Interview with Dan Houser

For an almost retro style of gameplay, Grand Theft Auto caught the public's imagination back in 1997, on a wave of controversial PR. This time though, visuals have been brought to the forefront - but the cheeky, contentious content is still very much in evidence as the player's anti hero gets out of his car, to deal mayhem on the streets.

GAME caught up with Dan Houser, Creative Director of Rockstar Games, via the magical gift of online chat. Dan reclined back in (what we imagine to be) his black leather chair, put his feet on his crime lord's desk and lit a cigar. Or, alternatively hunched over a PC with last night's pizza and tapped away furiously whilst the US release deadline loomed.

'Grand Theft Auto III is meant to be like a gangster film - jokey but based on real life up to a point - not realism, but a real world fantasy,' began Dan. 'It's a gangster story not based on any real life place, experiences, or people, but drawing on influences for stories, characters and movies. It's a hybrid of lots of influences... Something like a Tarantino movie.'

So does that mean we get 'F' this, 'F' that, ride me sideways? 'Swearing is toned down from what you would get in a film with a similar rating,' the producer admits. 'Violence is toned down in some ways too, but it was more about everything fitting in the game world. The game is aimed and marketed at a mature audience and we think games can be marketed and sold to a mature audience - they have to be if the industry is to develop financially or creatively.'

The game's been in development for two years it seems - though Dan is understandably too tired and emotional in the final stages to put down a definite date. 'It's hard to say exactly as the early stages of a game's development are a bit confusing,' explains Dan. 'It's not easy to say whether it is in production or pre production, but it's been full on with a big team for 20 months or more.'

'The good thing is, reading the original design document, nothing got lost and tons of new things got added. So it's been a good development process for us and the boys in Scotland.'

So are things getting close to the wire in the last minutes?

'Time is always a limit as we believe in shipping games, but this game has had a long development term and a massive team dedicated to it, along with the best people we could find,' glowed Houser. 'Hardware is always a limiting factor but the PS2 is pretty powerful. That said we are pushing it harder and nastier than most. Luckily, we've had to make a lot fewer compromises for time, money or hardware than ever before.'

'The guys here and in Scotland are the biggest fan of the game of all. This game is made by people who really wanted to make it, so you get a love and dedication you might miss in more generic products and the scene feeds off that energy.'

So, for our BarrysWorld and PC padres, will the crime and havoc be heading onto your hard drive any time soon?

'Information about the PC version doesn't exist yet because we haven't begun thinking about it,' discloses Houser. 'But bear in mind the extra time is going to be used to everyone's satisfaction, but more than that I cannot say.'

'As for PC multiplayer, there's no comment possible at this point. Sorry - I know you all want this, but we have no plans finalised yet. The PlayStation2 has no multiplayer - it is a single player game.'

So - how are people going to react to the game? (And it this point it's fairest to note that Dan, based in New York, was questioned before the events of September 11th).

'Reaction to the game will be divided between those who think the game is an outrage (those who haven't played it) and those who marvel at how progressive it is,' responds Dan. 'Of course, fans of the original will just enjoy Grand Theft Auto gameplay taken to the next level because the game has its soul in the old games. It takes the same ideas but develops them a lot further.'

'We want to avoid controversy and focus on quality as we feel the game is better than a shock story in a tabloid. Controversial campaigns never helped sales anyway.'

'As for some countries banning it, I'm not sure - I don't deal with that sort of stuff directly, but I think we'll look at various options such as gore and non-gore. But at the moment, we're focussing on making the game for UK and US markets.'

So how was it working on the PlayStation2? - we ask, a question that's become something of an old trooper, always evoking a strong response. Clearly the machine is a love it or loathe it. Dan clearly loves it, and is bullish about those who would criticise the console.

'I've been asked whether it's hard to develop for the PlayStation2 before,' admits Dan, ruefully. 'Now, developers always look for excuses but in DMA we are working with the very best - guys who don't look for excuses but deal with the platform.'

'The greater graphics opportunities afforded us by PS2 means we have really enjoyed working on it with a variety of developers. However, mediocre developers are really shown up. Luckily DMA aren't mediocre!'

So what kind of vehicles are you going to be able to drive into havoc?

'You'll be able take control of boats, tanks, ambulances, taxis, buses, ice cream vans,' and you needn't lose your favourite one, it appears. 'You take them back to a lock up - they'll get cleaned up, but you can only store one. You can also use a flamethrower to set people on fire and blow up vehicles!'

So how may levels of the game do you have to beat? None - it appears. It's all one large place:

'The game has no levels just a city, divided into three parts and lots of missions. The art director at DMA took about a million photos of cities and watched lots of films, then him and the team used these to design a city which felt realistic but had lots of great area, variety and diversity. The city is built around three separate bits so you can keep people on one bit at the start of the game.'

'There's a train in the game - you can't take control of it - it's really just a way of getting moved about the map, but you can cause trouble at the stations!'

And, of course, it's no good flying around the mean streets without a mean set of tracks to listen to. Fortunately for gamers, you can tune into some fantastic radio stations.

'There's nine radio stations with a lot of songs - it's the best soundtrack I've ever heard on a game,' enthuses Houser. 'The music is comprised of real life and made up artists - we'll release full info soon.'

So how does the game kick off?

'You start off in prison - the game has a very brief backstory, which is revealed in the opening cutscene.. Then you and a character called 8-ball have to make a run for it and the action begins. The main character has no name, or rather - he's got your name. The main character is meant to be you in your own gangster film. So no lengthy backstory and no name.'

It all sounds great - but a lot of folk have wondered about some odd, blurry looking screens. What's all that about?

'They have motion blur effect on them - it's to do with explosions going on nearby. It makes the shots look funny, but not the game when it is running - it looks very cool.'

Previews of the game praise its level of detail, and one excited chap has even compared the city's level of detail to the ground breaking (but less exciting) Shenmue.

'I don't know about Shenmue - we don't like to talk about other people's products,' counters Dan. 'But this game is a huge city, completely open plan with incredible detail for playing an action game in.'

'And before you ask - as for a sequel, we're not sure about future GTA products,' Dan concludes - taking our last question right out of our mouths. 'We always focus on making one game at a time rather than seeing it as some big cash cow for a corporation. It's about making games we like to play.'

'I hope you all enjoy the game - if you like the originals, you will definitely enjoy this one, I guarantee it.'