In the 15 years that I’ve been running a small company, I have survived several malware attacks. The only thing that kept me in business was a reliable backup of my data. When it comes to my data (if not my pants), I’m a belt and suspenders kind of person: In addition to periodically copying my two key work folders onto an external hard drive, my system automatically backs up my computer’s contents to an encrypted cloud-based backup service at 1 o’clock every morning.
If I’m attacked or my main computer goes south, I won’t lose my company’s 40.9GB of data, even if some catastrophe destroys both the computer and the external hard drive. More than once, I have used the backups to save my digital bacon by retrieving a deleted file, and the online backup has the added convenience of letting me use just about any connected device to access a document and show it to a client during a remote meeting.
I’m not alone in recognizing the benefits of online backup. Phil Goodwin, research director of IDC’s Storage Systems and Software group, says, “Many small business owners use consumer backup services to protect their company’s data. It’s good protection at a good price, with no hardware required, and has the ability to share saved files wherever you go.” For this evaluation, I looked at products from four top vendors in the online backup world, according to Goodwin: Mozy, Carbonite, Acronis and IDrive. I also tested a fifth product, Code42’s CrashPlan for Home, but after the review was done and before publication, Code42 announced that it is phasing out CrashPlan for Home and will stop selling that product as of Oct. We removed that review from the story, but we do provide some details about CrashPlan’s surviving small-business product below. CrashPlan for Small Business As of Aug.
22, Code42 began phasing out CrashPlan for Home and the product will stop working on Oct. In its place, it is recommending that existing customers migrate to or to its “exclusive partner,” Carbonite. You'll read about Carbonite in this review; here are some pertinent things to know about CrashPlan for Small Business. Pricing is $10 per month per device, but you get unlimited storage and no file-type restrictions, and any external hard drives connected to a device are backed up at no extra charge.
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Linux devices can be backed up, which is rare among the services tested. Deleted files are kept available, unless you specifically ask that they be truly deleted.
CrashPlan offers AES-256 encryption and a private key option. Of the four remaining products, Carbonite offers unlimited storage but restricts the types of files you can back up. Acronis, IDrive and Mozy charge on a per-gigabyte basis but are less restrictive about what you can save. One thing all of the vendors share is an emphasis on security, with data encrypted both in transit and during storage on their servers.
Acronis goes a step further by using to make sure that the backup you need to rebuild your system hasn’t been tampered with. To evaluate these online backup services, I timed a series of backups and file restorations using a Windows 10 laptop. I then timed how long it took to retrieve a file stored in the cloud to an Android tablet and a MacBook Air. (The Android results are given throughout the story, but Mac results were similar.) See “How I tested” at the end of the story for details. The results were eye-opening.
Read on to find out why. Acronis True Image 2018 Premium offers fast backups and extras such as top security and the innovative integration of the blockchain technology used by the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Acronis offers a 30-day free trial. There are two subscription online backup services, Advanced and Premium, either of which you can purchase for one, three or five computers.
(There’s also a Standard option that doesn’t include online backup and has no annual fees.) The Advanced edition includes backup and recovery, disk cloning, mobile device backup, social media backup and cloud storage of up to 250GB for $50 per year. [ To comment on this story, visit.
] The Premium edition, which I reviewed, adds electronic signatures for documents and Blockchain verification that the archives haven’t been altered. It comes with 1TB of online storage and costs $100 per year.
At 498MB, the Acronis app is the largest of the group to install by a wide margin, but it is also the deepest, with a slew of utilities. It took three minutes to download and install it. The Acronis interface is clean and uncluttered. The column on the left provides quick navigation to functions such as backup, archive and sync, as well as to a dashboard that provides access to backups of your computer, your phone and tablet, and your Facebook material. The backup screen shows the file flow from local system to cloud, including a progress bar.
It has convenient “Back up now” and “Recover files” buttons. True Image can run a full backup, or you can choose to exclude some file types from the backup process. Brian Nadel / IDG The Acronis dashboard showing a backup in progress. The clean portal design includes succinct navigation on the left. (Click on any image in this story to enlarge it.) Backups can be scheduled at daily, weekly or monthly intervals, or Acronis can continuously back up files as they’re saved. It can also be set up to automatically perform a full backup after a restart or shutdown.
You can also set up True Image to do backups only when your system is idle, choosing between optimal and maximum speeds. Overall, I found that the True Image 2018 interface provided the best balance between getting a good overview and getting things done.
It’s easy to find what you need, and at any time you can dig deeply to change what is being backed up and whether it’s being saved locally or online. On the downside, you can’t just drag and drop files or folders that you want to back up, but instead must select them from a Windows Explorer-like interface. Extra security One thing that distinguishes Acronis from its peers is its use of blockchain technology as part of its Notary feature, which helps determine whether someone has altered your online archives. Notary issues a certificate attesting to a file’s authenticity from, a major blockchain developer. Besides Notary, True Image offers what it calls Active Protection, which senses when files are being systematically altered. It calls this “ransomware protection,” and here is the logic behind that: Security experts widely tout consistent and frequent backups as the best way to avoid paying ransoms to unlock maliciously encrypted files, but cybercriminals can short-circuit that protection by messing with your archived files as well as those on local systems.
When True Image detects behavior that doesn’t match what it has learned about how you interact with your archived files, it stops the activity and restores your backup files. It can be set to automatically restore the original file. Besides the online backup, you can have True Image archive files locally on an external drive, but Acronis will neither send you a drive with your files (as Carbonite does) nor allow an initial hard drive upload (as IDrive does). The True Image app is available for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, but you don’t have to use the app to retrieve files; most web browsers, including Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge and Firefox will work.
Brian Nadel / IDG Searching for a document to restore (left) and starting a backup (right) using the Acronis Android app. On top of backup, Acronis provides a wide variety of utilities, such as system and drive cleanup apps. The software provides the means to easily clone a hard drive or set up a protected partition on an external hard drive for local backups. Test results True Image 2018 is for those in a hurry. At 2 hours, 49 minutes and 11 seconds, it did the fastest initial backup — one-fifth the time of the Mozy backup.
Its 4.13MBps throughput was the best of the bunch. The service took 41.2 seconds to perform an incremental update, which was slightly slower than Carbonite’s 30.8 seconds, but it was essentially tied for fastest at restoring a 130KB image file, taking 8.1 seconds to Mozy’s 8.2 seconds. And the service took only 5.1 seconds to transfer that same 130KB image file from the cloud storage to my Android tablet, the fastest of the lot. Bottom line At $100 for a year’s worth of 1TB of storage space, Acronis True Image 2018 Premium is a great value. Besides storing all your files, it protects against ransomware intrusion and uses blockchain technology to prove that the backups haven’t been tampered with.
For Acronis, security is a true differentiator. No other backup service provides more peace of mind for the money. At a glance Price: $100/year (1TB) Pros: Blockchain-based verification; local and online storage; fast backup and file retrieval; ransomware protection Cons: No hard-drive delivery option, single-user account Carbonite Personal Prime Unlimited cloud storage! Those are seductive words for anyone shopping for an online backup service, and it’s the promise of. One-year subscriptions are $150 for the Prime service, $75 for the Plus service and $60 for Basic, and Carbonite offers a 15-day free trial. Subscriptions cover one machine, whether it’s macOS or Windows.
(If you want to back up a machine running Windows Server, you’ll need one of the pricier Carbonite Office plans, which cover an unlimited number of computers.) File retrieval isn’t restricted to one machine, though. In fact, Carbonite has mobile apps for Android and iOS devices, and you can also use a web browser to grab any saved file. What’s more, Carbonite offers a backup of your backup. If for some reason you can’t rebuild your data from the online repository, Carbonite’s will ship you a USB hard drive containing every backed-up file.
For Carbonite Prime customers, this service costs $10 per use, including shipping, but the company charges $130 if you don’t return the drive. (The charge is $100 for Basic and Plus customers, so one use would double a Plus customer’s annual backup costs — and more than triple them if you don’t return that drive.) For Prime customers, it’s a bargain compared to Mozy’s similar feature. Brian Nadel / IDG Carbonite’s desktop file recovery interface lets you browse or search to find the files you want to recover. The 15.9MB program takes about three minutes to get and install. Once the software is installed, you can take a tour of its features, and you will be asked whether you want to store the 256-bit AES encryption key yourself or have Carbonite manage it for you. Keep this in mind, though: If you choose to hold your encryption key, you can’t use the mobile apps to view files.
Carbonite’s unlimited storage might lose some of its luster in your eyes when you see the types of files and folders it won’t back up, at least not automatically. Several file types (those larger than 4GB, for example, or those outside of Windows C: Users locations, or Mac Mail and Calendar files) won’t be backed up automatically but can be included if you manually select each one. Besides that, Carbonite has long lists of file types specific to and that it won’t back up at all. In addition, the company holds deleted files for only 30 days and it’s a single-use license.
My favorite feature of Carbonite is that you can use Windows Explorer (a.k.a. File Explorer) to see which files have been backed up. Carbonite adds colored dots next to an item to show whether it has been backed up or is awaiting action; a half-filled dot next to a folder means that only some of the files it contains have been designated for backup. Brian Nadel / IDG In Windows Explorer, small colored dots show which files and folders Carbonite has backed up.
Carbonite’s half-size screen can’t be resized or moved. You can use the app to schedule backups or choose to continuously back up files, set up a nightly archive and pause the backup process. Its array of customization options pales in comparison to those offered by Acronis. Test results During backups and recoveries, Carbonite stopped dead in the digital water a few times. Its initial backup of 37.8GB took 5 hours, 13 minutes and 6 seconds, more than two hours longer than Acronis’s initial archiving, with throughput of 2.01MBps — half that of Acronis. Its 30.8-second incremental update of 86MB was the fastest of the five. The service replaced a deleted file in 13.3 seconds for middle-of-the-pack performance, and it came in last when grabbing an online file from my Android tablet, at 18.6 seconds.
Bottom line At $150 per year for the Prime service, Carbonite is expensive compared to Acronis and IDrive — unless your single computer holds more than 1TB of data to be backed up. The local mirroring and hard drive delivery service are nice contingencies, but if you’re comfortable with strictly online backup (or are willing to do your own backing up to an external hard drive), the Basic and Plus plans could be good, cheaper options. Carbonite is a good option when you have one computer with a lot of data you can’t afford to lose.
At a glance Price: $150/year Pros: Unlimited storage space; recovery from a specially delivered hard drive is offered if your computer can’t access the cloud; local and online backup Cons: Expensive; certain file types have to be manually selected for backup or can’t be backed up at all; deleted data is lost after 30 days.
• MS-DOS • Microsoft Windows October 1997 17 September 2013 Grand Theft Auto ( GTA) is an created by and; the later titles of which were created by brothers and, and Aaron Garbut. It is primarily developed by (formerly ), and published. The name of the series references the term used in the US for. Most games in the series are set in fictional locales modelled on cities, usually either Liberty City, Vice City or San Andreas, which are stand-ins for New York City, Miami and the state of California, respectively.
The first game encompassed three fictional cities, while subsequent titles tend to emphasise a single setting. Focuses on an where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities, all consisting of,,, occasional, and elements. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The series also has elements of the earlier games from the. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organisation, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress. Film and music veterans have voiced characters, including,,,,,,, and. With its British origin, the series contains and.
British video game developer began the series in. As of 2014, it has eleven stand-alone games and four. The third chronological title,, is considered a landmark title, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive experience.
Subsequent titles would follow and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III, and receive significant acclaim. They subsequently influenced many other open world action games, and led to the label on similar games. The series has been critically acclaimed and commercially successful, having shipped, making it the fourth-highest selling video game franchise of all time, behind 's and franchises, and. In 2006, Grand Theft Auto featured in a list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the and the. In 2013, ranked Grand Theft Auto among Britain's most successful exports.
However, the series has also been controversial for its nature and themes. • PS3 • Xbox 360 • • Windows Notes: 1. Originally available on PlayStation 3 as part of the line via the PlayStation Network, but later replaced with a HD native release. Originally available on Xbox 360 as part of the line via the, but later replaced with a HD native release.
Main series Timeline of releases 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 The Grand Theft Auto series is split into separate, named after the primary level of graphics capability used in each era. The original, its expansions and its sequel are considered the '2D universe'. Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels are considered the '3D universe'.
Grand Theft Auto IV, its expansions and Grand Theft Auto V are considered the 'HD universe'. Each universe is considered separate with only brands, place names and background characters shared between them., the first game in the series, was released for and in October 1997, ported to the in 1998 and the in 1999. Was released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, later receiving ports on the PlayStation, and Game Boy Color.
The also featured three instalments of the main series, all of which have been re-released on several platforms; a deal between and resulted in their timed exclusivity on the PlayStation 2, before receiving ports to Microsoft Windows and the. The 2001 title moved away from the used in the first two games to; the game features characters on backgrounds.
Was published in 2002, and was the first to feature a speaking protagonist, voiced by., released in 2004, introduced various new elements, including character customisation and a large map encompassing three cities and surrounding rural area. Two main instalments were published for the and.
The 2008 title focused on realism and detail, removing various customisation features, while adding an mode., published in 2013, featured three playable protagonists. It was released to massive financial success, breaking multiple records. It was later with various enhancements, in 2014 for the and, and in 2015 for Microsoft Windows. Other games Grand Theft Auto has spawned numerous additional games and.
In 1999, the original game received two expansion packs: and., released in 2004 for the, featured a. Three games were released for the.
The 2005 game is a prequel to Grand Theft Auto III, while the 2006 game is a prequel to Vice City; both games were later ported to the PlayStation 2. In 2009, was released for the, and later ported to the PlayStation Portable.
In 2009, and were released for the as expansion packs to Grand Theft Auto IV; a ' between Rockstar and resulted in the timed exclusivity. They were later released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows as part of a compilation, titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. Numerous titles in the series have received ports to devices. Chinatown Wars was released for in 2010 and for and in 2014. For their tenth anniversaries, Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City were both re-released for iOS and Android in 2011 and 2012, respectively. In 2013, San Andreas was ported to iOS, Android & Windows Phone and RT; the mobile port was later re-released for Xbox 360 in 2014, the year of the game's tenth anniversary, and the following year for PlayStation 3. In 2015 Liberty City Stories was ported to iOS, Android & Fire OS.
Compilations Grand Theft Auto Double Pack was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It includes Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is a compilation of III, Vice City, and San Andreas. The compilation was first released in 2005 for the Xbox. Later it was released for the PlayStation 2, Windows, Mac OS X, and PlayStation 4. The Trilogy also served as the revised package for San Andreas, which had to be pulled from shelves due to the controversial. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is a standalone compilation of the episodes for Grand Theft Auto IV.
It contains both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony on one disc. It was released on 29 October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and on 13 April 2010 for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 3. Microsoft added Episodes from Liberty City to its platforms in February 2017. Related media The series has been expanded into various other formats. Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, a book written by chronicling the development of the series, was published in 2012. In March 2015, announced, a 90-minute based on the creation of Grand Theft Auto, Directed by Owen Harris and written by James Wood, the drama stars as Rockstar president and as disbarred attorney.
In May 2015, Rockstar filed a lawsuit against the BBC for trademark infringement, stating that they had no involvement with the development of the film and had unsuccessfully tried to contact the BBC to resolve the matter. It first aired on 15 September 2015 on. In 2006, published The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto.
Compiled by, the 264-page book is a collection of essays regarding the Grand Theft Auto series, to help audiences better understand the games and to make a point about due diligence of game criticism. The book is divided into two parts: the first part discusses the controversies surrounding the series, while the second half takes a theoretical look at the games absent of the controversy. A planned film adaptation of the series is unable to proceed because of a lawsuit by, who produced. In 2017, Corman said, 'I actually sued the video game manufacturer who flat-out stole the idea.
We settled out of court and they gave me some money. I retain the right to remake it, but the way it was actually written in the contract is a little bit cloudy. My lawyers are actually studying that contract to make certain that I have a clear title to remake my picture, and I will remake Grand Theft Auto.' Common elements Gameplay Each game in this series allows the player to take on the role of a criminal in the big city, typically an individual who plans to rise through the ranks of through the course of the game.
The player is given various missions by kingpins and major idols in the city underworld which must be completed to progress through the storyline. Assassinations and other are featured regularly. Occasionally driving,,,, or learning to fly and are also involved in the game. In later titles, notably those released after, the player is given a more developed storyline in which they are forced to overcome an unfortunate event (e.g., being betrayed and left for dead), which serves as motivation for the character to advance up the criminal ladder and ultimately leads to the triumph of the character by the end of the storyline. The Grand Theft Auto series belongs to a genre of free-roaming role-playing video games called games, and grants a large amount of freedom to the player. Traditional action games are structured as a single track series of levels with, but in Grand Theft Auto the player can determine the missions that they want to undertake, and their relationship with various characters are changed based on these choices. Influenced by the earlier game, the cities of the games can be roamed freely at any point in the game, and are examples of video game environments which offer accessible buildings with minor missions in addition to the main storyline.
There are exceptions: missions follow a linear, overarching plot. These missions are required to complete in order to unlock new areas in the game. Grand Theft Auto III and subsequent games have more voice acting and radio stations, which simulate driving to music with disc jockeys, radio personalities,,,, and American culture. The use of vehicles in an explorable urban environment provides a basic simulation of a working city, complete with pedestrians who generally obey traffic signals. Further details are used to flesh out an open-ended atmosphere that has been used in several other games, such as, which has less emphasis on crime or violence, and, which reverses the roles of police officer and criminal, although the player goes undercover in gangs for a portion of the game.
Criminal activities in Grand Theft Auto games do not go unnoticed by the police. As the player engages in these in-game illegal activities, they may gain a 'wanted level', represented by a maximum of five or six stars. A small crime, such as running over a, may create a one star wanted level situation, while shooting an officer may earn more stars. As the number of stars increase, the amount and strength of the response will increase; a single star might have a few police cars chase after the player, while at 5 or 6 stars, tanks and attack helicopters will chase down the player. Many in-game missions will automatically give the player a wanted level after completing a certain event which they must then get rid of before the mission is complete.
Often, trying to keep away from the police while wanted will cause the player to gain even higher wanted levels. The player can remove their character's wanted level by avoiding detection or spending in-game money at specific locations to elude the police (such as a mod shop to repaint their car). Alternatively, if the player-character dies, they will at a hospital and the wanted level will be removed, though the player may lose money, guns, and other benefits they had before being chased. The 'wanted level' gameplay concept has become common in other GTA Clones and similar open world games. Setting The Grand Theft Auto series is set in a fictional version of the world, in a number of different time periods. The original introduced three main cities: Liberty City, based upon, Vice City, based upon, and San Andreas, based upon mostly parts of.
In the first Grand Theft Auto game, San Andreas was based on San Francisco and parts of Las Vegas. Expansion packs later set the game in London. The second entry in the franchise,, set the game in the future in a locale named 'Anywhere City'. Subsequent games in the series have re-imagined and expanded upon the original locales. Is set in a different rendition of Liberty City only loosely based on New York City. A revised Vice City and San Andreas are depicted in and, respectively, the latter of which takes the form of an entire state, instead of a single city. The state of San Andreas is based on the states of and, and consists of three major cities: Los Santos (), San Fierro (), and Las Venturas ().
Surrounding towns and areas of desert, water, woodland, and countryside lie between the three cities. The GTA III rendition of Liberty City is also briefly featured during one mission. And, originally released for handheld console and later re-issued for other consoles, are set in the previous depictions of their respective cities, but in different decades. The maps for the two cities remain the same, with some differences in terms of buildings and geography to reflect the different time periods. And its subsequent expansion packs and are set in a third revision of Liberty City, set in 2008, which is a closer analogue to New York City and its boroughs than the GTA III version.
Is also set in this version of Liberty City, although the Alderney portion of the map is not present., released in 2013, is set in a revised depiction of southern San Andreas that only features Los Santos () to the south and the rural Blaine County to the north. It includes revised landmarks such as the 'Vinewood' sign (instead of ), Rockford Hills (instead of ), Del Perro Pier (instead of ), Los Santos International Airport (LSX) (instead of LAX), Los Santos Golf Club (instead of.), and Galileo Observatory (instead of ). The game also features the town of Ludendorff in the fictional state of North Yankton.
Los Angeles was extensively researched for Grand Theft Auto V. The team organised field research trips with tour guides and architectural historians and captured around 250,000 photos and hours of video footage during these visits. Since the release of the game, hundreds of in-game buildings have been identified as being based on real-world landmarks. 's Sam Sweet notes that, with sales of game reaching thirteen million copies, 'there will be more people living in the imaginary state of Los Santos than in the real city on which it was modelled.' In both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V, Los Santos and the state of San Andreas are depicted as being on an island an undetermined distance from the US mainland. In both games it is possible to circumnavigate the state by boat. Similarly, the versions of Liberty City and Alderney in Grand Theft Auto IV and expansion packs are also completely located on islands, as is Vice City.
The GTA III rendition of Liberty City however, while mostly island, is connected to mainland on its Northwest corner (a region the player cannot navigate). [ ] Only the expansion packs for the original Grand Theft Auto, and, set in, have featured a location outside the United States and used a real-life location. Voice acting The series has included a wide variety of. The original, its and its, as well as and did not feature any voice credited to specific roles. The first game in the series to do so was which, despite a limited budget and the series' low profile at the time, featured several notable actors from film and television.
These included, and, who all had prominent roles. At the time it was rare for a video game to use such high-profile actors, and Grand Theft Auto III is considered a pioneer in doing so.
The next game,, featured more film actors, including as the player character. Although the following title,, also featured many notable film actors—such as, and —it had been decided that the use of such actors should be reduced, particularly for leading roles. As a result, many of the prominent roles in San Andreas were voiced by lower profile actors or rappers. [ ] From through to, the series has continued using lesser known actors to voice main characters, but still uses celebrities and real-life radio personalities to voice the DJs of the many radio stations featured in each game. Some games also feature celebrities portraying themselves, such as,, and. [ ] Controversies According to The Guinness World Records 2008 and 2009 Gamer's Edition, it is the most controversial video game series in history, with over 4,000 articles published about it, which include accusations of violence, corrupting gamers, and connection to real life crimes.
Grand Theft Auto The game was controversial from the very first incarnation of the series. Was condemned in Britain, Germany, and France due to its 'extreme violence', and Brazil banned it outright. Planted sensational stories in in order to help sell the first game. Grand Theft Auto III. See also: The controversies flared up again with, since the 3D graphics made the violence more realistic, and players could pay for the services of prostitutes to restore their health, and if they wished, kill them to get some of their money back. There is also criticism from the focus on illegal activities in comparison with traditional 'heroic' roles that other games offer.
The main character can commit a wide variety of crimes and violent acts while dealing with only temporary consequences, including the killing of policemen and military personnel. See also: The sixth game in the series,, also came under criticism. One mission in particular, in which the player must instigate a between Haitian and Cuban gangs, has been controversial. Haitian and Cuban anti-defamation groups criticised the game. Jean-Robert Lafortune of the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition is quoted as saying that 'The game shouldn't be designed to destroy human life, it shouldn't be designed to destroy an ethnic group,' for this and similar scenarios, including lines in the game's script such as 'kill the Haitian dickheads' said by character 'Diaz' during an altercation between the player and a Haitian gang. After the threat of a lawsuit by the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, Rockstar removed the word 'Haitians' from this phrase in the game's subtitles.
Main article: San Andreas was criticised initially due to its 'gangster' elements, which include drugs, prostitution, and murder; but later due to the discovery of disabled interactive sex scenes, nicknamed Hot Coffee, which was a sexual that was cut from the game, but remained in the game code, which was discovered in both the console and versions of the game. Dubbed the ', the minigame allowed players to have sex with their in-game girlfriends.
After the release of, managed to find the unused code in the game and released for the and (with a ) as well as a version through the use of an code enabling the player to engage in these sexual mini-games (dubbed 'Hot Coffee' in reference to a euphemism for sex used in the game). These mini-games were left partially intact in the game's code. This prompted application of an AO (Adults Only) rating to the version of the game containing the leftover code. Take-Two Interactive was forced to re-release the game in order to restore the M (Mature) rating. A class action lawsuit against Take-Two was also filed as a result of the 'Hot Coffee' code. Grand Theft Auto IV.
Main article: One of the controversies involved with this game was 's (MADD) criticism of the ability to as a new feature. MADD had even requested to change the rating of the game from 'M' for ages seventeen and up to 'AO', for adults only, because they felt it was inappropriate for children, even at the age of seventeen, to experience drunk driving in such a manner. In the final game, drunk driving is a playable event, but it is a crime that automatically generates a wanted rating and main playable character loudly (and drunkenly) proclaims that it is a 'bad idea' and that he 'should know better'. Notably, it is impossible to drive while drunk in the GTA IV expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony. These were released after the criticism.
It is, however, possible to drive drunk again in the successor, Grand Theft Auto V. The Lost and Damned. ” Dan Houser, on the making of Chinatown Wars for the There has been some controversy over a drug dealing minigame along with comments that some Nintendo games are being aimed at children (despite the fact that the game was rated Mature).
The drug dealing mini-game allows players to peddle six types of drugs around the city, but the profit the player makes depends on market conditions, which will be based on the area in which they deal, and the level of regular service this area receives from them. Grand Theft Auto V.
Main article: A segment in the latest instalment caused controversy for scenes containing player initiated torture. The mission 'By the Book' features graphic depictions of kneecapping, electrocution, dental extraction and waterboarding, and the player is required to perform the acts in order to progress in the game. UK-based charity publicly condemned the use of torture scenes in Grand Theft Auto V. The organisation, who works to rehabilitate survivors of torture, joined other human rights charities who were outraged at a torture scene in the game in which the players have to pull teeth and electrocute an unarmed man in order to extract information. The charity's CEO Keith Best stated: “Rockstar North has crossed a line by effectively forcing people to take on the role of a torturer and perform a series of unspeakable acts if they want to achieve success in the game.' The game has also been accused of sexism. The considered the game's satirical portrayals of women uncreative, and added that violent and sexist themes hurt the game experience.
Edge noted that while 'every female in the game exists solely to be sneered, leered or laughed at', it treated its all-male lead characters in a similar vein through their stereotyped tendencies towards violence., Rockstar Games co-founder, felt that the development team sometimes overlooked their portrayal of women in Grand Theft Auto games, but that the weight towards male characters 'fit with the story we wanted to tell'. Lawsuits Several celebrities have sued Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive for purportedly violating their or rights, including hip-hop artist, Karen Gravano of, and actress. Lawsuits involving Jack Thompson. Further information: Former lawyer has been involved in a number of attempts to get families of murder victims to hold the Grand Theft Auto series accountable for the death of their loved ones. Due to his conduct in this and related cases, Thompson was in 2008 and was fined more than $100,000 by the Association.
On 20 October 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III) filed a US$246 million lawsuit against publishers, Software, retailer, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer. Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in on 29 October 2003 that the 'ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the free-speech clause'. The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that, but failed in his attempt to move the lawsuit into a state court and under 's consumer protection act. Two days later, the plaintiffs filed a Notice of Voluntary Dismissal, and the case was closed. In February 2005, a was brought upon the makers and distributors of the Grand Theft Auto series claiming the games caused a teenager to shoot and kill three members of the police force. The shooting took place in June 2003 when, 17 years old at the time, was taken in for questioning by police in regarding a stolen vehicle.
Moore then grabbed a pistol from one of the police officers and shot and killed him along with another officer and dispatcher before fleeing in a police car. One of Moore's attorneys, Jack Thompson, claimed it was Grand Theft Auto 's graphic nature—with his constant playing time—that caused Moore to commit the murders, and Moore's family agrees. Damages were being sought from branches of and in, the stores from which Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, respectively, were purchased and also from the games' publisher, and the manufacturer.
On 29 March 2006 the case was dismissed and permission to appeal was denied. In May 2005, Jack Thompson appeared via satellite on the program on 's. Thompson mentioned Devin Moore and said regarding and 'There's no doubt in my mind [.] that but for Devin Moore's training on this cop killing simulator, he would not have been able to kill three cops in who are now dead and in the ground. We are suing,,, and for having trained Devin Moore to kill.
He had no history of violence. No criminal record.'
In September 2006, Thompson brought another lawsuit, claiming that Cody Posey played the game obsessively before murdering his father Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother Tryone Schmid, and stepsister Marilea Schmid on a ranch in. The suit was filed on behalf of the victims' families. The suit alleged that were it not for his obsessive playing of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the murders would not have taken place. Named in the suit were Cody Posey, Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, and Sony. The suit asked for US$600 million in damages. During the criminal trial, Posey's defence team argued he was abused by his father, and tormented by his stepmother.
Posey was also taking at the time of the killings. The lawsuit was dismissed in December 2007.
Reception Aggregate review scores As of 5 February 2015. See also: The release of is treated as a major event in the, much like the release of nearly a decade earlier. During interviews to mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Grand Theft Auto III, producer of the Street Fighter series,, said 'It would be no exaggeration to say that Grand Theft Auto III changed the industry, and we can basically separate the time before and after its emergence as distinct eras.' In the same article Bethesda studios director, Todd Howard, said 'The mark of a truly great game is how many people try to recapture or emulate it and fail. There's a long line behind this one.'
Subsequent games that follow this formula of driving and shooting have been called ' Grand Theft Auto clones'. Some reviewers even extended this label to the, even though this series began years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III. Grand Theft Auto clones are a type of, where players are given the ability to drive any vehicle or fire any weapon as they explore an. These games often incorporate violent and criminal themes.
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7 This download is temporarily unavailable. Grand Theft Auto is a legendary action game that's famous for being violent and action packed. If you've played the, the original will come as a bit of a surprise. If you played the original, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is about to bring back some serious memories. Since the original Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games has gone from strength to strength, with the GTA series exploding. This partly due to the game's fantastic sandbox approach, giving players an incredible feeling of space and control.
The game takes place in three different cities: Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City and you earn points by causing damage, car sales and cashing in your criminal activities. Anyone who knows their cultural references is also going to enjoy Grand Theft Auto's subtle references to Miami Vice and Scarface. At first Grand Theft Auto seems a bit superficial.
After a while playing, you notice that the game is addictive, with bunches of clever little touches that make it really fun. If you listen to the radio while driving, for example, you'll find 7 radio stations with really professional-sounding - but invented - hits. Although it looks dated now, Grand Theft Auto is a classic game that you absolutely can not miss.