Rockstar's Dan Houser talks (and talks and talks) GTA 4

by Kyle Orland { Apr 21st 2008 at 6:45PM }

Rockstar President Dan Houser doesn't talk to the press much, but when he does, he lets it aaaaaaall out. Variety's Cut Scene blog sat down with Houser and helped him deliver a 90-minute, 6371 word treatise on everything from the potential for a Grand Theft Auto movie to a comparison of console storage capacities.

Those with shorter attention spans would probably rather check out the condensed profile article, where Houser reveals the thinking behind his relatively low profile: "While (people) may find it interesting in the short term to read whatever crap I have to say, in the long term, the less they know about us, the more they are able to lose themselves in the world of our games." That's a good point, but as members of the gaming press, we'd appreciate it if our readers were able to get lost in whatever crap you have to say and then lose themselves in the world of your games. It would work out, like, 1,000 times better for us, is all.

Read – Summary profile
Read – Extended interview

Tags: dan-houser, grand-theft-auto, grand-theft-auto-4, GTA4, GTAIV, houser, rockstar, take-two

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

yomachaser @ Apr 21st 2008 6:55PM

That is one odd looking human being.

j.howlett @ Apr 21st 2008 7:39PM

he doesn't look too odd to me, and he reminds me of jimmy from bully

Shmil @ Apr 21st 2008 7:59PM

He's just trying to fit in.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Apr 21st 2008 11:25PM

aj soprano.

Tiptup300 @ Apr 22nd 2008 12:42AM

Heh, think about this, if that guy is odd, imagine what yomachaser thinks is normal!

ApolloIV @ Apr 21st 2008 7:02PM

He looks like he just got out of a jail in Liberty City. Maybe the game is a retelling from his point of view.

Fernando Rocker @ Apr 21st 2008 7:08PM

He kinda looks like a Conehead.

RitzKrave @ Nov 30th 2008 1:51PM

"the less they know about us, the more they are able to lose themselves in the world of our games"

I totally agree with him, for example since I know the voice actor behind Super Mario I can't lose myselve in Mario games anymore, because everytime Mario says something I can only think of that weird man from that GameTrailers interview...

albinogoldfish @ Apr 21st 2008 7:08PM

Oh Rockstar, its funny to see you guys take yourself so seriously. "More along the lines of Movies rather than other games" hah...you guys...

Markez @ Apr 21st 2008 7:13PM

A GTAIV movie would absolutely, and utterly suck. It'd be a horrible, dime-a-dozen, generic movie with zero charm.

Can anybody counterargue this? I mean, cmon, fantastic and engaging game to play through, but a movie, really?

Shmil @ Apr 21st 2008 7:29PM

It'd just be another gang/mob/mafia movie. Nothing special. Considering there are so many good mob movies this would get washed away like a leaf in a storm.

Shmil @ Apr 21st 2008 7:17PM

Well, according to a Wired article I read a good while ago, Dan Houser is a bit of a hoser (see what i did there?) can anyone confirm this?

Benny @ Apr 21st 2008 7:23PM

Is the length of this compensating for his lack or hair or the size of his penis? Thoughts, please.

BIGGEN @ Apr 21st 2008 7:28PM

that is QUITE the forehead he has there, eh?

does anyone know how i can get a hold of this guy? i have a movie idea that is not a fail.

jacob @ Apr 21st 2008 7:51PM

you mean "quite the FIVEhead..."

Cancerboy @ Apr 21st 2008 7:29PM

"Dan Houser is, however, really really reluctant to have people in the press talking about him instead of his games."

Wow. I can see his fears were unfounded. I thought this was an excellent article. I guess if you are 12 you don't read the articles but just poke fun at the pictures.

BIGGEN @ Apr 21st 2008 7:34PM

well, i'm 32, so i poked fun because i damn well wanted to poke fun. so how old do you have to be to tell other people when and how to poke fun, huh?

Cancerboy @ Apr 21st 2008 7:39PM

At least 33

:)

BIGGEN @ Apr 21st 2008 7:41PM

bravo cancerboy, bravo >:)

ronald.raygun @ Apr 21st 2008 7:52PM

when did the lead singer of staind start making video games?

booticon @ Apr 21st 2008 8:45PM

I knew this day would come. I've been looking forward to GTA4 more than any other game in recent memory.

And just a few moments ago, while my girlfriend was playing Rock Band, my fucking 360 RRoDs.

I hate life right now.

na2ru1 @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:52PM

lol.

A whole week without gaming. thats fine.

yet money is still taken from a service you paid for. nice tactics MS

Richie @ Apr 21st 2008 9:07PM

I don't care about his crap talk. I want to hear more about the 360 exclusive dlc.

Deck @ Apr 21st 2008 11:06PM

Just finished the extended version of the article. Was a very very, excellent and in-depth look of it. Really enjoyed it.

Anyone, anyone who is interested in GTAIV (all of us?) should go and read it. I can understand how many don't want to read so much text but this was SO worth it.

dsub @ Apr 21st 2008 11:48PM

Good article, the one in this months EGM was fantastic as well. I made me go from excited to play GTAIV to I can't wait until it comes out.

The depth of the gameplay sounds incredible. Everything from being able to call the police on an enemy by dialing 911 on your cell to being able to look up dossiers on a police computer inside a stolen police car just sounds incredible. They actually took the time to create a living breathing city. However, I fear that in the process, GTA may have lost some of that comic value that the series always had as well.