Grand Theft Auto III

"GTA III was a showcase for the powerhouse PS2. Earlier games in the series were fun, prankishly rude ditties; you played a criminal, and observed the gridlike world from an omniscient, top-down perspective. GTA III created an entire three-dimensional world, setting you at ground level in a city that could be freely explored. It wasn’t the first game to combine different genres into one, but the component parts of GTA III‘s gameplay were well integrated: it was a driving game, a third-person shooter, an RPG-inflected adventure, a crime thriller. The Casual Gamer — a primordial notion, five years pre-Wii — probably thought that GTA III was less a single videogame than an entire entertainment system unto itself. GTA III kickstarted whole host of changes in the videogame industry. Along with Halo: Combat Evolved, released in November 2001 as an Xbox launch title, it’s a central to the paradigm shift in the early ’00s that transformed videogames either into “a legitimately cool and important cultural force” or “that annoyingly fashionable Hot New Thing that meant Lindsay Lohan attended the launch party of Saints Row The Third” — depending on your perspective. (I’ll never forget watching The O.C. and noticing that Seth Cohen had a Rockstar Games poster up in his bedroom.)"

"Most of the delay in releasing the game, which was only a couple of weeks, was a product of the fact that our office in New York was pretty close to Ground Zero and so any work that had to be done there was made impossible for a period," Houser added. "The mood in the office... It was very upsetting, very unnerving and overwhelming. It was the same for us as it was for anybody. But we also felt we'd come this close to making this great game and that despite these problems, just as despite the problems of Take Two, it was our duty to finish it."

"According to what we have termed an identity simulation account, these effects are a consequence of identification with deviant video game characters (e.g., Fischer, Kastenmüller, & Greitemeyer, 2010; Konijn et al., 2007) and self-perception of correspondent deviant personality characteristics and attitudes (e.g., Uhlmann & Swanson, 2004; Fischer et al., 2009; Hull et al., 2012). Although we do not have measures of the extent to which participants identify with game characters in the current research, we can distinguish protagonists in the games they report playing in terms of their motives and values. Specifically, in Grand Theft Auto III, the primary character is an underworld thug working his way up the criminal hierarchy, whereas in Spiderman II the primary character is a superhero using his powers to fight villains. Although these games are similar insofar as both lend themselves to unlimited aggressive behavior, in support of the proposition that the character and motives of the protagonist matters, 13 of 15 specific comparisons between these two games were statistically significant: Play of GTA III was associated with greater behavioral deviance than play of Spiderman II. These differences even extend to our primary measure of aggression."

"Before “Grand Theft Auto,” there wasn’t a lot of freedom in games. You might be able to choose the order of missions, but if you wanted to just explore the world, it wasn’t possible. “GTA” encouraged that and gives you lots of ways to do so. You can fly planes, drive tanks or ride jetpacks. You can steal an ambulance and respond to emergency calls. Carjack a taxi? Pick up fares to earn extra money. Rockstar dubbed its game a sandbox for players - a term that has stuck as other developers have copied the formula."

"Q: Okay, let’s get theoretical here. You’ve had the ’80s-era game, the ’90s-era game. Say you want to do a Grand Theft Auto that is set in 2001, when Grand Theft Auto III came out. How would the new game be different from GTA III? What kinds of stuff would you want to incorporate into it? What’s your vision of the early 2000s?"

"Attention concerned parents: Today’s episode features Grandad demonstrating responsible parenting, playing the controversial video game “Grand Theft Auto 3” to answer any questions he may have and to reinforce the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. We suggest all those with young children take note. Thank you."