‘Grand Theft Auto’: A model for innovation

On April 29, “Grand Theft Auto IV” will be released for an eager crowd of gamers worldwide.

“GTA IV” will be available for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The “Grand Theft Auto” series has been around since 1998, and the games have always been an enjoyable source of gaming entertainment.

Along with amazing game-play and wide, “open world” play options, the series has also been the source of extreme controversy due to its mature thematic elements. In fact, the series has been openly criticized for its violent content and has received condemnation from numerous sources, such as anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson, who refers to the games as nothing more than “. murder simulators.”

Even the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of sex-industry workers and to the promotion of a safe working environment for the industry, sought to ban the release and subsequent sales of “Grand Theft Auto” due to its content.

However, amid the controversies that surround the titular series, it is important to also take a look at what the series has accomplished within the gaming industry and how it has paved the way for other games.

The release of “Grand Theft Auto III” for the Playstation 2 back in 2001 made the transition to a three-dimensional gaming interface.

Not only did this transition bring a fresh new look and feel to the games (which had previously featured a “top down” perspective similar to the Nintendo’s 1987 title “The Legend of Zelda”), it also brought a massive amount of freedom to the gaming industry. This freedom came in the form of an open-ended world for the player to traverse. It allowed for the player to drive any car or vehicle that happened to be on the screen. It even allowed the player to play for hours upon hours without even touching the game’s narrative.

After “GTA III” came “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” and “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” both of which added to the proven game-play model of their predecessor.

Years later, it is hard to imagine what the gaming industry would be like without the innovations that “Grand Theft Auto” brought to the table.

With a little effort, one could even surmise that games such as “Super Mario Galaxy” and even the “Halo” series might not exist today without “GTA.”

Now that “Grand Theft Auto IV” (which is actually the sixth installment of the series) is nearly upon us, take some time to consider the full impact of the series upon today’s gaming culture – the good as well as the bad.

C. COLT CRANE
BizTech Writer

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