Dan Houser from Rockstar Games gave a rare interview recently, talking about all things GTA III, in light of the game’s tenth anniversary. Within the interview he explains that Rockstar is all about innovation, moving forward and creating complex and engaging play-spaces. He also mentions that what they did with the GTA games, including GTA IV, was just scratching the proverbial surface.
In a rare interview with IGN [via Industry Gamers], Dan Houser, one of the creative minds behind some of the biggest games that helped shaped the gaming industry (and for the better), replied to a question about the future of Rockstar Games, saying…
"I think there's something really interesting in the open world experience. Obviously we've made like ten of them now and they still don't feel boring to me. It still feels that we're only scratching the surface of that potential. But who knows what we'll be doing?"
Personally, I felt GTA IV was one of the most under-milked design schemes this generation. It seemed like there was so much more to do and experience given the detailed physics, the enhanced social mechanics and the overall living, breathing atmosphere Rockstar brought to life in Grand Theft Auto IV. The only problem was the limited hardware (mostly the RAM) of the Xbox 360 and PS3. It’s no secret it’s one of my favorite games this entire generation alongside Red Dead Redemption, and probably those two are the only games this gen that actually felt like they were aiming to move gaming forward instead of backward.
Nevertheless, Houser went on to say that…
“We'll hopefully have done a bunch of interesting games in the next ten years. That's always the goal. I've never been that good at the futureology side of game-making. We never really care what the name is on the box, either. The name Grand Theft Auto, the name Max Payne, the name's Red Dead, the name's Table Tennis, it doesn't really matter as long as the game's cool.”
I love that kind of philosophical, modernist thinking. He’s not ragging on other companies saying stupid stuff about Saints Row or Just Cause, and he’s not making wild predictions about the possibilities or the future GTA games. I like that.
I just hope they don’t scrap everything from GTA IV in GTA V. But, as long as the next game is bigger (and please, please, please, can we go back to Vice City?!) then it’s all good.
GTA III anniversary edition is scheduled to release on mobile devices. You can read the entire interview with Dan Houser over at IGN.
