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Rockstar's Sam Houser Remembers 9/11
Ten years have passed between today and the traumatic events of September 11, 2001. While many of us were affected by that day, the passage of time makes it easy to forget how much. Today I read a beautiful blog post by games journalist Harold Goldberg that serves as the perfect reminder and includes a fascinating look into how September 11 affected Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser just as he was preparing to release Grand Theft Auto III.
Posted on the New York Videogame Critics Circle blog, Goldberg's write-up includes an excerpt from his excellent book, All Your Base Are Belong To Us. In the excerpt, he reveals how Sam Houser considered canceling GTA III altogether in light of the events of that day:
"This beautiful city has been attacked and now we’re making a violent crime drama set in a city that’s not unlike New York City. My God, I’m terrorized where I live and on top of that, we’ve got this f**king crazy game that is not exactly where people’s heads are at right now."
Of course, Grand Theft Auto III did eventually come out, and video games continued just like all of us did, but Goldberg suggests that 9/11 provided perspective and pushed many writers to look deeper when covering games.
I highly recommend reading the full blog post, and if you enjoy it, be sure to check out All Your Base Are Belong To Us in full.
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