Grand Theft Auto 1 Original US Release

[comradesean]

Since I've located the original disc for RCT, I'm jumping to the next game on my list which has me just a little baffled.
Grand Theft Auto was released in Europe (Nov 28, 1997) nearly four months before it's US counterpart.

Official Release
First Proven Purchase

The problem lies in that the US market was saturated with EUR imports before the US release in late March, 1998.
One Such Advert
EB carrying imports

The part that gets a little muddled is that I'm finding the game was being sold March 30, 1998 in the US and this is confirmed by multiple accounts of purchases that day. The problem is that the earliest version of the game I can find was duplicated March 31st, 1998. There's even some comments saying stores received shipments as early as the 27th!

Just as with Roller Coaster Tycoon, I'd appreciate it if anyone could supply me with TimeStamps/Screenshots of any copies earlier than this. As of right now, I'm not even sure if I'm searching for something that exists! Thank you!





Proof of Release
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sy ... i-JuT5B2EJ
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sy ... iJNUMLWH0J
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.sy ... wd2VTlJaYJ
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.gam ... HXnga4H44J
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/asc-se ... 0-2462834/

Earliest Version I can Find


NOTE: The following the EUR release and not the version I'm looking for.

[computebrute]

The EUR version was released first, because DMA Design, which is based in the city I am living in,
is a Scottish company. At the time, most companies released the first version of their game in their region.
I hope you know different regions have different shipment/release dates.

Also notice how the NA disk is titled GTA and the EU disk is titled Grandtheftauto.

[comradesean]

Well, of course the EUR version was released first, because DMA Design, which is based in the city I am living in,
is a Scottish company. At the time, most companies released the first version of their game in their region.
I hope you know different regions have different shipment/release dates.

Also notice how the NA disk is titled GTA and the EU disk is titled Grandtheftauto.

The problem is that I have some inconclusive evidence that the game was released a day earlier than the earliest US copy I can find. This leads me to believe there was an earlier release and that's what I'm trying to find. My goal is to get enough information to identify it and then either locate a physical copy or retrieve a 1:1 digital backup of it.

edit: In case it wasn't clear, I'm not looking for the EUR release. I'm looking for a US release that should be dated earlier than 3/31/98

[computebrute]

In case it wasn't clear, I'm not looking for the EUR release. I'm looking for a US release that should be dated earlier than 3/31/98

You will not find it. Those notes you have are unreliable, inconclusive and are just snippets.
These are most likely fakes.

Why are you also saying that you are not looking for the EUR release? I never gave you one.
And, if you did find the mysterious premature release, what would be so different? That's right! Nothing!

[comradesean]

In case it wasn't clear, I'm not looking for the EUR release. I'm looking for a US release that should be dated earlier than 3/31/98

You will not find it. Those notes you have are unreliable, inconclusive and are just snippets.
These are most likely fakes.

Why are you also saying that you are not looking for the EUR release? I never gave you one.
And, if you did find the mysterious premature release, what would be so different? That's right! Nothing!

These notes are actual comments on live messageboards dated and confirmed by multiple people. This is the best information available without a first-hand account or an actual disc available.

This isn't a "premature release".
I never said you did, but you were awfully focused on discussing the EUR edition for some reason.
The difference doesn't matter. I'm archiving the first releases of games and I cannot confirm 3/31/98 as a first release.

[MotoXpro]

My copy of Grand Theft Auto has a date of 02-09-1998 and is a North America (USA) Copy.

[MotoXpro]

In case it wasn't clear, I'm not looking for the EUR release. I'm looking for a US release that should be dated earlier than 3/31/98

You will not find it. Those notes you have are unreliable, inconclusive and are just snippets.
These are most likely fakes.

Why are you also saying that you are not looking for the EUR release? I never gave you one.
And, if you did find the mysterious premature release, what would be so different? That's right! Nothing!

Why all of the anger, and doubt? He is just looking for information. By telling us that he is not looking for the EUR release, he is giving us more information so we don't waste our time looking for it.


Welcome to the forum Comradesean, I hope you have a good time here. This place can be a great resource for information. Its not always this negative.

[comradesean]

My copy of Grand Theft Auto has a date of 02-09-1998 and is a North America (USA) Copy.

That is absolutely perfect. And it even makes sense it was duplicated a month before it was shipped since they weren't really on a production deadline. Do you think you could get me a closer shot of the disc? I think I see a difference in the text that's banded around the outer edge, but it's difficult to tell.

I'm visiting the family this weekend so I'm using it as an opportunity to grab all of my old games and bringing them home with me. I remember I purchased my copy used so I'm not too hopeful, but there's always a chance.

Welcome to the forum Comradesean, I hope you have a good time here. This place can be a great resource for information. Its not always this negative.

Thank you! I'm just hoping I can fill in some of the gaps here and there and maybe it'll be useful to someone else as well. I know that wikipedia has definitely been lacking a lot of the information, but I'm not sure if newsgroups would be valid sources? Anyway, I'm hoping to also share these games with betaarchive and groups like redump.org once I get the opportunity to label them. (I still need to find a first release of Sam & Max Talkie.)

[MotoXpro]

Here is a scan of the disc. Much better, sorry for the crappy blurry picture. I could have done better.





Also could you send me or post your list so I can see if I have anything your looking for. I have a decent PC game collection.

[comradesean]

Okay, I do see a difference but it's not as discernible as I was hoping. The second release (march 31) mentions Take Two Interactive in the outer text ring, while yours doesn't. I'll provide some pictures when I get off work later just for documentation sake.

The list of what I'm searching for right now includes
Sam & Max Hit the Road (04-25-1994) - [Released on this date. Earliest I own is dated (06-01-94). Not sure if disc is shiny or fully printed on front]
Ultima Underworld I & II - (00-00-1993) - [Can't pin the date, but I can't find anything prior to 1995.]
Ultima I-VI Series - (00-00-1992) - (Software Toolworks) - [Same problem. Earliest I can find is 1993 Encore release.]
Uplink Hacker Elite (03-17-2003) - [Inferior USA release. Heard conflicting reports that it is different and might be incompatible with EUR release]
Discworld (03-17-1995) [Released on this date, but earliest I can find is (05-12-95)]

I'm also working on putting together a floppy archive as well, but my hopes are low for it so I'm just putting together what I can find as I find it.

[comradesean]

Been a little busy so it took longer than I said it would, but here's the difference in the rings.

Code: Select all

GTA First Release -
ASC Games™ is a trademark of American Softworks Corporation. © 1997 American Softworks Corporation. The BMG logo 
is a trademark of BMG Music. The DMA logo is a trademark of Assistamount Ltd. Used under license from BMG 
Interactive, a unit of BMG Entertainment. © 1997 Assistamount Ltd. The ratings icon is a trademark of the 
Interactive Digital Software Association. All rights reserved

Code: Select all

GTA 03/30/98 Release -
ASC Games™ is a trademark of American Softworks Corporation© 1997 American Softworks Corporation. Used under 
license from Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. ©1998 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The Take-Two logo
is a trademark of Take-Two Interactive Software, inc. The DMA logo is a trademark of Assistamount Ltd. Windows®
95 is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software
Association. All rights reserved!

[comradesean]

Here we go. Scanned at 600dpi

Front:


Back:

[comradesean]

Just picked this up on eBay, but the text ring around the disc doesn't match up. :/ Here's crossing my fingers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grand-Theft-Aut ... 1c4598eabd

[DiskingRound]

Just picked this up on eBay, but the text ring around the disc doesn't match up. :/ Here's crossing my fingers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grand-Theft-Aut ... 1c4598eabd

It would be nice if you could give us scans or pictures of the disc. If you can then thanks!

[comradesean]

Just picked this up on eBay, but the text ring around the disc doesn't match up. :/ Here's crossing my fingers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Grand-Theft-Aut ... 1c4598eabd

It would be nice if you could give us scans or pictures of the disc. If you can then thanks!

I will be editing them in as soon as the package arrives. Until then, I believe this just proves that they switched distribution plants for their discs pretty early in their US sales.