Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure movie game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly; [Two] the later titles of which were created by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series references the term used in the US for motor vehicle theft.

• MS-DOS
• Microsoft Windows

seventeen September 2013

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 Fresh York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively. The very first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Gameplay concentrates 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, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The series concentrates around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, albeit their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier strike ’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 influence impeding the protagonist’s progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Forest, Debbie Harry, Phil Collins, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda. [Trio] With its British origin, the series contains satire and humour. [Four]

British movie game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997. As of two thousand fourteen [update] , it has eleven stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, is considered a landmark title, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive practice. Subsequent titles would go after and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and receive significant acclaim. They subsequently influenced many other open world activity games, and led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar games.

The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped more than two hundred fifty million units, [Five] making it the fourth-highest selling movie game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon franchises, [6] and Tetris. [7] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto featured in a list of British design icons in the Superb British Design Quest organised by the Big black cock and the Design Museum. [8] In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain’s most successful exports. [Four] However, the series has also gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes.

Contents

• Windows
• MS-DOS

• Windows
• OS X

• PS2 one Two
• Xbox

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS2 Two
• Xbox
• PS3 Three
• Xbox three hundred sixty Four

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• WP
• Fire OS

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360
• PS4
• Xbox One

Main series Edit

The Grand Theft Auto series is 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 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 collective inbetween them. [9]

Grand Theft Auto, the very first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and the Game Boy Color in 1999. Grand Theft Auto Two was released in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. [13]

The PlayStation two also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal inbetween Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation Two, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. [14] The two thousand one title Grand Theft Auto III moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the very first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics; the game features polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. [15] Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was published in 2002, and was the very first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by Ray Liotta. [16] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, introduced various fresh elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. [17]

Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation three and Xbox 360. The two thousand eight title Grand Theft Auto IV focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. [Legitimate] Grand Theft Auto V, published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. [Nineteen] It was released to massive financial success, cracking numerous records. [20] It was later re-released with various enhancements, in two thousand fourteen for the PlayStation four and Xbox One, and in two thousand fifteen for Microsoft Windows. [21]

Other games Edit

Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous extra games and expansion packs. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. [13] Grand Theft Auto Advance, released in two thousand four for the Game Boy Advance, featured a top-down perspective. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable. The two thousand five game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, while the two thousand six game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a prequel to Vice City; both games were later ported to the PlayStation Two. In 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was released for the Nintendo DS, and later ported to the PlayStation Portable. [22] In 2009, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released for the Xbox three hundred sixty as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a "strategic alliance" inbetween Rockstar and Microsoft resulted in the timed exclusivity. They were later released on Xbox 360, PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Scenes from Liberty City. [23]

Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. Chinatown Wars was released for iOS in two thousand ten and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. [24] For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in two thousand eleven and 2012, respectively. [25] [26] In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android & Windows Phone and RT ; [27] the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox three hundred sixty in 2014, the year of the game’s tenth anniversary. [28] In two thousand fifteen Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android & Fire OS. [29] [30]

Compilations Edit

Grand Theft Auto Dual Pack was released in two thousand three for the PlayStation two and Xbox. It includes Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. [31] Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The compilation was very first released in two thousand five for the Xbox. [32] Later it was released for the PlayStation Two, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Four. [33] [34] [35] [36] 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. [37]

Grand Theft Auto: Gigs from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the scenes 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 twenty nine October two thousand nine for the Xbox three hundred sixty and on thirteen April two thousand ten for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Three. Microsoft added Scenes from Liberty City to its rearwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. [38]

The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by David Kushner chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. [39] In March 2015, Big black cock Two announced The Gamechangers, a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto, [40] Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama starlets Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar president Sam Houser and Bill Paxton as disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. [41] In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the Big black cock for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Big black cock to resolve the matter. [42] It very first aired on fifteen September two thousand fifteen on Big black cock Two. [43]

In 2006, McFarland & Company published The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto. [44] 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 very first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the 2nd half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy. [45]

A planned film adaptation of the series is incapable to proceed because of a lawsuit by Roger Corman, who produced Grand Theft Auto. In 2017, Corman said, "I actually sued the movie game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea. We lodged out of court and they gave me some money. I retain the right to remake it, but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy. My lawyers are actually studying that contract to make certain that I have a clear title to remake my picture, and I will remake Grand Theft Auto." [46]

Gameplay Edit

Each game in this series permits players to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of organised 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 finished to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other violent crimes are featured regularly. Periodically taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved in the game.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto Two, the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are coerced 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 role-playing movie games called open world games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional activity games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in Grand Theft Auto the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are switched based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game Turbo Esprit, [47] [48] the cities of the games can be roamed loosely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world movie game environments which suggest accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions go after a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to accomplish in order to unlock fresh areas in 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, accomplish with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to skin 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, and Lego City Undercover, which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, albeit the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game.

Criminal activities in Grand Theft Auto games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may build up a "wished level", represented by a maximum of five or six starlets. A petite crime, such as running over a non-player character, may create a one starlet wished level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more starlets. As the number of starlets increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single starlet might have a few police cars pursue after the player, while at five or six starlets, tanks and attack helicopters will pursue down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a desired level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is finish. Often, attempting to keep away from the police while dreamed will cause the player to build up even higher dreamed levels. The player can liquidate their character’s desired level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will respawn at a hospital and the wished level will be liquidated, tho’ the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The "wished level" gameplay concept has become common in other GTA Clones and similar open-world games.

Setting Edit

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 Fresh York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of California. In the very 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.

The 2nd entry in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto Two, set the game in the future in a locale named "Anywhere City".

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 Fresh York City. [49] A revised Vice City and San Andreas are depicted in Vice City and San Andreas, respectively, the latter of which 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 inbetween the three cities. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City is also shortly featured during one mission.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console and later reissued for other consoles, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities, but in different decades. 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 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, which is a closer analogue to Fresh York City and its boroughs than the GTA III version. [50] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, albeit the Alderney portion of the map is not present. [51]

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. [52] 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 movie footage during these visits. [53] Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. [54] The Fresh 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." [55]

In both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V, Los Santos and the state of San Andreas are depicted as being on an island an undetermined distance from the US mainland. In both games it is possible to circumnavigate the state by boat. Similarly, the versions of Liberty City and Alderney in Grand Theft Auto IV and expansion packs are also downright located on islands, as is Vice City. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City however, while mostly island, is connected to mainland on its Northwest corner (a region the player cannot navigate). [ 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 the United States and used a real-life location.

Voice acting Edit

The series has included a broad multitude of voice actors. The original Grand Theft Auto, its mission packs and sequel, as well as Grand Theft Auto Advance and Chinatown Wars did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. [56] [57] The very 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, [58] 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 infrequent for a movie game to use such high-profile actors, and Grand Theft Auto III is considered a pioneer in doing so. [59] The next game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, featured more film actors, including Ray Liotta as the player character. Albeit the following title, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, also featured many notable film actors—such as Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods—it had been determined that the use of such actors should be diminished, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in San Andreas were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. [ citation needed ]

From Liberty City Stories through to Grand Theft Auto V, the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, [60] Ricky Gervais [61] and Katt Williams. [ citation needed ]

According to The Guinness World Records two thousand eight and two thousand nine Gamer’s Edition, it is the most controversial movie game series in history, with over Four,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes. [62]

Grand Theft Auto Edit

The game was controversial from the very very first incarnation of the series. [63] Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", [64] and Brazil banned it outright. [64] Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the very first game. [63] [65] [66]

Grand Theft Auto III Edit

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 hookers to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. [66]

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

Vice City Edit

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 inbetween 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 telling that "The game shouldn’t be designed to ruin human life, it shouldn’t be designed to demolish an ethnic group," for this and similar scripts, including lines in the game’s script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an quarrel inbetween the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar liquidated the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game’s subtitles. [67]

San Andreas Edit

San Andreas was criticised originally due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive hookup 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 permitted players to have hook-up with their in-game girlfriends.

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 as well as a PlayStation two version through the use of an Activity Replay code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for hookup 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 compelled to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class activity lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code. [68] [Sixty nine]

Grand Theft Auto IV Edit

One of the controversies involved with this game was Mothers Against Toasted Driving’s (MADD) criticism of the capability to drink and drive as a fresh feature. MADD had even requested ESRB to switch 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 practice buzzed driving in such a manner. [70] In the final game, tipsy driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wished rating and main playable character Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better". [71]

Notably, it is unlikely to drive while toasted in the GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. These were released after the criticism. It is, however, possible to drive toasted again in the successor, Grand Theft Auto V. [72]

The Lost and Damned Edit

The Lost and Damned expansion pack was condemned by US parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack’s content due to a full-frontal nakedness scene during one of the cutscenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "utter frontal masculine bareness". [73]

Chinatown Wars Edit

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame [75] 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 permits 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. [76] [77]

Grand Theft Auto V Edit

A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player initiated torment. The mission "By the Book" features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform the acts in order to progress in the game. [78] [79] [80]

UK-based charity Freedom from Torment publicly condemned the use of torment scenes in Grand Theft Auto V. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torment, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torment scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity’s CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game." [78]

The game has also been accused of sexism. The Los Angeles Times considered the game’s satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game practice. [81] Edge noted that while "every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at", it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence. [82] Sam Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in Grand Theft Auto games, but that the weight towards masculine characters "fit with the story we desired to tell". [83]

Lawsuits Edit

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 two thousand eight [84] and was fined more than $100,000 by the Florida Bar Association. [85]

On twenty October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two youthful people shot by teenagers William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their deeds were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. [86] [87] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in US District Court on twenty nine October two thousand three that the "ideas and concepts as well as the ‘purported psychological effects’ on the Buckners are protected by the Very first Amendment’s free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to stir the lawsuit into a state court and under Tennessee’s consumer protection act. [88] 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 two thousand three when Devin Moore, seventeen 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. [89] [90] One of Moore’s attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto ‘ s graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore’s family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart in Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games’ publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. On twenty nine March two thousand six the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied. [91]

In May 2005, Jack 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." [92]

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, Fresh Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims’ families. [93] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place. [94] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. [95] During the criminal trial, Posey’s defence team argued he was manhandled by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. [96] Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings. [97] The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007. [98]

Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their intellectual property or personality rights, including hip-hop artist Daz Dillinger, [99] Karen Gravano of Mob Wives, [100] and actress Lindsay Lohan. [101]

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure movie game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly; [Two] the later titles of which were created by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series references the term used in the US for motor vehicle theft.

• MS-DOS
• Microsoft Windows

seventeen September 2013

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 Fresh York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively. The very first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Gameplay concentrates 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, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The series concentrates around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, albeit their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier hit ’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 influence impeding the protagonist’s progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Forest, Debbie Harry, Phil Collins, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda. [Three] With its British origin, the series contains satire and humour. [Four]

British movie game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997. As of two thousand fourteen [update] , it has eleven stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, is considered a landmark title, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive practice. Subsequent titles would go after and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and receive significant acclaim. They subsequently influenced many other open world act games, and led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar games.

The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped more than two hundred fifty million units, [Five] making it the fourth-highest selling movie game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon franchises, [6] and Tetris. [7] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto featured in a list of British design icons in the Superb British Design Quest organised by the Big black cock and the Design Museum. [8] In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain’s most successful exports. [Four] However, the series has also gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes.

Contents

• Windows
• MS-DOS

• Windows
• OS X

• PS2 one Two
• Xbox

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS2 Two
• Xbox
• PS3 Three
• Xbox three hundred sixty Four

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• WP
• Fire OS

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360
• PS4
• Xbox One

Main series Edit

The Grand Theft Auto series is 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 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 collective inbetween them. [9]

Grand Theft Auto, the very first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and the Game Boy Color in 1999. Grand Theft Auto Two was released in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. [13]

The PlayStation two also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal inbetween Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation Two, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. [14] The two thousand one title Grand Theft Auto III moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the very first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics; the game features polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. [15] Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was published in 2002, and was the very first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by Ray Liotta. [16] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, introduced various fresh elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. [17]

Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation three and Xbox 360. The two thousand eight title Grand Theft Auto IV focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. [Legitimate] Grand Theft Auto V, published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. [Nineteen] It was released to massive financial success, violating numerous records. [20] It was later re-released with various enhancements, in two thousand fourteen for the PlayStation four and Xbox One, and in two thousand fifteen for Microsoft Windows. [21]

Other games Edit

Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous extra games and expansion packs. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. [13] Grand Theft Auto Advance, released in two thousand four for the Game Boy Advance, featured a top-down perspective. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable. The two thousand five game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, while the two thousand six game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a prequel to Vice City; both games were later ported to the PlayStation Two. In 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was released for the Nintendo DS, and later ported to the PlayStation Portable. [22] In 2009, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released for the Xbox three hundred sixty as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a "strategic alliance" inbetween Rockstar and Microsoft resulted in the timed exclusivity. They were later released on Xbox 360, PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Gigs from Liberty City. [23]

Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. Chinatown Wars was released for iOS in two thousand ten and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. [24] For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in two thousand eleven and 2012, respectively. [25] [26] In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android & Windows Phone and RT ; [27] the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox three hundred sixty in 2014, the year of the game’s tenth anniversary. [28] In two thousand fifteen Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android & Fire OS. [29] [30]

Compilations Edit

Grand Theft Auto Dual Pack was released in two thousand three for the PlayStation two and Xbox. It includes Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. [31] Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The compilation was very first released in two thousand five for the Xbox. [32] Later it was released for the PlayStation Two, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Four. [33] [34] [35] [36] 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. [37]

Grand Theft Auto: Scenes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the gigs 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 twenty nine October two thousand nine for the Xbox three hundred sixty and on thirteen April two thousand ten for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Three. Microsoft added Gigs from Liberty City to its rearwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. [38]

The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by David Kushner chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. [39] In March 2015, Big black cock Two announced The Gamechangers, a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto, [40] Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama starlets Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar president Sam Houser and Bill Paxton as disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. [41] In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the Big black cock for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Big black cock to resolve the matter. [42] It very first aired on fifteen September two thousand fifteen on Big black cock Two. [43]

In 2006, McFarland & Company published The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto. [44] 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 very first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the 2nd half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy. [45]

A planned film adaptation of the series is incapable to proceed because of a lawsuit by Roger Corman, who produced Grand Theft Auto. In 2017, Corman said, "I actually sued the movie game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea. We lodged out of court and they gave me some money. I retain the right to remake it, but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy. My lawyers are actually studying that contract to make certain that I have a clear title to remake my picture, and I will remake Grand Theft Auto." [46]

Gameplay Edit

Each game in this series permits players to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of organised 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 ended to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other violent crimes are featured regularly. From time to time taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved in the game.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto Two, the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are compelled 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 role-playing movie games called open world games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional activity games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in Grand Theft Auto the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are switched based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game Turbo Esprit, [47] [48] the cities of the games can be roamed loosely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world movie game environments which suggest accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions go after a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to finish in order to unlock fresh areas in 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, accomplish with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to skin 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, and Lego City Undercover, which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, albeit the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game.

Criminal activities in Grand Theft Auto games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may build up a "dreamed level", represented by a maximum of five or six starlets. A petite crime, such as running over a non-player character, may create a one starlet dreamed level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more starlets. As the number of starlets increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single starlet might have a few police cars pursue after the player, while at five or six starlets, tanks and attack helicopters will pursue down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a dreamed level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is accomplish. Often, attempting to keep away from the police while wished will cause the player to build up even higher dreamed levels. The player can eliminate their character’s desired level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will respawn at a hospital and the dreamed level will be liquidated, however the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The "desired level" gameplay concept has become common in other GTA Clones and similar open-world games.

Setting Edit

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 Fresh York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of California. In the very 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.

The 2nd entry in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto Two, set the game in the future in a locale named "Anywhere City".

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 Fresh York City. [49] A revised Vice City and San Andreas are depicted in Vice City and San Andreas, respectively, the latter of which 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 inbetween the three cities. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City is also shortly featured during one mission.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console and later reissued for other consoles, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities, but in different decades. 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 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, which is a closer analogue to Fresh York City and its boroughs than the GTA III version. [50] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, albeit the Alderney portion of the map is not present. [51]

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. [52] 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 movie footage during these visits. [53] Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. [54] The Fresh 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." [55]

In both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V, Los Santos and the state of San Andreas are depicted as being on an island an undetermined distance from the US mainland. In both games it is possible to circumnavigate the state by boat. Similarly, the versions of Liberty City and Alderney in Grand Theft Auto IV and expansion packs are also totally located on islands, as is Vice City. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City however, while mostly island, is connected to mainland on its Northwest corner (a region the player cannot navigate). [ 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 the United States and used a real-life location.

Voice acting Edit

The series has included a broad multitude of voice actors. The original Grand Theft Auto, its mission packs and sequel, as well as Grand Theft Auto Advance and Chinatown Wars did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. [56] [57] The very 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, [58] 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 uncommon for a movie game to use such high-profile actors, and Grand Theft Auto III is considered a pioneer in doing so. [59] The next game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, featured more film actors, including Ray Liotta as the player character. Albeit the following title, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, also featured many notable film actors—such as Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods—it had been determined that the use of such actors should be diminished, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in San Andreas were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. [ citation needed ]

From Liberty City Stories through to Grand Theft Auto V, the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, [60] Ricky Gervais [61] and Katt Williams. [ citation needed ]

According to The Guinness World Records two thousand eight and two thousand nine Gamer’s Edition, it is the most controversial movie game series in history, with over Four,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes. [62]

Grand Theft Auto Edit

The game was controversial from the very very first incarnation of the series. [63] Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", [64] and Brazil banned it outright. [64] Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the very first game. [63] [65] [66]

Grand Theft Auto III Edit

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 hookers to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. [66]

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

Vice City Edit

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 inbetween 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 telling that "The game shouldn’t be designed to demolish human life, it shouldn’t be designed to demolish an ethnic group," for this and similar screenplays, including lines in the game’s script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an quarrel inbetween the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar eliminated the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game’s subtitles. [67]

San Andreas Edit

San Andreas was criticised primarily due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive lovemaking 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 permitted players to have hookup with their in-game girlfriends.

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 as well as a PlayStation two version through the use of an Activity Replay code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for hook-up 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 compelled to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class act lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code. [68] [Sixty-nine]

Grand Theft Auto IV Edit

One of the controversies involved with this game was Mothers Against Inebriated Driving’s (MADD) criticism of the capability to drink and drive as a fresh feature. MADD had even requested ESRB to switch 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 practice toasted driving in such a manner. [70] In the final game, tipsy driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wished rating and main playable character Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better". [71]

Notably, it is unlikely to drive while toasted in the GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. These were released after the criticism. It is, however, possible to drive tipsy again in the successor, Grand Theft Auto V. [72]

The Lost and Damned Edit

The Lost and Damned expansion pack was condemned by US parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack’s content due to a full-frontal nakedness scene during one of the cutscenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "utter frontal masculine nakedness". [73]

Chinatown Wars Edit

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame [75] 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 permits 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. [76] [77]

Grand Theft Auto V Edit

A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player initiated torment. The mission "By the Book" features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform the acts in order to progress in the game. [78] [79] [80]

UK-based charity Freedom from Torment publicly condemned the use of torment scenes in Grand Theft Auto V. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torment, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torment scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity’s CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game." [78]

The game has also been accused of sexism. The Los Angeles Times considered the game’s satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game practice. [81] Edge noted that while "every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at", it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence. [82] Sam Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in Grand Theft Auto games, but that the weight towards masculine characters "fit with the story we wished to tell". [83]

Lawsuits Edit

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 two thousand eight [84] and was fined more than $100,000 by the Florida Bar Association. [85]

On twenty October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two youthfull people shot by teenagers William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their deeds were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. [86] [87] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in US District Court on twenty nine October two thousand three that the "ideas and concepts as well as the ‘purported psychological effects’ on the Buckners are protected by the Very first Amendment’s free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to stir the lawsuit into a state court and under Tennessee’s consumer protection act. [88] 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 two thousand three when Devin Moore, seventeen 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. [89] [90] One of Moore’s attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto ‘ s graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore’s family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart in Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games’ publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. On twenty nine March two thousand six the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied. [91]

In May 2005, Jack 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." [92]

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, Fresh Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims’ families. [93] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place. [94] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. [95] During the criminal trial, Posey’s defence team argued he was manhandled by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. [96] Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings. [97] The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007. [98]

Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their intellectual property or personality rights, including hip-hop artist Daz Dillinger, [99] Karen Gravano of Mob Wives, [100] and actress Lindsay Lohan. [101]

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure movie game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly; [Two] the later titles of which were created by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series references the term used in the US for motor vehicle theft.

• MS-DOS
• Microsoft Windows

seventeen September 2013

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 Fresh York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively. The very first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Gameplay concentrates 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, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The series concentrates around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, albeit their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier hammer ’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 influence impeding the protagonist’s progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Forest, Debbie Harry, Phil Collins, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda. [Trio] With its British origin, the series contains satire and humour. [Four]

British movie game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997. As of two thousand fourteen [update] , it has eleven stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, is considered a landmark title, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive practice. Subsequent titles would go after and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and receive significant acclaim. They subsequently influenced many other open world act games, and led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar games.

The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped more than two hundred fifty million units, [Five] making it the fourth-highest selling movie game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon franchises, [6] and Tetris. [7] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto featured in a list of British design icons in the Excellent British Design Quest organised by the Big black cock and the Design Museum. [8] In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain’s most successful exports. [Four] However, the series has also gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes.

Contents

• Windows
• MS-DOS

• Windows
• OS X

• PS2 one Two
• Xbox

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS2 Two
• Xbox
• PS3 Three
• Xbox three hundred sixty Four

• Windows
• OS X

• iOS
• Android
• WP
• Fire OS

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• iOS
• Android
• Fire OS

• PS3
• Xbox 360

• PS3
• Xbox 360
• PS4
• Xbox One

Main series Edit

The Grand Theft Auto series is 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 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 collective inbetween them. [9]

Grand Theft Auto, the very first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and the Game Boy Color in 1999. Grand Theft Auto Two was released in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. [13]

The PlayStation two also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal inbetween Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation Two, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. [14] The two thousand one title Grand Theft Auto III moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the very first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics; the game features polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. [15] Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was published in 2002, and was the very first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by Ray Liotta. [16] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, introduced various fresh elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. [17]

Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation three and Xbox 360. The two thousand eight title Grand Theft Auto IV focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. [Legal] Grand Theft Auto V, published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. [Nineteen] It was released to massive financial success, cracking numerous records. [20] It was later re-released with various enhancements, in two thousand fourteen for the PlayStation four and Xbox One, and in two thousand fifteen for Microsoft Windows. [21]

Other games Edit

Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous extra games and expansion packs. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. [13] Grand Theft Auto Advance, released in two thousand four for the Game Boy Advance, featured a top-down perspective. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable. The two thousand five game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, while the two thousand six game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a prequel to Vice City; both games were later ported to the PlayStation Two. In 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was released for the Nintendo DS, and later ported to the PlayStation Portable. [22] In 2009, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released for the Xbox three hundred sixty as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a "strategic alliance" inbetween Rockstar and Microsoft resulted in the timed exclusivity. They were later released on Xbox 360, PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Gigs from Liberty City. [23]

Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. Chinatown Wars was released for iOS in two thousand ten and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. [24] For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in two thousand eleven and 2012, respectively. [25] [26] In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android & Windows Phone and RT ; [27] the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox three hundred sixty in 2014, the year of the game’s tenth anniversary. [28] In two thousand fifteen Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android & Fire OS. [29] [30]

Compilations Edit

Grand Theft Auto Dual Pack was released in two thousand three for the PlayStation two and Xbox. It includes Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. [31] Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The compilation was very first released in two thousand five for the Xbox. [32] Later it was released for the PlayStation Two, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Four. [33] [34] [35] [36] 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. [37]

Grand Theft Auto: Scenes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the scenes 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 twenty nine October two thousand nine for the Xbox three hundred sixty and on thirteen April two thousand ten for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Trio. Microsoft added Scenes from Liberty City to its rearwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. [38]

The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by David Kushner chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. [39] In March 2015, Big black cock Two announced The Gamechangers, a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto, [40] Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama starlets Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar president Sam Houser and Bill Paxton as disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. [41] In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the Big black cock for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Big black cock to resolve the matter. [42] It very first aired on fifteen September two thousand fifteen on Big black cock Two. [43]

In 2006, McFarland & Company published The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto. [44] 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 very first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the 2nd half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy. [45]

A planned film adaptation of the series is incapable to proceed because of a lawsuit by Roger Corman, who produced Grand Theft Auto. In 2017, Corman said, "I actually sued the movie game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea. We lodged out of court and they gave me some money. I retain the right to remake it, but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy. My lawyers are actually studying that contract to make certain that I have a clear title to remake my picture, and I will remake Grand Theft Auto." [46]

Gameplay Edit

Each game in this series permits players to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of organised 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 finished to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other violent crimes are featured regularly. From time to time taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved in the game.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto Two, the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are coerced 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 role-playing movie games called open world games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional act games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in Grand Theft Auto the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are switched based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game Turbo Esprit, [47] [48] the cities of the games can be roamed loosely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world movie game environments which suggest accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions go after a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to accomplish in order to unlock fresh areas in 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, accomplish with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to skin 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, and Lego City Undercover, which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, albeit the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game.

Criminal activities in Grand Theft Auto games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may build up a "dreamed level", represented by a maximum of five or six starlets. A petite crime, such as running over a non-player character, may create a one starlet dreamed level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more starlets. As the number of starlets increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single starlet might have a few police cars pursue after the player, while at five or six starlets, tanks and attack helicopters will pursue down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a dreamed level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is finish. Often, attempting to keep away from the police while dreamed will cause the player to build up even higher desired levels. The player can liquidate their character’s desired level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will respawn at a hospital and the desired level will be liquidated, however the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The "wished level" gameplay concept has become common in other GTA Clones and similar open-world games.

Setting Edit

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 Fresh York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of California. In the very 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.

The 2nd entry in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto Two, set the game in the future in a locale named "Anywhere City".

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 Fresh York City. [49] A revised Vice City and San Andreas are depicted in Vice City and San Andreas, respectively, the latter of which 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 inbetween the three cities. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City is also shortly featured during one mission.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console and later reissued for other consoles, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities, but in different decades. 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 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, which is a closer analogue to Fresh York City and its boroughs than the GTA III version. [50] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, albeit the Alderney portion of the map is not present. [51]

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. [52] 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 movie footage during these visits. [53] Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. [54] The Fresh 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." [55]

In both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V, Los Santos and the state of San Andreas are depicted as being on an island an undetermined distance from the US mainland. In both games it is possible to circumnavigate the state by boat. Similarly, the versions of Liberty City and Alderney in Grand Theft Auto IV and expansion packs are also fully located on islands, as is Vice City. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City however, while mostly island, is connected to mainland on its Northwest corner (a region the player cannot navigate). [ 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 the United States and used a real-life location.

Voice acting Edit

The series has included a broad multiplicity of voice actors. The original Grand Theft Auto, its mission packs and sequel, as well as Grand Theft Auto Advance and Chinatown Wars did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. [56] [57] The very 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, [58] 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 uncommon for a movie game to use such high-profile actors, and Grand Theft Auto III is considered a pioneer in doing so. [59] The next game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, featured more film actors, including Ray Liotta as the player character. Albeit the following title, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, also featured many notable film actors—such as Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods—it had been determined that the use of such actors should be diminished, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in San Andreas were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. [ citation needed ]

From Liberty City Stories through to Grand Theft Auto V, the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, [60] Ricky Gervais [61] and Katt Williams. [ citation needed ]

According to The Guinness World Records two thousand eight and two thousand nine Gamer’s Edition, it is the most controversial movie game series in history, with over Four,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes. [62]

Grand Theft Auto Edit

The game was controversial from the very very first incarnation of the series. [63] Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", [64] and Brazil banned it outright. [64] Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the very first game. [63] [65] [66]

Grand Theft Auto III Edit

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 hookers to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. [66]

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

Vice City Edit

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 inbetween 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 telling that "The game shouldn’t be designed to demolish human life, it shouldn’t be designed to ruin an ethnic group," for this and similar screenplays, including lines in the game’s script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an quarrel inbetween the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar eliminated the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game’s subtitles. [67]

San Andreas Edit

San Andreas was criticised primarily due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive lovemaking 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 permitted players to have hookup with their in-game girlfriends.

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 as well as a PlayStation two version through the use of an Activity Replay code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for hookup 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 coerced to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class activity lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code. [68] [Sixty-nine]

Grand Theft Auto IV Edit

One of the controversies involved with this game was Mothers Against Tipsy Driving’s (MADD) criticism of the capability to drink and drive as a fresh feature. MADD had even requested ESRB to switch 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 practice buzzed driving in such a manner. [70] In the final game, buzzed driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wished rating and main playable character Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better". [71]

Notably, it is unlikely to drive while tipsy in the GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. These were released after the criticism. It is, however, possible to drive toasted again in the successor, Grand Theft Auto V. [72]

The Lost and Damned Edit

The Lost and Damned expansion pack was condemned by US parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack’s content due to a full-frontal bareness scene during one of the cutscenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "total frontal masculine bareness". [73]

Chinatown Wars Edit

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame [75] 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 permits 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. [76] [77]

Grand Theft Auto V Edit

A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player initiated torment. The mission "By the Book" features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform the acts in order to progress in the game. [78] [79] [80]

UK-based charity Freedom from Torment publicly condemned the use of torment scenes in Grand Theft Auto V. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torment, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torment scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity’s CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game." [78]

The game has also been accused of sexism. The Los Angeles Times considered the game’s satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game practice. [81] Edge noted that while "every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at", it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence. [82] Sam Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in Grand Theft Auto games, but that the weight towards masculine characters "fit with the story we wished to tell". [83]

Lawsuits Edit

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 two thousand eight [84] and was fined more than $100,000 by the Florida Bar Association. [85]

On twenty October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two youthfull people shot by teenagers William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their deeds were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. [86] [87] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in US District Court on twenty nine October two thousand three that the "ideas and concepts as well as the ‘purported psychological effects’ on the Buckners are protected by the Very first Amendment’s free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to budge the lawsuit into a state court and under Tennessee’s consumer protection act. [88] 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 two thousand three when Devin Moore, seventeen 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. [89] [90] One of Moore’s attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto ‘ s graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore’s family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart in Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games’ publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. On twenty nine March two thousand six the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied. [91]

In May 2005, Jack 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." [92]

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, Fresh Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims’ families. [93] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place. [94] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. [95] During the criminal trial, Posey’s defence team argued he was manhandled by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. [96] Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings. [97] The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007. [98]

Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their intellectual property or personality rights, including hip-hop artist Daz Dillinger, [99] Karen Gravano of Mob Wives, [100] and actress Lindsay Lohan. [101]

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure movie game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly; [Two] the later titles of which were created by brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series references the term used in the US for motor vehicle theft.

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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 Fresh York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively. The very first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Gameplay concentrates 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, occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements. The series concentrates around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, albeit their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier hammer ’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 influence impeding the protagonist’s progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L. Jackson, James Forest, Debbie Harry, Phil Collins, Axl Rose and Peter Fonda. [Three] With its British origin, the series contains satire and humour. [Four]

British movie game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997. As of two thousand fourteen [update] , it has eleven stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, is considered a landmark title, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive practice. Subsequent titles would go after and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and receive significant acclaim. They subsequently influenced many other open world act games, and led to the label Grand Theft Auto clone on similar games.

The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped more than two hundred fifty million units, [Five] making it the fourth-highest selling movie game franchise of all time, behind Nintendo’s Mario and Pokémon franchises, [6] and Tetris. [7] In 2006, Grand Theft Auto featured in a list of British design icons in the Superb British Design Quest organised by the Big black cock and the Design Museum. [8] In 2013, The Telegraph ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain’s most successful exports. [Four] However, the series has also gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes.

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Main series Edit

The Grand Theft Auto series is 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 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 collective inbetween them. [9]

Grand Theft Auto, the very first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS in October 1997, ported to the PlayStation in one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and the Game Boy Color in 1999. Grand Theft Auto Two was released in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. [13]

The PlayStation two also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal inbetween Take-Two Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation Two, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the Xbox. [14] The two thousand one title Grand Theft Auto III moved away from the two-dimension (2D) graphics used in the very first two games to three-dimension (3D) computer graphics; the game features polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds. [15] Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was published in 2002, and was the very first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by Ray Liotta. [16] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004, introduced various fresh elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. [17]

Two main instalments were published for the PlayStation three and Xbox 360. The two thousand eight title Grand Theft Auto IV focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an online multiplayer mode. [Legitimate] Grand Theft Auto V, published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. [Nineteen] It was released to massive financial success, violating numerous records. [20] It was later re-released with various enhancements, in two thousand fourteen for the PlayStation four and Xbox One, and in two thousand fifteen for Microsoft Windows. [21]

Other games Edit

Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous extra games and expansion packs. In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and Grand Theft Auto: London 1961. [13] Grand Theft Auto Advance, released in two thousand four for the Game Boy Advance, featured a top-down perspective. Three games were released for the PlayStation Portable. The two thousand five game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, while the two thousand six game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is a prequel to Vice City; both games were later ported to the PlayStation Two. In 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was released for the Nintendo DS, and later ported to the PlayStation Portable. [22] In 2009, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony were released for the Xbox three hundred sixty as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a "strategic alliance" inbetween Rockstar and Microsoft resulted in the timed exclusivity. They were later released on Xbox 360, PlayStation three and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Scenes from Liberty City. [23]

Numerous titles in the series have received ports to mobile devices. Chinatown Wars was released for iOS in two thousand ten and for Android and Fire OS in 2014. [24] For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in two thousand eleven and 2012, respectively. [25] [26] In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android & Windows Phone and RT ; [27] the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox three hundred sixty in 2014, the year of the game’s tenth anniversary. [28] In two thousand fifteen Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android & Fire OS. [29] [30]

Compilations Edit

Grand Theft Auto Dual Pack was released in two thousand three for the PlayStation two and Xbox. It includes Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. [31] Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The compilation was very first released in two thousand five for the Xbox. [32] Later it was released for the PlayStation Two, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation Four. [33] [34] [35] [36] 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. [37]

Grand Theft Auto: Scenes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the scenes 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 twenty nine October two thousand nine for the Xbox three hundred sixty and on thirteen April two thousand ten for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation Trio. Microsoft added Gigs from Liberty City to its rearwards compatibility list for Xbox One platforms in February 2017. [38]

The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by David Kushner chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. [39] In March 2015, Big black cock Two announced The Gamechangers, a 90-minute docudrama based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto, [40] Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama starlets Daniel Radcliffe as Rockstar president Sam Houser and Bill Paxton as disbarred attorney Jack Thompson. [41] In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the Big black cock for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully attempted to contact the Big black cock to resolve the matter. [42] It very first aired on fifteen September two thousand fifteen on Big black cock Two. [43]

In 2006, McFarland & Company published The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto. [44] 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 very first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the 2nd half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy. [45]

A planned film adaptation of the series is incapable to proceed because of a lawsuit by Roger Corman, who produced Grand Theft Auto. In 2017, Corman said, "I actually sued the movie game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea. We lodged out of court and they gave me some money. I retain the right to remake it, but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy. My lawyers are actually studying that contract to make certain that I have a clear title to remake my picture, and I will remake Grand Theft Auto." [46]

Gameplay Edit

Each game in this series permits players to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of organised 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 finished to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other violent crimes are featured regularly. At times taxi driving, firefighting, street racing, bus driving, or learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are also involved in the game.

In later titles, notably those released after Grand Theft Auto Two, the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are coerced 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 role-playing movie games called open world games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional act games are structured as a single track series of levels with linear gameplay, but in Grand Theft Auto the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are switched based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game Turbo Esprit, [47] [48] the cities of the games can be roamed loosely at any point in the game, and are examples of open world movie game environments which suggest accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline. There are exceptions: missions go after a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to accomplish in order to unlock fresh areas in 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, accomplish with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to skin 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, and Lego City Undercover, which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, albeit the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game.

Criminal activities in Grand Theft Auto games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may build up a "dreamed level", represented by a maximum of five or six starlets. A petite crime, such as running over a non-player character, may create a one starlet desired level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more starlets. As the number of starlets increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single starlet might have a few police cars pursue after the player, while at five or six starlets, tanks and attack helicopters will pursue down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a dreamed level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is accomplish. Often, attempting to keep away from the police while desired will cause the player to build up even higher desired levels. The player can liquidate their character’s wished level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will respawn at a hospital and the dreamed level will be eliminated, tho’ the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The "desired level" gameplay concept has become common in other GTA Clones and similar open-world games.

Setting Edit

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 Fresh York City, Vice City, based upon Miami, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of California. In the very 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.

The 2nd entry in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto Two, set the game in the future in a locale named "Anywhere City".

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 Fresh York City. [49] A revised Vice City and San Andreas are depicted in Vice City and San Andreas, respectively, the latter of which 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 inbetween the three cities. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City is also shortly featured during one mission.

Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, originally released on the PlayStation Portable handheld console and later reissued for other consoles, are set in the previous depictions of their respective eponymous cities, but in different decades. 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 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, which is a closer analogue to Fresh York City and its boroughs than the GTA III version. [50] Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is also set in this version of Liberty City, albeit the Alderney portion of the map is not present. [51]

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. [52] 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 movie footage during these visits. [53] Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. [54] The Fresh 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." [55]

In both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V, Los Santos and the state of San Andreas are depicted as being on an island an undetermined distance from the US mainland. In both games it is possible to circumnavigate the state by boat. Similarly, the versions of Liberty City and Alderney in Grand Theft Auto IV and expansion packs are also downright located on islands, as is Vice City. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City however, while mostly island, is connected to mainland on its Northwest corner (a region the player cannot navigate). [ 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 the United States and used a real-life location.

Voice acting Edit

The series has included a broad multiplicity of voice actors. The original Grand Theft Auto, its mission packs and sequel, as well as Grand Theft Auto Advance and Chinatown Wars did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. [56] [57] The very 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, [58] 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 infrequent for a movie game to use such high-profile actors, and Grand Theft Auto III is considered a pioneer in doing so. [59] The next game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, featured more film actors, including Ray Liotta as the player character. Albeit the following title, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, also featured many notable film actors—such as Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Fonda and James Woods—it had been determined that the use of such actors should be diminished, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in San Andreas were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. [ citation needed ]

From Liberty City Stories through to Grand Theft Auto V, the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as Lazlow Jones, Phil Collins, [60] Ricky Gervais [61] and Katt Williams. [ citation needed ]

According to The Guinness World Records two thousand eight and two thousand nine Gamer’s Edition, it is the most controversial movie game series in history, with over Four,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of glamorising violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes. [62]

Grand Theft Auto Edit

The game was controversial from the very very first incarnation of the series. [63] Grand Theft Auto was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its "extreme violence", [64] and Brazil banned it outright. [64] Publicist Max Clifford planted sensational stories in tabloids in order to help sell the very first game. [63] [65] [66]

Grand Theft Auto III Edit

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 hookers to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. [66]

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

Vice City Edit

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 inbetween 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 telling that "The game shouldn’t be designed to demolish human life, it shouldn’t be designed to demolish an ethnic group," for this and similar screenplays, including lines in the game’s script such as "kill the Haitian dickheads" said by character "Diaz" during an quarrel inbetween the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar liquidated the word "Haitians" from this phrase in the game’s subtitles. [67]

San Andreas Edit

San Andreas was criticised originally due to its "gangster" elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive hookup 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 permitted players to have hook-up with their in-game girlfriends.

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 as well as a PlayStation two version through the use of an Activity Replay code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed "Hot Coffee" in reference to a euphemism for hookup 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 compelled to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class activity lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the "Hot Coffee" code. [68] [Sixty-nine]

Grand Theft Auto IV Edit

One of the controversies involved with this game was Mothers Against Buzzed Driving’s (MADD) criticism of the capability to drink and drive as a fresh feature. MADD had even requested ESRB to switch 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 practice buzzed driving in such a manner. [70] In the final game, buzzed driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a dreamed rating and main playable character Niko Bellic loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a "bad idea" and that he "should know better". [71]

Notably, it is unlikely to drive while inebriated in the GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. These were released after the criticism. It is, however, possible to drive buzzed again in the successor, Grand Theft Auto V. [72]

The Lost and Damned Edit

The Lost and Damned expansion pack was condemned by US parents group Common Sense Media who issued a public warning against the pack’s content due to a full-frontal nakedness scene during one of the cutscenes. They claimed the game was "more controversial than its predecessors" because it featured "utter frontal masculine nakedness". [73]

Chinatown Wars Edit

There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame [75] 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 permits 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. [76] [77]

Grand Theft Auto V Edit

A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player initiated torment. The mission "By the Book" features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform the acts in order to progress in the game. [78] [79] [80]

UK-based charity Freedom from Torment publicly condemned the use of torment scenes in Grand Theft Auto V. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torment, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torment scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity’s CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game." [78]

The game has also been accused of sexism. The Los Angeles Times considered the game’s satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game practice. [81] Edge noted that while "every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at", it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence. [82] Sam Houser, Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in Grand Theft Auto games, but that the weight towards masculine characters "fit with the story we wished to tell". [83]

Lawsuits Edit

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 two thousand eight [84] and was fined more than $100,000 by the Florida Bar Association. [85]

On twenty October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two youthful people shot by teenagers William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their deeds were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive Software, retailer Walmart, and PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. [86] [87] Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in US District Court on twenty nine October two thousand three that the "ideas and concepts as well as the ‘purported psychological effects’ on the Buckners are protected by the Very first Amendment’s free-speech clause". The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to stir the lawsuit into a state court and under Tennessee’s consumer protection act. [88] 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 two thousand three when Devin Moore, seventeen 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. [89] [90] One of Moore’s attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto ‘ s graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore’s family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of GameStop and Wal-Mart in Jasper, Alabama, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games’ publisher Take-Two Interactive, and the PlayStation two manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment. On twenty nine March two thousand six the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied. [91]

In May 2005, Jack 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." [92]

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, Fresh Mexico. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims’ families. [93] The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place. [94] Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. [95] During the criminal trial, Posey’s defence team argued he was manhandled by his father, and tormented by his stepmother. [96] Posey was also taking Zoloft at the time of the killings. [97] The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007. [98]

Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their intellectual property or personality rights, including hip-hop artist Daz Dillinger, [99] Karen Gravano of Mob Wives, [100] and actress Lindsay Lohan. [101]

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