Internet sleuths have done a bit of a Sherlock and cobbled together some evidence which would indicate that some of the first plot details for the next instalment of the generationally ubiquitous Grand Theft Auto franchise have finally risen to the surface of the murky pond of gaming news.
This particular leak originates from a casting page, found HERE, advertising the roles of four characters as shown below.
With the company listed as Take 2 being the only apparent link to the franchise, aside from the extremely GTA-esque character summaries, it took a little more snooping to bridge the gap and connect this find to Grand Theft Auto in a definite sense.
The evidence arrived in the form of GTA lore, in which ‘James Pedeaston’ features as a convicted sex criminal arrested in Bali. Just the kind of seedy antics one would expect from one of Grand Theft Auto’s fold. The backstory confirming Pedeaston as a recurring GTA character can be found HERE.
“James Pedeaston is a child molester wanted in Malaysia and is being investigated by the FBI. He hosted The Wild Traveler show on WCTR in 1992, although it is apparently syndicated to nine other stations (not heard in-game). He enjoys traveling the world and logging some of his most ‘exotic’ encounters in his travelogue, some of which he accidentally reads on-air to the disgust of the listeners. His favourite memory seems to be a relationship with a boy named Avrindar in Sri Lanka. His show appears to be so reviled by his listeners that at one point, he receives few calls which are not supportive. For example, a caller tells him to stop droning on about other countries and focus on talking about where he lives. At one point he received a phone call from a suicidal man in Verdant Bluffs who wanted to go to hell. Pedeaston replies with “Me too! Buy me a refrigerator magnet when you get there”. In GTA IV, he was arrested by the Indonesian police after being suspected of child molesting in Bali, Indonesia in 2003.”
Whether this was an intentional ploy by Take 2 to harness the powers of the internet’s beady eyes and wagging tongues, or an innocent slip up likely to result in the sacking and consequent exit from the games industry and turning to hard street drugs and prostitution by a Take 2 employee remains to be seen, and honestly, doesn’t matter all that much. All that matters is I’ve had my first big lick of the Liberty City lollipop (if indeed GTA 5 will see a return to our favourite faux-NYC or take roost in a remake of another far-flung American city, Hollywood is rumoured) and I want more!
