It's long been a subject of fan speculation as to how much Rockstar Games changed Grand Theft Auto III in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. In the decade-plus since GTA III came out, rumors have abounded: cut sequences where planes hit buildings, a supposedly removed pair of Twin Towers-style skyscrapers and the erasure of children and school buses.

Some things did change about GTA III after 9/11—changes Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser noted late last year—but not as much as conspiracy theorists would have you believe.

In the latest look back at the creation of GTA III, the New York City-based publisher of Red Dead Redemption and L.A. Noire runs down how the terrorist attacks on the United States affected the PS2 classic. Rockstar says that the game wound up being only "1% different":

We removed only one mission that referenced terrorists and changed a few other cosmetic details – car details, a couple of [pedestrian] comments, lines of radio dialogue etc – the game came out a very short time later. The biggest change was the US packaging which remixed the previous packaging into what became our signature style – because the previous packaging [which was released as the cover of the game in Europe] was, we felt, too raw after 9/11.

That rawness might have something to do with the explosions happening against a urban back drop. One of the best games ever—which had players engaging in all kinds of criminal mayhem in a virtual homage to New York City—came out only a short while after the greatest tragedy to happen on American soil. The proximity could be little uncomfortable, when you think about it. But Rockstar's comments indicate that the GTA III that players got was 99% the game the developers wanted to deliver.

But the rumored removal of schoolbuses and children? Not true, they point out today. And they say the game definitely didn't have any Twin Towers that needed to be cut.

Other GTA III mysteries that get covered include the ghostly multiplayer menus buried deep in the game's code, why the Dodo plane doesn't fly and the Liberty City bridges and tunnels that lead to nowhere. GTA III conspiracy theories may be fun, but it's far more fascinating to learn about some of the process behind making the game that changed open-world design forever.

Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part Two [Rockstar Newswire]

Merry (belated) Christmas, owners of the recently-released Grand Theft Auto III on iOS and Android. That mobile version you bought is actually, in almost every respect, the old PC version of the original, meaning if you can get at its file structure, you can use PC mods on it.

For Android users it's as easy as going to your Android/Data/com.rockstar.gta3/files/GTA3 directory, while iOS users may need to get a little trickier (or have a jailbroken unit).

This isn't a complicated workaround; because this is essentially the PC code running on a phone, you just find PC mods and drop them in the right directory and they should work, same as they would on a computer.

Unexpected bonus: Grand Theft Auto III for Android and iOS can be easily modded [The Verge]

You might be celebrating GTA III's 10th Anniversary by playing it on your iOS or Android device, with that version freshly out today. Rockstar's celebrating in a different way, though. On their official site, the developer's revealing all kinds of trivia and minutiae about the open-world crime game that put them on the map.

For example, why does Claude not speak when nearly every other character does?

Rockstar says:
It may now seem obvious that people should all talk in games, but this was not necessarily the case in 2001, certainly not in an open world game. We were making up a lot of procedures as we went along, and we decided that the NPCs (Non Playable Characters) should talk and we would have to figure out how to make them talk (using motion captured cutscenes, something that had never really been done before, at least not on the scale we were doing it). So we decided that the game's protagonist would not talk, partly to aid people identifying with him, but mostly because we had so many other problems to solve and this did not seem like a major issue. We started to discuss introducing a talking lead character when working on Vice City, but it was a lot of work. While the structure of GTA3 may seem obvious or natural now, and the use of cutscenes made in the game's engine that look and feel like the game may seem simple and easy, it really was not the case back in 2001 when we had to figure out all of these things for the first time. Oh and in San Andreas, CJ calls Claude a mute because he does not talk and CJ finds this unnerving.

Ever wonder about the Darkel character mentioned in the original game's instruction book but who never appears in the game? Here's the answer:

Rockstar says:
Darkel was just a crazy bum who gave you some crazy missions. They were removed a few months before the game was done and long before 9/11 because they just weren't as good as the rest of the game, and tonally they were a little odd. He started with 5 missions and they were slowly all cut. When only one or 2 were left, they were all removed as the character just didn't work alongside the other characters.

The Q&A also showcases the design sketches seen above for Claude offers up other interesting tidbits about the landmark GTA game. Head on over to the site for more.

Grand Theft Auto III: Your Questions Answered – Part One (Claude, Darkel & Other Characters) [Rockstar Games]

Using the wonders of the personal computer, the team at GTAVTV went out and recreated the Grand Theft Auto V trailer, shot-for-shot, only instead of being set in Los Santos it's in GTAIV's Liberty City.

You can catch the original below for comparison's sake.

GTA 5 Trailer Remade in Liberty City [GTAVTV, via VG247]

It might be seven years old, but that doesn't mean commenter Cheese Addict can't find a positive racial statement lurking in the back alleys of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It's never too late to Speak Up on Kotaku.

I've been thinking about racism in the media and racism in games, particularly since I finally started playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (I know, slowpoke.gif). Whenever the media tackles racism, it's always about how someone has to have their preconceptions corrected through some humbling experience, or simply using a racist character to demonstrate that it's wrong. There's also ironic (?) usage of racist stereotypes, like the triads' voices in GTA3. (What the hell are they saying anyways?)

Yet after getting to Zero's first mission, I'm starting to think GTA: SA's character interaction is the best example of how lack of racism can be portrayed: characters from vastly different backgrounds can speak to each other without moderating their slang or tone of speech, they understand each other completely, and make no comments whatsoever about each other's vocabulary, background or speech patterns. They just communicate as human beings.

In real life, two people like CJ and Zero wouldn't be able to talk to each other comfortably without all the racial baggage. It's cool to see what it would be like without it all.

Sexual harassment is awful. Many people—often politicians, it seems—say things or create situations that make others uncomfortable. So Bolt insurance agency created a chart explaining "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace".

Specific examples include: "Constant and repeated requests for a date or unwanted flirting", "Unwanted jokes, gestures, comments and repartee", and "Displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures or posters in the workplace" as well as "Playing sexual suggestive movies, music, games or video clips in the workplace".

In that last example, Grand Theft Auto IV's iconic art is pictured on a laptop. Look for Bolt's follow-up chart, "Using Intellectual Property without Permission".

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Infographic [Bolt via BusinessInsider Thanks, Anthony!]