Author David Kushner tells the inside tale on Grand Theft Auto and the video game violence wars

David Kushner has been on the front lines of the video game culture wars. In 2004, he published Masters of Doom, a portrait of the founders of id Software (the makers of the seminal first-person shooter game Doom). Now he has published a book about Rockstar Games, the company at the heart of the culture war on game violence and creator of the Grand Theft Auto series.

His groundbreaking book, Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto, debuted in April. It follows the story of Sam and Dan Houser as they grow up in a privileged entertainment household in England and then migrate to New York to make video games for adults. The story captures the passion of the Housers as they try to push all of the boundaries that pigeonholed games into children’s fare. Thanks to the Housers, we have open-world games that have the same content and themes as R-rated movies.

[THR1LLHOUSE]

This sounds pretty interesting...despite all the shady stuff you hear about Rockstar, they're still one of my favorite studios.

[deantak]

I find David to be quite eloquent on this whole topic of gaming and culture.

[Elwenil]

Hmm, might have to pick this up. The fact that there is a '70 dodge Coronet on the cover is a bonus. ;D