The Road to Ruin

Grand Theft Auto and its progeny — nearly a dozen sequels and spinoffs, including this fall’s GTA IV — let players live out their fantasies. But few videogame fantasies match the real-life adventures of Rockstar Games. Almost a decade ago, a gang of young prep-school-educated Brits invaded New York with a then-outrageous dream: to make video-games hip. They would elevate a medium built on Mario and Pokémon into something defiantly grown-up — games that would earn a place on shelves between Scarface and Licensed to Ill.

The lads at Rockstar Games scored. With more than 50 million units sold, Grand Theft Auto titles have pulled in a billion dollars in revenue. Along the way, the execs achieved the street cred and bad-boy rep of real rock stars. But then, like Tony Montana face-down in a pile of blow, they hit the skids. — David Kushner

—The Road to Ruin (Wired)

Good article. Firmly on the side of technology, as one expects from a Wired article, but it still raises some good points.