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GTA San Andreas Official Site Launched
Oshuma.Shiroki writes "Rockstar Games has launched the official site for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This is particularly notable because it comes complete the very first trailer for the game, as well as some new screenshots. In any case, GTA:SA is due out for PlayStation 2 on October 19th. Head on over and take a look."
i think they already did
I can't be the only European who thinks the GTA series of games is rather US-centric?
This is one of the great things about the GTA series. Americans think it's clearly a home-made product, the rest of the world is sometimes put off by its Americocentric theme, but what neither realise is that GTA is a thoroughly European product. Yes, various Americans work on the game via Rockstar's head office in New York, but the game itself is made by Rockstar North (ex-DMA Design) in Scotland.
This is actually readily apparent if you pay attention. GTA as it is perhaps could not even have been made by only Americans; it is the result of how Europeans experienced American crime through US film, TV and music. The entire plot of the games is one crime cliche after another, where you can often pinpoint the film whence it came from, but what makes it work is that is not considered "real". There is no real crime in GTA. It's just a movie. Similarly for the stereotypes, these don't mean as much to Europeans as they would to Americans. As a result, in the US you can expect a lot of ruckus over both the stereotyping and the violence in this game, whereas most complaints in Europe will be only about the violence. The stereotypes are the same we've seen a hundred times before in US films.
This is actually readily apparent if you pay attention. GTA as it is perhaps could not even have been made by only Americans; it is the result of how Europeans experienced American crime through US film, TV and music.
Well, you're oversimplifying, as many people out there do when it comes to Rockstar and Rockstar North. I was part of the "New York production team" (that's how we're credited) on various Rockstar games and since I'm not currently working on SA (no longer with the company, by choice), I have enough time on my hands that I feel like saying something about this, and finally have the freedom to do it.
I don't want to name names (check the game credits if you like) but the big names working on the GTA series are about evenly split between born and bred New Yorkers and born and bred British (not necessarily Scottish - a lot of English people work on the GTA series as well, both in New York and in the UK). The scripts are not written through the eyes of someone experiencing the US through crime movies - they're written through the eyes of someone who's lived in New York in some cases for many years, in other cases for their entire lives.
The programming is done in Scotland. The production (which includes screenwriting, character design, art direction, sound recording, soundtracks, package design, etc.) is split between NYC and Scotland depending on the job but is mostly done in NYC. The series is very much collaborative between nationalities and I do not want to take anything away from what's done in Scotland at all. I'm just saying there's this misconception out there that this series is actually coming from a European perspective and that's not really true - it's a collaboration between the Scots, British-born long-time New Yorkers, and born-and-bred New Yorkers.
Another little piece of trivia for you: Rockstar and Rockstar North are the same company. It's not just an ownership thing; Rockstar and DMA were inextricably linked for a long time, but the purchase many years ago now (prior to GTA2, if I remember right) made the two companies one. It's not a case of "Rockstar North makes the game, Rockstar is just the publisher"... Rockstar and Rockstar North are the same company, and both offices work on different aspects of the game. Some things traditionally in the developer's court are done in New York, some things traditionally in the publisher's court are done in the UK. There's no clear split between them.
Similarly for the stereotypes, these don't mean as much to Europeans as they would to Americans.
I can tell you this is not the reason why the stereotypes are in there. The stereotypes are in there because they mean so much to Americans. To a large extent, Rockstar likes to thumb its nose at political correctness; the GTA games are satires, occasional parodies. A lot of people (including you, apparently) have missed this fact and take the stereotypes at face value. They're there with the intent that they should be questioned. They're there self-consciously.