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Story by Dave Cook

Mon, Nov 12, 2012 | 14:06 GMT

GTA 5: exploring Los Santos is like a taking a ‘digital holiday’ – Houser

Grand Theft Auto 5 saw the mother of all Game Informer reveals last week – VG247 offered its own take on the deluge of information here – and Rockstar co-founder Dan Houserhas shared more new information on the games world in a follow-up interview. He calls a trip around Los Santos a ‘digital holiday’ Find out why below.

Speaking with The Guardian, Houser spoke at length about the key to crafting a solid game world.

He stressed, “Environment is important. Games are very geographical – they present space almost better than they present time, and we try to use that, to showcase variety between different landscapes.

“It’s this idea of a digital holiday: being able to explore spaces that don’t really exist is one of the the things that’s fascinating about open world games. It’s not just about doing the activities we’ve set, there’s also a sense of being there.

“If we’ve done a good job, the shoot-outs are fun but so is cruising through the world in a car you really like, listening to music – if these elements feel somehow consistent with each other, then we’re on the right path to something cool.

“We’re using the environment to let us have toys we couldn’t have had otherwise. And equally, we’re using the story and environment to introduce missions that can be more extreme. In some ways we wanted the game to have a larger-than-life Hollywood feel; the stories we heard in LA, we wanted to capture them in the game. If the place isn’t informing what we’re doing, we’re not using it correctly.”

Houser also added that the world has been expanded with aircraft in mind, and that in order to make the world feel more tense and engaging, radio play during missions has been culled. Instead, players will have Rockstar’s own theatrical soundtrack massaging their ears during the game’s many set-pieces. It’s all in the name of atmosphere-building he said.

Are you excited to take your own ‘digital holiday’ to Los Santos? Let us know all about it below.

Thanks CVG.