Well the trailer is out. See it here.

So the setting or the new game seems to be present day, or at least close to it, New York City. The character is an immigrant, seemingly (to me) of middle eastern origin, although some people have said they think he's Russian. Either way, he's not been a nice guy in the past, he says he's done all sorts of stuff, including selling people. But he's hoping it will be different in New York. Yeah, right!

I've seen mixed reactions so far. Some people like the great graphics and the stylish way the trailer is cut (good music too). I've seen others though, complaining that the more realistic graphical style will make GTA even more abhorrent than before. In their eyes, the slightly more cartoony/stylised grahics in previous iterations are what stopped it from being truly heinous.

I'm sure the media will have a field day with a fact that you're a middle eastern slaver in New York, wreaking criminal mayhem. Me? I want to see actual gameplay and find out what, if any, innovations are present.

He seemed Russian to me. It also doesn't seem "smart" from a business point of view to have an middle eastern man as the main character & bad guy in the current political climate.

I think the game looks amazing and I can't wait!

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by Chambler
He seemed Russian to me. It also doesn't seem "smart" from a business point of view to have an middle eastern man as the main character & bad guy in the current political climate.

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Since when is anything Rockstar do 'smart' in any political climate?

They make their money from controversy.

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by Maffrew
Since when is anything Rockstar do 'smart' in any political climate?

They make their money from controversy.

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True they do make their money from controversy but even so you have to be very smart about it otherwise there is no money to be made in controversy.

You want to be controversial enough to attract a media hype but not so controversial that you alienate the majority of your buyers and become a niche product. Also you have to smart enough to create games balancing on the edge of what is "tolerable" because of the hype and the opposition from groups like "the mothers of America" yet aren't over the edge so you end up losing court battles.

Due to the cold war (and all the movies etc about it) and the general sense that a lot of crime brews there nowadays people will want to identify with a Russian baddy just like they would with an Italian mobster. I think that Rockstar wouldn't go a middle eastern baddy because it's still too fresh which possibly would alienate a large number of their followers if they would have a middle eastern baddy committing crimes to fund terrorism or whatever.

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by Chambler
(quotes)
I think that Rockstar wouldn't go a middle eastern baddy because it's still too fresh which possibly would alienate a large number of their followers if they would have a middle eastern baddy committing crimes to fund terrorism or whatever.

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No one said the character had any ties to terrorism.

I agree, having a middle eastern character would be much, much more controversial than a Russian one, however, i'm not entirely convinced Rockstar wouldn't go that far. But you may be right, maybe he's Russian. I (and other people i've seen on message boards) thought he was middle eastern based on a) his darker skin and general appearance and b) the accent.

Now, listening to it again, he does sound more Russian than middle eastern. But maybe he's in the middle, i.e. far eastern Russian, Kazhakstan or somewhere like that.

Either way... forget that!

What do you want to see in the game? Are there any particular things you'd like to see Rockstar change, add or subtract from the game?

I played Vice City, and didn't like the weapons handling or aiming at all, so i'd like to see that improved.

Well, it's picking up negative publicity already - NYC officials are upset about the game location's likeness to their beloved home hamlet.

Click here for the article.

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In previous versions of the game, players killed both police officers and prostitutes, and sold pornography to children.

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I obviously missed something when I played GTA:SA, didn't I?