rockstar's got a helicopter spelling out welcome to vice city on the kaseya center

Saw some clips on twitter this morning of a chopper lowering these giant letters onto the Kaseya Center in Miami. They're building out 'Welcome to Vice City' across the arena and it's the most rockstar way to do a billboard. People near the arena have been filming the whole process, letters dangling from cables while the pilot lines them up one by one.

The campaign is reportedly valued at almost $1 million for Miami-Dade County. The money is supposed to go toward developing a plot of land behind the stadium for community use. That part sounds nice, but the county sheriff's office is already complaining. Commissioner Bermudez and Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz are saying the funds should fill gaps in the law division budget instead. They're also doing the usual routine about GTA glorifying crime and killing cops.

What's funny is the game's new Wanted and Honor systems are supposed to make cops way smarter and more persistent than before. So if anything, getting away with that stuff in GTA 6 is going to be harder, not easier. The criticism feels a little dated when the actual mechanics are moving in the opposite direction.

In other news, Rockstar officially announced GTA 6: The Album. 34 tracks with Keith Richards, Yung Lean, and Morgan Wallen on it, plus a bunch of licensed songs. Physical edition is up for preorder and it drops November 19, same day as the game. Also saw that Milton from Office Space is confirmed to be in the game, and scalpers are already flipping the limited edition GTA 6 DualSense controllers.

The marketing push is fully in swing now. Seeing a helicopter put up letters on an actual Miami arena makes the whole thing feel real in a way trailers don't.

Source: GameSpot · Curated content.

Sure, a million in helicopter letters makes it "feel real." That's literally marketing's job. I'll get excited when I see it running on a base PS5.