There is a familiar pattern to media coverage whenever Rockstar publishes a game. There is talk about how the developer has used its newest game to iterate upon and redefine the open world genre. There are almost always articles on how various Hollywood films influenced Rockstar's development process. And there are at least one or two polemics that attack the developer for transgressing established norms about what can and cannot be done in video games. This last type of essay inevitably concludes that video games are bad, and lead to an increase in interpersonal violence as well as the downfall of civilisation.

What's interesting about this pattern of coverage is how often it overlooks Rockstar's own development and publishing habits, most notably the company's steady development and publication of games set in the past. Indeed, if we were to remove the typical narrative surrounding Rockstar games related to game mechanics, cinema and satire, we might instead see Rockstar as a publisher of historical games on par with Firaxis (Civilization), Paradox (Crusader Kings and Europa Universalis), or Ubisoft (Assassin's Creed). It's now commonplace to see articles, podcasts and videos criticising those publishers' appropriation of the past, but Rockstar remains remarkably unscathed even though the company has developed and published a series of games that, taken together, chronicle modern American history. These games include Red Dead Redemption 2 (set in 1899), Red Dead Redemption (1911), L.A. Noire (1947), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (1986) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (1992).

Whenever one attempts to analyse the history in historical fiction they'll always run into the hand-waving argument that "it's fiction, not history". This defense has been used by Red Dead Redemption 2 lead writer Dan Houser, who stated recently: "[the game] may be a work of historical fiction, but it's not a work of history.". Yet we know popular historical fiction often plays an outsized influence on the way the public remembers historical figures or important time periods. Consider, for instance, the impact of Shakespeare's plays on the reputations of Cleopatra and Richard III. Or the importance of Saving Private Ryan to public commemorations of D-Day. To take an example from my own life, I've probably had more conversations with students on the influence of Blackadder Goes Forth on our memory of the First World War than I've had on the actual history of the First World War (although that probably says something more about the quality of my teaching than anything else). The truth is better than fiction, but it's often the fiction we remember the best.

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One of the things I love most about old school games are their cheat codes. I have fond memories of spamming "motherlode" into the Sims to make it rain simoleons - while codes in other games gave you invincibility, new characters and even (somewhat infamously) unlockable blood and gore.

GTA San Andreas was no exception to the rule, and the game is stuffed full of classic cheat codes allowing players to mess around. When you wouldn't want to activate these, however, is right in the middle of a world-record pace speedrun, which is exactly what happened to LelReset.

During an attempt to break his own world record for GTA San Andreas any% (finishing the game with any level of completion), LelReset accidentally triggered a cheat code which brought a helicopter crashing down on his run. The code, called OHDUDE, spawns a hunter helicopter when used. Although the code is typically activated by typing the name, codes in GTA San Andreas can be triggered through pressing certain other WASD combinations, which is likely what happened to LelReset.

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Rockstar is porting 2001 mega-hit Grand Theft Auto 3 to mobile devices.

The launch is part of the 10th anniversary of the groundbreaking sandbox action game, set for 22nd October 2011.

Grand Theft Auto 3 is down for "select new generation iOS and Android devices" this autumn.

The list of supported devices in full:

• Apple iOS Devices: iPad 2, iPhone 4S.
• Android Phones: Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix, Samsung Galaxy S2.
• Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

"Grand Theft Auto III showed us the potential of open world games," said Rockstar founder Sam Houser.

"It helped set the vision for the company, and we have been expanding on those possibilities with every game ever since."

Tom Bramwell reviewed Grand Theft Auto 3, awarding it a stonking 10/10.

"GTA3 is a luscious, sprawling epic of a game and one of the most complete experiences I have ever encountered," he said. "If this is what I've waited a year to see on my PlayStation 2, then I would have waited ten. Magnificent."

As part of the anniversary, Rockstar has relaunched the Rockstar Warehouse, where special anniversary edition items will be available for purchase throughout October.

Included is a limited edition 1:6 scale action figure of Grand Theft Auto III lead character Claude. He has a bat, knife, grenades, pistol, sniper rifle and assault rifle. It goes on sale on 20th October.

A private Take-Two casting call is advertising for an actor to portray James Pedeaston - a character from Grand Theft Auto IV and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Until now, Take-Two casting calls only a had a theoretical link to the Grand Theft Auto series.

The suggestion is, of course, that the game Take-Two is casting for is Grand Theft Auto V.

Pedeaston, "a man-boy love activist who just got released from an Indonesian prison", is between 40 and 45 years old.

Pedeaston hosted the WCTR radio show that can be heard in GTA: San Andreas. In GTAIV, Pedeaston is arrested by Indonesian police for suspected child molesting.

The other characters being cast alongside Pedeaston are Matthew, Jose, Samatha and Anthony.

Matthew, "a liberal young male who believes in a conspiracy made by republicans to undermine America" is between 18 and 25 years old.

Jose, "a white creepy man who thinks that technology is a poison against the wilderness" is between 30 and 40 years old.

And Anthony, "a young, fast-talking boy fighting for the right of young boys to drink alcohol and have sex" is between 10 and 15 years old.

Evidence for Grand Theft Auto V has been mounting fast. Should Rockstar be preparing an announcement, there will be no better place for it than super-show E3 in June.

Grand Theft Auto was once known by the provisional title Race'n'Chase and was planned for release on SEGA Saturn and "Ultra 64" (Nintendo 64).

Race'n'Chase would pack a mode whereby players could be cops and chase chase criminals, hurriedly consulting an accompanying printed map while street names were barked over the radio.

That's according to the original design documents, which have been uploaded to Flickr by Mike Dailly - part of the original DMA GTA team.

"The aim of Race'n'Chase is to produce a fun, addictive and fast multi-player car racing and crashing game which uses a novel graphics method," the design document pledged.

"Players will be able to drive cars and possibly other vehicles such as boats, helicopters, or lorries. Cars can be stolen, raced, collided, crashed (ramraiding?) and have to be navigated about a large map. It will also be possible for players to get our of their car to steal another one. This will mean controlling a vulnerable pedestrian for a short time. Trying to steal a car may result in the alarm being set off which will, of course, attract the police."

Back then there were to be multiple modes: Cannonball Run (a straight race with the option of bots); Demolition Derby (free-roaming smash-'em-up where the last man standing wins, although an alternative version where players would be reincarnated and their successful smashes totted was also mentioned); Bank Robbery (rob a bank and race to a safe point while hotly pursued by police) and Bank Robbery (Cop), where the roles are reversed.

The document promised that "when enough crimes have been completed, the player can move on to a different city". However, "the robber's game is up when he gets killed or is captured by the police".

DMA talked of a "very, very large - multiple screens" playing world, and of how rubbish PCs could reduce detail, making the cityscape look "something like the original Sim City". Those who wanted to run the flashy SVGA mode would need "a very fast processor (e.g. Pentium)".

But be careful, there are pedestrians, and they're "wandering about all of the time". "They can be run over by cars," the document grimly pointed out - pedestrians such as "school children and lollipop lady" and "dogs".

In total, Grand Theft Auto would require code space of 1MB and sound space of 1MB.

Grand Theft Auto was eventually released for PC and PlayStation in 1997 - a delay of over a year, according to the design documents.

The start date was to be 4th April 1995 and the game design completed by 31st May 1995. The first milestone, the engine, would be reached by 3rd July 1995; the second milestone, "Look & Feel", by 2nd October 1995; the third milestone, "1st Play", by 3rd January 1996; and the fourth milestone, Alpha, by 1st April 1996.

The end of the project was scheduled for 1st July 1996.

And the rest, they say, is history.

Video: Today, GTA can be squashed onto an iPhone.

The 10 years and 11-month-old PlayStation 2 has shot through the 150 million units shipped mark, Sony has announced.

The PS2, which was first sold in March 2000 in Japan, is the best-selling console of all time.

An eye-watering 1.52 billion units of PS2 software have been sold worldwide as of the end of December 2010.

The PS2's best-selling game is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which shifted 17.33 million units. In second place is Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec with 14.89 million. In third is Gran Turismo 4, with 10.76 million sold.

A total of 10,828 games have been created for the console.

Sony said it expects continued demand for the system in Eastern Europe, South East Asia, the Middle East and South America.

As promised earlier this week, Microsoft has announced a number of one day only Xbox Live deals to celebrate the annual Black Friday shopping blow-out in the US.

Top picks include big savings on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, ace indie platformer 'Splosion Man and HD revamp TMNT: Turtles in Time Reshelled.

Here's a run down of what you can pick up. Be quick though - prices will be back to normal tomorrow.

• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: 400 Points (67 per cent saving)
• Halo: Combat Evolved: 400 Points (67 per cent saving)
• TMNT: Turtles in Time Reshelled: 160 Points (80 per cent saving)
• 'Splosion Man: 160 Points (80 per cent saving)
• Trials HD: 400 Points (67 per cent saving)
• Greed Corp: 160 Points (80 per cent saving)
• Rock Band 3, Creedence Clearwater Revival Pack 01: 400 Points (75 per cent saving)
• The Force Unleashed - Starkiller Lightsaber (Avatar item): 160 Points (60 per cent saving)