The false newspaper story was also accompanied by what was implied to be the cover of the game. A lawyer for the newspaper acknowledged that the claims against Rockstar were untrue and apologized for the "upset and damaged caused."
Rockstar wins 'substantial' damages for GTA Rothbury story
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Oct 4th 2010 12:47PM
42
The false newspaper story was also accompanied by what was implied to be the cover of the game. A lawyer for the newspaper acknowledged that the claims against Rockstar were untrue and apologized for the "upset and damaged caused."
Reader Comments (43)
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 12:54PM Revving Injuns said
Well good for RockStar for standing up against irresponsible journalism.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 2:11PM JonahStein said
@Revving Injuns
For real. You know the writer and editor of this UK piece (I don't dare call them joumalists!) have no clue about gaming , when it says "Xbox hit Grand Theft Auto." Is "Xbox" just generic for "videogame" in the UK?
Eveybody knows that GTA became a hit series when GTA3 dropped on the PS2.
(pushes up taped dork glasses)
I mean, come on... Sheesh.
Reply
For real. You know the writer and editor of this UK piece (I don't dare call them joumalists!) have no clue about gaming , when it says "Xbox hit Grand Theft Auto." Is "Xbox" just generic for "videogame" in the UK?
Eveybody knows that GTA became a hit series when GTA3 dropped on the PS2.
(pushes up taped dork glasses)
I mean, come on... Sheesh.
Posted: Oct 5th 2010 2:41AM PlasticRat said
@JonahStein
Gah, these kids and their damned Nintendo tapes! Running around shooting hookers with Mario. It's disgusting.
Reply
Gah, these kids and their damned Nintendo tapes! Running around shooting hookers with Mario. It's disgusting.
Posted: Oct 5th 2010 4:44PM SoCoolCurt said
@Revving Injuns
yea i agree. it's not like Rockstar doesn't have a hard enough time as it is with people in the press constantly bad mouthing the game. i'm sure alot of people actually believed this obviously BS story when they heard it too. good for Rockstar.
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yea i agree. it's not like Rockstar doesn't have a hard enough time as it is with people in the press constantly bad mouthing the game. i'm sure alot of people actually believed this obviously BS story when they heard it too. good for Rockstar.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 12:54PM darksonic said
Good for Rockstar. They have enough shit to worry about with their real games; they don't need more crap from games that don't exist.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 12:55PM Hyams said
The Daily Star is obviously an extreme case, but British newspapers are all so full of shit.
Thank god for news.bbc.co.uk
Thank god for news.bbc.co.uk
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 12:56PM Hoops said
This is lawsuit worthy? How could anyone look at that cover and think it was real? It's a terrible looking hackjob.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:10PM DarkTetsuya said
@Hoops
Well obviously the Daily Star did, certainly didn't give enough of a rat's ass to check and see if it was actually real or not.
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Well obviously the Daily Star did, certainly didn't give enough of a rat's ass to check and see if it was actually real or not.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:17PM Mehbah said
@Hoops
Because the article claims it's a game. Pay attention. And how the hell do you expect everyone to realize the cover isn't real? There are people who would be amazed if they learned that even MS Paint existed.
As for Rockstar's victory: Good. The punishment isn't nearly severe enough, though. Anyone who intentionally spreads a lie should be killed. Anyone who does that truly deserves to die. Even more so if it's intended to hurt someone in any way.
A newspaper that posts a complete lie such as this should be shut down any no one involved with the story should be allowed to get another journalism job ever. You don't spread a lie and get away with it with a loss of anything but money.
Reply
Because the article claims it's a game. Pay attention. And how the hell do you expect everyone to realize the cover isn't real? There are people who would be amazed if they learned that even MS Paint existed.
As for Rockstar's victory: Good. The punishment isn't nearly severe enough, though. Anyone who intentionally spreads a lie should be killed. Anyone who does that truly deserves to die. Even more so if it's intended to hurt someone in any way.
A newspaper that posts a complete lie such as this should be shut down any no one involved with the story should be allowed to get another journalism job ever. You don't spread a lie and get away with it with a loss of anything but money.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:24PM Hoops said
@jumpshot Video game magazines do their April Fool's issues all the time. EGM makes up a story every month and doesn't tell you it's an April Fools' joke, and people believe it every year. Do they get sued? I would have to see the context that this was originally put in, but I fail to see how this fake story damages Rockstar in any way.
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Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:32PM TheDarkWayne said
@Hoops I have no idea what you're talking about, I have never read an april fool's issue that didnt essentially say "HEY! IT'S APRIL FOOLS! ALL THIS STUFF IS CRAP!" Game informer even puts theirs in a separate half with a fake cover inside the real issue
Reply
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:37PM FZero said
@Hoops
magazines and newspapers (albeit tabloids) are totally different things. you don't read a magazine to find out what's going on in the world - you read your newspaper/website, watch cnn. these are the big guys who you rely on to present you with facts.
magazines don't fall into that category - they are much more specialised. yes they involve journalistic activities, but no, they are not expected or required to make unbiased reports on facts. that automatically puts magazines into the 'less trustworthy' group of sources
video game magazines are tailored towards people with specific knowledge in that field - tabloids and newspapers are not, and they also have much larger readerships. you can see the effects of false reporting magnified much more with a paper than with a video game magazine then i should think..
Reply
magazines and newspapers (albeit tabloids) are totally different things. you don't read a magazine to find out what's going on in the world - you read your newspaper/website, watch cnn. these are the big guys who you rely on to present you with facts.
magazines don't fall into that category - they are much more specialised. yes they involve journalistic activities, but no, they are not expected or required to make unbiased reports on facts. that automatically puts magazines into the 'less trustworthy' group of sources
video game magazines are tailored towards people with specific knowledge in that field - tabloids and newspapers are not, and they also have much larger readerships. you can see the effects of false reporting magnified much more with a paper than with a video game magazine then i should think..
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:39PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
@Hoops
You do realize that EGM/1up produce these stories with clues as to them actually being April Fool's jokes right?
"The joke was usually placed in an inconspicuous place in the magazine, and was normally treated as if it was a genuine piece of news that was being written about. Through careful observation, however, readers could pick out several signs that the story may be a joke:
* The use of the number 41 (4/1 - April 1st).
* A letter written by a reader from the state HA (HA is often used as onomatopoeia for laughter. There is no state with the postal code of HA - Hawaii is HI).
* A phonetic or hidden spelling of the phrase "April Fools" or "Fooled Again."
Reply
You do realize that EGM/1up produce these stories with clues as to them actually being April Fool's jokes right?
"The joke was usually placed in an inconspicuous place in the magazine, and was normally treated as if it was a genuine piece of news that was being written about. Through careful observation, however, readers could pick out several signs that the story may be a joke:
* The use of the number 41 (4/1 - April 1st).
* A letter written by a reader from the state HA (HA is often used as onomatopoeia for laughter. There is no state with the postal code of HA - Hawaii is HI).
* A phonetic or hidden spelling of the phrase "April Fools" or "Fooled Again."
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 2:16PM MICHAEL ATKINSON said
@Mehbah lie is what journo' and pollies do best.if no lies you wont buy papers or vote !
Reply
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:05PM MICHAEL ATKINSON said
SO does this mean tha grand theft auto driving miss daisy is a fake too? damn was looking forward to that.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:05PM Hunter141072 said
that´s great!!! cool for rockstar!!! ...Now they can start working on the GTA Rothbury expansion for real.....
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:41PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
@(Unverified)
Whether you were joking or not, that was in poor taste.
Reply
Whether you were joking or not, that was in poor taste.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:16PM gamerkim28 said
lol
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:18PM technoKyle said
I honestly can't understand how they thought they would get away with this.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:22PM Nigeria said
To think that the proprietor of this paper, Richard Desmond, also owns the Express, Sunday Express, some other low rent rags, and now Channel Five.
Everything Desmond touches reeks of despair; he's like an even smuttier version of Rupert Murdoch, if you can imagine.
Everything Desmond touches reeks of despair; he's like an even smuttier version of Rupert Murdoch, if you can imagine.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 4:09PM GarcianSmith said
@Nigeria
He's also responsible for Television X - which sits rather nicely with The Express' "Family Values" angle...
As to the story at hand, this shows just how misrepresented the Game Industry is to the larger Media, unforunately.
Ironically, there's probably a shite ITV Drama in the works.
Reply
He's also responsible for Television X - which sits rather nicely with The Express' "Family Values" angle...
As to the story at hand, this shows just how misrepresented the Game Industry is to the larger Media, unforunately.
Ironically, there's probably a shite ITV Drama in the works.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:26PM (Unverified) said
I hope the batbaby and bigfoot presses charges against the tabloids too. These "journalists" go too far. D:
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:27PM KindredWarr said
I'm just glad the guy who wrote that story has to eat his own words (and pay out the ass) especially after say this..
"“These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who’ve today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto!”
So, he's that much better because he writes odd fanfic and publishes it as non-fanfic then gets called on it?
Up yours buddy, have fun paying for it and having every other story you write be questioned (well.. probably not considering it's a UK shit rag).
"“These are grown (?!?) men who sit around all day playing computer games with one another who’ve today chosen to enter the real world just long enough to complain about my story slamming a Raoul Moat version of Grand Theft Auto!”
So, he's that much better because he writes odd fanfic and publishes it as non-fanfic then gets called on it?
Up yours buddy, have fun paying for it and having every other story you write be questioned (well.. probably not considering it's a UK shit rag).
Posted: Oct 5th 2010 3:05PM xxxsam said
@KindredWarr
He's surely not paying for it personally. The newspaper is responsible for libel damages (and as it's a tabloid, you can bet they eat a LOT of libel damages; they'll have a regular fund set aside for it).
As for credibility, again, this is a tabloid, so, yeah, no difference there.
While this is a funny story, and it's particularly entertaining that they actually got caught out this time - making up an offensive game is about a million miles away from being the most disturbing lie peddled by the tabloid press...
Reply
He's surely not paying for it personally. The newspaper is responsible for libel damages (and as it's a tabloid, you can bet they eat a LOT of libel damages; they'll have a regular fund set aside for it).
As for credibility, again, this is a tabloid, so, yeah, no difference there.
While this is a funny story, and it's particularly entertaining that they actually got caught out this time - making up an offensive game is about a million miles away from being the most disturbing lie peddled by the tabloid press...
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:35PM Scatter said
I thought that satire was allowed? Just by looking at the cover of the game you can tell it's bogus.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:42PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
@Scatter
The story posted was no where near satire. They presented their "find" as facts.
Reply
The story posted was no where near satire. They presented their "find" as facts.
Posted: Oct 5th 2010 9:09AM Mayne Event said
@Anticrawl Satire and parody are protected as long as they're presented as such. In that case, the Photoshopped cover itself is fine (I would assume by UK standards, as well), but it's the article's ignorant claims that the existence of said Photoshopped cover is proof that Rockstar were hot on the heels of the event and were developing a game to capitalize on it that were a big no-no.
Reply
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:47PM TheTARDIS said
Wait, if this isn't real, what did I spend 20 euros pre-ordering?
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 1:58PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
@TheTARDIS
My homemade porno. GTA Rothbury is the codename. The real name is "Journey to the center of Linka's Earth".
Reply
My homemade porno. GTA Rothbury is the codename. The real name is "Journey to the center of Linka's Earth".
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 2:46PM Special Agent Bob said
@Captain Planet Planeteer Power
You did some pretty amazing work in that one cap
Reply
You did some pretty amazing work in that one cap
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 2:47PM bones8677 said
What sickens me the most is that the tabloid, knowing full well that the game was fake, went so far as to call up the victims of the events to pull quotes out of them.There must be a special ring in Hell for people like that.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 3:19PM thelolotov said
@bones8677 I remember someone else saying the exact same thing back when this originally happened.
Insensitive pricks.
Reply
Insensitive pricks.
Posted: Oct 4th 2010 3:22PM PedoJokerBear said
in other news, Grand Theft Auto: Rothbury was announced today....
Posted: Oct 5th 2010 5:08PM rossguitar said
the daily star are absolute stupid for even thinking that they were gunna make that game, they didnt even check to see if it was real or not and pretty much harrassed the griefing family members, lol silly people.
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