Gangs have a new enemy to fear in Grand Theft Auto 5: an indestructible deer.
By using a modified version of GTA 5 that let him change the player to look like a deer, artist Brent Watanabe has programmed the animal to wander around the game world. Oh, and it teleports too.
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"I was really drawn to the project because of the slapstick but tragic nature of it. And then there is an odd draw to simply keep watching, to see what the deer is going to do next," Watanabe told BBC News.
So far, the deer has caused a traffic jam on a major freeway, been caught in a gangland gun battle, invaded a military base and been chased by the police.
At one point, the deer caused so much carnage that it had a four-star wanted rating.
Over 365,000 people to date have watched the video stream on the Twitch site. The stream is having a positive impact too, with viewers encouraged to donate to The Humane Society of Seattle/King County, an organisation focused on saving and serving pets in need.
The deer is 'playing itself' with all activity unscripted. Watanabe made the deer immortal so it can keep on playing despite all manner of weapons being fired at it. It regularly teleports so it doesn't get stuck and to ensure it meets all of the game's different inhabitants.
Watanabe's deer stream will run 24 hours a day until April 20, although the computer crashes occasionally and needs to be restarted.
Last month, someone created a GTA 5 virtual reality mod for PC but recognised that it was almost uncomfortably violent.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
