]

Future

ESRB has rated Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City for the PlayStation 3.[37] Later, Grand Theft Auto III was confirmed to be coming to PlayStation 3 as a PlayStation 2 classic. However it was delayed due to copyright issues. On 18 September 2012, it was revealed by PlayStation Asia that Grand Theft Auto III would be coming to the PSN Network. [38] San Andreas was also rated by the ESRB.[39] It was released in late-2012 as a PS2 classic.

Controversy

Former lawyer Jack Thompson has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the Grand Theft Auto series accountable for the death of their loved ones. Due to his conduct in this and related cases, Thompson was disbarred in 2008[40] and was fined more than $100,000 by the Florida Bar Association.[41]

On 20 October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by GTA III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Wal-Mart, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America.[42][43] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in U.S. District Court on 29 October 2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to move the lawsuit into a state court and under Tennessee's consumer protection act.[44] Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, and the case was closed.

In February 2005, a lawsuit was brought upon the makers and distributors of the Grand Theft Auto series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the Alabama police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when Devin Moore, 17 years old at the time, was taken in for questioning by police in Fayette, Alabama regarding a stolen vehicle. Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car.[45][46] One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was GTA's graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages are being sought from branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart in Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which GTA III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. On 29 March 2006 the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied.[47]

In May 2005, Thompson appeared via satellite on the Glenn Beck program on CNN's Headline News. Thompson mentioned Devin Moore and said regarding Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City "There's no doubt in my mind [...] that but for Devin Moore's training on this cop killing simulator, he would not have been able to kill three cops in Fayette, Alabama who are now dead and in the ground. We are suing Take-Two, Sony, Wal-Mart, and GameStop for having trained Devin Moore to kill. He had no history of violence. No criminal record."[48]

In September 2006, Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea Schmid on a ranch in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families.[49] During the criminal trial, Posey's defense team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his stepmother.[50] Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings.[51] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place.[52] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages.[53]

In 2009, a six-year-old boy, who claimed he had learned to drive from the game, took his family's car on a 10-mile trip before he crashed.[54]

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.[55]

Grand Theft Auto

The game was controversial from the very first incarnation of the series, in spite of[original research?] its cartoonish graphics.[56] Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence",[57] and Brazil banned it outright.[57] Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the first game.[56][58][59]

Grand Theft Auto III: general violence and crime

See also: Grand Theft Auto III § Controversy

The controversies flared up again with Grand Theft Auto III, since the 3D graphics made the violence more realistic, and players could pay the services of prostitutes to recover their health, and if they wished, killing them to get their money back.[59]

There is also criticism from the focus on illegal activities in comparison with traditional "heroic" roles that other games offer. The main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of policemen and military personnel.

Vice City: ethnic discrimination

See also: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City § Controversy

The sixth game in the series, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, also came under criticism. One mission in particular, in which the player must instigate a gang war between Haitian and Cuban gangs, has been controversial. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups criticised the game.

Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition is quoted as saying that "The game shouldn't be designed to destroy human life, it shouldn't be designed to destroy an ethnic group," for this and similar scenarios, including lines in the game's script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an altercation between the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar removed the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game's subtitles.[60]

San Andreas: sex minigame

Main article: Hot Coffee minigame controversy

San Andreas was criticised initially due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive sex scenes, nicknamed Hot Coffee, which was a sexual minigame that was cut from the game, but remained in the game code, which was discovered in both the console and Windows versions of the game. Dubbed the "Hot Coffee mod", the minigame allowed players to have sex with their in-game girlfriends and also record sextapes.

After the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, modders managed to find the unused code in the game and released unofficial patches for the Windows and Xbox (with a modchip) versions and PlayStation 2 version with 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.[61][62]

Grand Theft Auto IV: drunk driving

Main article: Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV

One of the controversies involved with this game was Mothers Against Drunk Driving's (MADD) criticism of the ability to drink and drive as a new feature. MADD had even requested ESRB to change the rating of the game from "M" for ages seventeen and up to "AO", for adults only, because they felt it was inappropriate for children, even at the age of seventeen, to experience drunk driving in such a manner.[63] In the final game, drunk driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wanted rating and protagonist Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better".[64]

The Lost and Damned: full-frontal nudity

See also: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned § Controversy

The Lost and Damned expansion pack was condemned by U.S. parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack's content due to a full-frontal nudity scene during one of the cut scenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "full frontal male nudity".[65]

Chinatown Wars: drug dealing minigame

See also: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars § Controversy

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame[66] along with comments that some Nintendo games are being aimed at children (despite the fact that the game was rated Mature). The drug dealing mini-game allows players to peddle six types of drugs around the city, but the profit the player makes depends on market conditions, which will be based on the area in which they deal, and the level of regular service this area receives from them.[67][68]

Nintendo wanted us to make GTA, and we wanted to make a game on their platform. They didn't want us to make a GTA for kids, and we weren't interested in making a game we wouldn't normally make.

— Dan Houser[69]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of 12 August 2012.
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Grand Theft Auto (PC) 78.50%[70]
(PS1) 68.33%[71]
(GBC) 57.33%[72] 		–
London, 1969 (PC) 75.44%[73]
(PS1) 69.00%[74] 		–
Grand Theft Auto 2 (PC) 71.50%[75]
(DC) 70.80%[76]
(PS1) 69.92%[77]
(GBC) 35.00%[78] 		(PS1) 70[79]
Grand Theft Auto III (PS2) 95.27%[80]
(PC) 93.54%[81] 		(PS2) 97[82]
(PC) 93[83]
Vice City (PS2) 94.43%[84]
(PC) 94.39%[85] 		(PS2) 95[86]
(PC) 94[87]
Advance (GBA) 70.35%[88] (GBA) 68[89]
San Andreas (PS2) 95.08%[90]
(Xbox) 92.29%[91]
(PC) 91.94%[92] 		(PS2) 95[93]
(Xbox) 93[94]
(PC) 93[95]
Liberty City Stories (PSP) 87.45%[96]
(PS2) 77.38%[97] 		(PSP) 88[98]
(PS2) 78[99]
Vice City Stories (PSP) 85.01%[100]
(PS2) 75.96%[101] 		(PSP) 86[102]
(PS2) 75[103]
Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3) 97.04%[104]
(X360) 96.16%[105]
(PC) 88.48%[106] 		(PS3) 98[107]
(X360) 98[108]
(PC) 90[109]
The Lost and Damned (PC) 94.00%[110]
(PS3) 94.00%[111]
(X360) 89.81%[112] 		(X360) 90[113]
(PS3) 88[114]
Chinatown Wars (NDS) 92.88%[115]
(PSP) 90.39%[116] 		(NDS) 93[117]
(PSP) 90[118]
The Ballad of Gay Tony (PC) 90.00%[119]
(PS3) 90.00%[120]
(X360) 89.65%[121] 		(X360) 89[122]
(PS3) 87[123]
Episodes from Liberty City (X360) 91.41%[124]
(PS3) 89.16%[125]
(PC) 84.57%[126] 		–

Ever since 2001, the Grand Theft Auto series has been a major success, both critically and financially. It has generated perfect or near perfect reviews and scores on almost all of the games, and has sold over 114 million copies worldwide, as of September 2011.[3] The Times Online reported that Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest console instalment, recorded 609,000 copies in the UK on its first day of release.[127] In its first week, Grand Theft Auto IV sold approximately 6 million copies worldwide and grossed over $500 million.[128]

In 2006, Grand Theft Auto was voted one of Britain's top 10 designs among Concorde, Red Telephone Boxes, Catseyes, The Underground, Mini, Tomb Raider and the World Wide Web.[129]

The series has broken several records, resulting in Guinness World Records awarding the series 10 world records in the Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include Most Guest Stars in a Video Game Series, Largest Voice Cast in a Video Game (GTA: San Andreas), Largest In-Game Soundtrack (GTA: San Andreas). It also held the title of Most Successful Entertainment Launch of All Time (GTA IV), but has since been eclipsed by the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Guinness World Records also ranked Grand Theft Auto in third place on their list of top 50 console games of all time based on initial impact and lasting legacy.[130] GTA: San Andreas is listed as the most successful game in the PlayStation 2 according to The Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition.

Grand Theft Auto III, San Andreas and Vice City currently lie at the 2nd, 5th and 6th highest rated PlayStation 2 games on Metacritic, respectively,[131] while Chinatown Wars is rated the best game on the Nintendo DS[132] and the second best on the PlayStation Portable,[133] and Grand Theft Auto IV is currently rated the second best game ever, with a score of 98, only trailing behind The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.[134] Also, Vice City, Grand Theft Auto III, San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV lie at 11th, 24th, 27th and 93rd best PC games of all time, on Metacritic.[135] Along with this, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are currently placed 35th and 59th in the top Xbox 360 games.[136]

Sales

Year Game Sales Acquired label(s)
2D era
1997 Grand Theft Auto 150,000+[137] PS1 Greatest Hits / Platinum
1999 Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 —
Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961 —
Grand Theft Auto 2 250,000+[138] PS1 Greatest Hits
Total 2D era sales = 400,000+
3D era
2001 Grand Theft Auto III 14.5 million[139] PS2 Greatest Hits / Platinum
2002 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 17.5 million[139] PS2 Greatest Hits / Platinum
2004 Grand Theft Auto Advance —
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas 27.5 million[140][141] PS2 Greatest Hits / Platinum, Xbox Platinum Hits
2005 Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories 2,725,507[142] PSP Greatest Hits / Platinum, PS2 Platinum
2006 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 1.13 million[143] PSP Greatest Hits / Platinum, PS2 Platinum
Total 3D era sales = 57,355,507
HD era
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV 25 million+[144] PS3 Greatest Hits / Platinum, Xbox 360 Platinum Hits
2009 Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned 1 million+[145][146]
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars 200,000[147]
Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony —
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City 160,000+[148]
Total HD era sales = 26.36 million+
Total Grand Theft Auto series sales = 125 million[144]

Similar games

See also: Grand Theft Auto clone

The release of Grand Theft Auto III is treated as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of Doom nearly a decade earlier.[149]

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 GTA 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."[150]

Subsequent games that follow this formula of driving and shooting have been called "Grand Theft Auto clones". Some reviewers even extended this label to the Driver series, even though this series began years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III.[151] Grand Theft Auto clones are a type of 3D action-adventure game,[152] where players are given the ability to drive any vehicle or fire any weapon as they explore an open world.[153] These games often incorporate violent and criminal themes. Notable games that are comparable to Grand Theft Auto are Saints Row,[154] Scarface: The World Is Yours, True Crime: Streets of LA[155][156] and Sleeping Dogs.[157]

Notes and references

  1. ^ David Jones Returns To APB – Edge Magazine. Edge-online.com (12 May 2011). Retrieved on 6 September 2012.
  2. ^ http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-22-gta-max-clifford-made-it-all-happen
  3. ^ a b Orland, Kyle (14 September 2011). "Grand Theft Auto IV Passes 22M Shipped, Franchise Above 114M". Gamasutra. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
  4. ^ Retrorevival: Turbo Esprit, Retro Gamer issue 20, page 48. Imagine Publishing, 2006.
  5. ^ Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe, BBC Television, 2009. "Grand Theft Auto ... directly inspired by the pioneering Spectrum game Turbo Esprit"
  6. ^ IGN Feature GTA IV: Building a Brave New World. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  7. ^ Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto V Official Announcement. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  8. ^ Kotaku Rockstar Says Grand Theft Auto V Is Bigger Than Red Dead Redemption, San Andreas And GTA IV Combined. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Rockstar. "Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part One (Claude, Darkel & Other Characters)". Rockstar: The "universes" are the worlds interpreted at different definitions, 2D, 3D and high definition, so we felt brands and radio / back ground characters would exist in both, but 3 dimensional characters would not.
  10. ^ The actual release date of Grand Theft Auto is not clear. While Rockstar Games asserts in /classics/gta.html its official website that the game was released in October 1997, GameSpot and IGN indicated that the game was only released on February or March 1998, respectively.
  11. ^ Grand Theft Auto 2's manual uses the phrase "three weeks into the future", and phrases such as "X weeks into the future" or "X minutes into the future" are common phrases meaning "near future"; fictional journal entries on the game's official website, however, suggest 2013 .Rockstargames.com
  12. ^ Moses, Travis (23 January 2008). "Preview : Grand Theft Auto IV". Gamepro.com. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
  13. ^ According to the final entry of the official Liberty Tree "online newspaper", Grand Theft Auto III is implied to be set around the first release of GTA III, specifically, October 2001.
  14. ^ "GTA IV: Building a Brave New World". uk.xbox360.ign.com. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  15. ^ Q, R*. "Announcing Grand Theft Auto III: 10th Anniversary Edition for Select Mobile Devices & the Limited Edition Claude Action Figure".
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  51. ^ "Vera Ockenfels, the Cody Posey defense team's mitigation specialist, discusses his conviction (transcript) (Feb. 8, 2006)". CourtTV. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2006.
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  56. ^ a b gamesindustry.biz (11 September 2003). "Grand Theft Auto in the dock over JP road killing". The Register. Retrieved 21 July 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  57. ^ a b ign. "Ign presents the History of Grand Theft Auto".
  58. ^ Peter Ross (27 April 2008). "Grand Theft Auto IV Joyride". Scotland on SundayTemplate:Inconsistent citations{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  59. ^ a b Sam Gibson (29 October 2004). "The history of Grand Theft Auto". Play.tmTemplate:Inconsistent citations{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  60. ^ "Take-Two self-censoring Vice City". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  61. ^ "IGN: Hot Coffee Lawsuit Finally Mopped Up". IGN. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  62. ^ "Take-Two Announces 'Hot Coffee' Lawsuit Settlements". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2 May 2008.
  63. ^ Sinclair, Brendan (30 April 2008). "Mothers against GTAIV's drunk driving". GameSpot. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
  64. ^ Grand Theft Auto IV, Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 release.
  65. ^ "Parents Group Warns Against Lost And Damned Nudity", Wired.com, 21 February 2009
  66. ^ Mark Langshaw (24 April 2011). game-controversy.html "Feature: Video Game Controversy". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 August 2011. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  67. ^ L.B. Jeffries. "GTA: Chinatown Wars Features Drug-Dealing Minigame". Escapistmagazine.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  68. ^ "Rockstar: Nintendo wanted a bad ass GTA title". Infendo.com. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  69. ^ "Rockstar: Nintendo didn't want us to make GTA for kids". MaxConsole. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
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  73. ^ "Grand Theft Auto: Mission Pack #1: London 1969 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 12 August 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  74. ^ "Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 12 August 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
  75. ^ "Grand Theft Auto 2 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved 12 August 2012. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month= and |coauthors= (help)
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  152. ^ Sources that refer to GTA-style games as action-adventure games include:
    i. Jonathan Parkyn (18 April 2006). "Review: The Godfather 3D action game". Personal Computer World. Retrieved 25 July 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
    ii. Steve Tilley (1 April 2007). "Wii 'Godfather' for newbies only". CANOE. Retrieved 25 July 2008.;
    iii. Sam Bishop (16 May 2003). "E3 2003: True Crime: Streets of L.A. Update". IGN. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
    iv. Will Tuttle (30 August 2006). "GameSpy Review — Saints Row". GameSpy. Retrieved 25 July 2008.;
    v. Blake Snow (30 January 2008). "Just Cause 2 announced for Xbox 360, PS3, PC". GamePro. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  153. ^ "Crackdown Community Q&A". EuroGamer. 27 March 2007. Retrieved 25 July 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  154. ^ Douglass C. Perry, Saints Row Review, Saints Row 2 IGN, 28 August 2006
  155. ^ True Crime: Streets of LA, IGN, 31 October 2003
  156. ^ "Gameranking PS2 Average 77%". Gamerankings.com. 3 November 2003. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  157. ^ Chris Roper, Scarface: The World Is Yours Review, IGN, 6 October 2006

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