GTA 3 and GTA: Vice City May Return; Creators of re3 Battle T2
The fan project re3, which used reverse engineering to dismantle GTA III and Vice City down to source code level, has returned to GitHub. The project was previously removed at the request of Take-Two.
Take-Two is famous for fighting fan initiatives. In February this year, we reported on the project re3, which used reverse engineering to dismantle GTA III and GTA: Vice City down to source code level. Also this project was removed by the American company. After some time, the work of modders returned and is once again available for download on GitHub (via Eurogamer).
re3 enables GTA 3 and GTA: Vice City to experience a second youth. It offers a number of improvements prepared by the creators of the project and enables their further development, for example, by modders. In addition, the ports for Nintendo Switch, WiiU, and PS Vita were developed. The whole thing was removed because Take-Two filed a claim on GitHub, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which is a US copyright law.
In response to the removal of the files, people responsible for particular fragments of the work began to file their counterclaims, citing the same act. This is because it contains a provision under which you must re-share the material within 10-14 business days of filing a counterclaim unless the rights holder takes legal action within that time. Take-Two decided not to take any action in the direction.
It is worth bearing in mind here that some of re3's files were made available again in May after their creators filed claims due to their removal. In June, more claims emerged, this time from the person who created the port for Nintendo Switch, and the people responsible for the main project.
Aap, which is one of the main creators of re3, also published a statement in which he presents his position. According to him, the files made available within the project did not break copyright or were used in accordance with the license of use.
At this point, it is hard to determine whether the project will actually survive. Take-Two has not taken any legal action against re3's authors. However, this does not mean that they will not do so in the future.
