An interesting reveal tonight from the former director of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Navid Khonsari. Debuted on Russia Today, Khonsari’s development studio, Ink Stories, is developing a game based off the 1979 Iranian evolution titled 1979: The Game.
In 1979, players are placed in the shoes of several different characters — people who’ve suffered for change.
“We’re primarily looking at about 8 to 10 different roles,” Khonsari told Russia Today. “Initially, you’ll start the game off as an Iranian, but American-born US State Department translator, who’s coming in with the objective of trying to free the US hostages.”
He later adds: “It’s not a matter of bad guys going after good guys, or good guys going after bad guys. Whether they’re Iranian, American, pro-democracy, pro-theocracy. Whether they just want to make money on the side by sneaking in alcohol. Whether they want to make sure everyone wants to follow the religious rules of Islam.”
By the sounds of it, it takes a vastly different route than his prior Grand Theft Auto projects.
A full interview with Khonsari can be viewed below. It’s 11-minutes and well worth a watch. Especially the bit about violence in video games.
“What would you consider to be more dangerous? The video game? Or the gun that the person can actually get their hands on?”
Thanks, IFC.