Grand Theft Auto Mogul Prefers 'Vacuous' Neighborhoods

In an interview with New York magazine today, Rockstar Games mogul Dan Houser talks about his inspirations for the godly New York video game Grand Theft Auto IV: "You've got the angry sleeping-pill-popping sort of Sex and the City type woman, you know, whose looks are just beginning to fade ... The people in Soho are expensively dressed and into shopping and vacuous in their own way."

Mr. Houser would know.

As The Observer wrote last March (it's the third item here), Mr. Houser spent $6.25 million for a Greene Street duplex loft, buying from Oscar nominee Charles Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson never moved into the place, despite its seven rooms, two terraces (one is off the master bedroom and 1,000 square feet) and, most importantly, a media room with a high-definition projection system and a wood-burning fireplace.

If Mr. Houser gets bored of fire-lit gaming, he always has floor-to-ceiling glass to admire his expensively dressed, vacuous neighbors.