Grand Theft Auto

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Grand Theft Auto. The name of the gaming industry.

The name Grand Theft Auto is derived from a phrase “grand theft auto” which means to steal a vehicle, usually cars, a criminal act which is reported mostly in the US. In most cases, the car window is broken, car is unlocked, opened and driven away. This phrase was use because most of the time in Grand Theft Auto games, this act is committed. Grand Theft Auto is abbreviated as GTA. It is produced and published by Rockstar North and Rockstar Games respectively.

GTA started out with the first game, named “Grand Theft Auto” and was a big hit. It was in 2 dimension (2D) and was released on 1997/98 for the PC and PlayStation by DMA Design (earlier name of Rockstar North). It has “levels” which were of increasing difficulty as the game progresses. It had three major cities, Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. It was called “Race’N'Chase” originally but was changed to Grand Theft Auto. It had a expansion pack, London 1969 followed by another expansion pack for London 1969 called London 1961.  It was also released for Game Boy Color. It is now free and can be downloaded from Rockstar Classics website by entering address and e-mail address. Rated M by ESRB for all versions but Game Boy Color version was rated as T.

The second game was Grand Theft Auto 2 set in the year 2013 in Anywhere City. It was released for PC, PlayStation, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color. It had a protagonist called Claude Speed. It was released on 1999-2000. It was also 2D but had a improved engine when compared to the previous game. It utilised a bit of 3D technology too. Age ratings were as same as the previous game and it can also be downloaded free from Rockstar Classics.

The third was GTA III set in 2001. It used full 3D technology and had the same protagonist of the earlier game Claude Speed. It was set in Liberty City which is an in-game presentation of New York City, USA. It had really good changes when compared to the previous games. It is no longer 2D top-down. This one had missions. The next two games are considered as continuations or connections to GTA III.

The next was Vice City set in 1986 in Vice City which resembles Miami, USA. It had minor improvements over the previous game. Protagonist was Tommy Vercetti. It had a really good storyline. It was released for PC, PS2 and Xbox in the period of 2002-04. Vice City was one of the best games in GTA series. 

Next comes San Andreas, set in 1992, released on 2004-05, protagonist Carl Johnson and it was set in San Andreas which had three cities of Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas. It had major features added when compared to the previous games and released for PC, PS2 and Xbox. It was loved by many people as many new features were added to it.

The latest one is Grand Theft Auto IV, set in Liberty City again in the year 2008 and was released in the same year. The protagonist was Niko Bellic. This game sported usage of Shader Model 3.0 and new graphics, new cover system and many great features. Some features such as hunger system, diving, etc. were removed from this game than the previous versions. This game uses Games For Windows – LIVE and Rockstar Social Club to run on the PC. It had heavy DRM protection, when compared to all other GTA games. It was released on PC, PS3 and XBOX 360. This game also had two expansion packs namely The Lost And The Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony with Johnny Klebitz and Luis Fernando Lopez as the protagonists respectively.

Apart from the above games, there were other GTA games exclusively for portable consoles: GTA Advance (GBA), GTA: Liberty City Stories (PSP), GTA: Vice City Stories (PSP) and Chinatown Wars (PSP, NDS, iPhone/iPad)

GTA games include intense violence, racial discrimination, adult content, use of tobacco and drugs and bad language which are inappropriate for children. If you are a parent, please avoid exposure of your children to GTA series and if you are a child, please don’t play this games.

The above content is written by me and is copyrighted. I have written it on my own, so I am not sure whether the data or information is accurate. Please refer other sources for accurate information and submit any corrections to me.

External and helpful links: Rockstar Classics website to download GTA 1 and GTA 2