I grew up with Grand Theft Auto.
The first iteration I played, GTA 2, was such a fun romp of cruising through streets, blowing stuff up, and getting paid handsomely for it. The graphics were simple even back then, but there was something so freeing about being plopped into a city where crime had free rein and you had the opportunity to join in. In some ways, it was the American Dream, even though it was a game created by the Scottish.
I watched Grand Theft Auto grow from its humble beginnings to literally the biggest videogame in the world. A franchise so lucrative the previous iteration, Grand Theft Auto V, has made over TEN BILLION dollars. For comparison, the GDP of Montenegro or the Maldives. There should really be a case study about how such a niche idea for a game became a lynchpin of the global cultural fabric, but really we’ve seen this formula before with things like Hip-Hop and Nerd Culture:
Niche Idea +Doubling Down on the Counterculture Aspect When Challenged + Gaining Cross Appeal from other subcultures and Imitators X Humor/Memes/Internal Vernaculars
Today, the game that’s been almost fifteen years in the making, Grand Theft Auto VI had a highly anticipated “Extended Look” debut on Netflix. Due out in November of this year, the game—whoa whoa. Did I just say that right? A video game had an extended trailer…on Netflix…? I’m not even lying, here. Here’s a trailer to that trailer released on YouTube.
And that’s the first thing that blew my mind away. Your boy is old enough to remember when games didn’t even HAVE trailers. Video game box arts did the heavy lifting to get you to buy a game. This is why those things used to have legit artists, obviously sketching like rent was due, trying super hard to get units sold. When Mega Man came out, I thought the dude came from He-Man’s planet ready to slice planets in half with his laser cannon:
The game?
Close enough.
As far as the extended trailer goes, it was great. While I worry that, in the pursuit of realistic graphics, we’re losing a bit of the over the top charm and irreverent humor that I love about the original games (and truthfully influenced my humor to this day), the game is beautiful. You don’t have to sell me on the idea, because it’s the same every time. It’s a story about a “regular criminal” who just wants a bigger piece of the tiny slice of pie society gives them. You play because you know crime doesn’t pay, but rather for some, it really DOES pay, and you’re dying to see what that feels like for you. I mean that was the whole vibe of the first trailer (which was released for free on YouTube, so you’re welcome).
And despite the leaks on the Netflix trailer that was released a couple of days earlier, the game is bound to make bank. But why do I feel so hollow about this? Don’t I want the game to do well? Perhaps I’m not necessarily jaded over the release of the game (i.e. content) but rather the cottage industry of those who react to content. Yes, I’m doing that right now as I type this, but I have seen think pieces, and reaction videos, and the memes already pop up. For the record, I’m not “anti” think pieces; I just feel there’s a rush to get them out, thereby making the thinking an afterthought.
Perhaps I’m just unc, and this is how it starts. Being excited, then being excited but having reservations, followed by lamenting for the good ol’ days, and then finally getting bitter. And while that may be the case, I’ll always have those GTA moments I’ll never forget: Cruising the streets of Vice City with the music blasting, heading to my friend’s house to play the original 3D game in GTA 3, beating my first GTA game in my overall favorite: The Ballad of Gay Tony:
Fun fact: This trailer made me a fan of Roxette. “She’s got the looooooook.”