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Microsoft turned down GTA III News
Xbox Xbox 360 News by Tom Bramwell
Microsoft could have had Grand Theft Auto III on Xbox first if a third-party publishing initiative called "The Star Chamber" hadn't turned down a Rockstar proposal, author Dean Takahashi claims in his new book, The Xbox 360 Uncloaked.
In an extract published on 1UP, Takahashi reports that under J Allard's direction, The Star Chamber - a group of game managers organised to evaluate game proposals sent to Microsoft - turned down a GTA III proposal, returning it with suggestions to "beef up" the game.
Rockstar went on to create the game exclusively for PlayStation 2, and it didn't appear on Xbox until much later - by which time the GTA brand was firmly associated with PS2. Further instalments launched first on the Sony format.
Takahashi said: "It wasn't Microsoft's kind of game, since it was a gritty crime game with foul language, abusive treatment of women, and cop killing. Microsoft had a corporate image to maintain and, like Electronic Arts, it avoided that category."
That's all in the past though - and Microsoft believes that the fact it'll have Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 on the same day it launches on PlayStation 3 could be a significant factor in the next-gen console war - as Peter Moore said on this site last week.
"When we do our research and ask PS2 owners why they're going to buy a PS3, they say it's because it's the only place they'll get Grand Theft Auto," he told us.
"So when you talk about neutralising that, that's very important to us. Then we say to gamers - and this flooded my inbox during the night - the only place you can play Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV is on an Xbox 360, and they've seen Gears of War and it blows the doors down for them."
Microsoft has yet to say anything about Takahashi's comments on GTA III and Xbox.
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Comments: 1-36 of 36 in total
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JediMasterMalik
15/05/06 @ 12:51
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After making such a big mistake they don't deserver to have GTA games FULL STOP. ;)
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PearOfAnguish
15/05/06 @ 12:56
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And that, folks, is what happens when you let the cretins from marketing make your decisions for you.
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kangarootoo
15/05/06 @ 13:02
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"Christ..making games lists like that is a sign of blatant insecurity"
Or advertising. @PearOfAnguish "And that, folks, is what happens when you let the cretins from marketing make your decisions for you" And who would you put in charge of marketing if not the marketeers? Us? With our "I know best because I know what I like and my mates like it to" stat munching abilities? Everyone makes mistakes and its easy to pick on the mistakes of others when you never have to provide the goods yourself. "Armchair Critic" is the accepted term I believe. Christ, I sounded very parental there for a moment. I'm not in marketing and I don't really know anyone who is. But lets face it, if we the EG readers were in charge of marketing at any of the 3 big console hitters they were be lucky to last 3 years. |
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kangarootoo
15/05/06 @ 13:04
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"you should be asking yourself when you make a product what would I want"
I'm kind of repeating myself here, but if you ask yourself what you want you are pitching to a pretty tiny market surely? Asking shitloads of people what they want is likely to be safer bet, and believe it or not that is exactly what marketing companies do. |
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PearOfAnguish
15/05/06 @ 13:09
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I don't really know anyone who is
Well I do. They're often largely clueless, simply going for any job with the words marketing in the description without any particular knowledge of the subject. That may work in some areas but it's not going to turn out well with something like games (or movies, for that matter, to give another example). Chances are this was a group composed of people who knew little to nothing about games (it's Microsoft, remember, they've been doing operating systems up until then) formed after a suggestion from someone desperate to keep their job. |
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asphaltcowboy
15/05/06 @ 13:31
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Yeah, what has happened to J? Not heard anything from him this E3...?
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JediMasterMalik
15/05/06 @ 13:51
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Im atcully a vury gud spellur!
No I actually couldn't be bothered editing my post for a single letter. |
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JediMasterMalik
15/05/06 @ 14:16
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"J Allard is found"
LMAO
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/06 @ 15:16
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Didn't Nintendo actually buy part of DMA Design (the original creators of GTA) back in the SNES days?
I remember them publishing UNIRACER in the SNES and Harvest Body on the N64. I also seem to remember that GTA was originally to be publishes by Ninitendo, but they turned it down also due to the violence. |
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SuperGamerMatt
15/05/06 @ 14:32
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They made the right decision there and then. I didn't think these gangsta games would catch on to the public, what with so much violence and bad language. I thought that shops wouldn't stock them and governments would ban them. How wrong I was........
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PearOfAnguish
15/05/06 @ 14:38
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Face facts... if someone had put the design documents in front of you for GTA3 just after the PS2 had launched in Japan, none of you would have signed it... neither would I...
Indeed, the decision makes sense. From a marketing point of view. Why waste time with a controversial game from a small studio in a less popular or unproven genre? I can see why those particular people turned it down. They were going for the Halo's of this world - FPS's were known to sell. But what if this committee had been a bunch of gamers looking at new concepts? It's more likely they'd have found its open-ended gameplay appealing.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/06 @ 15:38
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Mho7276501
15/05/06 @ 15:37
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isnt there a film called The Star Chamber where a select few judges dish out vigilante style punishment on paroled criminals?? It had Micheal Douglas in it...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 15/05/06 @ 16:37
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The Bodybuilder
15/05/06 @ 17:14
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>"Microsoft doesn't know quality when it kicks them in the testicles"
They knew about malice, and sneakers, and tao feng, and that other action-rpg that no one remembers. |
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stuarty_2003
15/05/06 @ 17:43
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In retrospect, turning down GTA3 was a bad business decision. But what company hasn't made a bad business decision?
For example, Sony's Playstation X was a bad business decision. The official N64 Disk Drive attachment was a commercial failure, and thus a bad business decision. And so forth.... |
Comments: 1-36 of 36 in total
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