Rockstar Games has always lived up to its name, doing things others didn’t. From the first non-3D Grand Theft Auto game on they were a source of controversy. The extreme violence which could be executed shocked and the first game wasn’t even allowed to be sold in Brazil. The franchise was popular, but it was its first step into 3D with Grand Theft Auto 3 which really brought the series to a bigger audience. I can still remember when I first played the game at a colleague’s house. It was the reason for me to go out and buy a Playstation 2. The game wasn’t interesting because of its violence, but because it managed to realise a convincing, living world where you could do missions, but also decide to just drive around and listen to the often hilarious radio stations or simply cause mayhem and see how long you could survive.

The Gamechangers, a made for TV movie from the BBC, tells the story of Sam Houser (Daniel Radcliffe) and the people around him who work at Rockstar during the period that Grand Theft Auto Vice City was just realised and the studio started making San Andreas and creating the new RAGE game-engine for the next generation of consoles. Continue reading →