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(upbeat music)

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- Carolyn, what impact did
"GTA III" have on gaming?

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- I think it's really
hard to succinctly answer

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that question because "GTA III"
is one of those games where,

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at least first many of us,
the first time we played it,

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we kind of knew that it was
going to be one of those games

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that just brought about
a sea change culturally

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in terms of what games did and could do.

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I think in my life I would say

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that has only happened a have
very small handful of times,

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maybe the first time I played

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the original "Super Mario Brothers"

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and knew that Nintendo
had done something there

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to kind of refine gameplay mechanics

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in a way that would change things,

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maybe the advent of "Street
Fighter II" in arcades.

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My first experience with
"Grand Theft Auto III,"

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it felt so dramatically
different on so many levels,

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from what games typically did

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or had done up to that point,

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that I think it's almost like
the moment you are busted out

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of the paddy wagon at the
beginning of that game,

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and you kind of are standing
on the street of Liberty City

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and there's cars and buildings everywhere,

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it was just so texturally different

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and it seemed to offer this whole world

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sprawling in front of you.

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Yeah, I think the cultural
impact is massive.

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The gravitational pull of "GTA III,"

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what it's had in the 20
plus years since its debut

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is so massive in ways both
positive and negative.

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I think that arguably the template that it

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kind of established, you could say,

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led to some kind of sameness

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at a certain point among a lot

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of particularly big budget games

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as many of them kind of tried to riff on

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and chase things that "GTA III" was doing.

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But it also gave way to tremendous
amounts of new creativity

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and excitement in that space as well.

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- So what games did "Grant theft Auto III"

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influence notably?

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- One of the memorably
eye-opening examples to me

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of how its influence was
spreading in the immediate

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years after its release was
when "Jack II" came out.

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So you have Jack and Dexter,

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which was a colorful, bright mascot,

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3D platformer from Naughty Dog.

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- [Claire] Who made "Crash Bandicoot."

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- Right, right.
(Carolyn and Claire laughing)

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And nothing of significance lately.

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No, just kidding, Naughty Dog.
- Certainly nothing violent.

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(character grunting)

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- And then along comes "Jack II" and

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the vibes are like, ugh,

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Jack, he talks now and he's mad

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and an important part of its
setting is this futuristic city

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with vehicles going everywhere,

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you can really feel the "GTA
III" influence in that game

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and I would say you can draw
a straight line from "GTA III"

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to the whole proliferation of what,

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at a certain point sort
of came to be called

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the Ubisoft games of the past 20 years,

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that whole trend in a way
of these open world games

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filled with activities,
quest markers on your map,

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collectibles to find, ways of
interacting with the world.

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To be fair, a lot of those
games bring in exciting

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and interesting new elements
on a lot of those franchises,

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but I really think that
"GTA III" just kicked off

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a whole new trend that has been so massive

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that it's very difficult to even, again,

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kind of try to define
where that influence ends

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at this point.