Popularity varies not only in show business, but also in the world of computer games. Civilization forever went down in history thanks to its smart gameplay. DOOM everyone remembers it as the first online and first three-dimensional game (although this is not entirely true). The Sims and its numerous add-ons grabbed the palm in terms of the number of copies sold. And the most scandalous popularity in the history of the industry was, of course, won by Grand Theft Auto . Moreover, unlike the mentioned “champions” GTA It did not become famous and popular right away. Before getting into the gaming charts, appearing on the pages of newspapers, causing lawsuits and falling under a barrage of puritanical criticism, she had to go through a not very long, but very interesting path. The path from an ugly two-dimensional “duckling” to a seasoned black “swan”.

20 million lemmings can't be wrong

“Preparation” for the greatest game car theft began in the Scottish town of Dundee back in the early 80s. Despite the fact that the history of the PC at that time was only a couple of years old, and Dundee itself was not at all considered the center of civilization, there was a computer club even in this small town. This place was called KACC (Kingsway Amateur Computer Club), and it was located on the territory of the local technical college Kingsway ( Kingsway Technical College).

Its regulars were not only college students, but also quite adult men, such as, for example, Dave Jones- company employee Timex, which supplied components for Sinclair Research Ltd. Boys also often visited KACC, including a fourteen-year-old Mike Daly. Despite the age difference, Dave and Mike shared one passion - computer games. Moreover, both of them were more interested not in games as such, but in their development. Two more regular visitors to the club were interested in the same thing - Russell Kay And Steve Hammond. All of this “magnificent four” met each other at the KACC club, and by 1984 they had become bosom friends.

Fun fact: Ebertay University ( University of Abertay Dundee) located in their hometown, one of the world's first game programming courses was opened at the time. Jones, who went straight out of high school to work at Timex without ever receiving a college degree, decided to take advantage of this chance. After some consideration, he quit his job and enrolled in Ebertay for the above-mentioned courses. The preparation was not in vain: even before completing his studies, Dave began developing his first projects. His first gaming experiments early 80s - arcade Moonshadow and a couple more similar games For Commodore 64 And Amstrad- they weren’t anything remarkable. However, they allowed me to earn good money and gain the most valuable thing - experience.

At the same time, Mike Daly also took his first steps in game development, but his achievements were even more modest - the game Freek Out, a black and white clone of the famous Arkanoid.

Finally, Jones decided that it was time to move on from artisanal experiments to serious business. And so in 1987 he opened a company called DMA Design(with the money he earned from selling his first projects), whose original lineup includes Kaye and Hammond. A little later Mike joins them. The abbreviation DMA originally stood for Direct Mind Access(“Direct access to the brain”), thus playing on a well-known technical term Direct Memory Access. However, a few years later, DMA Design employees began to decipher the name of their company in an even funnier way - as Doesn't Mean Anything(“It doesn’t mean anything at all”).

The first DMA games were games Menace And Blood Money - classic side-scrollers space theme. Gamers appreciated the graphical appeal of these simple shooters, but quite rightly criticized them for their brutal complexity.

The first fame came to DMA already in 1990, with the release of the game Lemmings. The original strategic gameplay with interesting puzzles and a healthy sense of humor did not leave players indifferent, and in the first year the game sold more than 60,000 copies in the version for Commodore 64. You can read more about “Lemmings” in the previous issue “ Gambling addiction” in the section Game Over?, let's just say that with all the sequels and re-releases, this game sold a total of more than 20 million copies. We can rightfully say that until the mid-90s, DMA earned its main money (and name!) on “Lemmings”.

Key to start!

At the end of 1994, at the suggestion of Dave Jones, DMA Design began work on a new project - Grand Theft Auto, or, in short, GTA. It was developed for two platforms at once (PC and PlayStation ) almost three years. And in November 1997, the game went gold. On this day one of the most important revolutions in history took place. gaming industry. True, no one has noticed this yet, including the “revolutionaries” themselves. What was the very first GTA?

Launch a fresh one GTA: San Andreas , switch the camera to “top view” mode. Now remove a good half of the features from the game, lower the resolution to 640x480, and replace the 3D graphics with a typical mid-90s sprite engine. This is the original GTA.

Nominally, GTA was considered an ordinary arcade game, but in fact it had many different elements mixed in: 2D racing, action, quests and even (unprecedented for an arcade!) a non-linear campaign. For the most accurate description of the newborn genre, the term “banditry simulator” would be suitable. But this definition is lame on both legs, because the reckless arcade nature of what is happening was preserved even in the latest versions of the game, not to mention the first part.

The main highlight of GTA from its very first part was freedom, and most of it was in the first part of the game. There wasn't even a plot, just a series of loosely connected missions that could be completed in almost any order. Moreover, you could not care about tasks at all and earn money in any convenient way. And in the first GTA they gave out money for everything. Stole a car? Get a cash bonus. Sold your car? Get even more. Run over a pedestrian? Keep your pocket wider - literally. Two pedestrians at once?! Open even wider!

After a certain amount was accumulated as a result of paid lawlessness, access to a new city was opened. By the way, do you know what the cities were called in the first GTA? Liberty City, San Andreas And Vice City .

Unfortunately, the graphics in GTA were far from perfect even by 1997 standards. The only significant achievement of the engine was the ability to change the scale depending on the speed of movement, which made it possible to expand the field of view at high speeds (by the way, the mini-map works on exactly the same principle in GTA III and later versions). There were obvious problems with the visualization of everything else: flying bullets were displayed as tiny piles of pixels (just like in prehistoric shooters), crushed pedestrians most resembled cockroaches squashed with a slipper, and the animation was simply terrible. The sound was also not impressive: the effects were done to a C level, there was no speech at all - it was replaced by meaningless muttering in one of the dialects of Sims gibberish. The only good thing was the soundtrack, which included more than an hour of music from the most popular styles of those times: techno, funk, hip-hop, industrial, country and heavy.

But despite its technical backwardness, GTA was fascinating. It was a game from the “love at first sight” series - either you didn’t like it at all, or you liked it right away, and then you could forgive all its shortcomings. And simple graphics, and lack of voice acting, and high complexity, and inconvenient navigation in a huge virtual world, and much more.

Gaming publications greeted GTA quite predictably - with coolness. During the times of total craze for 3D graphics, it was customary to greet games by their clothes, or more precisely, by their engine. However, the “loss” of GTA was also “not counted”, noting its original gameplay, black humor and perfectly seasoned style. At the same time, a stable community of fans began to form around the game, without which not a single worthwhile project could do. And no one doubted that GTA was a successful project, and therefore worthy of continuation.

While some of the DMA Design employees were busy finishing the PlayStation version, the rest began developing the first add-on - GTA: London 1969 - and a sequel Grand Theft Auto II.

At the same time, another significant event occurred. The publisher of the first GTA was bought by one of the industry giants - Take2 Interactive. And the rights to GTA, accordingly, passed to her. Take2 did not intend to stop there and openly expressed interest in purchasing DMA Design itself. Dave Jones, who never understood what kind of diamond he found in a pile of... uh... lemmings, decided that it would be a sin not to take advantage of such a tempting offer, and in 1999 he sold the company. DMA became the property of Take2 and was included in the studio Rockstar Games.

If Jones had been able to appreciate the genius of the gameplay he himself invented, he would now be a millionaire. But Dave backed the wrong horse when he founded a new company in 2002 Real Time Worlds, which released only one mediocre shooter Mobile Forces. Meanwhile, the gaming locomotive called GTA was picking up speed.

Three huge virtual cities.

Countless roads, highways, boulevards and streets with a total length of almost 10,000 kilometers.

Hospitals, banks, strip clubs, military bases, police stations, ports.

There are 20 types of cars in each city, all with their own unique behavior and speed.

Availability of city services: police, firefighters, doctors and public transport.

Different levels of police aggressiveness depending on the player’s actions - from complete ignorance to a hunt for complete destruction.

Supports up to four players when playing over a network or modem.

More than an hour of music in the styles of techno, dance, funk, hip-hop, industrial, heavy metal and country.

Over 200 different missions, including car thefts, drug smuggling, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, contract killings and robberies.

Bloody things!

Weapons: pistol, machine gun, grenade launcher, flamethrower.

Game bonuses: armor, extra lives, bribe to the police, “excuse” from prison, “multiplier” (all money received is multiplied by a coefficient), accelerator (running, driving and shooting become faster).

GTA: London 1969

The whole virtual London, including the Tower, Big Ben and other architectural landmarks.

More than 20 new cars in the style of the 70s.

New soundtrack, also in the style of the 70s.

New missions, even more diverse, even more difficult.

Bloody things! Bigger and more realistic!

There is a small break between the first and second

The first add-on for GTA appeared just a year after its release original game. The innovations in London 1969 could be counted on the fingers of one hand: a new virtual city (almost an exact copy of London), 20 new cars, crushed pedestrians lying in pools of blood began to look a little more believable, the soundtrack was completely updated. Everything else hasn't changed one iota.

In 1999, GTA III was released - already with the Rockstar logo on the cover. However, in the sequel, the dosage of innovations was more than modest: the graphics were a little prettier, the sound effects were improved, and new things appeared again. musical accompaniment. In GTA II there were no longer three cities, but one huge metropolis of three parts with a unique set of cars in each area. There were a total of 40 cars in the game's fleet.

Unlike the first part, GTA II was received much more hostilely by both the press and players. The effect of novelty was no longer there, and the main shortcomings of the series - inconvenient navigation and lagging video sequences - were never eliminated. Carried away by the criticism, almost everyone overlooked another interesting innovation of GTA II - the presence of six different and often warring crime clans, each of which the player could join at will.

After the second part, it became finally clear that the ingenious concept was simply too tight within the existing technological framework. The free-spirited gameplay needed another degree of freedom - visual. And Rockstar began developing a new, fully three-dimensional Grand Theft Auto III. Its release was planned for 2001...

To be continued...

Games... we launch some to distract ourselves for the evening, and others for a couple of minutes. Games are a part of our life, another way to brighten up gray everyday life. However, there is a game, by launching which you become part of her life. You are a friend of its main characters, you are a plot building tool. Here you are not the center of attention, but only a part game world. Alive and real... sometimes even more real than this. GTA- a game that plays people...

Grand Theft Auto did not immediately become so popular. Before turning the world of interactive entertainment upside down, GTA had a relatively short, but not at all easy, path. Having changed several generations of video cards, processors and hard drives, the game has transformed from a two-dimensional square world into something stunningly beautiful.

Scottish town of Dundee, early 80s, computer club "KACC" - this is where we hung out Dave Jones, 14 years old Mike Daly, Russell Kay And Steve Hammond. Over the course of several years, the guys became bosom friends, united by a love of games, or more precisely, their development. The city was also home to Ebertay University, which offered some of the world's first courses in game programming. Jones, without hesitation, quit his job and enrolled in these courses. Everything that is not done is for the better! And even before finishing the course, he began to develop his first projects, the money from the sale of which would later become a very important factor in the creation of the legendary GTA.

In 1987, Jones decided it was time to start something serious and opened a company called "DMA Design" with the money mentioned above. Russell Kaye and Steve Hammond were also part of the original line-up, followed a little later by Mike Daly. A cool fact is the decoding of the name "DMA", which at first sounded like "Direct Access to the Brain", and then even cooler - "Doesn't Mean Anything" ("Doesn't mean anything at all"). The company first became famous with the release in 1990 year of "Lemmings", which with a total circulation of 20 million copies built the name and money of DMA brick by brick. However, this would not last forever and over time DMA would have disintegrated if not for the muse that visited the company in 1994.

Already at the end of this year, work on Grand Theft Auto is in full swing at the DMA. For almost three long years, the company was preparing a revolution that they themselves did not even suspect. Three years before the new millennium, in November 1997 GTA comes out on PC and PlayStation. Looking from a bird's eye view at the fist-sized pixels and pseudo-3D, you don't immediately understand why the game captivates you so much. It is believed that the fewer tools an artist has and the narrower the scope of his capabilities, the more realistic and accurate he will convey his feelings in his work. This is exactly what happened with GTA: the hands of the developers, shackled by the technology of the time, created freedom... For the first time in the game you could do absolutely whatever you wanted. At the same time, the plot was generally for the fad: it consisted of poorly connected tasks that you could simply not care about and go destroy and steal everything. The chaos on the streets of the game was also paid for with in-game money, which provided access to new cities. These cities, by the way, were called Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas =)

GTA is love at first sight: you either don’t like it at all, or strongly and forever. For the originality of the game, you can forgive the outdated look and a bunch of other shortcomings, which the magazines did not do. The game didn’t make a splash in the gaming press, but it wasn’t completely devastated either. At the same time, like every successful project, GTA began to form a community of fans who did not even doubt that there would be a sequel. And it was. While some of the employees were busy finishing the PlayStation version of the game, DMA Design had already begun development GTA: London 1969(the first expansion) and a sequel called GTA 2.

This is where things begin to change: bad for DMA and hopefully good for GTA (it's not clear how things would have progressed if DMA had continued to work on the rest of the game). The publisher of the first part of the game was bought by Take2 Interactive, which acquired the rights to GTA. However, this was not enough for Take2 and they openly stated that they would like to master DMA Design itself. Dave Jones at that time had not yet realized what happiness he had in his hands (I'm talking about GTA:), so he considered the offer profitable. So in 1999, DMA became part of the Rockstar Games studio.

There is not much to say about the add-on, as well as about the second part of GTA. GTA: London 1969 - a new city that was a very good copy of London, a new soundtrack, 20 new cars and slightly more believable pedestrians. This is where the differences probably end. GTA 2 with the Rockstar logo on the cover, it hit store shelves in 1999. But there was nothing particularly new here either. The graphics have improved slightly, the sound has also improved and has a new soundtrack. There was no division into cities - one huge metropolis with unique cars in each district (there were 40 types of cars in total). It was in GTA 2 that clans (6 in number) appeared, which one could join and quarrel with other clans, but this innovation went unnoticed due to heavy criticism from both the press and players. It became obvious that such a free-spirited game was being stifled by graphics and technology. Therefore, the Rockstar team began work on new game, planned for 2001, when the world will tremble from the three-dimensional GTA 3...

Let's start from the beginning there was no Rockstar Games, and it didn’t even smell like GTA. Under the leadership of David Jones, originally from Scotland, the DMA studio was created, in 1988, having signed a contract with the British publisher Psygnosis, DMA released its first games, Menace and Blood Money, no one could have thought that space shooters could interest not only players but also critics. DMA later ported its games to the Commodore 64, DOS and Atari ST.

DMA's real breakthrough in the gaming industry came in 1990 with the release of the game Lemmings ( logic game). Lemmings has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and been ported to 20 different systems.

While DMA became famous for their games throughout the world, they became interested in the Nintendo team, who offered to help them develop the Nintendo 64 along with other famous developers Rare, Paradigm, Midway Games and LucasArts.

And finally, in 1997, the first part was released Grand games Theft Auto, which opens our article about GTA stories. It was similar in mechanics to the game Body Harvest, which was released earlier by the developers. The game was released only on two platforms, PC and PlayStation. In the game, the user was given the role of a bandit who worked for various gangster groups. Naturally, there were a lot of disputes and disagreements after the release, “too much violence,” but thanks to these disputes and outrages, DMA was provided with PR and advertising for the young company that was so lacking. DMA released the most successful game since Leming. Freedom of action! This is what amazed the audience in this game, because nothing like this had ever happened in the gaming industry; of course, the DMA company became famous for this particular game.

After successful exit Grand Theft Auto, DMA became interested in the British publication Gremlin Interactive, GI successfully negotiated with DMA, and bought the company, after which Jones became creative director of both companies. In 1999 Gremlin Interactive closed its doors and was sold for $40 million and renamed Infogrames Sheffield House to the French international holding company Infogrames. Afterwards the company renamed itself Rockstar Games. And then, Infogrames sold the DMA to publisher Take-Two. In the same year, Rockstar Games released GTA 2 for PC, PlayStation and Dreemcast, and after the release of the game, the founder of the former DNA, David Jones, left the company and created a new studio in Dundee (Scotland), one of the branches of Rage Software.

In 2001, a new part of the game was released Grand Theft Auto III, it was not similar to its predecessors, the third part about a car thief was made on the new RenderWare engine, which was developed by everyone, well known in our time like Criterion Games. GTA III was exclusive to the Playstation 2, making the PS 2 the best-selling console in the US and Europe. In 2002, GTA was ported to PEKA, just as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released on PS2 at that time, which used the same engine and gameplay details as Grand Theft Auto III, adding only a few innovations. And also in voice acting for Vice City characters World stars participated:

Ray Liotta and Tommy Vercetti

Tom Sizemore and Sonny Forelli.

William Fitchner and Ken Rosenberg.

Philip Michael Thomas and Lance Vance.

Robert Davi and Colonel Juan Garcia Cortez.

Danny Dyer and Kent Paul.

Danny Trejo and Humberto Robina.

Dennis Hopper and Steve Scott.

Lee Myers and Mitch Baker.

Gary Busey and Phil Cassady.

Faruza Balk and Mercedes Cortez.

Jenna Jameson and Candy Sachs.

GTA Vice City was ported to PEKA in 2002, and was released collector's edition which contained editions of Grand Theft Auto III Grand and Theft Auto Vice City for Xbox. The Xbox port was handled by Rockstar Vienna (a division of Rockstar Games based in Vienna, Austria).

A year later, in October 2004 it comes out Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PS2, the third 3D game in the series, and the fifth in the line of other projects. In 2005, the game was ported to PC and Xbox. Innovations were added to the game that the public really liked, a new vehicle was added, now you could ride a bike around the city, and you could fight enemies not only in the gateways and on the streets, now the battle could be fought in vehicles, in a car plant three more of his people from the group who also opened fire on the enemy.

After a long break from the company, on April 29, 2008, Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto IV, which was released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Six months after its release on the console, the company pleased PC gamers and released a computer GTA version IV, December 2 in America, December 3 in Europe. New part GTA was made on the new Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE for short), the game completely updated its appearance, the mechanics changed, Liberty City, externally copied from New York. Various ending options have also been added. New means of communication have been added to the game: telephone, Internet, police computer, television. Just like Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories (exclusives for PSP and PS2), there is the possibility of multiplayer play. After the release of the original game, it was followed by two DLCs (add-ons), Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned was released on February 17, 2009. The main character was a biker named Johnny Klebitz, a member of the gang The Lost. Second addition The Ballad of Gay Tony was released on October 29, 2009. In this part we have the fate of playing for Luis Lopez. In the first, as in the second addition, a change was made in the form vehicles and ammunition that was not in original GTA IV.

IN DMA history there were several announced but never released projects: ports for the Nintendo 64 of Wild Metal Country and the original GTA; Clan Wars (3D strategy about medieval Scotland); Attack! (platformer about cavemen for N64); and a port of Epic Games' hit shooter Unreal for Nintendo.

Grand Theft Auto

The cult phenomenon "Grand Theft Auto" appeared on the gaming horizon in October 1997. No company other than English DMA Design, I didn’t think of crossing a typical top-down arcade game with a car theft simulator. The player had to conquer three fictional US cities, stealing cars, carrying out orders for mafia bosses, collecting bonuses, escaping from the police and earning a million dollars.

A separate achievement of the game was the magnificent soundtrack, which combined almost all types of modern Western pop music: hip-hop, house, funk, techno, industrial, country, metal and rock. The tunes were mixed in the style of a radio broadcast and “tied” to different types of cars, so when we sat down in some Jugular, we heard peppy techno-trance, and when we plopped down on the seat of a pickup truck, we involuntarily spat at the annoying songs of the village outskirts.

Assignments were given by telephone or pager. Having agreed to complete the mission, the player had to meet a strictly defined time and at the same time try not to become a victim of a stray bullet, an accident, an explosion, or police inspectors. If successful, a generous reward awaited him. In addition, money was credited for every stolen car and every pedestrian killed. A separate mini-game was the entertainment of “killing the Hare Krishnas,” who were wandering around in single file in crowded places, literally begging to be reeled on wheels.

By the way, prototypes of cities GTA became very real places: Liberty City is, of course, New York; San Andreas with its bridge reminiscent of the Golden Gate - San Francisco; finally, Vice City - Miami (fans of the TV series Miami Vice, we believe, do not need to explain where the third city got its name from).

Grand Theft Auto supported group game for four users and 3Dfx Voodoo graphics accelerators, which were new at the time.

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969

Take the original GTA and move it in time and space. London, 1969, parodies of spy films, Tower, Big Ben, cars with the colors of the British flag and music in the spirit of the 70s (yuck!) - that's what fans of the game expected.

Grand Theft Auto 2

A sequel that was a disappointment for many fans of the series. Instead of full 3D, they were treated to a thoroughly tweaked engine from the first part, enriched with colored lighting, modeling of the day-night cycle, and bright explosions. Three cities turned into one, divided into 3 districts - the business district, the “dormitory” outskirts and the industrial zone, each of which had its own gang. The evil corporation Zaibatsu ruled the whole mess (let's do without transliteration, okay?), and among the small fry were Yakuza, Loonies, Russians (at least somewhere they recognized us), Rednecks, SRS and Hare Krishna. We still carried out orders from mafia bosses, but in addition to money, we also earned respect points, which reflected the degree of attitude of a particular group. It is not difficult to guess that, working for some bandits, the player automatically became an object of hatred from their competitors...

Grand Theft Auto 3

Shock, revolution, incredible - these words can describe this game, which was born in 2001. For the first time in the history of the series virtual world became completely three-dimensional, which allowed designers to make it much more alive, open and interactive.

The developers decided not to reinvent the wheel and named the new city the same as the first of the three megacities Grand Theft Auto- Liberty City. Gray monoliths of skyscrapers, everyday industrial districts, wealthy surrounding areas, foggy night highways, streams of water from a leaden sky: the staff of a small Scottish studio managed to perfectly convey the unique atmosphere of New York. Intoxicating freedom of action, a brilliantly twisted plot, magnificent radio stations, the best cars, bloody mafia showdowns, the restless police have exalted Grand Theft Auto 3 to the top of the gaming Olympus, and the mixture of gaming trends itself began to be called nothing more than a “gangster simulator.”

As of October 2004, GTA 3 sold more than 11 million copies in versions for PC, PS2 and Xbox. It still takes pride of place on the shelf of every true action game fan.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

The fourth game in the series GTA was born in the fall of 2002 and instantly gained popularity among fans of the series and attracted the attention of many newcomers. It became clear that Rockstar North(once again renamed from Rockstar Studios) set out to translate each of the cities of the very first game into three dimensions - Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas.

Perhaps the main advantage of the game was the appearance of a Real Hero - in Vice City the protagonist gained a name and the gift of speech, which allowed the writers to more actively involve him in the plot. Tommy Vercetti is no dumb brat; he learned not only to talk, but also to buy real estate, slowly taking over the City of Vice. Less significant but no less useful innovations include the ability to enter buildings, riding a motorcycle, and a wide range of clothing that allows you to evade annoying cops in style.

Despite certain technical flaws and outdated graphics engine, GTA: Vice City fell in love with a huge number of players - 13 million copies sold speak for themselves.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Finally, Rockstar transferred all the cities from the first part to full 3D. However, in the final part of the trilogy, instead of one city, we discovered an entire state consisting of three large metropolises: Los Santos, the prototype of which was Los Angeles, San Fierro and Las Venturas, created on the basis of San Francisco and Las Vegas respectively. Each of them is approximately the size of Vice City, impressive? Of course, but that's not all. We also have vast countryside and desert with a dozen smaller towns. And, most importantly, all this huge space is available without a single loading screen, which is present only when moving inside buildings and back outside.

San Andreas is the place where you can really go wild. San Andreas is a huge volcano, from which a sea of ​​​​various possibilities erupts, which cannot be listed, and what possibilities! Tattoos, hairstyles, upgrading cars, girls, stealth and RPG elements such as food, driving and shooting skills, physical characteristics, relationships with friends. The protagonist finally doesn’t flap his arms or widen his eyes when he gets into the water, but swims and even dives! Main character learned to shoot from two “barrels” at once. A bunch of mini-games appeared, such as basketball, billiards, slot machines and much more. The game has many new sub-missions: thief, train driver, quarry worker and more.

IN GTA: San Andreas We can expect to meet good old heroes from previous games in the series, as well as many different prerequisites for certain events.

In terms of graphics, the third of the three-dimensional games in the series GTA, undoubtedly, prettier. The drawing distance has been increased from two to four times, new methods for processing reflective surfaces have been introduced, and each game model now exists in “day” and “night” versions. In addition, the number of polygons used to create models has been significantly increased.

The number and variety of means of transportation is amazing. San Andreas has about 180 ground vehicles, while Vice City has "only" 120. The aircraft fleet has also been increased compared to GTA: Vice City, now it has more than two dozen types of airplanes and helicopters, and, yes, we will see the legendary DoDo!

The fleet of boats has also been expanded compared to previous parts of the series, and the hated cops finally got motorcycles at their disposal! As for the desert and countryside mentioned above, here we will be allowed to ride such exotic vehicles as an ATV, Bigfoot, tractor or combine harvester.

Musical accompaniment traditional for games in the series GTA, as always, is very diverse and is implemented by eleven radio stations, among which the legendary K-JAH was noticed, as well as the no less legendary Lazlow.

Hello friends, today I will tell you about how the game was created GTA San Andreas, let’s touch on history, and also draw conclusions about what the game has achieved throughout its existence.

Perhaps, let's start with the fact that the game is an Action genre, which was developed at the Rockstar North studio, famous for such games as: “Grand Theft Auto (1997 - 2013)”, “Manhunt”, “Wild Metal”, “Red Dead” Redemption", "Agent", "Tanktics" and many others, numbering dozens.
The first version of the game was released on October 26, 2004 in North America and October 29, 2004 in Europe on game console Play Station 2. For us, habitual users of personal computers, the day of the start of sales of the game on Windows and Xbox platforms in Europe it became June 10, 2005.

In Russia, the company “1C” took over the responsibilities for its localization for “partial” translation, which currently has a leading position in the field of translating games into various languages ​​of the world. I would also like to note that the company has been on the market for quite a long time, its successes and achievements still demonstrate that no other company on the Russian market is capable of such great achievements. However, we will not deviate from the topic and continue the conversation about the history of the creation of the game Grand Theft Auto.

More recently, namely in December 2013, the game became available for mobile versions iOS and Android (this will be discussed in detail in the next article).

The world seemed to come to life as in those days when the game was valued in all its qualities better than those games that came out several years later. There are still people who are devoted to it, namely the players of the “SA:MP” project (more details in the next article).

The game is the sixth in the line of GTA games developed by Rockstar North, which is preceded by such versions as:
Grand Theft Auto (1997)
Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 (1999)
Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
Of course, fans of this genre of games will undoubtedly recognize the “hits” from this list, which were quite popular in their time.

Many people wonder why the well-known cities of San Andreas are called: “San-Fierro”, “Las-Venturas” and “Los-Santos”? The answer is simple! Strange as it may seem, the names were almost copied from such famous cities in America as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas.

We will continue to talk with you about the history of creation GTA games San Andreas in the next chapter, stay with us, watch, download and read the information project - www.site.