Franklin Mint

Many Franklin Mint products are movie, television and celebrity themed, for example china plates featuring images of Star Trek characters. It should also be noted that some voice actors of the GTA III's major characters are well-known American actors, some of whom have stared in several films and television shows. Currently the Franklin Mint has divested itself of minting capacity, and has downsized, and is now mostly a seller of products produced elsewhere. With the success of Grand Theft Auto III and its sequels, several of these characters or their relatives reappear in future GTA titles with major or minor roles, and their personal background expanded, particularly Leone Mafia don Salvatore Leone, media mogul Donald Love, Phil, the One-Armed Bandit, 8-Ball and Catalina. Ads for Franklin Mint collectibles - the Civil War Commemorative Chess Set in particular - were once ubiquitous on daytime television. Most of the characters encountered center around corruption, crime and a fictional drug called "SPANK", which was a growing menace in the city. The Franklin Mint was heavily reliant upon television ads for sales. The storyline, while not a major draw of the game, shows the character development of several individuals and bosses as the player progresses though the game.

Collector knives, ceramic figurines, statues, plates, Monopoly sets, chess sets and board games, plaques and other collectables were issued, most in 'limited-editions'. This would imply that Rockstar could have conducted some or all such changes before the attacks and without the effects of the attacks. Later the Franklin Mint entered the die-cast car market, producing numerous designs. In particular case of Darkel, the removal of a character and the transfer of missions to other characters would had required additional time for last-minute programming and voice acting, which could had potentially resulted in GTA III's delay from public release if it had only begun after 9/11. However, silver prices climbed, making the cost of larger items high, and replacement bronze and pewter issues did not appeal to collectors as much. Argument against the theory that Rockstar was influenced by the September 11, 2001 attacks to perform all the mentioned modifications point that it may not be possible to cut or change any game contents within a short period, as the interval between 9/11 and GTA III's release date was only six weeks. Custom wood cases, fancy packaging and certificates appealed to collectors, and the market boomed. As the reason behind the removal of Darkel was never disclosed by Rockstar, gamers have speculated and suspected the removal of Darkel was due to his terrorism-like missions; other have also pointed out the manner of his attire, resembling that of a stereotypical Middle East terrorist, in addition to sporting a long beard [4][5].

Prices were fairly reasonable, compared to the cost of silver, and often tens of thousands of sets were sold. Rockstar later decided that they would like to go back to the original system of giving out rampages as featured in Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2. Sets were limited to the number of subscribers by a cut-off date, resulting in 'limited editions'. Darkel was also originally expected to give out Rampage-esque missions and even had his voice recorded for this part. Presidents and States were the two most numerous types of sets, with Space and Important Persons and other topics popular. One scrapped mission involved stealing a bus, using it to pick up a certain number of passengers, then blowing it up. They minted in their own production facility numerous sets of theme-based silver medals and ingots, selling them on the subscription plan, with buyers getting a monthly shipment and invoice. Darkel was to be a revolutionary street urchin who vowed to bring down the city's economy.

The Franklin Mint was one of the earliest and largest minters of replacement slot machine tokens. A character by the name of Darkel, who made it into the pre-release version, was also deleted from the final version of the game but remains listed in the manual's credits, and has a character texture on the game's data files. The Nevada casinos used silver dollars in their slot machines, which were soon worth more than a dollar. An obvious change was the new colour scheme of the LCPD which is modelled after the black and white like the LAPD, while the old colour scheme of blue stripes (seen in previews and the manual map) resembles that of the NYPD [3]. In the 1960's the price of silver rose, causing all silver coins to be removed from circulation. Although often rumoured, no airplane missions were altered or changed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, as there were no missions to remove. The company started by marketing privately-minted gold and silver commemorative rounds and medallions, but quickly branched out into other collectibles. These included removing the ability to blow limbs off non-player characters and stopping the selection of certain character models when using cheat codes in the PlayStation 2 version of GTA III.

It was founded by Joseph Segel. A number of changes were suggested to be made in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The Franklin Mint is a private corporation based in Media, Pennsylvania, USA which markets "collectables" of their own designs. For similar reasons, a lawsuit has erupted over Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The lawsuit is still pending as of the end of 2004. District Court on October 29, 2003 that the "ideas and concepts as well as the 'purported psychological effects' on the Buckners are protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause." The lawyer of the victims, Jack Thompson, denied that and is trying to get the lawsuit moved into a state court and actioned under Tennessee's consumer protection act.

Rockstar and its parent company, Take Two, filed for dismissal of the lawsuit, stating in U.S. On October 20, 2003, the families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young people shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by GTA III) filed a USD$246 million lawsuit against publishers Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive Software, retailer Wal-Mart, and PlayStation 2 manufacturer Sony Computer Entertainment America. Among other things, the censored version removed the ability to pick up prostitutes; however it was later found that standard gore (where limbs may actually be shot or blown off a non-player characters) was still available if unlocked by entering what in other countries' versions was a "nasty limbs" cheat code, and the uncensored version was also playable by changing the computer's time zone to that of the United States. Interestingly, whilst the sequel Vice City was censored by the OFLC, the next sequel San Andreas was not, despite featuring more "mature" content (although San Andreas was once given a Refused Classification rating amid the "Hot Coffee" controversy), leading many to conclude that the only reason the game was banned in the first place was that the OFLC was angry at Rockstar for not submitting the game for review.

Australia still does not have a R rating for videogames like it does for movies. Lacking a suitable R18+ rating (the highest rating being MA15+), the game was "Refused Classification" and banned for sale because it was felt that the game was unsuitable for an audience older than 15, but younger than 18. A key reason why this course of action was taken was that Rockstar did not submit GTA III to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC), the body that, among other things, rates videogames according to their content in Australia. After its initial release in Australia, the game was banned—the only country to do so—and a censored version of the game was released in its place.

It was because of GTA III that the Wal-Mart chain of retail stores announced that, for games rated "M" by the ESRB, its stores would begin checking the identification of purchasers who appeared to be under 17. Several minors arrested for car theft in the United States claimed their motivation was derived from playing the game. Various critics hypothesized that if children were to play the game, they might acquire sociopathic attitudes toward others. In addition, all in-game crimes incurs the wrath of the police, and it is also possible to play without committing the aforementioned criminal acts.

This action, while permitted ("sex" restores the player's health, up to 125% of its normal maximum), is never actually required. The player is rewarded with cash for various illegal and immoral actions: one allegation, frequently cited in the press, was that in the game, players had to carjack a car, pick up a prostitute, have (implied) sex with the prostitute, and then kill her and steal her money. For examples of video game violence, many TV news channels often show a play session of GTA III where the main character is gunning down pedestrians and blowing up police cars. GTA III is controversial because of its violent and sexual content, and it generated moral panic upon its release.

Despite its roughness and glitches, the game featured a world draw distance that was unparalleled at the time, and an overall sense of ambience and immersion that many other developers have tried and failed to emulate, even years later. Also, it was widely believed that GTA III lacked the vast development resources of its sequels, since it was considered a risky gamble at the time. Part of GTA III's technical problems was due to the need to accomodate the relatively underpowered PlayStation 2 (compared to the Xbox, PC and even Dreamcast in certain respects). There were also serious recurring problems such as clipping (when characters and objects get "half-stuck" in walls and the ground), a bug which caused vehicles to disappear, relatively poor AI for NPCs; many of these issues were not fixed in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Such graphics are similar on the level of Half-Life and subpar to Quake III, but this was rarely criticized and GTA III routinely received higher graphics scores than other smaller-scaled yet better-looking games. One example were the "ugliness" and simplicity of GTA III characters and objects which became especially noticeable if the main character was walking around instead of driving. While GTA III's sequels undoubted improved on many aspects of gameplay, many technical gliches were also carried over. Alternatively, many reviewers were biased in favour of the GTA series.

In other words, GTA III and especially subsequent GTA games following the GTA III formula were so sure to be critically acclaimed blockbusters that they were not seriously scrutinized (most flaws were downplayed) during early reviews. Aside from its violence (see #Controversy), there was criticism, often for the "lack of criticism" that surrounded the Grand Theft Auto series after the launch of Grand Theft Auto III. [1], [2]. The game was touted as revolutionary by several game review websites and publications, and received such rewards as Game of the Year from GameSpot, GameSpy, and Cheat Code Central, and Best Action Game of 2001 by IGN, receiving an average of about 95% from the review websites and publications.

All subsequent games in the series have followed the GTA III formula and have been best-selling and critically-acclaimed (and controversial) as a result. As a result of these shrewd moves, the Grand Theft Auto series was now a blockbuster franchise. Also notable is that GTA III was the first in the series to be released on video game consoles before the PC, citing the growing size of the console market. Although multiplayer was discarded, it had a minimal impact as the many major improvements won legions of fans over to a series which formerly enjoyed a cult following.

All of this is seemlessly integrated in the realistic setting of a (dysfunctional) urban environment which parodies a real-life city. Grand Theft Auto III was the first game in the series to feature a deep storyline with high quality voice acting and navigable three-dimensional graphics. The Double Pack's success for Xbox was due to several factors, the critical acclaim (not just for the GTA series but also for the Xbox improvements) and controversial game content, two games in one, graphical improvements, and lastly the Double Pack debuted at half the price of a regular Xbox game. GTA III continued to sell well as part of the Xbox Double Pack, even though it was two years old when the Double Pack hit shelves in December 2003.

This was a remarkable achievement in an industry where most games experience strong drops in sales despite price drops, as gamers have a strong tendency to purchase only the "next new thing". Later discounted to $19.95 as part of Sony's "Greatest Hits" program, it continued to sell well and went on to become the second best-selling video game of 2002, behind only the next game in the series, 2002's Vice City. Upon its release, GTA III unexpectedly emerged as a smash hit at its initial US$49.95 price and became the #1 selling video game of 2001 in the United States. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) was released for the PlayStation Portable, also set in the same location as GTA III, but taking place in 1998, three years before the events in GTA III.

Grand Theft Auto Advance (2004) was initially intended as a Game Boy Advance port of GTA III, but has since introduced a new storyline set in Liberty City, roughly one year before the events in GTA III. Two handheld titles based on GTA III have also been released. The Double Pack was not released for PC. The Xbox version of the Double Pack has improved audio, polygon models, and reflections over the PC and PS2 versions of the game.

However, the agreement was amended in 2003 and the Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack containing both GTA III and Vice City was released for PS2 and Xbox in December 2003. The Xbox version was initially supposed to be released in spring 2002 but it was shelved when Sony signed an agreement with Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar Games' parent company), making the GTA series a PlayStation 2 exclusive until November 2004. The PC version does, however, support higher resolution textures and a custom option for MP3s playback in cars. This was due to technical issues; the game engine rendered everything within the draw distance, even things hidden behind buildings or trees, whereas Vice City only rendered what could actually be seen.

The PC version of the game, released on May 21, 2002, has been criticized for performance problems, especially in light of the much smoother performance of the next game in the GTA series, Vice City. The list of Grand Theft Auto III radio stations is as followed:. The radio ads also gave out their official phone numbers which were also (apparently) registered by Rockstar; however in this case curious gamers only found an answer phone at the other end. However, although looking very much like genuine online stores, all links to purchase or order the products actually led to Rockstargames.com.

All of these sites actually existed; they were set up to tie in with the game. These ads often referred to their advertisers' official websites, such as Petsovernight.com. Each station featured various commercials at intervals. One of the stations was a full-length talk show, and many of the callers were actually characters from the story missions, often demonstrating the same views and eccentricities that had become apparent to the player during the missions.

Much of the music was specially written for the game (as well as many songs originating from the first two GTAs), however the Xbox and PC ports allowed the player to use their own MP3s, and later games included actual, licenced music. One of the game's subtler inclusions was a variety of radio stations (part of the official soundtrack). Some of these features, notably monetary awards and the top-down view, would eventually be removed in following GTA titles. These included monetary awards for crashing onto cars, blowing up vehicles, and killing pedestrians (although the last feature would require that the player pick up the money dropped by dead pedestrians on foot), a crusher, vehicle import-exports, train services, and an optional top-down camera view synonymous in the game's previous installments.

As a direct descendent to Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2, Grand Theft Auto III retained several features that were common in the previous two titles. Pedestrians sometimes get into fights, and car accidents between non-player vehicles may occur on their own, without any player interference to trigger these events. The game is also noted for the emergent behavior of its non-player characters. Law enforcement and members of rival gangs can be attacked and will respond with weapons of their own.

Citizens can be beaten up, robbed, run over, or shot, allowing the player to extract money and/or weapons. Cars can be smashed or stolen; carjacking was often required if the player doesn't have (or had lost) their own vehicle and was required to travel quickly. Passing vehicles and pedestrians are not just cosmetic "flavor" for the environment, but are actually part of game play. The game is remarkable in its depiction of what seems to be a very large city with things happening all the time in different neighborhoods.

Thanks to the strikingly open-ended game design, it is quite possible—and common—for players to ignore the main missions and play the side missions, or simply cruise around enjoying Liberty City's sights. As the player completes missions for different gangs, rival gang members will come to recognize the character and subsequently shoot on sight (if armed). Similarly, the player's place within the story will affect his view in the "eyes" of non-playable characters. However, the nature of the game does demand some limits to the player's freedom: just as new areas become open, some will be permanently denied of access once the player fulfills their purpose.

As can be expected from a video game with a linear plot, new neighborhoods and districts in Liberty City will become open to the player's exploration as missions are completed and the game's story unfolds. Police and Fire Fighter missions are similarly available. If the player acquires a taxi cab, he can pick up designated non-player characters as fares and drop them off at different parts of the city for a cash payment; carjacking an ambulance lets the player pick up injured NPCs and drive them to the hospital for a cash reward. Alternately, he may choose to drive around the city, stealing cars, running over pedestrians, and avoiding (or opposing) the police.

He is able to go on missions (shaking down a local business for "protection money", clearing the streets of drug dealers, or assassinating leaders of rival gangs, for example) in order to advance in the ranks of his current gang. The player's character has a degree of freedom in his actions that, although being heavily inspired by Rockstar North's (then DMA Design) earlier Nintendo 64 game Body Harvest, was groundbreaking in 2001 and has arguably been only surpassed by the game's sequels. However, if the main character attacks pedestrians or gang members, the cop will give chase. If the main character is attacked by pedestrians or gang members, a patrolling cop will ignore the offending attackers.

The police AI follows a double-standard. Unfortunately, completing certain missions inevitably causes the player to gain the attention of local police enforcement. The only way to get rid of wanted levels is to pick up police-bribes or repaint the car the player is driving at the three local Pay 'N' Sprays. Gunning down pedestrians and destroying cars will further raise the wanted level (the maximum level is six stars) and eventually bring increasingly stronger police enforcement in the form of SWAT teams, FBI agents, and the National Guard.

Cops will chase after the player by foot and car but will do little else. Minor infractions such as carjacking or fist assaults will cause a one-star wanted level. Any type of infractions will raise the player's wanted level and thus cause the police to give chase. The Liberty City Police Department (LCPD) is the city's police agency.

These risk-reward balances give the game more subtlety than the nature of the in-game actions would suggest. However, attempting to car-jack a Mafia vehicle often results in pursuit by the former occupant (who is invariably armed). Each car has its own particular performance characteristics; for instance, a "Mafia Sentinel" car is much faster and able to corner much better than a minivan. The principal activity in the game is carjacking: the player may walk up to the side of a passing car and press a single button to yank the driver out of the car, get in, and start driving.

He then takes on work as a local thug and rises in power as he works for multiple rival crime gangs. While he is being transferred, an attack on the police convoy sets him free. He is double-crossed by his partner/girlfriend, Catalina, during a bank robbery and sent to jail. He received the name "Claude" in a brief cameo in the series' later game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; because of this name he is theorized to be "Claude Speed" from GTA2).

Black". Throughout the story, the main character is never named (though he is referred to in the fan community variously as "Fido", "The Kid", or "Mr. The game takes place in Liberty City, a fictional city on the East Coast (based on New York City). .

It is the third in the Grand Theft Auto series and was the #1 selling game of 2001. Grand Theft Auto III, or GTA III, is a video game developed by DMA Design, published by Rockstar Games in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2 video game console, May 2002 for Windows-based PCs, and in November 2003 for the Xbox video game console. Grenades (Slot 12). Molotov cocktails (Slot 11).

Flamethrower (Slot 10). Rocket launcher (Slot 9). Sniper rifle (Slot 8). M-16 (Slot 7).

AK-47 (Slot 6). Shotgun (Slot 5). Uzi (Slot 4). Pistol (Slot 3).

Baseball bat (Slot 2). Fist (Slot 1). Chatterbox FM. Flashback 95.6.

MSX FM. Game Radio FM. Lips 106. Rise FM.

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