Rockstar North

Rockstar North Ltd. (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a British video game developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland, best known for creating the Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings franchises in its earlier guise as DMA Design.

Since September 1999 the company has been a subsidiary of Rockstar Games, owned by Take-Two Interactive. It is the primary developer of the Grand Theft Auto series as well as working alongside other Rockstar studios on titles such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3.

History

DMA Design

Late 1980s: Foundation

DMA Design was founded in 1988 by David Jones in Dundee, Scotland, whose first employee was Mike Dailly followed by Russell Kay and Steve Hammond. The name DMA was taken from the Amiga programming manuals (where it stood for Direct Memory Access) and the initials were later 'retrofitted' so that they briefly stood for Direct Mind Access (DMA was also jokingly referred to as "Doesn't Mean Anything" by a company founder). In 1988 DMA signed with UK label Psygnosis and developed Menace and Blood Money – side-scrolling space shooters which gained attention from gamers and critics for both their high-quality presentation and difficulty. As with all the company's early games, Menace and Blood Money debuted on the Amiga, one of the leading platforms for video games in Europe between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. A Commodore 64 port was published immediately after, later followed by DOS and Atari ST versions.

Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto or grand theft auto may refer to:

Video games

Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V is an open world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 17 September 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, on 18 November 2014 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on 14 April 2015 for Microsoft Windows. The game is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three criminals and their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from a government agency. The open world design lets players freely roam San Andreas's open countryside and fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles.

The game is played from either a first-person or third-person view and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Players control the three lead protagonists throughout single-player and switch between them both during and outside of missions. The story is centred on the heist sequences, and many missions involve shooting and driving gameplay. A "wanted" system governs the aggression of law enforcement response to players who commit crimes. Grand Theft Auto Online, the online multiplayer mode, lets up to 30 players explore the open world and engage in cooperative or competitive game matches.

Rock Star

Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to:

Films

Television

Music

Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games is a multinational video game developer and publisher known for multi-million-selling games such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead, Midnight Club, Bully, The Warriors, Manhunt and Max Payne, as well as the use of open world, free roaming settings in their games.

Based in New York City, it is owned by Take-Two Interactive following its purchase of British video game publisher BMG Interactive. While some of the studios Take-Two Interactive has acquired have been merged into the Rockstar brand, several other recent ones have retained their previous identities and have become part of the company's 2K Games division.

History

The Rockstar Games label was founded in 1998 by the British video game producers Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Terry Donovan, Jamie King and Gary Foreman. Donovan left the company in January 2007, following a four-month leave of absence.

The main headquarters of Rockstar Games (commonly referred to as Rockstar NYC) is located on Broadway in the NoHo neighborhood of New York City, part of the Take-Two Interactive offices. It is home to the marketing, public relations and product development departments.