Ik vond op een ander forum dit interview met R*, is wel leuk om te lezen:
As urban culture continues to take over, more and more video games are using hip hop, quite often in a fairly uninspired way, to give them the edge. Nothing new there. But the latest instalment of the legendary Grand Theft Auto series promises to immerse the player in 90s West Coast culture, with everything from g-funk to gang bangin’ to the ravescene getting immortalised in the state of San Andreas. We spoke to the people at Rockstar Games about this landmark in gaming and hip hop history…
Ok, let me break it down for those of you who don’t know. On the surface, the concept behind the Grand Theft Auto games is pretty simple. You work your way through the criminal underbelly of a city, jacking cars and committing all kinds of felonies as you make your way to the top. But since it’s debut in 1996, the game has evolved into something far more complex. The thing about the series is, you don’t actually have to play the game at all, and being able to roam the huge GTA environments doing whatever you want is a big part of why GTA has become so popular. When GTA hit PlayStation 2, it went 3D, and suddenly everyone took notice. Then when Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002, which parodied 1980s Miami, the world went nuts, style mags described it as “art” and it went on to sell some 20 million copies around the world. So when RWD heard San Andreas was going to be based around hip hop culture in 90s California, we had to find out more. We got an exclusive sneak preview of what could well be the biggest selling video game of all time, and were amazed by what we saw. Where previous games have been based around a single city, San Andreas is an entire state, with three huge sprawling cities, twelve towns, a half a mile high mountain, desert, forests and thousands of characters, vehicles and objects to interact with any way you want in between.
We spoke to the people behind San Andreas at Rockstar games about exactly what went in to putting this together…
1. RWD: A lot of people are expecting this to be the best computer game ever created. You guys feel like you’re under pressure?
R*: Of course. We don’t want to disappoint anyone who bought and loved Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City; we know their expectations are high, ours are too! Our goal is to make something we want to play. We are always trying to better our previous efforts and set our standards higher and ultimately we are the ones that put the most pressure on ourselves by trying to make the best game we possibly can. We are definitely our own worst critics. But right now we are pretty confident Rockstar North have delivered something that should exceed peoples expectations by a long way.
2. RWD: Why did you choose 90’s hip hop culture in particular as a backdrop for San Andreas?
R*: It’s more Southern California in the early 90s that forms the background for the game. Hip hop culture is a huge aspect of San Andreas that people seem to have focussed on, but it is that one aspect. The West Coast of the States is an incredibly diverse part of the world, which is one of the reasons we chose to set the game there. The people, the architecture, the natural environment are all extremely varied. We chose the 90s because at this time the west coast was really vibrant, so much was going on there and so many things were coming out of there that have since had a major influence on popular culture. Hip hop is of course a significant part of that but even the music in the game isn’t only hip hop, you’ll find the full spectrum of everything you would expect to hear scanning the dial of your car stereo in 90s California.
3. Which films/songs in particular do you feel inspired you to create San Andreas? How did you decide that this theme was the right way to go with Grand Theft Auto?
R*: Films like Boyz n’ the Hood and Menace II Society are obviously easy to pick out, but there are so many 90s movies and TV shows, as well as fashion, music and popular culture that make up our vision of the 90s. Where our influences in Vice City were easy to crystallize the themes are broader here and the cultural sweep is wider.
We have always been about taking risks and bet heavily on gameplay experience that respects the cultural maturity of the gaming audience. We’ve always felt our games should make bold cultural statements in the way they present themselves to the player. We took a big risk moving the series back from the present day in Grand Theft Auto 3 to the mid 80s for Vice City. We had no frame of reference for how people would receive it – I guess we are traveling a similar path here. We simply felt that the location and time period would provide a superb backdrop for the gameplay and narrative and we feel very proud for how the game has turned out.
4. Music has always been a massive part of the Grand Theft Auto series. What can you tell us about the latest game in terms of stations/songs? What kind of artists can we expect to hear on the various radio stations?
R*: They’ll find an incredible range of tracks that that really represent and evoke the early 90s –not just 90s hip hop classics but a huge series of amazing records across the musical spectrum. We can’t comment on the details at this time. We try really hard to keep them a secret until the game comes out, so that players get to experience them in game first.
5. You have always made a point of using people in Grand Theft Auto on merit rather than celebrity status to do the voiceovers, but some well known actors have appeared in past titles. Will we see any people from the world of hip hop in the game?
R*: We like to pick the best voices for the role, regardless of how famous they are. We also like the conceptual angle of playing with a fresh voice. That’s why we chose Young Maylay, an up and coming rapper from the West Coast, to play the role of CJ, the game’s protagonist. As to the rest of the cast, we certainly have stayed true to our philosophy, but I think the cast will definitely raise a few eyebrows!
6. We know a massive amount of research goes into each Grand Theft Auto game. How did you make sure you got the highly complex world of gang culture absolutely right?
R*: It was a fundamental decision to work with people who have experience in that world. We take expertise and getting things right seriously and we wanted to ensure we portrayed the time and place accurately. To do that we had help from various experts from the era- like DJ Pooh, who is incredibly talented in music production, DJing, video production, script writing. We also have a very good research department in New York and Scotland working obsessively on the details; huge amounts of research into the 1990’s culture was done to make sure everything fit properly and we captured the time period. Getting this stuff right is vital the game; we wanted to reflect the period accurately whilst staying true to the principles of the Grand Theft Auto universe and gaming experience. We work ridiculously hard to ensure this balance is right.
7. We hear there is a mountain half a mile high. And BMXs. Will we be able to go down the mountain on a BMX?!?
R*: Of course! That’s the basic core of Grand Theft Auto: open ended gameplay where the player is free to go where they want and do what they want. But to be honest the mountain bike is probably a better choice for this.
9. San Andreas is HUGE. You must have hidden one member of the Vercetti family somewhere in there, right?
R*: No comment.
10. What is your favourite part of the new game that hasn’t been included in previous Grand Theft Auto games?
R*: There are so many new things in San Andreas it’s actually impossible to pick just one thing. We love the enormous size of San Andreas- it’s an entire state with vastly different regions and landscapes! The customisation aspect of the game is pretty incredible; it’s not only about what the player wants to do, but also depends on how the player plays the game. Eat too much junk food and the character will get fat, exercise at the gym and the character will lose weight and begin to develop muscles. The player can go into barbershops and tattoo parlours and choose from a large variety of haircuts and tattoos. Customizing your car is another superb addition. There’s a ridiculous variety of vehicles now, far too many to list here. The 4-person drive-by’s are new in the Grand Theft Auto world and give you a tremendous buzz when you see them in action. And what many people will be happy about is that the main character can now swim! But all these abstract features give you very little feel for the size, scope and depth of the game. It is both familiar and daunting. People will have to wait until the game comes out and discover for themselves what their favorite parts of San Andreas will be. We can almost guarantee that everyone’s favourite thing will be different; people’s relationships with Grand Theft Auto seem to be so different.
11.What’s the future of the Grand Theft Auto series? A whole country?
R*: Right now we can’t really think past October 29th!
Ik heb nog geen tijd gehad om dit te vertalen en ik weet ook niet waar dit origineel vandaan komt.
comment_38188Ik vond op een ander forum dit interview met R*, is wel leuk om te lezen:
As urban culture continues to take over, more and more video games are using hip hop, quite often in a fairly uninspired way, to give them the edge. Nothing new there. But the latest instalment of the legendary Grand Theft Auto series promises to immerse the player in 90s West Coast culture, with everything from g-funk to gang bangin’ to the ravescene getting immortalised in the state of San Andreas. We spoke to the people at Rockstar Games about this landmark in gaming and hip hop history…
Ok, let me break it down for those of you who don’t know. On the surface, the concept behind the Grand Theft Auto games is pretty simple. You work your way through the criminal underbelly of a city, jacking cars and committing all kinds of felonies as you make your way to the top. But since it’s debut in 1996, the game has evolved into something far more complex. The thing about the series is, you don’t actually have to play the game at all, and being able to roam the huge GTA environments doing whatever you want is a big part of why GTA has become so popular. When GTA hit PlayStation 2, it went 3D, and suddenly everyone took notice. Then when Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released in 2002, which parodied 1980s Miami, the world went nuts, style mags described it as “art” and it went on to sell some 20 million copies around the world. So when RWD heard San Andreas was going to be based around hip hop culture in 90s California, we had to find out more. We got an exclusive sneak preview of what could well be the biggest selling video game of all time, and were amazed by what we saw. Where previous games have been based around a single city, San Andreas is an entire state, with three huge sprawling cities, twelve towns, a half a mile high mountain, desert, forests and thousands of characters, vehicles and objects to interact with any way you want in between.
We spoke to the people behind San Andreas at Rockstar games about exactly what went in to putting this together…
1. RWD: A lot of people are expecting this to be the best computer game ever created. You guys feel like you’re under pressure?
R*: Of course. We don’t want to disappoint anyone who bought and loved Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City; we know their expectations are high, ours are too! Our goal is to make something we want to play. We are always trying to better our previous efforts and set our standards higher and ultimately we are the ones that put the most pressure on ourselves by trying to make the best game we possibly can. We are definitely our own worst critics. But right now we are pretty confident Rockstar North have delivered something that should exceed peoples expectations by a long way.
2. RWD: Why did you choose 90’s hip hop culture in particular as a backdrop for San Andreas?
R*: It’s more Southern California in the early 90s that forms the background for the game. Hip hop culture is a huge aspect of San Andreas that people seem to have focussed on, but it is that one aspect. The West Coast of the States is an incredibly diverse part of the world, which is one of the reasons we chose to set the game there. The people, the architecture, the natural environment are all extremely varied. We chose the 90s because at this time the west coast was really vibrant, so much was going on there and so many things were coming out of there that have since had a major influence on popular culture. Hip hop is of course a significant part of that but even the music in the game isn’t only hip hop, you’ll find the full spectrum of everything you would expect to hear scanning the dial of your car stereo in 90s California.
3. Which films/songs in particular do you feel inspired you to create San Andreas? How did you decide that this theme was the right way to go with Grand Theft Auto?
R*: Films like Boyz n’ the Hood and Menace II Society are obviously easy to pick out, but there are so many 90s movies and TV shows, as well as fashion, music and popular culture that make up our vision of the 90s. Where our influences in Vice City were easy to crystallize the themes are broader here and the cultural sweep is wider.
We have always been about taking risks and bet heavily on gameplay experience that respects the cultural maturity of the gaming audience. We’ve always felt our games should make bold cultural statements in the way they present themselves to the player. We took a big risk moving the series back from the present day in Grand Theft Auto 3 to the mid 80s for Vice City. We had no frame of reference for how people would receive it – I guess we are traveling a similar path here. We simply felt that the location and time period would provide a superb backdrop for the gameplay and narrative and we feel very proud for how the game has turned out.
4. Music has always been a massive part of the Grand Theft Auto series. What can you tell us about the latest game in terms of stations/songs? What kind of artists can we expect to hear on the various radio stations?
R*: They’ll find an incredible range of tracks that that really represent and evoke the early 90s –not just 90s hip hop classics but a huge series of amazing records across the musical spectrum. We can’t comment on the details at this time. We try really hard to keep them a secret until the game comes out, so that players get to experience them in game first.
5. You have always made a point of using people in Grand Theft Auto on merit rather than celebrity status to do the voiceovers, but some well known actors have appeared in past titles. Will we see any people from the world of hip hop in the game?
R*: We like to pick the best voices for the role, regardless of how famous they are. We also like the conceptual angle of playing with a fresh voice. That’s why we chose Young Maylay, an up and coming rapper from the West Coast, to play the role of CJ, the game’s protagonist. As to the rest of the cast, we certainly have stayed true to our philosophy, but I think the cast will definitely raise a few eyebrows!
6. We know a massive amount of research goes into each Grand Theft Auto game. How did you make sure you got the highly complex world of gang culture absolutely right?
R*: It was a fundamental decision to work with people who have experience in that world. We take expertise and getting things right seriously and we wanted to ensure we portrayed the time and place accurately. To do that we had help from various experts from the era- like DJ Pooh, who is incredibly talented in music production, DJing, video production, script writing. We also have a very good research department in New York and Scotland working obsessively on the details; huge amounts of research into the 1990’s culture was done to make sure everything fit properly and we captured the time period. Getting this stuff right is vital the game; we wanted to reflect the period accurately whilst staying true to the principles of the Grand Theft Auto universe and gaming experience. We work ridiculously hard to ensure this balance is right.
7. We hear there is a mountain half a mile high. And BMXs. Will we be able to go down the mountain on a BMX?!?
R*: Of course! That’s the basic core of Grand Theft Auto: open ended gameplay where the player is free to go where they want and do what they want. But to be honest the mountain bike is probably a better choice for this.
9. San Andreas is HUGE. You must have hidden one member of the Vercetti family somewhere in there, right?
R*: No comment.
10. What is your favourite part of the new game that hasn’t been included in previous Grand Theft Auto games?
R*: There are so many new things in San Andreas it’s actually impossible to pick just one thing. We love the enormous size of San Andreas- it’s an entire state with vastly different regions and landscapes! The customisation aspect of the game is pretty incredible; it’s not only about what the player wants to do, but also depends on how the player plays the game. Eat too much junk food and the character will get fat, exercise at the gym and the character will lose weight and begin to develop muscles. The player can go into barbershops and tattoo parlours and choose from a large variety of haircuts and tattoos. Customizing your car is another superb addition. There’s a ridiculous variety of vehicles now, far too many to list here. The 4-person drive-by’s are new in the Grand Theft Auto world and give you a tremendous buzz when you see them in action. And what many people will be happy about is that the main character can now swim! But all these abstract features give you very little feel for the size, scope and depth of the game. It is both familiar and daunting. People will have to wait until the game comes out and discover for themselves what their favorite parts of San Andreas will be. We can almost guarantee that everyone’s favourite thing will be different; people’s relationships with Grand Theft Auto seem to be so different.
11.What’s the future of the Grand Theft Auto series? A whole country?
R*: Right now we can’t really think past October 29th!
Ik heb nog geen tijd gehad om dit te vertalen en ik weet ook niet waar dit origineel vandaan komt.
Origineel bericht: klik hier
Bewerkt: door BIG_AJ