Search This Blog

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Video game Grand Theft Auto Rothbury (Raoul Moat) story was bad taste joke by UK Daily Start newspaper...

The Daily Star has apologised over a false story they carried about a new video game based on the exploits of Raoul Moat called grand Theft Auto Rothbury.

Rockstar will not be happy with this slur on the video game company that has brought this years top game Red Dead Redemption to the PS3 and X360.

Here's the full statement:

On 21 July we published an article claiming that the video games company Rockstar Games were planning to release a version of their popular Grand Theft Auto video games series titled "Grand Theft Auto Rothbury".

We also published what we claimed would be the cover of this game, solicited comments from a family member impacted by the recent tragedy and criticised Rockstar Games for their alleged plans.

We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best-selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.

It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member.

We unreservedly apologise to Rockstar Games and we have undertaken not to repeat the claims again. We have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity.