Rockstar: People want to put us out of business

Friday 11th July 2008 - 17:30

Shock admission from co-founder, new Buffy handheld game announced and Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon Xbox 360 screens

We can imagine there are quite a few organisations that may not be big fans of Rockstar. Both the BBFC (the folks that decide what rating films and videogames should have) and The Daily Mail, amongst many others, have more than once been critical about the GTA publisher.

But now, in an exclusive interview with trade journal MCV, Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser admits that he feels certain un-named individuals are looking to kick his company into touch. Houser told MCV: "My biggest challenge has been surviving in an environment in which powerful people want to put you out of business for their own political or economic capital."

Fortunately, with the kind of talent that surrounds the co-founder, it must be easy to focus on the achievements that lay ahead. By his own admission Houser believes that the industry has only just started to grasp all the possibilities of open world games. He told MCV: "What have I got left to achieve? Everything. We are only scratching at the surface of games' potential as a creative medium." Let's just hope the boys and girls at Rockstar are busy working on some downloadable content for the classic Xbox 360 version of GTA IV.

Meanwhile, another major franchise is all set for a re-vamp (if you pardon our pun). Buffy The Vampire Slayer is once again set to grace the videogames arena with an all new title courtesy of 505 Games. Currently under development by Romanian studio Beast, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice combines third-person and first-person gameplay on Nintendo DS. Players take on the role of Buffy to seal the re-opened Hellmouth in an original story penned by Rob Deshotel, a writer from the TV series. A release is scheduled for November.