Grand Theft Auto III to Celebrate 10th Anniversary: Coming Soon to iOS and Android

Just a decade ago, Rockstar Games scandalized the world with the release of Grand Theft Auto III. To commemorate the 10-year anniversary, this fall, Rockstar is porting the game to mobile devices. It will release on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S along with select Android devices.

GTA III put players in the shoes of a newly released convict looking to get back into the criminal game and get revenge on those who sent him to prison in the first place. The mute protagonist completes various missions to move up the criminal ladder, but half the fun is in going off script, stealing a car, running over pedestrians and seeing how many cops one could gun down before the player goes out in a hail of gunfire.

The game set off much controversy for its depiction of violence and implied sex. It even inspired the title of the book Grand Theft Childhood which examined video games' link to aggression in teens. The study the book was based around did not come up with any conclusive evidence one way or the other.

Since GTA III, three full squeals of the game have been released on gaming consoles along with updates and handheld versions. One version of the game, Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars, is already available for the iPhone, costing $10.

A price and release date for GTA III on mobile devices hasn't been announced. It will be available for Android phones such as Droid X2, HTC Evo 2, LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix, Samsung Galaxy S2. Android tablet users also have a reason to smile as GTA III can be played on the Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad, Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

To commemorate the event, Rockstar is partnering with collectibles maker Sideshow to release a Claude actions figure. He is the lead character of GTA III and comes with a plethora of weapon including an assault rifle, sniper rifle, grenades, knife and others. The collector's edition toy has a $150 price tag.