Grand Theftendo Magazine Coverage

[Brian_Provinciano]

Hi all. It's come to my attention that a number of magazines have featured articles on Grand Theftendo. Unfortunately, only a few emailed me prior to the articles. I would love to know which magazines and which issues have featured my game, as I've heard numorous names, but not a lot of specifics. And, since most are sealed in plastic at the stores, I can't check them without buying them. Any help would be appreciated.

I have the GamePro and Retro Gamer mags, but that's it so far. There are a few more I'm aware of, but haven't been able to get my hands on them yet. I find it funny how many magazines didn't email me for non-watermarked screen shots, and just printed the original ones with the big "grandtheftendo.com" across them, heh. That was kind of the purpose of the watermarks to begin with, so they would contact me prior.

[classicb]

It was also featured in the newest EGM with some other 2D efforts called "back to the begining" It even had some input from Rockstar and what they thought.

hah i just looked at the article and sure enough a huge yellow watermark going across the screen

[Brian_Provinciano]

It was also featured in the newest EGM with some other 2D efforts called "back to the begining" It even had some input from Rockstar and what they thought.

hah i just looked at the article and sure enough a huge yellow watermark going across the screen

Cool. I'll be sure to pick it up tomorrow. To be fair, EGM did contact me first, but they had a fast deadline and I wasn't able to get them screen shots quickly enough.

[classicb]

in case you wanted to read it tonight

article

Whereas most fan-made games you'll find on the Internet are very reminiscent of the Super Nintendon era (in terms of visuals), Brian Provinciano is going really old school with a simpler makeover for Grand Theft Auto III's Portland area (development on Grand Theftendo started back in the middle of 2003). "As a longtime GTA fan, I had always planned on creating my own version as a spare-time hobby project," Provinciano stated on his website. "I really enjoy low-level programming and love tapping into the power of systems in ways no one else has done before."

Rockstar

A Publisher's View

We asked Rockstar, creators of the famed Grand Theft Auto series, what it thinks of projects like Grand Theftendo. "We find it extremely flattering, and some of the creations are really impressive," says PR Manager Chris Carro. "The only thing that gets a little weird is when fans want to make money off their work, at which point they put us in the uncomfortable position of reminding them they don't own the intellectual property. However, thankfully that is very rare, and we appreciate the effort and creativity that the fans have shown and look forward to seeing more of their work."

[JJNova]

I remember reading that article the day EGM came in the amil (Yes, I subscribed) and thought the same thing I just thought while re-reading it, "That's a very good outlook from Rockstar". I do believe the magazine also covered a homebrew sequal to an RPG, that looked just as good as the original, and the guys working on it were forced to stop production. Which sucked, because it looked magnificent. So congrats on good words form the developers, and we look forward.

As you can tell from the Time stamp, this is posted really early in the morning. I'll edit it later in the day when my wits are about me.

[rbudrick]

That's cool they have no problem with Brian's work....a lot of companies would go in a totally different direction with that. I really want to see Brian finish this...

That's cool knowing that though...I was starting to wonder if Rockstar was going to catch wind and send a cease and desist order.

-Rob

[badinsults]

Ha, Rockstar is awesome to let you keep going, and offer encouragement.

[SoulBlazer]

As long as he does'nt try to make any money off it, most companies are willing to look the other way on fan made projects like this. Take Tierra's remakes of King's Quest 1 and 2 for the PC. I'm SURE Sierra knows about the games but Tierra covered themselves well.

[Jorpho]

Um, the Tierra name is dead. The company in question is now known as Anonymous Game Developers Interactive (ADGI).

I do believe the magazine also covered a homebrew sequal to an RPG, that looked just as good as the original, and the guys working on it were forced to stop production. Which sucked, because it looked magnificent.

Any idea what RPG that was?

[classicb]

Any idea what RPG that was?

I think he's talking about the Chrono Resurrection project. It was also mentioned in the article

[Ed Oscuro]

There's a few interesting possible reasons for Brian's work to be treated differently from that of the Chrono Res. team: Brian's work doesn't compete in the modern market (who didn't want that CR game after seeing those screenshots?), and no one would would suggest that Rockstar has been slow to bring out games people like.

As for their failing to contact you...I expected that; all I'm surprised about is that it took them this long to find out about your project! These articles (at least the 1Up style) tend to be miniature features sort of like a /. news post, just without a link to check out.

[Neil Koch]

Brian> when you finish, are you going to release the ROM in some way.

I checked out your site the other day and the graphics look about as good as the new GBA GTA game that came out... great job so far!

[long_shawn_silver]

I'm still waiting with anticipaction for the ROM, I emailed Brian about 5 months ago asking about the release date\when a demo would be avalible and he told me "it will be ready when its ready" I just keep hearing snipits here and there about Grand Thieftendo and cannot wait to burn it on a chip to play on my real NES, I mean play it on an illegal emulator, I mean, doh!!