GTA 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan project back online after Take-Two takedown Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. GTA 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan project back online after Take-Two takedown Time served. News by Wesley Yin-Poole Deputy Editorial Director Updated on 28 Jun 2021 37 comments A Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan project is back online after Take-Two issued a takedown earlier this year. As Eurogamer reported in February, the GTA 3 and Vice City reverse-engineering fan projects known as re3 and reVC were hit by a DMCA filed by Rockstar parent company Take-Two that claimed copyright infringement. Watch on YouTube Eurogamer News Cast: who won E3 2021? The fan-created source code for both games was made available on GitHub, offering a raft of eye-catching improvements over the original games officially available to play today on PC. (For more, check out our feature on how re3 came to be.) At the time, project lead "aap" told Eurogamer he was worried filing a counterclaim might have sparked a lawsuit. However, the team behind the projects recently disputed Take-Two's takedown and, without any sort of legal response from the publisher, GitHub restored the reverse-engineered code. In May, GitHub restored a fork of the re3 project after its creator successfully filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown counterclaim. Another counterclaim from another developer who worked on the Nintendo Switch port followed. The people behind the main project filed their counterclaim on 10th June. This latest development is not evidence Take-Two has backed down. Rather, GitHub has followed DMCA procedure here. According to DMCA rules, disputed content must be restored between 10 and 14 business days, unless the rightsholder takes legal action. So far, Take-Two has done nothing in response. In its counterclaim, aap and co claimed fair use. "We believe that any code in this repo that is similar to code or other content owned by Take-Two is either unprotected by copyright or is permitted under fair use," reads the counterclaim. "We figured we have a good case for fair use on the grounds that we are improving and fixing the game as well as bringing it to new platforms," aap told Eurogamer over the weekend. "This was the reason for quite a few people to purchase the game from Take-Two to play it on their favourite platforms. So in fact we're only making them money and we figured it would be unwise of them to actually go after us. "So we went the normal route: one of our team members filed a counterclaim with GitHub and after a waiting period of about 14 days the repo got reinstated." The project leaders talked to a legal expert who is working with GitHub before filing the counterclaim, but the threat of legal action remains. So far, so good, which means aap and co's work, which was years in the making, is online again. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More News Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 3 Atari will hold RollerCoaster Tycoon rights for another decade Ups and downs. 7 Lady Dimitrescu will be a tad smaller in Resident Evil Village's Mercenaries DLC Level the playing field. 1 Overwatch 2 suffers another DDoS attack and character roster bugs Mei Mei. 13 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 3 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store