Grand Theft Auto: Vice City now runs in a web browser thanks to a reVC-based DOS Zone demo
A new web demo on DOS Zone lets you boot Grand Theft Auto: Vice City inside a modern browser, using a WebAssembly build of the community reVC engine reimplementation rather than an official Rockstar release. DOS Zone frames it as a non-commercial tech demo meant to show how a full 3D game engine can run through browser APIs.
The catch is ownership. Progression is blocked at the first story checkpoint (Hotel Ocean View) unless you tick an ownership box and upload an original game file that passes a checksum check. The demo also advertises modern conveniences like broad resolution support, touch and gamepad input, plus optional cloud saves tied to js-dos.
Source: VideoCardz
The legal side is murky even with the ownership gate. DOS Zone says it does not include or distribute original game assets and that users must provide their own resources, but that is not a guarantee a rights holder will tolerate a public, playable web build carrying the GTA name and gameplay loop.
This browser release also sits on top of a long-running “special” code lineage. reVC (and its sibling re3 for GTA III) comes from reverse engineering efforts that aimed to modernize the classic PC releases with fixes and quality-of-life work. Take-Two previously pursued DMCA takedowns and a copyright lawsuit tied to these projects, and while the case against key named defendants was later dismissed with prejudice, the episode shows how quickly these efforts can end up in legal crosshairs.
Source: DOS Zone