My Favorite Grand Theft Auto Promotional Websites

I have already expressed years ago on the blog that the Grand Theft Auto series is my favorite video game series ever. I remember going onto sites such as GTAForums where I went to learn about everything there is about the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Years after playing Vice City and San Andreas, I found out that Rockstar Games created promotional websites that displayed some of the services from the GTAIII-era of games. I remembered going through all of these promotional sites for hours and just laughing at what I saw, while also imagining if these things could actually exist in real life. Imagine if Ammu-Nation existed, and you can buy all your illegal weapons with the click of a mouse.

I am going to take a trip through nostalgia and highlight some of my favorite GTA promotional websites. These sites were operational around the mid-2000s, and today is the year 2020. A number of these sites are not operational anymore, and a further number of sites will not be operational after the support for the Adobe Flash Player ends at the end of this year. I will look at all sites before the release of GTA IV, when surfing the internet became a real in-game thing. You can see an expansive list of promotional websites here.

DEGENATRON (Vice City) - If anyone remembers listening to the radio in Vice City (other than the amazing curation of songs for this game), you may have heard an ad for the DEGENATRON, which was a home video game console (spoofing the Atari 2600). The site I have linked is a tribute site, and actually has a working emulator of the three crudely created games that came with the console. The games were as frustrating now as I would imagine before.

Forgotten Legends of West Coast Rap (San Andreas) - This is the site to check out all of the rappers who made a mark in West Coast rap. In particular, much fame was made of rappers like Madd Dogg and OG Loc. In addition, there is an audio clip of OG Loc rapping at a house party on Grove Street. This is the best rapping you will ever hear, so go have a listen.

The Epsilon Program (San Andreas) - Most people will remember the more prominent feature of The Epsilon Program in GTA V, but it has its roots in GTA: San Andreas. The Epsilon Program is a parody of a cult that promises eternal happiness for a small monetary fee, and they are not afraid to ask for money. I am not going to lie; I wanted to join The Epsilon Program when I was younger. KIFFLOM!

Cluckin Bell (San Andreas) - Cluckin Bell is a restaurant (I am guessing parodying Chick-Fil-A?) where CJ can restore health by eating their chicken. I only linked this site because the jingle for the restaurant is quite catchy.

Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety (Liberty City Stories) - Citizens United Negating Technology (check the abbreviation) is an advocacy group urging people not to access the internet, as they claim that the internet will ruin your life. It is worth checking out the testimonials page to see how the internet ruined the lives of a selection of people. This site gave me barrels of laughs when it was operational, but now I can only provide the web archive links.