Red Dead Redemption, already considered a big hit, and well on the way to selling upwards of 4 million copies, is a mighty ambitious game for Rockstar.
So what makes the game so appealing? “It’s [pushing] a lot of boundaries to be able to make the art that that we believe we should be able to make,” says Lazlow Jones, voice of DJ Lazlow for the Grand Theft Auto series and producer for Rockstar Studios in an interview with the BBC. “If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it The Sopranos you're handed a load of awards to put up on the shelf. You do the same and call it a video game and you'll have certain organizations up in arms.”
“I think ever since GTA IV came out and there were such rave reviews by major publications saying that this is actually art the restrictions about being politically correct have largely fallen away,” he adds. Games-as-art has long been the discussion of developers and critics as titles with more artistic bents (Ico, for example) started hitting the market. “I hope that for the people that do pick it up that it evokes an emotional response,” remarks Jones.
The games are not so much about the controversy, as they are about telling life as it is from the perspective of the main character. Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are not games set in the most family friendly places on Earth. Dramatic storyline is a tough concept to work with when it comes to ensuring artistic merit. “Our games are not designed for young people. If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child you're a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we're adults," asserts Jones.
"There is a lot of kids games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence that's the kind of thing we seek to produce."
“That people will feel they're part of our world and that they'll become immersed in the time period. We did so much research into everything,” stated Jones, “What the guns of the time looked like, what the clothes looked like, what the interiors in the game are like. Those interiors were all specifically researched by our people in great detail, so I hope they'll love it and that it'll put a smile on their face.”
