2005
Events concerning the Grand Theft Auto series in 2005
Real World
- January 10: Rockstar Games announce a new Grand Theft Auto video game for the PlayStation Portable.
- January 20: It is announced that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the best selling game of 2004.
- February 11: Liberty City is announced as the setting of the next Grand Theft Auto game.
- March 2: Advertisements for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are banned before the watershed (9pm) in the United Kingdom.[1]
- March 6: The television programme 60 Minutes airs an episode about the Grand Theft Auto series.
- March 16: The Washington Post runs a news article about two men protesting the sale of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas outside a Best Buy store.[2]
- March 23: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas wins the Best Use of Licensed Music and Best Dialog awards from the Game Audio Network Guild.
- March 24: The PlayStation Portable is released in the United States of America.
- April 19: IGN publish the first preview of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PC with screenshots.[3]
- May 14: The name of the new Grand Theft Auto video game is revealed to be Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
- May 31: A news article states that the Kanagawa Prefectural Government in Japan plans on banning the sale of Grand Theft Auto III to people under the age of eighteen. The Kanagawa Prefecture, along with the Saitama Prefecture, later ban the sale to minors.
- June 3: A new advertisement for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, featuring footage from the Xbox, appears for the first time.
- June 7: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is released on the Xbox and PC in the United States of America.
- June 10: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is released on the Xbox and PC in the United Kingdom.
- The first information about Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, including the protagonist Toni Cipriani, becomes known to the world.
- July 11: ABC News run a two minute report and MTV News publish an article about the Hot Coffee modification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
- July 14: Lawyer Jack Thompson writes a letter to various companies about Hot Coffee modification for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
- July 20: The rating for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PC in the United States of America is changed to AO (Adults Only, 18+).
- July 21: Tara Teich, a female software programmer, complains about the roles and appearance of women in video games. The article her comments were published in makes reference to the Grand Theft Auto series and the Hot Coffee modification.
- ABC News covers the rating change of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PC in the United States of America.
- July 25: Michigan Congressman Fred Upton calls for the US House of Representatives to have a congressional investigation into Rockstar Games due to the Hot Coffee modification. The US House of Representatives later votes in favour of a congressional investigation.
- July 26: Take-Two Interactive publish a press release stating that the company is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Advertising Practices in the United States due to the Hot Coffee modification.
- July 27: Florence Cohen, a grandmother who purchased Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in 2004 whislt rated M for Mature, sues Rockstar Games as 'sexually explicit scenes believed to be inaccessible by players were left in the game by developers'.
- July 29: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is banned in Australia.
- August 2: The British Broadcasting Corporation publish an online news article by Illspirit of The GTA Network about the Hot Coffee modification.[4]
- August 7: A judge in the case of Devin Moore states that his attorneys can not use a violent video game as part of his defence.
- August 9: The No More Hot Coffee patch is released by Rockstar Games for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
- August 11: Devin Moore is convicted of murdering three police department employees, with many news websites and television channels referencing his defence of child abuse and playing Grand Theft Auto games.
- August 23: The official boxart of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is published for the first time on the Walmart website.
- September 1: The PlayStation Portable is released across Europe and in Australia.
- September 8: Take-Two Interactive publish a press release stating that AO (Adults Only 18+) version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox and PC would ship within a week and that Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories would be released in October. GTA San Andreas on the Xbox and PC was also revealed to have provided 37% of the companies total revenue in the third quarter (May to July), despite being pulled from shelves.
- September 9: The official website of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is opened.
- A Kubrick figure set of Claude, 8-Ball, Misty, Salvatore Leone and Donald Love from Grand Theft Auto III is released.
- September 12: Rockstar Games opens a special website for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories to be viewed on a PlayStation Portable.
- September 13: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas returns to shelves across the United States.
- September 21: Brenda Stanhouse files a lawsuit against Rockstar Games after purchasing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and was 'not informed that GTA contained embedded sexually explicit content, which could easily be accessed by children'.
- The Inquirer publishes an article stating that new screenshots from the PlayStation 3 version of the 'next' Grand Theft Auto game have been leaked by Rockstar Games showing sexual content, which was not correct.
- September 23: Take-Two Interactive announce they intend to release Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a trilogy pack.
- The Philadelphia Enquirer publishes an article stating that Stephen Dottoli had been convicted of copyright infringement after publishing images of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas before its release in October 2004. Dolloti was sentenced to six months home confinement and fined $2,500.
- October 25: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is released on the PlayStation Portable in the United States.
- November 4: Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories is released on the PlayStation Portable in the United Kingdom.
- November 17: Jack Thompson states that he wants the state of Alabama to declare Grand Theft Auto a nuisance.
Game World
HD Universe
- Roman Bellic is arrested for promoting gambling.
- Phil Bell is arrested for racketeering.
- Jon Gravelli becomes a Schottler Medical Center patient.
- Hsin Jaoming is arrested for racketeering.
- Chan Jaoming is arrested for possession of stolen property.
- Willy Valerio is arrested for assault.
- Oscar Gomez is arrested for grand theft auto.
- Lester Arnold is arrested for identity theft.
- Albert Lawson is arrested for possession of a controlled substance.
- Ernesto Asaltacunas is arrested for a criminal sex act on a minor.
- Chloe Parker is arrested for driving while intoxicated.
- Gavin Finkle is arrested for possession of methamphetamine.
- Cherise McCormic is arrested for possession of crack cocaine.
- Heathcliff Waterstreet is arrested for fraud.
- Johnny Barbosa is arrested for driving while intoxicated.
- Lazlow Jones is arrested for exposure of a person.
- Huang Lee, protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, is arrested for grand theft auto.