@jillsandwich: Hey there, I typed out an elaborate response to you some time ago but it got lost before I posted it. So let me rephrase;
I think you might have a point with GTA, although I'd say the older games exist as something to be referenced through the mention of places or media stuff, like Chatterbox and Vinewood. It feels different though because I'd doubt we'd actually see the old cast return. Something about all those names up on GTA IV's walls still reads like a mausoleum to me, like they've retired all those characters to make room for their new, more serious tone. There's still a huge disconnect with Liberty City being a completely different place in III, with different streets, burroughs and geography. But still, you're right about GTA.
Now I've never played Bully or Manhunt so I couldn't say if those connections are actually acknowledging their co-existence in the GTA universe or if they're just cameos.
Max Payne 3 however, is a different story. It wasn't even originally conceived by Rockstar so one surname overlapping with one from GTA V seems like a stretch in the light of all the evidence to the contrary; Max Payne was always set in New York and Jersey City, not Liberty City and Alderney. That's just clear as day, and there's no other connections to GTA at all. Again, not even really a Rockstar creation in the first place.
Red Dead Redemption is also definitely not in the same universe. First of all there's a Stranger Quest called California, about a dude making his way to California. Wouldn't he be calling that state San Andreas if he's in GTA's America? And there's of course the numerous mentions of New York. Quotes? Quotes;
Bonnie: He left for the East and never came back. Must be getting on for 10 years ago now. He's a high-and-mighty banker in New York, according to his last letter.
West Dickens: Mr. West Dickens. Nigel West Dickens from East Cheap, London, New Waverly, New York, and Armadillo, New Austin. At your service.
Marston: Even in this new country, memories don't really fade. My father was an illiterate Scot, born on the boat into New York.
Bonnie: So, this is Armadillo. Manhattan it is not, but it does okay for us.
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