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Jacked
- The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto
- Narrated by: Adam Verner
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
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Publisher's summary
Inside the making of the multibillion-dollar Grand Theft Auto videogame empire....
Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest and most controversial videogame franchises of all time. Since its first release in 1997, GTA has pioneered the use of everything from 3D graphics to the voices of top Hollywood actors and repeatedly transformed the world of gaming. Despite its incredible innovations in the $75 billion game industry, it has also been a lightning rod of debate, spawning accusations of ethnic and sexual discrimination, glamorizing violence, and inciting real-life crimes.
Jacked tells the turbulent and mostly unknown story of GTA’s wildly ambitious creators, Rockstar Games; the invention and evolution of the franchise; and the cultural and political backlash it has provoked.
Written by David Kushner, author of Masters of Doom and a top journalist on gaming, this book is drawn from over 10 years of interviews and research, including first-hand knowledge of Grand Theft Auto’s creators and detractors. It explains how British prep-school brothers Sam and Dan Houser took their dream of fame, fortune, and the glamor of American pop culture and transformed it into a worldwide videogame blockbuster. It also offers inside details on key episodes in the development of the series, including the financial turmoil of Rockstar games, the infamous "Hot Coffee" sex minigame incident, and more.
Whether you love Grand Theft Auto or hate it - or just want to understand the defining entertainment product of a generation - you’ll want to hear Jacked and get the real story behind this boundary-pushing game.
David Kushner is an award-winning journalist and author. A contributing editor of Rolling Stone, he has also written for Wired, The New York Times Magazine, New York, and GQ. He served as the digital-culture commentator for National Public Radio and is an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University.
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- How a Show About Nothing Changed Everything
- By: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Comedians Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld never thought anyone would watch their silly little sitcom about a New York comedian sitting around talking to his friends. NBC executives didn't think anyone would watch either, but they bought it anyway, hiding it away in the TV dead zone of summer. But against all odds, viewers began to watch, first a few and then many, until nine years later nearly 40 million Americans were tuning in weekly.
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This bad narration is making me thirsty...
- By Audio Gra Gra on 10-06-16
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The Simpsons
- An Uncensored, Unauthorized History
- By: John Ortved
- Narrated by: John Allen Nelson, Justine Eyre
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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John Ortved's oral history is the first-ever look behind the scenes at the creation and day-to-day running of the television phenomenon known as The Simpsons, as told by many of the people who produce it.
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Great Content, Awful Reading
- By JH Easton on 03-13-11
By: John Ortved
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Superman
- The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero
- By: Larry Tye
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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From two-fisted crimebuster to über-patriot, social crusader to spiritual savior, Superman—perhaps like no other mythical character before or since—has evolved in a way that offers a Rorschach test of his times and our aspirations. In this deftly realized appreciation, Larry Tye reveals a portrait of America over seventy years through the lens of that otherworldly hero who continues to embody our best selves.
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This Superman soars
- By tru britty on 07-13-15
By: Larry Tye
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Can't Stop Won't Stop
- A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
- By: Jeff Chang
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 19 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style.
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Not About Hip Hop Music
- By A. Yerkes on 09-06-19
By: Jeff Chang
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Seven Dirty Words
- The Life and Crimes of George Carlin
- By: James Sullivan
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In Seven Dirty Words, journalist and cultural critic James Sullivan tells the story of Alternative America from the 1950s to the present, from the singular vantage point of George Carlin, the Catholic boy for whom nothing was sacred.
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Carlin's CV with no Depth or Insight
- By Dubi on 01-23-14
By: James Sullivan
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The Murder of Sonny Liston
- Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights
- By: Shaun Assael
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.
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Great read
- By Diane Dodge on 09-14-19
By: Shaun Assael
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Canada
- By: Mike Myers
- Narrated by: Mike Myers
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Comedy superstar Mike Myers writes from the (true patriot) heart about his 53-year relationship with his beloved Canada. Mike Myers is a world-renowned actor, director and writer and the man behind some of the most memorable comic characters of our time. But, as he says, "No description of me is truly complete without saying I'm a Canadian". He has often winked and nodded to Canada in his outrageously accomplished body of work, but now he turns the spotlight full-beam on his homeland.
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Thoughtful and perfect for any X-Pat from Canada
- By Hugh Burnham on 05-02-17
By: Mike Myers
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Empire State of Mind
- How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office
- By: Zack O'Malley Greenburg
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Some people think Jay-Z is just another rapper. Others see him as just another celebrity/mega-star. The reality is, no matter what you think Jay-Z is, he is first and foremost a business. And as much as Martha Stewart or Oprah, he has turned himself into a lifestyle. This audiobook explains just how Jay-Z propelled himself from the bleak streets of Brooklyn to the heights of the business world.
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It was ok
- By Michelle M. on 01-03-17
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Harry, a History
- The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
- By: Melissa Anelli
- Narrated by: Renée Raudman
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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With remembrances from J. K. Rowling's editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenon - from his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.
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Relive the magic!
- By Heather on 03-19-09
By: Melissa Anelli
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Slugfest
- Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC
- By: Reed Tucker
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The first in-depth, behind-the-scenes audiobook treatment of the rivalry between the two comic book giants. They are the two titans of the comic book industry - the Coke and Pepsi of superheroes - and for more than 50 years, Marvel and DC have been locked in an epic battle for spandex supremacy. At stake is not just sales, but cultural relevancy and the hearts of millions of fans. To many partisans, Marvel is now on top. But for much of the early 20th century, it was DC that was the undisputed leader.
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Loved it, but...
- By Smitty on 05-02-18
By: Reed Tucker
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Confessions of a Puppetmaster
- A Hollywood Memoir of Ghouls, Guts, and Gonzo Filmmaking
- By: Charles Band, Adam Felber
- Narrated by: Charles Band, Sean Patrick Hopkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Zombies, aliens, a little skin, lots of gore - and even more laughs - the cinematic universe of Charles Band is legendary. From the toilet-invading creatures of Ghoulies to the time-travelling bounty hunter in Trancers to the pandemic-crashed Corona Zombies, Band has spent four decades giving B-movie lovers exactly what they love. In Confessions of a Puppetmaster, this congenial master of Grindhouse cinema tells his own story, uncut.
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Great story and narration
- By Jerry on 08-21-23
By: Charles Band, and others
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Video games are dominating the planet. In 2020, they brought in $180 billion dollars globally—nearly $34 billion in the United States alone. So who are the brilliant designers who create these stunning virtual worlds? Cliff Bleszinski—or CliffyB as he is known to gamers—is one of the few who’ve reached mythical, rock-star status. In Control Freak, he gives an unvarnished, all-access tour of the business.
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Masters of Doom
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Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
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Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry.
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a fitting ending to Sierra
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5 star book, but obnoxious
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Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.
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How it was
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Over his four-decade career, Sid Meier has produced some of the world's most popular video games, including Sid Meier's Civilization, which has sold more than 51 million units worldwide and accumulated more than one billion hours of play. Sid Meier's Memoir! is the story of an obsessive young computer enthusiast who helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry.
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a fitting ending to Sierra
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Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius.
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Reggie Fils-Aimé, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America Inc., shares leadership lessons and inspiring stories from his unlikely rise to the top. Learn from Reggie how to leverage disruptive thinking to pinpoint the life choices that will make you truly happy, conquer negative perceptions from those who underestimate or outright dismiss you, and master the grit, perseverance, and resilience it takes to dominate in the business world and to reach your professional dreams.
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Engaging Autobiography
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The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 1
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With all the whiz, bang, pop, and shimmer of a glowing arcade, volume 1 of The Ultimate History of Video Games reveals everything you ever wanted to know and more about the unforgettable games that changed the world, the visionaries who made them, and the fanatics who played them. Starting in arcades then moving to televisions and handheld devices, the video game invasion has entranced kids and the young at heart for nearly fifty years. And gaming historian Steven L. Kent has been there to record the craze from the very beginning.
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Misleading title for an otherwise excellent book
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Stay Awhile and Listen
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Composed from exhaustive research and hundreds of personal interviews, the Stay Awhile and Listen series divulges the fated meeting that brought the two Blizzards together, the clashes that tore them apart, and their transformation from grassroots democracy to corporate empire. At the center of it all - Diablo, a hack-and-slash adventure through the darkest recesses of Hell that changed online gaming forever.
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Interesting look into the history of Blizzard
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The creator of one of the most innovative and best-selling video games of all time gives an unvarnished look into the process in this one-of-a-kind compilation. Before Prince of Persia was a best-selling video game franchise and a Disney movie, it was an Apple II computer game created and programmed by one person: Jordan Mechner.
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Rare look back
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Once upon Atari
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Once upon Atari is an intimate view into the dramatic rise and fall of the early video game industry, and how it shaped the life of one of its key players. This book offers eye-opening details and insights delivered in a creative style that mirrors the industry it reveals. An innovative work from one of the industry’s original innovators.
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Awesome
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Console Wars
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A mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes business thriller that chronicles how Sega, a small, scrappy gaming company led by an unlikely visionary and a team of rebels, took on the juggernaut Nintendo and revolutionized the video-game industry. In 1990, Nintendo had a virtual monopoly on the video-game industry. Sega, on the other hand, was just a faltering arcade company with big aspirations and even bigger personalities. But all that would change with the arrival of Tom Kalinske, a former Mattel executive who knew nothing about video games and everything about fighting uphill battles.
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Was hoping for so much more...
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Super Mario
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Nintendo has continually set the standard for video game innovation in America, starting in 1981 with a plucky hero who jumped over barrels to save a girl from an ape. The saga of Mario, the portly plumber who became the most successful franchise in the history of gaming, has plot twists worthy of a video game. Jeff Ryan shares the story of how this quintessentially Japanese company found success in the American market.
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Not Exciting
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Play Nice
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For video game fans, the name Blizzard Entertainment was once synonymous with perfection. The renowned company behind classics like Diablo and World of Warcraft was known to celebrate the joy of gaming over all else. What was once two UCLA students' simple mission—to make games they wanted to play—launched an empire with thousands of employees, millions of fans, and billions of dollars. But when Blizzard cancelled a buzzy project in 2013, it gave Bobby Kotick, the infamous CEO of corporate parent Activision, the excuse he needed to start cracking down on Blizzard's proud autonomy.
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Bobby Kotick Has No Soul
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Press Reset
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Jason Schreier's groundbreaking reporting has earned him a place among the preeminent investigative journalists covering the world of video games. In his eagerly anticipated, deeply researched new book, Schreier trains his investigative eye on the volatility of the video game industry and the resilience of the people who work in it.
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Audio Quality is Inconsistent
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Long Live Mortal Kombat, Round 1
- The Fatalities and Fandom of the Arcade Era
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- Narrated by: Andy Ingalls
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- Unabridged
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Story
To politicians and parents, Mortal Kombat was a menace to society. To gamers, it was a way of life. From dedicated hustlers who put thousands of miles on their odometers driving coast to coast to challenge the top players in arcades, to fans who devote their free time to collecting action figures, setting world records, and plumbing the depths of its lore, the Mortal Kombat franchise has topped sales charts for thirty years, and its popularity shows no signs of waning. But before Mortal Kombat offended politicians and sold over 12 million units, executives at Midway saw it as filler.
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A lot of filler, and very little substance
- By Fred on 12-09-23
By: David L. Craddock, and others
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Service Games
- The Rise and Fall of SEGA: Enhanced Edition
- By: Sam Pettus
- Narrated by: Tom Racine
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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New Edition! More content, images, and corrected text and facts. Monochrome edition. Starting with its humble beginnings in the 1950s and ending with its swan-song, the Dreamcast, in the early 2000s, this is the complete history of Sega as a console maker. Before home computers and video game consoles, before the Internet and social networking, and before motion controls and smartphones, there was Sega.
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The Story of the Fall of Sega
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By: Sam Pettus
What listeners say about Jacked
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- A. Yerkes
- 10-24-13
Doesn't Get the Creative Story
While this audiobook provides a brisk, well-narrated history of Rockstar Games' corporate evolution, I wanted to hear a little bit less about the decadent lifestyle and threatening workplace elitism, and more about the creative process of game design and world building. There is some of this, as when we're told of the Scottish engineers driving through the streets of LA with a microphone, recording street conversations to make GTA3 sound authentic, but I wanted a lot more. Sam and Dan Houser are clearly the heart of the story of GTA, but they did not cooperate with this book''s production, and without their perspective, this account is hollow. We don't get enough about Dan's writing process (did his literary studies influence his game scripting?) or the engineering challenges, not to mention there is no commentary or interpretative angle on the various GTA ludonarratives, nor any theorization of the larger significance of these games in the current culture. It's not that kind of book.
I found the Jack Thompson plot to be diverting and not interesting enough to take up as much space as it did. It could have been effectively edited down, and seems like its there to fill up what is an underdeveloped narrative.
That said, this book is somewhat enjoyable, and if you are curious about Rockstar, you will probably enjoy it, at least partially. It provided part of the story, but the great account of Rockstar is yet to be written.
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- Daniel
- 10-22-13
Outlaws Forever
If you could sum up Jacked in three words, what would they be?
Outlaws, Scotts, Wanted
What other book might you compare Jacked to and why?
Masters of Doom. Kushner's first book on the golden age of gaming and programming, tells an almost equally gripping tale about the bad boys of the gaming world, and the controversy that surrounded them. Similar themes, but less focus on the technical aspects.
What does Adam Verner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
Verner is a great narrator, and very subtle in his emphasis. Paper books just suck. I haven't read a physical book in years.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
You take the high road, and I'll take the low road, and I'll get to Los Santos before you...
Any additional comments?
Honestly, I would have liked to have had someone from the UK of Scotland narrate this instead, as most of the central characters hail from that region of the world. Was Patrick Stewart just not available? Still, Verner did a solid job.
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- Chris
- 02-04-17
Could Have Been Better...
I finished this story all the way through as I really wanted to have a good grasp on RockStar games and the GTA series. However, while the book provided some good history and insight, it always felt like it fell a bit short throughout the listen. The stories seemed more second hand and felt like key and interesting details were missing.
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- Andrew A.
- 08-07-19
This Book is Wanted at 5 Stars!
Kushner does an excellent job at retelling the tale behind the creation of Rockstar Games! Through the well spoken performance of Adam Verner we get to hear what inspired the creation of GTA on the PlayStation all the way to GTA IV on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Throughout it all listeners also learn of the internal conflict the studio suffered throughout the years alongside it's mainstream influence on the Media sparking an ongoing argument of Violent Video games and it's impact on players. Additionally listeners will hear about legal troubles the studio faces, specifically the studio's main lawyer they faced Jack Thompson.
Definitely listen to this if you grew up playing the GTA franchise and love learning about the behind the scenes of what makes a great game series and it's impact on society.
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- Evaldas
- 03-19-18
interesting background but repetetive
the story begins exciting with first initiation of the conttoversial game, but midway just becomes too repetetive especially with the al rhe lawsuit descriptions and the 'arch enemy' of games. Much weaker overall than masters of doom
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- MovieGuy
- 07-22-14
Rockstar Games And The Idiots Who Ran It
I've always been a big videogame fan, playing games back as far as the early 1980's, and so I'm pretty aware of the Rockstar Games library, but really didn't know much of the company's history. This book is very good as far as telling that story. The problem is though... it's not really THAT interesting a story, and by all accounts the principals in this story are basically jerks. Oh well, it was informative if not enjoyable.
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- Jesse
- 12-14-20
Great book, too bad it contains plagiarism and outdated stereotypes
Id like to start by saying this book is fantastic and 100% worth a credit. Hearing the behind the scenes decisions of the housers and how they grew up and their actual rockstar attitude was in a weird sense heartwarming and personable. Unfortunately, this book contains blatant plagiarism and some VERY annoying outdated stereotypes, even for 2012. Lets start with the plagiarism. To avoid as many spoilers as possible, there is a crime in the book committed by two young man resulting in the death of a truck driver on the highway. The book does an incredible job setting up the scene for the crime so you can visualize it. Turns out however, that an online media platform “salon” had written an article about the same crime 7 years before the books release. I was shocked to find out as i read the article that the book had plagiarized it shamelessly word for word. It’s literally the second result on google, they didnt even try to hide it. Furthermore, the book repetitively refers to “gamers” as “mountain dew addicted nerds” which as we all know is just not true or funny at all, kind of rude if im being honest as a “gamer” myself. On top of this, the book has a lot of forced humor with video game related jokes that just do not hit in the way the author must have intended them to. It becomes a bit agitating after a while. Still, being able to hear stories of the rockstar staff and their emails back and forth was a riot and created a new perspective for me to look at their games. Still worth the listen
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- Jeff
- 02-27-17
Stuff felt left out
it was an interesting story but I felt like they left out mentions of Lazlo. I was glad to mention Opie and Anthony one point but they failed to mention how in GTA 4 they had taken most of the cast including Ron and Fez along with up and coming Voice work by Bill Burr.
it was interesting to hear them talk about how hard it was to work with Ray Liotta Burt Reynolds but left out the fact that they made Samuel Jackson a complete surprise for the relaunch of GTA San Andreas.
it was cool they mentioned John montone. But really every game features a voice of Lazlo and they couldn't even talk about him at all?
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- Will
- 05-27-21
interesting but kind od dull
the books treata you as you are supposed to know the main character before you see them. also could have done more about the game and company it self
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- Anonymous User
- 10-24-21
Very good book
Being a grand theft auto fan myself this is a great and interesting read. I have always wanted to know about the energy the game devs had when making games like GTA and both red dead games. And you can’t forget about manhunt
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