Obbe Vermeij's fan docu-series episode on the 2006-2007 Rockstar years is worth a watch

Stumbled onto a fan-made docu-series called The Long Road that's covering Rockstar's history, and episode 2 digs into the 2006-2007 stretch. The creator is upfront that it's not affiliated with Rockstar in any way, which, fair enough, you have to say that out loud these days.

The episode apparently leans on Obbe Vermeij's perspective. If you don't know the name, he was a longtime Rockstar North technical director, one of the guys who actually built the engine guts behind the 3D era and GTA IV. He's been pretty chatty since leaving, posting dev anecdotes and answering fan questions, so a doc pulling from his side of things is going to have more texture than your average YouTube recap.

That 2006-2007 window is a weird one to focus on. You've got the PSP stuff, Vice City Stories landing, the run-up to GTA IV getting announced, the whole studio bulking up for HD. It's the quiet stretch before everything exploded. I like that someone's bothering to document it instead of jumping straight to the IV launch hype.

why this kind of thing matters now

We're eight days out from November 19. Everyone's refreshing for review scores and preload timers. Meanwhile a fan is out here charting the studio's history year by year, which is a nice palate cleanser from the launch madness.

Also, small thing, the description drops a Steam link for Obbe's own game. Man went from shipping San Andreas to putting out his own stuff, and honestly good for him. The guy's earned the right to plug whatever he wants.

I'll be watching this one before bed. If the rest of the series holds up, it's a decent way to burn the last week without doomscrolling the sub for another fake map leak.

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Source: Dark Space · Curated content.