Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost $80, and pre-orders for the highly anticipated game start tomorrow. As expected, there’s a special, more expensive version of the game available, too. To help promote this, Rockstar released a ton of images of all the goodies you get, and a single image of two revolvers distracted me the most, mainly because the game’s website seems to feature a lore mistake.
The $100 Ultimate Edition of Grand Theft Auto 6 includes, among many other cosmetics and goodies, two personalized revolvers for the main characters. These revolvers are clearly a nod back to the original Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which the game’s website calls out directly by mentioning that the revolvers were “sourced” from the Vercetti Estate. That’s Tommy Vercetti’s big mansion, which he takes control of by the end of GTA: Vice City on PS2.
But there’s a problem. The scoped revolver seen in the marketing image is actually from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. In that game, the scoped revolver replaced the .357 and was named the Equalizer. And Vice City Stories, originally released on PSP, is set before the events of GTA: Vice City. And we never see the scoped variant in the original Vice City. So, how was it recovered from Vercetti’s mansion? Maybe he bought a .357 and added a scope…hmmm. I don’t know…
Fun fact: The .357 was originally named the Colt Python in Vice City, which is the one time a real gun name has slipped into a GTA game. It was later changed when Rockstar reprinted PS2 copies and in future ports.
Also, there’s another problem, which is that the 3D GTA games are not in the same timeline as the HD GTA games, but Rockstar is leaning so heavily on Vice City and Tommy Vercetti imagery and references in the pre-order bonuses and special edition goodies that I’m mostly ignoring all that because it seems like Rockstar isn’t bothered about it.
Anyway, even Rockstar knows that the scoped revolver is from Vice City Stories. The gun’s serial number is “311006,” which is the release date of VCS: October, 31 2006. And yes, the number on the other revolver, which is based on the one seen in Vice City, references that game’s PS2 launch. So clearly, people working on the game know what’s up. It seems someone in the marketing department needs to spend more time on the GTA Wiki. Or maybe they have a real life and are happy. Actually, that sounds better than what I got. Never mind. I retract my post.