Red Dead Redemption was for PS2, Xbox
Plus: Rockstar game We Are The Mods.
Multi-million selling cowboy game Red Dead Redemption was originally a PS2 and Xbox project, an artist employed by Rockstar has revealed.
"We began our tenure on Red Dead Redemption (known as RDR2 from here) at the beginning of 2008 after we had finished work on Manhunt 2 and Bully: Scholarship Edition," wrote Matt Kazan on his online portfolio, spotted by Superannuation.
"Our primary task at Rockstar Toronto was to redo much of San Diego's earlier artwork on RDR2, mostly props. RDR2 had began as a Sixth Generation era game, and much of the content we were redoing was artwork geared toward the PlayStation 2/Xbox.
"San Diego was very specific on what they wanted with each prop, in many cases requesting that we did not modify the geometry on numerous assets (other assets were remodelled entirely, though). They would provide example images and specific texture sizes and time allotted for each asset that they wanted, to which we delivered."
Red Dead Redemption was released on PS3 and Xbox 360 nearly a year ago. For Rockstar and Take-Two the game achieved a rare and invaluable feat: making the company profitable without a Grand Theft Auto game in sight.
Kazan's portfolio went on to reveal a Rockstar project unofficially dubbed We Are The Mods - a "spiritual" follow-up to The Warriors set in 1960's England, amid a war between divisive iconic music gangs the mods and the rockers. We Are The Mods began on PS2, Kazan wrote, but was later ordered onto Xbox 360, subsequently becoming the first next-gen Rockstar game. "It was a learning experience for everyone involved," wrote Kazan. What happened to We Are the Mods, Kazan didn't say.
Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson awarded The Warriors an 8/10 in October 2005. "As a film tie-in, as a classic brawler, as a game that offers excellent multiplayer modes, quality bonus content and a unique style all of its own, it excels. I'd even go as far to say that I prefer it to the Grand Theft Auto games, in fact, though that may be because I do, indeed, love the movie. Even if you don't, The Warriors is well worth checking out," she wrote.
Eurogamer's Simon Parkin awarded the same score, 8/10, to "an exceptional" Red Dead Redemption last year.