About Me
Rockstar Games is a development division of video game publisher Take Two Interactive, based in the United States. The brand is most known for the Grand Theft Auto series. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally. While many of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and have become part of the company's 2K Games division.
The Rockstar Games label was founded in 1998 by Sam Houser, Terry Donovan, Dan Houser, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.
Their first official game published starting was Thrasher: Presents Skate And Destroy for the Sony Playstation game console then afterwards in the same year they went on to publish Wild Metal: Reclaim the Future for the Sega Dreamcast console.
In 2000 they started their first game for the Sony Playstation 2 which launched in October 2000 which was Midnight Club: Street Racing but that was not until the next year that Rockstar Games would make history and put themselves on the map with the release of the ground breaking smash hit Grand Theft Auto: III.
Released October 23, 2001, GTA III unexpectedly emerged as a smash hit at its initial US $49.95 price and became the #1 selling video game of 2001 in the United States. Later discounted to $19.95 as part of Sony's "Greatest Hits" program, it continued to sell well and went on to become the second best-selling video game of 2002, behind its sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. GTA III continued to enjoy strong sales as part of the Xbox Double Pack, even though it was two years old when the Double Pack hit shelves in December 2003. Although the Grand Theft Auto series had been an underground success prior to the release of GTA III, it was this game that first brought the series mainstream success and widespread accolades.
Video game critics and players have used the term "GTA clone" to describe the slew of video games released which attempted to emulate the sandbox gameplay of GTA III. GamePro recently called GTA III the most important video game of all-time, explaining that the game's open-ended gameplay elements have revolutionized the way all video games are made.
On October 27, 2002 Rockstar Games released the follow up to GTA: III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City which added improved gameplay & licensed music from the 80's and it went on to become the second best-selling game of the series for the PlayStation 2. Vice City has sold 13 million copies worldwide, making Vice City one of the top-selling PlayStation 2 games.
2003 was the first year that no new Grand Theft Auto game was released so Rockstar decided to up the ante with the release of the controversial title Manhunt, although it did not have the same overall success as the GTA series it did however establish a cult following that would later on to spawn a future sequel.
2004 was the biggest year in video game & Rockstar Games history with the October 26th release of the 3rd title in the now famous GTA series with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. San Andreas was praised as one of the PlayStation 2's best games, with an average score on Metacritic of 95%, tying for the fifth highest ranked game in PlayStation 2 history. IGN rated the game a 9.9/10 (the highest score it has ever awarded to a PlayStation 2 game), calling it "the defining piece of software" for the PlayStation 2. GameSpot rated the game 9.6/10, giving it an Editor's Choice award. San Andreas also received an average rating of 9.6/10 from the 1UP.com network and a 10/10 score from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. By 3 March 2005, the game had sold over 12 million units for the PlayStation 2 alone. The game also went on two win 2 video game of the year of awards for both GameSpot & IGN.
2005 brought the release of the game The Warriors based on the 1979 smash hit movie. The game fared well with the films audience. That year also brought us the first spin off of the GTA series with the release of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for the PSP & PS2 consoles. The game fared well and was liked by fans of the series.
2006 was a another good year for Rockstar Games released another spin off of GTA entitled Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories for PSP & PS2, the very humorous & controversial game Bully for the PS2 and finally Rockstar Games Presents: Table Tennis for the Xbox 360 marking the debut of a Rockstar Game for that new system and that game featured the new RAGE game engine that will be featured in the biggest game of 2007 which is GTA IV for both Xbox 360 & PS3.
In 2007 Rockstar Games will bring 2 anticipated games Manhunt 2 and the aforementioned GTA IV. Grand Theft Auto: IV has already received the normal buzz as for any GTA game but this is the debut of the series on the new next gen systems. The game is scheduled for release on April 29, 2008.
3-3-2008: Bully: Scholarship Edition released
Bully: Scholarship Edition is released for the Xbox 360 and Wii video game consoles today.
The game features exclusive content which was unavailable
in the PlayStation 2 version, including eight new missions, additional characters, four new school classes (biology, music, math and geography) and new unlockable items and clothing. Some script changes have been made, including small changes to missions from the PS2 version. The random NPCs also have more lines.
In addition, single system 2-player competitive multiplayer minigames have also been added, along with Achievements for the Xbox 360 version and Wii Remote motion and pointer controls for the Wii version.
The Xbox 360 version also uses a new proprietary game engine by Rockstar's new developer Rockstar New England which is formerly Mad Doc Software.
1-24-2008: Grand Theft Auto IV to be released April 29, 2008
Rockstar Games has finally set a date for the release of one of the year's most anticipated software releases.
Grand Theft Auto IV will be released worldwide on April 29 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
"We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV," commented Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games.
"We've pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment."
The date is later than some internet sites had speculated, and comes just within parent company Take-Two's end of financial year.
It also misses the crucial easter sales, considered one of the first big retail periods of the year.
8-28-2007: M-rated cut version of Manhunt 2 due on 10-31-07
Rockstar has never been a company to shy away from controversy--if it isn't the "Hot Coffee" scandal in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, it's the furor from the press in the weeks before the release of Canis Canem Edit (known as Bully in the US), or the banning of Manhunt 2 in the UK and Ireland.
While a game cannot be banned outright by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board in the US, it can receive an AO for Adults Only rating, which is a similar kiss of death due to release and sales policies; many major retailers in the country will not stock AO-rated games, and Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft refuse to allow them on their systems. Manhunt 2 was handed down this rating from the ESRB.
After Manhunt 2 received the AO rating, Take-Two suspended the release of the title while it "explored its options." In a recent conference call, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick promised shareholders and journalists that the title would be released.
Today, he gets his wish, as Rockstar Games announced that a "modified version" of Manhunt 2 has received an M for Mature rating for ages 17 and over, and will be released on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2, and Wii in North America on October 31.
The company did not comment on what had been cut from the title in order to achieve the lower rating. The ESRB assigned the following content descriptors to Manhunt 2: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs.
Sam Houser, founder and executive producer of Rockstar Games, commented, "Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we're glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience. We love the horror genre. Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it."
The company is also appealing the ban in the UK, but this is a lengthy process which could take months.
Rockstar had not returned calls for comment as of press time.
8-2-2007: Grand Theft Auto IV delayed to 2008
What was to be a powerhouse this holiday season, the 2007 holiday video game release schedule lost one of its major guns today. Without warning, this afternoon Take-Two Interactive stunned the game industry by announcing it was delaying Grand Theft Auto IV to the second quarter of its 2008 fiscal year, which begins on February 1, 2008. Published by Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games, the crime-action title had been slated to ship for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on October 16, 2007.
7-13-2007: Page launched.
This is a fan page dedicated to the greatest video game company in the world, Rockstar Games.
We give thanks to Sam Houser, Terry Donovan, Dan Houser, Jamie King and Gary Foreman for making this company.
We also want to thank Son of The Don for the design of this page as he is a true fan of Rockstar Games like us and most of all we want to thank all of the fans of Rockstar Games and its titles. Without you guys there wouldn't be a Rockstar Games to begin.
