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THE INDUSTRY The (often referred to as interactive entertainment) is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sales of video games. It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide. Game industry value chain The game industry value chain is made up of six connected and distinctive layers: 1. Capital and publishing layer: involved in paying for development of new titles and seeking returns through licensing of the titles. 2. Product and talent layer: includes developers, designers and artists, who may be working under individual contracts or as part of in-house development teams. 3. Production and tools layer: generates content production tools, game development middleware, customizable game engines, and production management tools. 4. Distribution layer: or the "publishing" industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail and online distribution. 5. Hardware (or Virtual Machine or Software Platform) layer: or the providers of the underlying platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media, or accessed through mobile devices such as the iPhone. This layer now includes non-hardware platforms such as virtual machines (e.g. Java or Flash), or software platforms such as browsers or even further Facebook, etc. 6. End-users layer: or the users/players of the games.[2] [edit]Disciplines Latest trends in the game industry A fairly recent practice, since the mid-1990s, of the video game industry is the rise of game players as developers of game content. The rise of video game players as fourth-party developers of game content allows for more open source models of game design, development and engineering. Game players create user modifications (mods), which in some cases become just as popular, maybe even more popular, as the original game created. An example of this is the game Counter-strike, which began as a of the video game Half-Life and eventually became a published game in its own right that was very successful. While this "community of modifiers" may only add up to approximately 1% of a particular game's user base, the number of those involved will grow as more games offer modifying opportunities (such as, by releasing source code) and as the international community of gamers rise. According to Ben Sawyer, as many as 600,000 established online game community developers will exist by 2012. This will effectively add a new component to the game industry value chain and if it continues to mature it will integrate itself into the overall industry. <="" aRockstar Rockstar Games From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rockstar Games, Inc.

Type Subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive

Industry Interactive entertainment

Founded 1998[1]

Headquart City, United ers States

Key (president) people (vice president)

Products Manhunt Bully L.A. Noire The Warriors

Owner(s) Take-Two Interactive

Parent Take-Two Interactive

Website www.rockstargames.co m

Rockstar Games is a major and publisher based in , owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of UK BMG Interactive.[2] The brand is mostly known for Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, L.A. Noire, The Warriors, Bully, Manhunt, Midnight Club,State of Emergency (video game), and Red Dead series and the use of , free roaming settings in their games. It comprises studios that have been acquired and renamed as well as others that have been created internally. While many of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and have become part of the company's Gamesdivision. The Rockstar Games label was founded in New York City in 1998[1] by the English video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman.[3] The headquarters of Rockstar Games (commonly referred to as Rockstar NYC) is located on Broadway in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City, part of the Take-Two Interactive offices. It is home to the marketing, public relations and product development departments.

Company goal In October 2011, Rockstar creative vice president Dan Houser told that Rockstar is intentionally avoiding developing in the first- person shooter genre. "We're deliberately avoiding that right now", he said, according to a 1UP.com translation. "It's in our DNA to avoid doing what other companies are doing. I suppose you could say that is something close to an FPS, but there are really unique aspects to the setting and gameplay there, too, not just in the story. You have to have originality in your games; you have to have some kind of interesting message. You could say that the goalpoint of Rockstar is to have the players really feel what we're trying to do". Houser went on to say that Rockstar has "made new genres by ourselves with games like the GTA series. We didn't rely on testimonials in a business textbook to do what we've done. I think we succeeded precisely because we didn't concentrate on profit... If we make the sort of games we want to play, then we believe people are going to buy them."[

Technology [edit]RAGE Main article: Rockstar Advanced Rockstar Games have developed their own game engine called the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) to facilitate game development on the PlayStation 3, 360, Windows, Mac and Wiisystems. [edit]Social Club Main article: Rockstar Games Social Club The Rockstar Games Social Club is a community website created by Rockstar for use with their games.

Notable game series  Grand Theft Auto series (1997–present)  Midnight Club series (2000–present)  Max Payne series (2001–present)  Manhunt series (2003–2007)  Red Dead series (2004–present Grand Theft Auto series Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a fictional chronology 2002 action-adventure open world video game developed by games GTA era developer (formerly DMA 1961 – , 1961 Design) and published by Rockstar Games . 1969 – London, 1969 It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original 1997 – Grand Theft Auto title overall. It debuted in on October 1, 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and GTA 2 era was later ported to the Xbox, and Windows in 2003. It was made available 1999 – onSteam on January 4, 2008, and on the Mac App Store on August 25, 2011. [2] Vice City was preceded by Grand Theft GTA III era Auto III and followed by Grand Theft Auto: 1984 – Vice City Stories San Andreas. 1986 – Vice City Vice City draws much of its inspiration from 1992 – San Andreas 1980s American culture. Set in 1986 in Vice 1998 – Liberty City Stories City, a fictional city modeled after Miami, the 2000 – Advance story revolves around a 2001 – Grand Theft Auto III psychotic hitman , who was recently released from prison. After being involved in a drug deal gone GTA IV era wrong, Tommy seeks out those responsible while building a criminal empire and seizing 2008 – Grand Theft Auto IV power from other criminal organizations in  The Lost and the city. The game uses a tweaked version Damned of the game engine used in Grand Theft Auto III and similarly presents a huge  The Ballad of Gay cityscape, fully populated with buildings, Tony vehicles, and people. Like other games in the series, Vice City has elements 2009 – Chinatown Wars from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" GTA V era gameplay that gives the player more control over their playing experience. 2012 - Upon its release, Vice City became the best-selling video game of 2002. In July 2006, Vice City was the best- selling PlayStation 2 game of all time.Vice City also appeared on Japanese magazine Famitsu's readers' list of the favorite 100 videogames of 2006, the only fully Western title on the list.[3]Following this success, Vice City saw releases in Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as a release for the PC. also packaged the game with its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto III, and sold it as Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack for the Xbox. Vice City's setting is also revisited in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, which serves as a prequel to events in Vice City. The player takes on the role of Tommy Vercetti , a member of the Liberty City mafia released from prison in 1986 after serving only 15 years for killing eleven men.[4] Tommy's old boss, Sonny Forelli , fears that Tommy's presence in Liberty City will heighten tensions and bring unwanted attention to his organization's criminal activities.[5] To prevent this, Sonny ostensibly promotes Tommy and sends him to Vice City under the guardianship of Mafia lawyer Ken Rosenberg to act as their buyer for a series of cocaine deals.[6] During Tommy's first deal, an ambush by an unknown party results in the death of Tommy's bodyguards and the cocaine dealer, Vic Vance (the main character of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories). Tommy narrowly escapes with his life and loses both Forelli's money and the cocaine.[7] When Tommy informs Sonny of the ambush Sonny loses his temper and threatens Tommy with the consequences of attempting to cheat the Mafia. Tommy promises to retrieve the money and the cocaine and kill whoever was responsible for the ambush.[8] Towards this end, Tommy meets up again with Ken Rosenberg, who leads Tommy to mid- drug dealer Juan Garcia Cortez. Cortez expresses regret about Tommy's bad deal and promises that his own lines of inquiry are being made. Tommy also meets Cortez's daughter Mercedes, who becomes Tommy's confidant shortly thereafter. While Tommy waits for the outcome of Cortez's investigation he meets British record producer Kent Paul, real estate mogul Avery Carrington and local free-lance criminal Lance Vance.,[9] the brother and business partner of the dealer who was killed in the ambush, who is also seeking revenge.[10] As time passes, Tommy befriends Cortez and begins to do regular work for him as an errand boy and hitman. On one such job Tommy provides protection for drug lord Ricardo Diaz during a deal which is ambushed by a gang of Haitians. Tommy saves Diaz's life, leading Diaz to begin hiring Tommy for his own agenda. Tommy takes this work because it pays well, in spite of his distaste for Diaz's character. Tommy learns from Cortez that Cortez's own lieutenant, Gonzalez, was partially responsible for the ambush on Tommy's cocaine deal, and Cortez asks Tommy to kill Gonzalez as a favor. Afterwards Cortez lays suspicion for the ambush on Diaz. Tommy initially continues the status quo to prepare for his attack, but his hand is forced when Lance attempts to take revenge by himself and fails, forcing Tommy to rush across the city and rescues him. With the die cast, the two move quickly to raid Diaz's mansion and execute Diaz. With Diaz dead, and Colonel Cortez fleeing the country to escape arrest, the established drug empires in Vice City quickly crumble and Tommy and Lance personally take over, becoming Vice City's cocaine kingpins. Tommy becomes the head of his own organization, the Vercetti , and the more powerful and rich Tommy becomes, the more Lance begins to exhibit paranoid and sociopathic behaviors, to the point that he begins to abuse his own bodyguards and constantly calls Tommy in states of hysteria. Tommy makes alliance with Umberto Robina 's Cubans against Auntie Poulet's Haitians, even though he is at the same time hypnotized by Poulet's voodoo into helping the Haitians. However after Tommy and Poulet part ways Tommy and the Cubans sneak explosives into the Haitian drug factory disguised in Haitian gang cars and blow it up, effectively ending the conflict. As his drug business expands, Tommy buys assets in nearly bankrupt companies such as a car lot, a cab depot, a strip club, a night club, a boathouse, a print shop for counterfeit money, an ice-cream company, and an adult film company, all of which he turns back into competitive businesses. He also becomes a personal bodyguard to a rock band, an honorary member of a biker gang, and pulls off a major bank heist. Eventually the Forelli family discovers that Tommy has taken over much of the action in Vice City without sending a cut to Sonny as required. Sonny sends collectors to force money out of Tommy's assets, but Tommy disposes of them. An angered Sonny Forelli arrives in Vice City with a small army of mafiosi, intent on taking their tribute by force. When Sonny and his henchmen arrive at the Vercetti Estate, Tommy attempts to give them their tribute in counterfeit money. However, Lance, resenting Tommy's substantial share of their profits, makes a back-room deal with the Forelli's to topple the Vercetti family, and informs Sonny that the tribute money is counterfeit. In the game's climax, Tommy stands alone as Lance, Sonny, and Sonny's henchmen raid Tommy's Mansion. Tommy first chases, ridicules, and finally kills Lance then storms downstairs where he faces off with Sonny. During the gunfight, Sonny reveals he is the one who set Tommy up fifteen years before, sending him to kill the eleven men who were expecting him. Tommy eventually kills Sonny in the main hall of his estate. With his enemies vanquished, Tommy establishes himself as the undisputed crime kingpin of Vice City.

Setting The game is set in fictional Vice City, which is based on Miami, Florida. The game's look, particularly the clothing and vehicles, reflect (and sometimes parody) its 1980s setting. Many themes are borrowed from the major films and Blow, along with the hit 1980s television series . Vice City also parodies and pays tribute to much of 1980s culture in the cars, music, fashion, landmarks, and characters featured in the game. Ricardo Diaz's opulent mansion and the climactic battle which takes place in it at the story's end, are very similar to their counterparts in Scarface. [11] Another reference is the game's overall storyline, as it is highly similar to the film, as is the design of the final mission. There are also more subtle references, such as an apartment hidden within the game with blood on the bathroom walls and a chainsaw (in a nod to the film's "chainsaw torture" scene),[11] or the pair of detectives which come chasing Vercetti after a three-star wanted level is attained, which look like characters portrayed by and Philip Michael Thomas in Miami Vice.

Characters List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Vice City features dozens of characters, many appearing only in the cut scenes which describe each mission. The voice-talent includes as protagonist Tommy Vercetti , Tom Sizemore as Sonny Forelli, Robert Davi as Colonel Juan García Cortez , William Fichtner as Ken Rosenberg, Danny Dyer as Kent Paul, Dennis Hopper as pornography Director Steve Scott, Burt Reynolds as Avery Carrington, Luis Guzmán as Ricardo Diaz, Miami Vice star Philip Michael Thomas as Lance Vance, Danny Trejo as Umberto Robina , Gary Busey as Phil Cassidy, Lee Majors as "Big" Mitch Baker, Fairuza Balk as Mercedes Cortez, and porn actress Jenna Jameson as Candy Suxxx . The voice of the taxi dispatcher is provided by Blondie singer Debbie Harry Although the main character is not the same as the one in Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City contains a few characters from GTA III at an earlier point in their lives. Donald Love, a business tycoon in GTA III, makes an appearance as an apprentice to real estate mogul Avery Carrington. The one-armed Phil Cassidy from GTA III appears inVice City as well, with both arms intact, and one mission actually explains when and how he lost his arm. Several of GTA III’s radio hosts can also be heard in Vice City: Lazlow, who was the host of Chatterbox, the talk radio station in GTA III, is the DJ for the hard-rock station, V-Rock, in Vice City (he mentioned in passing in GTA III that he used to be a DJ on a rock station). Toni, the burned-out, female of Flashback 95.6, the 1980s music radio station in GTA III, also appears as a young, club-hopping DJ in Vice City's pop music station, Flash FM. Finally, Fernando, a self-glorifying procurer of women ("not a pimp... a savior," he claims) who appeared on Lazlow's show in GTA III, runs Emotion 98.3. Also naturist Barry Stark, a caller for Chatterbox in GTA III, appears as a guest on VCPR in Vice City. .

Gameplay

A screenshot depicting the player flying the Skimmer, one of three flyable aircraft inVice City. Because Vice City was built upon Grand Theft Auto III, the game follows a largely similar gameplay design and interface with GTA III with several tweaks and improvements over its predecessor. The gameplay is very open-ended, a characteristic of the Grand Theft Auto franchise; although missions must be completed to complete the storyline and unlock new areas of the city, the player is able to drive around and visit different parts of the city at his/her leisure and otherwise, do whatever they wish if not currently in the middle of a mission. Various items such as hidden weapons and packages are also scattered throughout the landscape, as it has been with previous GTA titles. Players can steal vehicles, (cars, boats, motorcycles, and even helicopters) partake in drive-by shootings, robberies, and generally create chaos. However, doing so tends to generate unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the police (or, in extreme cases, the FBI and even the National Guard). Police behavior is mostly similar to Grand Theft Auto III, although police units will now wield night sticks, deploy strips to puncture the tires of the player's car, as well as SWAT teams from flying police helicopters and the aforementioned undercover police units, à la- Miami Vice. Police attention can be neutralized in a variety of ways. A new addition in the game is the ability of the player to purchase a number of properties distributed across the city. Some of these are additional hideouts (essentially locations where weapons can be collected and the game saved). There are also a variety of businesses called "assets" which the player can buy. These include a film studio, a dance club, a strip club, a taxi company, an "ice-cream delivery business" (acting as a front company), a boatyard, a printing works, and a car showroom. Each commercial property has a number of missions attached to it, such as eliminating the competition or stealing equipment. Once all the missions for a given property are complete, the property will begin to generate an ongoing income, which the increasingly prosperous Vercetti may periodically collect. Various gangs make frequent appearances in the game, some of whom are integral to story events. These gangs typically have a positive or negative opinion of the player and act accordingly by following the player or shooting at him. Shootouts between members of rival gangs can occur spontaneously and several missions involve organized fights between opposing gangs. Optional side-missions are once again included, giving the player the opportunity to make pizza deliveries, drive injured people to a hospital with an ambulance, extinguish fires with a fire truck, deliver passengers in a taxi, be a vigilante, using a police vehicle to kill criminals, and the ability to drive a bus, transporting fare-paying passengers. Monetary rewards and occasional gameplay advantages (e.g. increased health and armor capacity and infinite sprinting) are awarded for completing different difficulty levels of these activities. Different sums of money are awarded for landing trick jumps in motorcycles or fast cars depending on the number of flips and height achieved.

Vehicles In total, there are about 114 types of vehicles[12] in the game (including non- maneuverable vehicles and remote-controlled vehicles), compared to the approximate 85 in GTA III. Taxicabs, automobilesand boats return from the game (along with many others), while new additions include helicopters and motorcycles (a citywide ban in 2001 in GTA III prohibited their use in Liberty City). The carphysics and features are relatively similar to that of GTA III, and some cars were added to the game, including a sportier variant of a luxury car, while some vehicles from that game were highly modified. The Skimmer plane is the only flyable fixed wing aircraft in Vice City, and because it features pontoons and is normally found in water, it is a floatplane, a type of seaplane. It can land almost anywhere, in contrast to the jets in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It has been noted that the Skimmer's design is almost exactly like the Dodo airplane in GTA III. Vehicle performance varies with location, some vehicles performing better off-road or on the street, while others perform better in the air or on land. Weapons

The weapons system used in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is derivative of those from its predecessors, but has been significantly expanded. Compared to 12 forms of weapons from Grand Theft Auto III,Vice City features a total of 35 weapons divided into 10 classes (classified by portability, firepower or function), with the player allowed to carry only one weapon from each class. Each class presents a set of weapons with each presenting their own strengths and weaknesses, such as weight, damage and efficiency. For example, when a player has semi-automatic pistol in hand (which inflicts lower damage, but has a higher firing rate and larger magazine capacity) and encounters ammunition for a Colt Python (which inflicts a large amount of damage, but is weak in firing rate and more frequent reloading), he or she can only choose to replace the automatic with the revolver or choose not to replace the automatic. Because of this, the player is only allowed to carry up to 10 weapons at once while being allowed to pick specific weapons from each class. The weapons, which range from a variety of mêlée weapons and firearms become available to the player as he or she completes more and more missions. Guns (such as pistols, rifles, thrown weapons and heavy weapons) may be purchased at firearm store Ammu- Nation or obtained via a weapons dealer, and other types of weapons (such as baseball bats, hammers and chainsaws) can be bought at various hardware stores. There are also heavy-duty weapons such as flamethrowers and rocket launchers. These can be found in various corners of the city. Another quirk is the inclusion of a camera, which is used in only one mission to capture pictures. Various ports of Vice City also present modifications on the inventory of weapons. The PlayStation 2 version is the only version of the game to feature tear gas, while the PC version and the Xboxversion from Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack features modified names of weapons (i.e. the MP5 renamed as "MP" and the PSG-1 sniper rifle renamed as ".308 Sniper"). The Ruger assault rifle has changed color as well. soundtrack Main articles: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set Vice City includes a large collection of licensed music from 1986 and before. It can be listened to by means of various in-car radio stations. Each station covers a particular music genre, such as rapmusic (Wildstyle), rock (V-Rock) and (most predominantly) pop music (Wave 103, Flash FM). The tracks are for the most part works from various real-life artists, such as Eminem, Megadeth, Electric Light Orchestra, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot, Toto, Blondie, , Ozzy Osbourne, David Lee Roth, INXS, Michael Jackson, Teena Marie, Rick James, Kate Bush, Bryan Adams, Go West, Luther Vandross , Kool & the Gang, A Flock of Seagulls, Frankie Goes to , Spandau Ballet, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Hashim, Corey Hart, Laura Branigan , REO Speedwagon, and Eumir Deodato . Additionally, a talk station (K-Chat) and a public radio debate show Pressing Issues (VCPR) are included. The radio stations and the game's storyline also feature a fictional heavy metal band called Love Fist. The multi-CD soundtrack to the game was an instant best-seller. In addition to music and interviews, the stations also include satirical commercials, such as the Degenatron, a fictional video game console ("Save the green dots with your fantastic flying red square!"), likely a parody of the Atari 2600. The commercials and the game setting are consistent: Degenatron advertisements appear on billboards, and ads air for stores in which the player can actually shop, such as Ammu-Nation. Months before the release of Vice City, Rockstar Games created a Degenatron "fansite", which allowed users to actually play the "emulated" games. There is also a commercial for the "popular" weapons store Ammu- Nation ("We even have the rocket launcher that was used when we whipped Australia's Ass"), a deodorant named "Pitbomb", which is a parody of Right Guard , and a car called the Maibatsu Thunder, a parody of the Mitsubishi Starion , which was a favored import sports car of the day. The Windows and Mac versions of the game allow users to import MP3 songs, allowing them to hear their own music through vehicle radio when tuning to an extra radio station called "MP3". To be able to do this, the user must paste their MP3 files to a specific folder installed by the game.

Reception and sales Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was released to extremely positive reviews from critics and fans alike. The game received ratings of 9.7/10 from IGN, [20] 9.6/10 from GameSpot,[21] 5/5 fromGamePro,[22] and 10/10 from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. The game has a score of 95 out of 100 on the review compiling website making Vice City the sixth highest rated PlayStation 2 the site.[23] It was also generally praised for its open- ended action and entertaining re-creation of 1980s culture. The readers of Official UK PlayStation Magazine voted it the 4th greatest PlayStation title ever released.[24] As of September 26, 2007, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has sold 15 million units according to Take -Two Interactive .[25] As of March 26, 2008, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has sold 17.5 million units according to Take-Two Interactive,[26] making it the fourth highest selling video game for the PlayStation 2. Awards Ultimate Game of the Year 2003, PS2 Game of the Year, [13] GameSpot's Best and Worst of Best Music on PlayStation 2,[14] Best Action Adventure Game on PlayStation 2, 2002 [15] Game of the Year on PlayStation 2[16] Best Adventure Game for PlayStation 2 (Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice),[17] Special Achievement for Sound IGN's Best of 2002 (Reader's Choice),[18] Best Game of the Year for PlayStation 2 (Editor's Choice and Reader's Choice)[19] Best Design, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, 1st British Academy Video Sunday Times Reader Games Awards Award for Games, Best PlayStation 2 Game, Best Sound