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Games Entertainment

GTA: Vice City Sells 8.5 Million Copies in 3 Months 507

Posted by CowboyNeal from the legal-illegality-simulators dept.
Gus writes "Take Two Interactive Software reports that Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has sold more than 8.5 million copies in the first three months since its late-October launch. The good news is Rockstar Games has 11 titles in the works. The bad news is the chances of the next GTA making it out this year are pretty slim." Also, there's still a couple people waiting on Duke Nukem Forever, and their patience is wearing thin.
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GTA: Vice City Sells 8.5 Million Copies in 3 Months More

GTA: Vice City Sells 8.5 Million Copies in 3 Months

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  • GTA (Score:3, Interesting)

    by WilliamsDA ( 567274 ) <derk@der k . o rg> on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:38PM (#5402753) Homepage
    I still think the original GTA is neat -- it also has an interesting perspective (overhead). If you haven't played it, go check it out if you're looking for a GTA fix!
    • The little motorcycles were killer, although nothing like playing motorcycle crash for distance in 3d.
      Punching the Hare Krishnas was fun too.

    • Re:GTA (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ergonal ( 609484 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:41PM (#5402792)
      I agree. GTA is one of many testaments to the idea that you don't need to go purely 3D for a game to be fun. Although for some reason I didn't like GTA2 as much as the first.
      • "I agree. GTA is one of many testaments to the idea that you don't need to go purely 3D for a game to be fun."

        I agree completely with your comment. However, one of the observations I made about GTA 3 was that despite being 3D, they managed to retain the fun of it. I'm really glad they didn't blow it.

      • Re:GTA (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Deflatamouse! ( 132424 )
        > GTA is one of many testaments to the idea that you don't need to go purely 3D for a game to be fun.

        I doubt you need any testments at all to show non-3d games are fun, there were plenty of fun 2d games even before 3d games were available. I tend to find 2d games more fun, and I think it is because the programmers tend to concentrate on the game play more in those games rather than the graphics. Nice 3d graphics are nice, but that shouldn't be the focus. For exmaple, some may disagree and this is just my opinion, but I find Starcraft more fun than Warcraft III. I find most 3d games lacking in depth in game play, and am in fact still looking for testaments that 3d games can be fun. FPS's are an exception, but they've been hashed and rehashed so often they no longer have any appeal to me. Hmm, looks like I am ranting.. I'll stop now :)

        • Re:GTA (Score:3, Interesting)

          by iocat ( 572367 )
          I don't think the reason you prefer 2D games is not that developers concentrate more on the gameplay in a 2D game, but rather that it's easier to have total situational awareness in a 2D game. We're doing a 3D game right now, and I know people are concentrating as much on the gameplay as they did when doing 2D games. There are definitely more distracting technical problems with 3D games than 2D games, but I don't think that affects the gameplay signifcantly, since 3D games also tend to have more people on them, and have longer schedules.

        • Re:GTA (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Mac Degger ( 576336 )
          Homeworld: a 3d game that looks amazing, has an amazing storyline and hell, even the music is amazing. This game, much mroe than Halflife or something like it, comes close to being art.
    • GTA1 and GTA2 were great, too bad they don't work in Windows 2000/XP. If someone has figured out a way to get them to work in 2000/XP, please let me know!

  • rate of unemployment? (Score:5, Funny)

    by stonebeat.org ( 562495 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:38PM (#5402754) Homepage
    do you think this has to do anything with the high rate of unemployment, and discontent among the people?

  • And, inspired by the game itself (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:39PM (#5402765)
    Another 8.5 million were stolen at gunpoint from stores nationwide.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:39PM (#5402767)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Ohhhhh the violence... (Score:4, Funny)

      by jkabbe ( 631234 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:46PM (#5402831)
      If I never meet a woman who won't let me say, "it's just fun to kill hookers with a chainsaw"....well, then, I'll have more money for games!!!!

    • Re:Ohhhhh the violence... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 2megs ( 8751 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:49PM (#5402866)
      So your viewpoints are completely different, and she disapproves of the things that you think are fun, and you have to lie to her about your opinions just to be allowed in bed with her...

      Do you really want to be marrying this chick?
    • That's why I love my wife... she'd be right there blowing up polygon hookers with me :)
    • Gee, my girlfriend is about as pure as snow, but even she thinks Vice City is cool.

      Does your fiance' ever watch violent movies? If so, what weak argument does she offer to excuse that but still condemn GTA?

    • You poor, poor soul.

      My cousins have the game but I don't own a PS2 nor own the PC version. My fiance and I play it everytime we're at my aunt's house. My fiance likes it more than I do! (yes we're heterosexual and she's female... lol)

      Anyway she's bugging me to spend the money to purchase a PS2 just so we can get that game. As much as I'd love to we just can't afford it.

      Moral of the story... there are attractive females out there who enjoy what men do and are completely "feminine" as well.

      - Garett

    • Re:Ohhhhh the violence... (Score:5, Funny)

      by retro128 ( 318602 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:56PM (#5402924)
      Now as all the married and almost married men out here know, that if i was to say what i was thinking, it would have been a very lonely night for me and my PC! :-)

      Yeah, but you would have to got to blow away some hookers!

      My girlfriend cackles like a banshee and says things like "Come here and die, bitch!" when she runs over people in Carmageddon. I'm almost afraid what's going to happen if I hand her GTA3.

    • Re:Ohhhhh the violence... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by bconway ( 63464 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @10:01PM (#5402953) Homepage
      Now as all the married and almost married men out here know, that if i was to say what i was thinking, it would have been a very lonely night for me and my PC! :-)

      That's funny, I've been married for 10 years, and on the things that my wife and I don't agree on, she'll listen to my opinion and consider my viewpoint. I think there's something seriously wrong if you're letting someone control your life and tell you what you should think.
    • GTA3 is the only game that my girlfriend (of 8+ years) has given a name to: she calls it Carjack.

      Although she's yet to pick up a joypad and start racing around town, gunning down cops, putting out fires whilst picking up secret packages, she does see the lighter side of the game. It's fun, it isn't meant to be taken seriously, so why treat it as anything more than light entertainment?

      Honestly, if your girlfriend can't appreciate that playing GTA3 doesn't make you an evil person and that it won't turn you into an Uzi-totting, maas-murderer then she's the one with the problem, not you. (Unless, of course, you are an Uzi-totting, maas-murderer, in which case you're both screwed.)
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Ohhhhh the violence... (Score:4, Funny)

      by duffbeer703 ( 177751 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @10:52PM (#5403268)
      You should have "told" her that good wives don't sit their fat asses on the couch watching TV and lecturing their husbands.

      After that you could have "asked" her to scrub the bathroom and do the laundry.

      You wouldn't have been laid for a few days, but it might encourage her to keep her preachy bitchiness to herself.

  • Good for them (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Eese ( 647951 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:39PM (#5402768)
    I think this just goes to show that any publicity is good publicity. The GTA series has been the poster-child for anti-violentvideogame groups. However, I have to agree that it's a kickass game, and I'm glad to see that Rockstar is being successful and not taking a pounding in sales for having some content that several concerned mothers don't approve of.

  • Vincent says (Score:3, Funny)

    by bcwalrus ( 514670 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:40PM (#5402773)
    "You don't mess with another man's automobile. You just don't do that."
  • some people claim that that games like GTA:VC cause influences in their behavior.

    i think they're right. ever since i've been playing, i've been on a kick for 80's music.
  • Between encouraging people to act out violence on a TV rather than on the street, and these numbers refuting the "modchips cut into sales" arguments, I think we have the next crime-control device on our hands. Beats anything Ashcroft would come up with.

  • Next Game's Time Period? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Galahad2 ( 517736 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:44PM (#5402821) Homepage
    I'd like to see a Grand Theft Auto game set in 1930's Chicago. That'd be so awesome -- the mob, the depression, prohibition; there's huge number of possiblities! I just hope they don't do the 1970's... I mean, Vice City already did all the "boy, people were weird back then... look at their clothes/hair/idioms!" jokes.

    • Re:Next Game's Time Period? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Cyph ( 240321 ) <yoonix.speakeasy@net> on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:53PM (#5402900)
      While I doubt that there's ever a chance of a 1930s GTA happening, you might find a game called Mafia [mafia-game.com] to your liking. In that game, you assume the role of a gangster, working for the mob in the 1930s. You drive cars and shoot people. :)
    • The eighties just don't appeal to me very much - the stuff that does (Metallica) is unfortunately missing from the game. Course, it's funny when some vietnam vet phones the rock station and threatens to bring some pain to the host (Laslow) if he doesn't play some real rock and stop with the hair bands.

      Anyhow, I want the seventies as a setting. Course, if it was the seventies, there'd be disco.

      Hmmm....

      Disco Stu: Did you know that mah bitches take is up over 4000%? If these trends continue... heyyyyy!

      No, maybe not...
    • I'd like to see a Grand Theft Auto game set in 1930's Chicago.

      You sure? Cars that go 80km/h max, nearly no automatic weapons except for street sweepers (That's what they are called iirc) which are about as inacurate as it gets, there would be FAR fewer cars because they were largely still considered a luxury back then, no rocket based weapons, no good sniper weapons and tanks that would make a Sherman tank cry...

      I ask again, are you sure?

  • I love it (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:47PM (#5402839) Journal
    GTA Vice City was the best game that I have ever played in my 16 years of video game playing (I am 23 years of age). It had an entertaining story line, great dialogue, unbeatable gameplay, and is just plain fun. The sheer volume of what you can actually do in this game, aside from the actual somewhat-linear story line, is worth 100 hours of game time.

    GTA Vice City made this Nintendo fan boy buy a PS2 last week. I love it, and it's developers and designers deserve every penny they are making from it.

    But don't think for one second that I didn't preorder the new Zelda. =)


  • That's all well and good, but what about the rest of us unwashed heathens without a playstation? :::cutting to the point:::

    Has anyone heard anything about a PC version? I know with the original the PC version lagged the PS2 by almost a year, but you'd think they'd have most of the heavy porting aleady done.

    Unless of course the sales of the PC version were lackluster and they don't have any interest in investing the time in porting it. Notice this time around there hasn't been :::any:: mention of a PC version what-so-ever.

    I'd really like to play it, as I loved the first...but i'm not buying a $250+ console system just to play one game.

    -Chris

    PS-I know at least one person who :::did::: buy a PS2 just for one game. Hello Steve.

  • Where's the accompanying spike in crime? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sdo1 ( 213835 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @09:57PM (#5402925) Journal
    8.5M copies. That means a fairly large percentage of the population has played this game.

    So if the "fake violence breeds real violence" crowd is right, we should be seeing a fairly significant spike in violent crime, right?

    No? That's what I thought.

    -S
    • So if the "fake violence breeds real violence" crowd is right, we should be seeing a fairly significant spike in violent crime, right?

      No? That's what I thought.

      Dude, spend a little time in an inner city emergency room some Friday or Saturday night. Make sure that it's a level one trauma center too as that's where all the gunshot victims go to. My point is not to draw a direct correlate between video games and violence, as the causes of violence are complicated, but desensitization *does* play a role.

      For instance, I've pointed this out before, but one of the real difficult problems that the military has is desensitizing folks to pulling the trigger to take another human's life. Recently the Corps (Semper Fi) have experimented with the integration of video games to "help" desensitize recruits as well as attempting to teach squad theory. The only thing I do worry about is this issue of desensitization.

      • And then come to another country, very similar, but slightly different in a few critical social ways... which is exposed to just as much desensitizing viloence, and see much, much less of said gunshot victims.

        If you can't figure it out - go north, and don't blame the games for your overall culture.

      • Re:Where's the accompanying spike in crime? (Score:5, Funny)

        by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @11:20PM (#5403437) Homepage
        So if the "fake violence breeds real violence" crowd is right, we should be seeing a fairly significant spike in violent crime, right?

        Dude, spend a little time in an inner city emergency room some Friday or Saturday night. Make sure that it's a level one trauma center too as that's where all the gunshot victims go to.

        "Dude, don't take a general view of the entire population to form a balanced opinion. Instead come and look at my heavily biassed samples in an unusual situation and draw wild conclusions."

      • It's interesting. I used to work in the intersection of biology education and computers. During my work day I would spend half a lot of time swearing to dubious professors that computers were an ideal method to teach students skills (everything from aid in memorization to surgery skills). And yet, at the same time, I was (and still am) in love with violent video games, and would absolutely scoff at the idea that there was anything wrong with games like Doom (human targets) or "lethal enforcers" (plastic guns and human targets).



        I don't know what made me recognize the contradiction, but one day I realized that I couldn't have it both ways: If you believe that holding a "virtual" scalpel and doing a dissection can teach you how do perform a dissection, then it follows that holding a virtual gun and shooting someone can teach the SKILLS (not give you the desire to, mind you) to shoot real people. You can't have it both ways. Either virtual skills transfer, or they don't.



        Before anyone starts yelling, I understand that there's a big difference between fantasy play and real life -- Clearly, people can imagine all sorts of things without acting on them and still be "healthy". Additionally, I understand that having the hand-eye coordination to shoot someone and the desire to shoot someone are two difference things. Nevertheless, as the parent post points out, surely the action/sight of violence must have an affect. If we're stimulating that part of the brain, and building up neural pathways, what is the outcome?



        BTW, this doesn't mean I've turned against violent videogames (I own GTA3 and I love it). It just means I'm much more thoughtful about what we're learning and getting from video games, and much less quick to dismiss all criticisms of them.

        • Playing games may give you the hand-eye coordination required to aim quickly but firing a gun is a world away from clicking a mouse button.
          The one and only time I fired a shotgun, I took careful aim (at a fench post) squeezed the trigger and *blammo* massive recoil, bullet goes God knows where up into the sky. All my FPS experience was useless when it came to the real thing.

          With the sheer force and noise, it's actually quite physically traumatic to fire a gun.

  • games vs. movies as entertainment (Score:4, Interesting)

    by anonymous loser ( 58627 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @10:04PM (#5402973)
    GTA:VC is still selling for $50 on store shelves, which means that Take Two has probably grossed at least $400 million (using conservative numbers) on this title in three months.

    Few movies ever rake in that kind of cash, and let's face it: the movie market has been saturated for 50 years while the gaming market is still growing rapidly. When you think about it, it makes sense. Games are much more interactive (with the possible exception of pr0n, I guess) and typically deliver a lot more "bang for the buck". I can spend $6-$10 to own a 2-hour movie, or I can spend $20-$50 to play a 20-60 hour game.

    Games also traditionally cost less to produce, meaning MUCH higher net profits for the publisher.

    Frankly, I'm amazed that EVERY company in the movie business doesn't also produce games, as there's a lot of overlap between the two media. Sure, a lot of big-budget films (usually targetted at kids) end up with movie tie-in games, but I mean why not take some of the stories that are pitched and spend the money on making a game *instead of* a movie? It's going to be the same-or-lower risk, and potentially much greater profits.

  • Hey man, don't ya know? It's coming out in July of 99!

  • 8.5 million copies SOLD (Score:4, Insightful)

    by phorm ( 591458 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @10:21PM (#5403097) Journal
    That's a huge amount of sales. How many people would have pirated this if it had come out on PC instead of console?

    This is perhaps one of the upsides to being a PS2 game, at least at first. If it had come out on PC earlier... a lot of people probably would have just pirated it instead of buying. I know I would have, though I would have bought it later had it met approval (judging by popular opinion, it would have) - though of couse on PS2 I can also rent it.

    It makes a good statement about the popularity of console games though, wonder if anti-piracy is one of the reasons it's still console-only?

    And yet, I'm aware one could play a pirated version with a chipped PS2... but it is *much* more a pain in the butt (and DVD+R is expensive) than PC piracy. Of course, on PC, people may have bought more than 1 CD to play multiplayer between machines.

    Not to spark the software-piracy holy war, but it's an honest consideration for console games, and such high sales numbers may prove their increased profitability.
    • On the other hand, how many people would have downloaded the pirate version (or even *gasp* the demo) found that it was good and actually bought it? It's impossible to speculate on the affect piracy would have on the sales because nobody ever takes reliable numbers.

      Besides, don't most PS2 games get cut down to CD size when they're pirated?

  • Next Grand Theft Auto message board (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pheph ( 234655 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @10:27PM (#5403129) Homepage
    GTA-SA.com [gta-sa.com] is a message board dedicated to the new Grand Theft Auto (SA is for San Andreas) as well as all of the previous Grand Theft Auto games...

  • getting older? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by bascheew ( 220781 )
    I don't know if it's a sign of getting older but after playing GTA for about ten minutes I put the game down and decided not to play it or its sequels again.

    Just something about courting prostitutes and being a druglord's monkey that wasn't appealing to me. Sure it was fun to drive around, but when I killed innocent sprites on the side of the road I felt bad.

    Oh well, I think I'll go to kill some people in [insert your favorite first person shooter here] now.

  • Those of us still left that are still fans of Duke Nukem Forever have an epic level of patience, and will easily be able to wait until it is released - and that include cryogenics if necessary!
  • Wow. I wish the best of luck to Rockstar, but going from one title to two to eleven is a recipe for disaster.

    That's probably one of the main reasons that a lot of studios become one hit wonders.

    Ahh well, as I said, best of luck to them. I hope they prove me wrong.
  • Was going to reply to a troll comment, but came across surprising information, so I didn't want this nested.

    Here be comment:
    Why isn't Vice City on the PC yet? Why did they release it on an old console that has no life left in it? Oh yeah, I forgot there for a second....Sony is frucking greedy! They're obviously delaying or even stopping Rockstar from releasing it on the PC or XBox because they want to sell more consoles. Bullshit.

    So, I google(tm) for "PS2 sales figures 2003" and the top article is one from ZDNet with "PS2 sales up 24 percent" (Jan 2003)
    It's since gone, but the google cache has it. The relevant paragraph is the first one:

    Sony said on Thursday that it sold 8.5 million PlayStation2 game consoles during the key holiday shopping season in November and December, up 24 percent from a year ago and holding well ahead of rivals.

    Now, that's just about the same time period the sales figures from Take Two are referring to, which means that almost everyone that bought a PS2 bought Vice City! Cool!

    Now, in reply to the troll:
    (also from ZD) The Sony figures followed an announcement by Nintendo on Wednesday that it sold 1.5 million of its GameCube machines in Europe in all of 2002.

    Also, according to Sony, they've sold 41 Million PS2s. :)

    -T

  • GTA Vice City is great (Score:5, Interesting)

    by linux2000 ( 23448 ) on Thursday February 27, 2003 @11:33PM (#5403505) Homepage Journal
    GTA-VC is the greatest console game I've ever played. I absolutely love it. The cool slow-motion jumps, being chased by the police, harassing pedestrians, eavesdropping on pedestrians conversations, and so much more.

    The attention to detail is amazing - at the right time of day, the sun can be "in your eye", so it's hard to see where you're going, AND the light will glint off the sides of the cars in traffic!

    I especially love all the secret stuff in the game. I don't just mean the 100 or so "hidden packages", but the real stuff you can find if you try. Have you managed to get a golf-cart out of the country club? You can do it - and drive it around on the regular streets. Have you found "the" motorcycle, the one that lets you try to complete a sequence of highspeed jumps in a 2 minute time period? How many Unique stunt bonuses have you gotten? Have you been up in the top of the lighthouse?

    Then - when you get tired of the game (I assume that may actually happen to me some day), there s many pages of cheats out there, some that are really original, and a lot of fun. Don't go and download a cheat-sheet until you've played the game for a few weeks, though.

    I haven't owned the game for very long, but I bought a PS2 just so I could play it. GTA Vice City rocks.

  • play too much? (Score:4, Funny)

    by mrselfdestrukt ( 149193 ) <nollie_A7_firstcounsel_com> on Thursday February 27, 2003 @11:53PM (#5403610) Homepage Journal
    I realized a while back that I played VC WAY too much. When I drive down the street I just keep looking for a bike and I have to force myself not to ram the dude and steal his bike. Another funny thing. The other day me and a friend were talking about games in my garden. He was going on about some RPG and I just said," No thanks, I'd rather be shooting people and stealing cars" just as the neighbors walked past. I got some strange looks...

  • Segways (Score:4, Funny)

    by tekunokurato ( 531385 ) <jackphelps@gmail.com> on Friday February 28, 2003 @12:07AM (#5403686) Homepage
    I want to see Segways in the next GTA. It'd be so much fun to kill people in smooth efficiency!

  • Jugglers, Clowns, and the prettiest ponies EVER (Score:5, Funny)

    by tenzig_112 ( 213387 ) on Friday February 28, 2003 @12:14AM (#5403725) Homepage
    Too bad the Wal-Mart version swapped out blood for grape juice, hookers for happy juggling clowns, and stolen cars for pretty, pretty ponies.

    From a review [ridiculopathy.com] of the cleaned-up version:

    No longer interested in stealing cars, busting caps, and clocking hos, players mount ponies and ride down rainbow-colored avenues sharing home-baked cookies and cakes with other characters.


    Don't be fooled. This new version of GTA is by no means the "cake walk" it appears to be. The ponies must be meticulously groomed, and mastering the optional baking set is horrendously difficult.

  • Incredible! (Score:3, Funny)

    by silvakow ( 91320 ) on Friday February 28, 2003 @12:59AM (#5403931)
    Wow! 8.5 Million copies! Image that! That makes me want to run my car through the glass wall in the video game store, steal the game, shoot some random person and bust out my flamethrower or bazooka to take out the cops when they come by. Megapoints here we come!

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