Take-Two Interactive division Rockstar Games has announced that it will release a collection of titles from its multi-million selling Grand Theft Auto franchise for the PlayStation 2 on December 4, 2006.
The collection, simply titled Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, will include Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and will carry an MSRP of $39.99.
The collection is believed to be one of the last to carry the Grand Theft Auto name for the PlayStation 2, with the next iteration in the franchise, Grand Theft Auto IV already announced for simultaneous release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007.
Take Two-has previously announced, however, that an unnamed 'current generation' port of its handheld Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories will be released by Spring 2007, continuing its recent habit of debuting GTA side stories on the PSP and subsequently porting them to current-gen (generally PlayStation 2) hardware.
While Grand Theft Auto 3 earned its fair share of attention - both positive and negative - from the media and politicians, it was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and its now infamous “Hot Coffee” modification scandal that catapulted the franchise into the media limelight.
The debate surrounding the “Hot Coffee” modification eventually resulted in the game being re-rated as AO for adults only, and eventually removed from store shelves before being replaced with a version lacking the hidden content.
But the Grand Theft Auto series in general has continued to be of major importance to the company. In SEC filings originally published in March 2006, Take-Two itself noted the GTA reliance issue, commenting: "For the years ended October 31, 2005 and October 31, 2004, our ten best selling titles accounted for approximately 48.2% and 46.3%, respectively, of our revenues, with Grand Theft Auto products accounting for 38.2% and 34.3%, respectively of such revenues for these periods."
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