Great Interview with Sam Houser – The Creator of the GTA Franchise

There is not much known about the President of Rockstar Games and creator of the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, Sam Houser. Luckily enough, Playboy’s Harold Goldberg scored an interview with him.

The full interview with Sam Houser can be found here. Here’s some quotation that should get you interested:

Of course, there is more to Houser than that, just as there is more to Grand Theft Auto than stealing cars. Much more, in fact. Behind the high-speed chases, shoot-outs and plot twists, Rockstar’s games are a virtual stylebook curated by Houser and his brother, Dan, Rockstar’s head writer and vice president of creative. Sly references to the coolest music, art and films pop up everywhere, from radio stations loaded with Rick Ross and Aphex Twin to art pieces that appear in the background, pulled directly from New York City galleries. These references are decoded by fans the way a Basquiat mention by Jay Z is googled by hip-hop kids or a dusty rock-and-roll song is resurrected after appearing in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

All this percolates through a world of brutal violence and black humor set in the grittiest of crime films and mashed up into a fictional New York or Los Angeles urban environment. Hollywood producers would die to make a film of the series. Houser and Rockstar have always said no. Houser says no to a lot of things: to being photographed, to participating in the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo game convention that takes place every summer in Los Angeles (“It’s like a big, sort of willy-waving exercise”) and to interviews. “More so than ever before, in a world where people are just out to be famous for being famous and want to be interviewed for being interviewed, it seems like a funny practice,” he says, shaking his head.

If you are not aware, Rockstar just released Grand Theft Auto Five a few weeks ago and it has been rated the best video game ever made, quite a few times. Check out the official trailer below. The game is currently out for PS3 and XBox 360 but rumour mills say, a PC version is around the corner. No news about a Mac port unfortunately…

Tagged as: , ,
No comments yet.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.