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Original Grand Theft Auto devs dish on rough road to launch
Despite the Grand Theft Auto series' lurid flag firmly planted atop Games Mountain, it would seem the series wasn't always destined for massive success. Many developers espouse the idea that the first game was pretty much a hot mess – it took about four years of iteration for the game to become something worthwhile. So say many of the developers who worked on the first game and happily offer their own skewed trips down Memory Lane in this special piece from The Guardian. In fact, the game was originally meant to be a cops and robbers affair, but nobody ever wanted to play the cops, so it became a game just about crime. Apparently parent company Take-Two wasn't too keen on Grand Theft Auto at first either. The developers would have to essentially argue its merit on a weekly basis and it didn't help that many of the people working on GTA never even shipped a game before. But the team eventually figured it out and a game took shape – one that would go on to become arguably the most influential video game series of all time.
GTA III mobile out next week for $5 on select devices
If you've been aching to wrap your thumbs around the smartphone-based Grand Theft Auto III: 10 Year Anniversary Edition (despite our concerns), you'll have your chance next week. Rockstar has announced that the title will arrive on select iOS and Android devices December 15, for the low, low price of $4.99. You can check out the full list of supported devices after the jump. We did not elect to include the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, because, well, you're smart enough to figure that one out on your own.
Hijacking the fun: Grand Theft Auto 3 on iPad
It's hard not to react to seeing Grand Theft Auto 3 on an iPad with anything less than expletive-laden surprise. Approaching the Rockstar booth at New York Comic Con this past weekend, I knew that the game would be playable on iPad, but my reaction was still that of shocked disbelief when I actually saw the thing running. It's GTA3! But it's totally on a little portable tablet! Incredible! Here's something, however, that won't surprise you: what I played was still totally Grand Theft Auto 3, flaws and all. And here's something else that won't surprise you: virtual buttons still totally suck.
Race'n'Chase: Original GTA design docs posted
The original concept for Grand Theft Auto would see players committing only a few crimes, according to design documents posted by developer Mike Dailly that date back to sixteen years ago today. At that time, the early concept was for a game called Race'n'Chase. Its aim was "to produce a fun, addictive, and fast multi-player car racing and crashing game which uses a novel graphics method." The story? "The game will be set in a present-day world." (Period.) While it would take two and a half years -- and narrowly dodging cancellation, by another creator's account -- to flesh out the eventual game, Grand Theft Auto, the designers did have some inkling of the direction they would ultimately take, as detailed in the original pitch. "There will be 3 cities with a different graphic style for each city (e.g., New York, Venice, Miami)," wrote the heads of then DMA Design (now Rockstar North). "There will be many different missions to be played in each city." The initial mission types consisted of "a straight race across the city," a free-roaming demolition derby and a bank robbery. Other seeds for the mega-franchise-to-be were also planted in the early documents: "Pedestrians will be wandering about all of the time," notes one section, suggesting bystander types could include "schoolchildren" and a "lollipop lady." "They can be run over by cars." "It will also be possible for players to get out of their car and steal another one," the designers propose in the opening pitch, adding, "Trying to steal a car may result in an alarm being set off which will, of course, attract the police." Later, it's clarified that "police will be able to get out of their cars and shoot at the robbers." [Image credit: Mike Dailly; source: mikedailly/Flickr]
Original GTA developer says game was 'almost canned'
Gary Penn was a developer at DMA Design way back when the British company was working on the very first Grand Theft Auto game -- the top-down, PC-based version, not the 3D console hit you know and love today -- and says that it was "almost canned." Not because of any Hot Coffee-style shenanigans, mind you. Just because (and we're paraphrasing here) it sucked. It was incredibly unstable and "it was awful, it was too sim-y," says Penn. It wasn't until the developer found a bit of fun by turning up the police aggressiveness that it finally landed on the gameplay that's sustained the series to this day: GTA creates a much more manic, amped-up version of the world we actually live in. Once the dev figured that out, it moved on to things like mowing down 2D Hare Khrishnas (Penn's right -- it was really satisfying, moral qualms aside) and just enjoying the world. Penn goes on to say that the series is "stagnating" for him, perhaps because of its success. "It's anything but a lazy game," he says, "but they don't have the pressure if no one else is doing it anywhere near as well as they're doing it."
Review: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Grand Theft Auto is, at this point, one of the most storied franchises in video game history. It was already huge back during the days of DMA Design, when it was a top-down open world crime game with an attitude, but with the coming of Grand Theft Auto 3 on the console generation, the series turned into a full-fledged classic, with the sales, media attention, and depth to match the fun found in those first games. Nowadays, the series has already been through a number of other reboots, and Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS was just another one of those: a return to the game's top-down graphics along with the addition of new elements from the 3D versions and a few touchscreen tricks. Now, the release of the game on the iPhone [iTunes link] shows that GTA is ready for another segment of its life, and that the iPhone itself is ready for the big market titles to start making a splash. I'll say this: there has not yet been a game on the App Store that is so worth the $9.99 Rockstar is selling this one for. If you're a fan of Grand Theft Auto, and, like me, haven't played this latest handheld iteration, you're in for a treat (it's the highest rated game on the DS' Metacritic page, and while I don't agree that it's the best title on that platform, it is an excellent game). And even if you're not a huge GTA fan (this game does have all the swearing and questionable morality that the bigger versions of the series are known for), just know that this game is a great example of what big-time developers on the iPhone should aim for. Indie games are great, but this one's a blockbuster.
