Rockstar gets lots of things — like how to make and launch hugely successful games. But what's one thing Rockstar does not get? Like at all? Company co-founder Sam Houser explains:

The division doesn't make sense to us; good games will usually sell and be popular, bad games will struggle - of any type or genre or style. But we still believe big, high impact games will help the industry evolve and further surpass the movie industry as the next mass-market story telling medium.

...We always tried to make games that anyone could pick up and play. They may, over time, reveal a lot of structural and mechanical complexity, but the first mission of more or less any Rockstar game is very easy and engaging for a reason - because new people playing the game have to be gently led into the world of 3D action games, or open world racing games or whatever. This is the way we try to cater for a mass market ­- but we are focused on making digital worlds that are fun to explore and interlaced with rich narratives, that even the most casual player can become a part of, if they want to. The challenge is to make a game in which 'depth' does not result in complexity the first minutes you play. This is a challenge we've always tried to embrace, and I hope we are getting better at it, just as I hope we are getting better at everything.

Also, in the interview, Houser says Rockstar doesn't believe in focus testing, saying "it's like asking an audience what album they want to hear - they don't know until they hear it!" Yep, that sums it up perfectly. We've always wondered why there is a separation between "casual" and "core" players. Should all games support both? Otherwise, game companies are being elitist or just pandering.

Grand Theft Auteur - Part 2 [Develop]

Rockstar Games gets lots of hate. And that's a shame, because Rockstar makes good games, which make lots of money. So we guess that balances it, so whatever. Here's company co-founder/president Sam Houser on that:

Most of the people who hate us are people it is truly an honour to be hated by — reactionary creeps with strange agendas — and the Daily Mail. Most people who know about modern pop culture know about GTA and like or dislike it on its own merits...

I think we [Sam and his brother and co-founder Dan] are both depressed at how boring we really are and how unexciting even the worse fabrications and exaggerations are when you read about them. None of it seems very rock and roll, so we find it a little sad, when there are probably better stories that could be written about both us and the industry/medium. No sharks, groupies or pounds of coke or anything fun at all. We read like angry dorks, which might be true, but is certainly not very exciting.

So all you haters, just think of Rockstar as angry dorks. That, and take deep breaths.

Grand Theft Auteur - Part 1 [Develop Mag via CVG]

BioShock dev Ken Levine isn't all about Ken Levine. He's also all about Grand Theft Auto IV dev Sam Houser. Good for him! Here's Levine on Houser, his new BFF:

He is absolutely the most intense guy in the world... He's like Rasputin, you know. He's intense... But that's how you make great stuff. You don't make great stuff by wearing a nice sweater and drinking a martini: you make great stuff by digging your fucking teeth in... I know Sam now... I've been lucky enough to get to know Sam... Since BioShock's come out — I was a huge fan of his, and I think he really liked the game, and he felt is was something that was greatly interesting. I can't speak for Sam, you know, but that's my interpretation of what he said.

Hey, the martini and nice sweater racket did wonders for Frank Sinatra. That guy was no slouch.

Houser made GTA by digging his "fucking teeth in," says Levine [VG247]

As savvy a piss-take on modern America as the Grand Theft Auto series has become, it's always worth remembering that it's not an American series. It's a British one. Rockstar are a British company (as were DMA), their founders, British. And with the GTA series nestled securely atop the gaming world in terms of both critical acclaim and popularity, Develop are wondering...when can we expect the series to start getting some serious recognition? Sure, they may have their tongue resting gently inside their cheeks when pondering how long til we see "the inevitable coming of Sir Sam Houser, or Dan Houser OBE", but the point itself is still valid! France are down with bestowing major recognition upon noted game developers, you can't help but wonder when places like Britain (and the US) will start doing likewise.

Knights of the Sandbox City [Develop]

Many analysts have theorised that Electronic Arts' ongoing bid for Take-Two has quite a lot to do with the talent in the Rockstar stable. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rockstar's Sam Houser reveals he actually wanted to work for EA in the 1990s - and was rejected for a job.

Now, though, Houser tells the WSJ that in the event of an acquisition by EA, Houser wouldn't mind being "a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond."

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1UP recently interviewed Rockstar's Sam Houser. You should probably go read the whole thing, as it touches on some interesting stuff, but one thing's probably more interesting than the rest. It's where Houser says what we've been saying for a long time now: the 360 needs to sort out the issue of its non-compulsory HDD usage:

One of the problems with the 360, and it affects games like Grand Theft Auto if you think about how much content we put in the actual machine, is the fact that they don't have a significantly larger storage medium than the previous systems.

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Grand Theft Auto, the massively multiplayer version, seems like an inevitability. With downloadable content coming for the Xbox 360 version and a game so stuffed with data that it pushes DVD size limitations, an MMO take on the game with digitally delivered content sounds like the next logical step. Sam Houser, one of the founders of Rockstar Games, agrees, telling EGM/1UP that "a subscription-based Grand Theft Auto-type game...is very, very doable and is a very, very compelling proposition."

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