Epsilon Program Screensaver and Tweets

22
Apr
2013
By Chris | 22nd Apr 2013 at 15:54 GMT in GTA V | 7 Comments

After a few months of quiet, the Epsilon Program Twitter started posting again over the last couple of days, and yesterday talked about a screensaver being released. This has led to Rockstar releasing a screensaver today which you can see a preview of and download below. The screensaver appears to show in-game scenery and some new character art.
 

 

The Goals and the Pledge of Epsilon will continue to be revealed in due time.

Install the Epsilon Program screensaver.

The Epsilon Program does not exist in just one time or place. We invite you to visit one of our enlightenment centers.
Directions will be provided in one week's time.

The Epsilon Program is an obvious scam cult and a fictional parody of the real life cult known as the Church of Scientology, as well as a elements seen in a number of religions. The program was first seen as a teaser site for GTA: San Andreas and was referenced in later games including GTA IV. It may be worth noting that the real Church of Scientology is based in Los Angeles where GTA V is also set, so how much Epsilon will feature in the game remains to be seen, but it could play a bigger role than it has done in the past. We speculate this simply due to the game's focus on money - something that both real life Scientology and in-game Epsilon both attract easily.

Patty-T's photo
Patty-T 22nd April, 2013 @ 16:04 - Permalink

I wonder how many "Jane" and "John" Smiths will feature in GTA V's credits after this. Somebody's getting sued in England! haha.

 

Also, looks to feature a time-lapse of GTA V footage! I wonder what will be found at that lighthouse in-game...

Chris's photo
Chris 22nd April, 2013 @ 17:20 - Permalink

Yeah those rolling clouds caught my attention right away when I realised this was game footage, we also see a new character which lends further credence to the fact this could play more of a role in game than it has done in the past.

 

I don't think Rockstar cares about the fact they could get sued, not even sure that's possible anyway, otherwise no parodies would exist of any content at all. Also it's not seeking to do any harm to Scientology or Scientologists themselves, it's just making fun of the whole thing.

lso I'm fairly certain it makes fun of religions in general. The world being 157 years old for example, probably making fun of some Christians who believe the world is only 6000 years old and greatly exaggerating that.

 

Overall it's a pretty funny parody and exactly what I'd expect from R*

JustADummy's photo
JustADummy 22nd April, 2013 @ 17:42 - Permalink

That made me think though, they said they "won a lawsuit" and they were going to sue someone. Is it possible R* actually got sued by the Church of Scientology and that's why they stopped the twitter activity? Hell knows but this is quite funny.

Chris's photo
Chris 22nd April, 2013 @ 18:30 - Permalink

Yeah I dunno about that, if something happened in real life I'm pretty sure we'd have heard about it.

In my opinion there's a couple of things it could be. First is that the messages they post on Twitter are going to tie into a backstory for something in the game, second is that they are simply just random tweets that are typical of what such a cult might talk about, just done to make the parody seem more real.

claudem's photo
claudem 22nd April, 2013 @ 18:46 - Permalink

bebo Remember this is only a rumor from twitter not real info. As Franklin holds a gun to Claude's head after tracking him down to a shack in the country the man without a tongue finally speaks to reveal Salvatore Leone is still alive That was only a decoy, a body double in Gta 3. That gunshot at the end of the game was Salvatore getting revenge after she betrayed him by sending one of his men. Salvatore by that stage had fled the yakusa to Vice City or San Andreas Probably the latter as he knew it from that casino business in the 90's. He's the antagonist of Gta 5 and his former bodyguard Mike is one of the protagonists of Gta 5 Michael. Michael's wife Amanda who is angry at him for neglecting her teams up with Salvatore (who has a fondness for young women) to betray him to the feds. Michael, Franklin and Trevor are planning a massive bank heist on Los Santos Bank with the help of insider Ken Rosenberg who has changed professions from a lawyer to a banker since the events of Gta San Andreas. It was thought Cesar went to liberty city to avenge the death of Catalina by Claude but It was actually Salvatore who killed him in revenge for Cj's betrayal in Gta: San Andreas. The final mission is called the last don and is set in a military base where Salvatore and Amanda are about to escape You have a full wanted rating.

What do you think?
Blur's photo
Blur 22nd April, 2013 @ 20:28 - Permalink

Nice relaxing music, almost like its putting me in a trance of some sort... oh shit!

 

^^Also above as R* has stated before in the GameInformer cover issue:

The five PS2 games are one universe, and this is the high definition universe, so they don't co-exist, "Houser says. "You won't ever see CJ or Tommy Vercetti. They would be like mythical characters in this world who never existed."

 

Sounds like some fan's wishful thoughts, luckily for us Dan Houser is writing the script.

JustADummy's photo
JustADummy 23rd April, 2013 @ 11:48 - Permalink

Yeah I dunno about that, if something happened in real life I'm pretty sure we'd have heard about it.

In my opinion there's a couple of things it could be. First is that the messages they post on Twitter are going to tie into a backstory for something in the game, second is that they are simply just random tweets that are typical of what such a cult might talk about, just done to make the parody seem more real.

I wouldn't be surprised, I don't think it's the first time the Church of Scientology has put lawsuits on parodies. But anyway it's pretty nice to see R* bringing this back from San Andreas and turning it into a full fledged parody. This looks like it's going to play a big role in GTA V and maybe in its marketing campaign. I wouldn't be surprised to see them releasing various screensavers with parts of the map and Epsilon stuff.