A former Rockstar Games developer has moved to shut down a blog that had revealed some insider information about game development at the company in the 2000's following feedback from Rockstar North via email. Former Rockstar North technical developer Obbe Vermeij opened up in a blog about the development secrets behind Grand Theft Auto 3, GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas and GTA IV. Vermeij, who worked for Rockstar between 1995 - 2009, revealed the development of a GTA 2.5 (to follow the 2D GTA 2) as well as a zombie survival-horror successor-of-sorts to GTA: Vice City, based off of the code of that game. However, before the blog could continue, a post discussing the games was deleted yesterday after Vermeij was contacted by Rockstar: "Today (22 Nov 2023) I got an email from R*North," wrote Vermeij. Apparently some of the OG's there are upset by my blog. I genuinely didn't think anyone would mind me talking about 20 year old games but I was wrong. Something about ruining the Rockstar mystique or something. Anyway, This blog isn't important enough to me to p**s off my former colleagues in Edinburgh so I'm winding it down." Vermeij added further clarity to the situation on X and stated that Rockstar North did not force him to close the blog down, just that it was disliked by former colleagues. There is no telling as to what specifically Vermeij's former colleagues found umbrage with, but Vermeij discussed a lot about the development of early GTA games as well as the cancelled Agent PS3 exclusive and the aforementioned zombie project in a post entitled 'Distractions: Agent & Z.' Rockstar Norther spent a while pogressing the idea of their zombie game - Z. The game, (pronounced zed), would've been built using code from Vice City, based on a push from artists at the company who were fascinated with zombies. Z would've been sent on a Scottish Island with the player repelling constant attacks from the undead, using vehicles to explore. Why didn't it go ahead? Well those working on Z - according to Vermeij - found the idea depressing and focused work on GTA: San Andreas instead. Vermeij also talked about aspects behind the development of GTA 3 and Vice City, and touched on the potential of a GTA 3 LAN game to add multiplayer to the open-world map, an idea that would gestate until it was realised fully in GTA IV. It's a shame that Vermeij has closed his blog posts on the GTA games, as it was genuinely interesting, and the posts that remain aren't as perhaps 'gossipy' in that they don't reveal unknown information, but they still touch on deeper aspects of game development at Rockstar. For those who are interested, you can find it here. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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Girls Aloud singer Cheryl’s six-year-old pointed out some “weird” details about the band’s old concerts as the group announced a reunion tour. The girl group first rose to fame after the five individual contestants were put together in a band that won the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. Now, Cheryl Tweedy, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh have announced a 2024 UK and Ireland tour that will celebrate the life of bandmate Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021. Speaking to BBC News about the announcement, the band members revealed that their former concerts have raised a few talking points among their young children. Cheryl revealed that her six-year-old son, Bear, who she shares with former One Direction star Liam Payne, said she looked “weird” in old concert DVD footage. “He says to me, ‘You look different, you sound different, this is weird. Why the nakedness? What's with your voice?’” Cheryl said. But, Cheryl wasn’t the only bandmate whose child had something to say about their mother and their early noughties fame. Speaking about her daughter Anaíya, Nadine Coyle explained: “She's never really liked any of the Girls Aloud stuff because I don't smile enough, so I don't look like myself to her.” Kimberley, who has three children, deduced: “They don’t think you should have existed before they were alive, that’s all it is. “Mine are starting to get interested. People are saying stuff about Girls Aloud and they want to know what the fuss is about. “But it’ll be weird for them. They’ll be coming to see us do something so different to normal. We usually just have playdates round at each other’s houses." Tickets for the tour go on sale on Friday 1 December at 9am. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

LONDON Turkey's central bank delivered a larger-than-expected 500 basis point interest rate hike on Thursday, lifting its benchmark