The Totally Wireless Internet Cafe (TW@; pronounced twat) is an internet café that appears in both the 3D Universe and the HD Universe. It is interactive in Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodes.
Overview[]
The "TW", in "TW@", stands for "Totally Wireless", as can be seen outside some TW@ Internet Cafés. This phrase is a take on "Totally where it's at."
"TW@" is a reference to twat, which is a British and (sometimes) American slang term for a vagina, and is often also used in offensive manner to imply someone is an "idiot" or "annoying".
Description[]
In Grand Theft Auto III, the TW@ café in Torrington/Newport has no doors and is only accessible by breaking any of the windows. However, this rendition is filled with random pedestrians that will walk around aimlessly, bumping into the windows trying to get out due to the lack of doors. Two monitors inside the café show screenshots from Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2. A stunt jump can be completed via the staircase inside the café.
In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, set in 1998, three years earlier than GTA III, the TW@ café is under construction. Its posters read - "Come and see the grand opening of TW@", yet another obscene reference to the word twat.
In Grand Theft Auto IV, TW@ internet cafés are popular and at least one can be found on every major island. TW@ cafés can be used to browse the in-game websites and are accessible from completion of the mission Logging On, where the player has to set up an Eyefind e-mail account. It costs $1 to use the computer. The cafés can be robbed by simply opening the cash register, awarding the player an amount between $9 and $199. However, doing so will usually result in a one-star wanted level. This can be avoided, if the player crouches behind the counter of the Snack Shop, out of sight and then opens the cash register, they will not be spotted by the cashier. In the introductory cutscene to the Logging On mission, Roman actually speaks the name of the establishment, confirming that it is indeed pronounced "twat".
In The Ballad of Gay Tony, as well as The Lost and Damned in the standalone Episodes from Liberty City version, the computers have a new wallpaper: a dark background with a silhouette of the Liberty City skyline and the phrase "I ♥ LC". This may be a reference to the "I Love New York" logo, which the name of the mission "I Luv LC" also references.
In Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a TW@ PDA theme is available to use. TW@ Internet Cafés are also present in North Holland, East Hook and a new one is located in Easton, but all of them are inaccessible.
In Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, the internet can be accessed from a mobile phone or at one of the protagonist's safehouses. As a result, TW@ internet cafés appear in Los Santos, almost exclusively in Little Seoul, but all establishments are inaccessible. This reflects the decline of the internet café that came with the prevalence of mobile internet access by 2013, while also reflecting the sustained popularity of internet cafés in East Asian nations, especially South Korea.
Influence[]
Locations[]
In Grand Theft Auto IV, the Alderney TW@ branch is a rendition of 415 Washington Street[1] in Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.A. Interestingly, 415 Washington Street appears to be an amalgam of the TW@ building and the neighboring tenement to the left with the green cladding.
Locations[]
Grand Theft Auto III[]
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]
The same place as in GTA III. The store is under construction.
Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City[]
There is an internet café on each of the three main islands. There are none in Bohan.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online[]
Wan Ka Internet Cafe[]
24/7 Supermarket 슈퍼마켓 (Left), Wan Ka Internet Cafe 왕카인터넷 (Right).
One of the locations on Vespucci Boulevard was seen in a promotional screenshot with the name Wan Ka Internet Café (왕카인터넷) in Grand Theft Auto V. This name was replaced with Totally Wireless (Tw@) once the game was released.
The words Wan Ka is a reference to the British term 'wanker'; a person who enjoys constant masturbation, or is considered an idiot. Wan Ka does not exist in the Korean language, and is instead the Mandarin Chinese term for an internet café.
Quotes[]
- "Welcome, don't spill shit on the computers." - Grand Theft Auto IV
- "There's a tip jar, jackass." - Grand Theft Auto IV
- "Hope the internet was worth it." - Grand Theft Auto IV
- "Can I get you a Smokalarmalatte?" - Grand Theft Auto IV
Prominent Appearances in Missions[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
- Logging On
- Out of the Closet
- Final Interview
- I'll Take Her
- All Exotic Exports side missions
The Ballad of Gay Tony[]
Gallery[]
Grand Theft Auto III[]
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars[]
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
Trivia[]
3D Universe[]
- TW@ internet cafés do not appear in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, reflecting the fact that internet cafés did not exist in the time frames of those games. Although, in GTA San Andreas, a pedestrian can be heard saying; "This internet is crap, it'll never take off." He can be heard saying this when bumped into; "Go to TW@", pronouncing it like 'T.W.A.'. This may indicate also that TW@ Internet Cafe was founded in or around 1992.
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
- TW@'s logo is similar in design to the American over-the-air television network The CW.
- The radio station playing inside the internet cafés in Grand Theft Auto IV is The Journey, except for the café in Algonquin which plays Jazz Nation Radio 108.5. In Episodes from Liberty City, Self-Actualization FM plays in all cafés.
- At all TW@ internet cafés, the photocopier behind the cashier's desk is a Kakagawa Power Ultra 3000 Pro. The screen of the photocopier also has an Easter Egg as the screen reads: ERROR Unleash ninja guru lol.
- Each TW@ internet café has a cash register that can be opened to make a small amount of money, at the cost of a 1-star wanted level.
- TW@ computers and all of the other computers in the game, have the same cursor used in Microsoft Windows, from Windows 1.01 to Windows XP, which may indicate that the operating system used in the game is a resemblance to a Windows operating system.