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Published at 3:21 AM PST

IGN has posted a detailed 8-page article on the 16 years of Grand Theft Auto mayhem. From the early days of DMA Design in the late '80s to now, with Grand Theft Auto V on the now-not-too-distant horizon. There is plenty to be excited about, and even more to reminisce on...

"It's all about the American Dream. You start at the bottom, put in effort and time, and you make it to the top...no matter who you have to kill. Any stone player can get known and get paid if they take what they want, and survive the day. And see the next guy lining up to take what's yours and make it his. That's what makes this country great.

Gamers live the life Rockstar's built for them, 50 million of them, doing what they want and getting ahead one drive-by, one stolen ride, one felony at a time. It's a funhouse mirror on our sliding culture, envisioned by a Scot and a pair of Brits. Imitators come and go. None come close to Grand Theft Auto's excesses, successes, consequences, and stepping outside the lines. The franchise is big-time. Stocks jump at the mention of its name. So do giant-killers, lawyers, mothers, and politicians – all stepping up to take their shot at a game that turned controversy into fame, and then infamy.

A life of crime ain't easy, baby." - IGN

Summarizing this mammoth article would simply not do it justice; IGN has put in a solid effort curating the history of the biggest gaming series, be sure to check it out.

Published at 5:48 AM PST

Steam has discounted all Grand Theft Auto titles by 75% over the weekend.

The sale ends April 2nd, so be sure to complete your collection if you haven't already.

Published at 12:04 AM PST

Back  in 1997, when "Rockstar" was only used in reference to a rock musician, and the Houser brothers were working at BMG Interactive preparing to publish DMA Design's first Grand Theft Auto game, prior to Take-Two purchasing BMG as "Rockstar Games", Colin MacDonald started work at DMA Design, which would later be acquired by Rockstar Games and become Rockstar North.

He started during a pivotal point when DMA Design had just recently been purchased by Gremlin Interactive, who had "Disney-esque ambitions" MacDonald says, and Grand Theft Auto didn't quite fit into their mold. In fact, GTA was one of several projects being undertaken at DMA at the time, and it was not the shining star you would think - doubts were had over whether the game was actually fun.

Luckily, DMA Design's founder Dave Jones was the visionary who kept the game from the chopping block and insisted they stay the course. If it wasn't for Jones' foresight, the Houser brothers love for the game, and the future acquisition of DMA, we wouldn't be about to see the 10th major GTA game release this year: Grand Theft Auto V. That's not including the numerous smaller GTA titles which have been released over the years, nor the mammoth GTA IV DLC.

Edge recently caught up with MacDonald and discussed those early days at DMA, as well as the afterlife at Dave Jones next studio following the sale of DMA to Take-Two and Rockstar, Realtime Worlds. It is an interesting read, and I've only summarised the Grand Theft Auto-side of the story above, so check out the full story for more.

Source: Edge

Published at 2:53 PM PST

Last week we mentioned via Twitter that we seen the OSX port of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas being tested on Steam. Today, without any sort of official announcement, the Mac OSX versions of San Andreas along with Vice City and GTAIII have been released on Steam. The best part of this is that all three titles utilize SteamPlay. This means that if you already have a Windows copy of the game on Steam, you'll automatically gain access to the OSX version, and vice versa. Previously, the OSX ports were only available via GameTree and the Mac App Store. To celebrate the Steam release, all three games are currently 25% off. No word on how long the deal will last so if you still don't have these three classics on Steam, now is a great time to pick 'em up!

Source: Steam

Published at 5:33 PM PST

With speculation and enthusiasm for the new Grand Theft Auto game beginning to heat up, CarInsurance.org has decided to take a look back at the evolution of the massively popular series with a special infographic:

A look at grand theft auto and auto theft insurance
Research and design from Car Insurance Site

Published at 3:41 PM PST

During Take-Two's conference call, Strauss was asked by an analyst when Take-Two would announce GTA V. Strauss replied with this,

“We’re not going to announce it. We’re not going to announce when we’re going to announce it. And we’re not going to announce the strategy about announcing it or about when we’re going to announce it either, or about the announcement strategy surrounding the announcement of the strategy.....Any other questions?”

We'll take that as an announcement.

Published at 8:29 PM PST

Director Uwe Boll, nominated for Worst Directer for his 2006 directing of his Alone In The Dark adaption and 2007 BloodRayne adaption, says he would be the 'The Right Guy' to direct a film and Grand Theft Auto.

"My movies are all bloody and violent and I don't have a problem with action scenes," says Boll.

"They will go, in the end, with a Michael Bay or a Brett Ratner, and it will be a PG-13 movie made for $150 million," he said. "I think it would be better to make a $30 million, very hard, brutal movie without compromising, but I'm not optimistic." he continued, believing he wouldn't get the call to film a GTA movie if it was ever possible.

Given Rockstar's current stance on having a GTA movie, and Uwe Boll's very bleak past, not only can I see no movie in the horizon, but I can't see Rockstar even considering Uwe Boll for the directing role.

Game adaptions don't work for the most part, unless undertaken by big directors and very good actors. Max Payne is shaping up to be a hit, but it has a story line that's not dynamic or 'open'. Grand Theft Auto would never work as a movie, and a movie would most likely ruin the gaming series as a result.

Source: WIRED

Published at 8:19 AM PST

You may remember our story last week about Michael Carnevale and his company, Carnevale ID, and their part on the design of the official Grand Theft Auto websites since Grand Theft Auto 3. If not, have a quick read of "The web designer behind the GTA websites".

Mr. Carnevale contacted me following our posting of the story and wanted to clarify a few inconsistencies. The Grand Rapids Press, a newspaper in Grand Rapids, got a few important facts wrong. We would like to clear up those inaccurate facts:

Firstly, Carnevale ID is not the "company behind all of the Grand Theft Auto websites". They are the support line for the development of the websites, from a Flash prospective and they occasionally input some design ideas and tips. The company behind the websites is in-fact Rockstar Games and their in-house team, who Mr. Carnevale describes as "one of the best in the industry,".

Secondly, they have been involved in resource support, as mentioned above, and therefore have not been involved in all teasers and promotional websites. The Rockstar Games in-house team develops the websites, Carnevale ID just supports the in-house team and gives tips. And lastly, Michael Carnevale is NOT the only person outside of Rockstar Games to work on the Grand Theft Auto websites, or any of Rockstar's websites for that matter.

The message Mr. Carnevale wants us to get across is that he is not the only person behind the scenes of all the fantastic official Grand Theft Auto websites, and he is certainly not the only person who should be receiving credit or attention for the work. The newspaper failed to acknowledge the Rockstar Games in-house team, and we can see where Mr. Carnevale is coming from here. That is not accurate or fair to any degree.

We would like to send our apologies to Michael Carnevale, his company and Rockstar Games. Thank you though to Mr. Carnevale for contacting us and helping us clear up the mess, we sincerely appreciate it.

Published at 3:53 AM PST

Note: This news story is not completely accurate, please check why here.

Chances are you have never heard of Michael Carnevale, or his company, Carnevale ID. However, we all do in a way. Carnevale ID is Michael Carnevale's web design business, and the company behind all of the Grand Theft Auto websites since Grand Theft Auto III back in 2001. The firms' most recent project, the official Grand Theft Auto IV website which they started to work on in January of 2007. Yes, that's 2007, not 2008!

Looking at their modest West Side office in Grand Rapids, you would never guess that it was the center point of the Grand Theft Auto phenomenon. Just how much thanks do we owe Michael Carnevale? Well he worked on 6 official websites, and as we can gather, all their teaser websites as well:

Obviously back when he was asked to produce the official website for Grand Theft Auto 3 he had no idea it would take-off like it did. The Grand Rapids Press has been writing an article on him and his GTA fame, he said to them:

"The game totally blew away the traditional notion of what the game experience could be, particularly with the sandbox play. Nobody realized it would be the pop culture phenomenon it was."

So how did he nab this spectacular chance to work on websites for Rockstar Games? Apparently through connections from a friend who Rockstar had contacted in regards to an online hip-hop game. From their history, he has worked on all major 3D Grand Theft Auto websites and teaser sites ever since. They also worked on Rockstar's online based rap game, Rhymerator. He is the only person Rockstar use outside of their company to work on official game websites. It's important to note that the Carnevale ID company is small, and over the years of developing websites for Rockstar, they have also still been actively developing websites for other clients which can all be viewed on their official website.

As I said earlier, The Grand Rapids Press has written an article on Michael Carnevale and his company, you can read the two page story here. We always love reading up on the history of Rockstar Games, as well as what has influenced Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto and made it what it is today.

Oh, and no Micheal Carnevale has not received nor played any pre-release copies of Grand Theft Auto IV, neither any past games his firm has developed a game for. For one thing, it's purely business, and secondly he says he finds no time for gaming anymore. He does admit to being a past gamer enthusiast however, and their office in Grand Rapids does have an Xbox 360.

Published at 3:09 PM PST

Next-Gen.biz has posted an 8 page look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, it's affect on Rockstar Games and most importantly how co-founder Sam Houser feels about the series. Mr. Houser hasn't given an interview for a few years, so this was surprising.

"In part one of this expansive two-part look into the making of one of gaming's biggest franchises, Edge talks to Rockstar Games president Sam Houser and finds out how the most important game series of the last ten years came into being and how GTA IV will take the story to a new level."

I won't ruin the article for you, it's a great read so we suggest you read it for yourself at Next-Gen.biz. If you need a reason, just look at the fact Sam Houser doesn't give many interviews, and with that comes lots of thoughts and opinions by the man himself that show us exactly what he is aiming for with Grand Theft Auto IV and future games by Rockstar.

Related: Next-Gen.biz: 'GRAND THEFT AUTO: THE INSIDE STORY'

In addition you may also be interested in Next-Gen.biz: 'THE MAKING OF GRAND THEFT AUTO IV' which is the talked about 'part 2' of the interview, it also looks briefly into the History of GTA, but mostly into GTA4's technology and surprises.

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