BlackListedB

I have to say, didn't expect more and more release date push-backs, but it does bear out in Rockstar's latest admittance that they'll require and request user feedback regarding PC gaming problems, but this is also a normal avenue for console players as well. [As a rebut to Chris comments, I added some particulars of my own (prior to reading his statement) in my previous thread, where we BOTH bring up pre-order percentage, but it REALLY disturbs me when people will admit to pirating a game that NEEDS your support, you would NOT GET ANY PC GAMES if you continue to NOT SUPPORT your LOCAL GAME MAKER, which means, pay them for their work, you weak bast**ds!! DAMN! That's just wrong, no matter what your excuse!] I just think despite all the head-scratching from Rockstar's secretive nature and expected public announcements, making a modern PC game release with an AAA title still has to be a daunting task for any game designer, and I personally would like games made over several years to support just as many hardware choices (for gaming hardware in PC in particular) but as noted, with Windows 10 looming, Direct X 12 will allow for some very advanced improvement if your hardware will truly support it! Also as a note, I got this in some online trivia out of the blue, reminding you all, the original Microsoft Xbox name was 'Direct X Box', TRUE!

According to Newswire, rather then the landing page mentioned here, Rockstar again pushed the release date back, it has to be somewhat disheartening knowing that, yet again, the excuse made public is the typical one from Rockstar, and believe me, I don't like to hate on them, but they reward only pre-orders with in-game cash, the WORLD of GTA fans also have to wait, whether the in-game cash is much of a conciliation or not... May not mean much, since I don't know how many percent actually pre-order these days, HOWEVER, Windows and MS's whole platform for online gaming has also evolved in recent years and months and I'm sure this doesn't make new PC releases any easier, especially when you want a system that will stand up to a tough time test (longevity based on WWW servers that you don't have any control over)

GTA 5 Multiplayer promise of Heists is near upon us for consoles, preceding the PC release of the game, where everyone will be able to undertake an advancement to GTA heretofore unseen Rockstar Games has not updated it's Newswire in over a week, but I'd opted to just go to their Landing Page instead and happened on it a few days ago....The trailer! Only a minute long, and sans voice-over, It's hard to get an idea for the perimeters of the mechanics, but what's interesting is one of the characters in the scenes, believed to be 'you' actually looks a lot like my own custom online character. I intended for my male 'avatar' to resemble me as close as could be optioned, with the available clothing sense to match.... Just kidding... Have to make do with what's in the game, as always. Still, I found I could get a character that did look rather like me, and it seems molded like the one in the trailer this time. I would like to hear what you think of it thus far? Should they have done a (female) voice over to give some insight behind how it will be hands-on? I'm sure there's more info yet to come. I do feel no matter how they embellish GTAO, the single player experience still feels severely lacking, I just went back into it again, and though I now have a 47 inch HDTV to enjoy it on, the big spaciousness of San Andreas is pretty lacking in things to do other then wander the vast locales. In GTAO, the advantage of all the space is plenty of custom locations for user check-point races and filmed stunting, but I hope they can work on what's most missing with GTA evolving, and that's using all the space somewhat more effectively. Not asking a lot, but the main advantage that it's always had is life of the game for just making your own 'sand-box' virtual fun is up to your imagination. As far as the Heists for online, how do you see it working for people in crews? Lone wolfs signing on to a crew for the ability in-game, on the fly? I'm always wondering how something that COULD be complex can be coordinated as such, for online gamers, it's often a matter of real time permitting, and World Time Zones permitting those who are not in the same State or Country be online with the time to devote to these add on MP events. I know from previous forays with online groups that they usually don't last too long, and my first attempts at GTA 4 online, people were coming and going during one group chosen activity, and essentially it messes up everyone's fun because you can't do things the way the game designers had envisioned it

Now, to note, I had missed this article prior, but brought up some info I'd culled from setting up a gaming laptop noted elsewhere, on a budget. You can note in this article the prices cited for each card.... http://www.techspot.com/article/928-five-generations-nvidia-geforce-graphics-compared/ With Fermi and successive hardware advancing for nVidia, I don't think any of these card choices would be a poor one, however, they suggest a TI version of the new series listed in the article is due for next year, that would be THIS year now, of the latest Geforce (I assume not all desktops and mobile graphics cards share the same name, and this seems true for the ATI Radeon HD5470 which is geared for laptops primarily, if only). The Fermi was a well received graphic chipset technology, as was the 8800 Geforce before it, that card was a re-think of past GPU tech for nVidia and the lower 8 series came out after the 8800 Ultra came to market as the showcase example. You'll note both GF6200 and GF8400 are making the rounds in newer released cards.... In some places. Very entry budget minded, but still covering the advent of Shader Model 3.0. Direct X 9, so many older games should work good on those, or at least offer you the ability to run them! Techspot looks at ATI vs NVidia in a new online article as well, check back to their site for more interesting stuff Also noted in my Asus ROG build, the mobile graphics cards I found were not cited in the above, but should fall closely in line. The World's Fastest GPU when introduced; ATI HD 5870 Radeon and the Geforce mobile 460m GTX

Making GTAs 3D successors more open ended allowed for multiple ways to complete a mission, this is preferred I feel, it not only adds more ways the user can think up, but because of AI and it's own interaction, the results can differ most every time, but early 2D and 3D attempts at GTA type gaming is far less adventurous and foregiving because of programming difficulty and technical challenges, This is not really a planned way to make gaming hard, but the ideal has been to make game skill more adjustable as part of the game's AI. In the older days, you would select Easy, Normal, Hard, or CRUSHING (Uncharted for example) Speaking to Trevor Philips above comment, The changes I did wish for as we saw GTA progress as a series, you have to remember there was an actual studio transition from DMA to Rockstar North at the exact time; 1999-2001 where the game set new standards in it's transition as well. I feel anything detracting adds to the dating of the game. Making them stand in more stark constrast. To bookend the above comment, I was hoping not for a re-release of GTA 3 in Redux redressing, but the improvements to show up in a Sony PSP version STORIES, or better yet, embellish the older GTA stories and reboot them for Sony PS' Vita!! I can't complain about modern games at all, but to me the classics are still coin-ops. I started my PC gaming on an Apple II, and those 8 bit games are also classics. I will tell you, they weren't impossibly hard, and I also don't think they should be, Gaming that's too hard just makes me lose interest, since I hate, really hate, playing levels over and over and not passing! hahaha

Lemme bump an old thread, I reinstalled GTA IV on the Asus Republic of G (gangster or Gamer?!?) G73 and the old software header is Games for Windows Live along with companion Rockstar Social Club sign-on applet (offline portal to the online version) As you know, this probably is unlikely to ever change now, but as it stands, mostly upsetting that the news sidebar and PC updates mentioned with it are still stuck in a time warp. While Rockstar constantly looks to improve GTA V because it bridges console changes nearly 10 years in the making, it is likely to have the most lavish attention paid from that of previous versions of Grand Theft Auto. This tackles a few things, what updates seem to be missing, if any, from Rockstar for PC that perhaps the software is not showing up? I've always been a bit upset that Rockstar seemingly felt it too much hassle to keep this interface active and updated, I'm sure at the time there were enough users who would appreciate a periodical update, I was expecting Rockstar to throw a bone to it's past dynamic online support of GTAs and other series games. Also worth noting is that in my machine, both G73s used ATI HD5870, and Geforce 460m GTX, of which online gaming review benchmarks show that you can actually find differing results based on which game you play, the ever popular Call of Duty performed better on ATI's Radeon Whereas GeForce nVidia performed better on others, providing stiff competition for each, and this being 2010 (the time of release for Intel's new Nehalem and the two GPU cards), it's interesting to note the release date and how it should mean support is there, (for GTA IV) but Crysis being as old as it is still required lower settings for smooth, higher frame rates. I might have posted those findings before, but it's worth mentioning for first time portable game shoppers, a used gaming laptop can provide enough muscle and there is the find of GTX 560 nVidia being a possible upgrade (just shy of the 660 GTX recommended for GTA5 on PC) Direct X 12 support for Windows 10 is something to keep in mind as well, as Windows 8 doesn't generate too much appeal for gaming, as does Windows Vista's introductory Direct X 10, quickly surpassed by DirectX11

Hi Wondered if any of you have been inspired to do some themed art or contribution outside of just playing Rockstar's classic games, by the work featured on Rockstar's Newswire? I post this outside of the normal news or GTAO specific forum topics here, but more because of the annual updates to Rockstar's Newswire website segment showing fan created tributes, which do included race buildings for the Online fans. I took Commercial Art post-High School and did much drawing in my younger years, then I gave it up as I moved into the Construction work sector. I also had lost the drive to compete as an artist dating circa-1989, but being a true video game fan for years and years, and somewhat inspired by the artistic merit on display at Rockstar's site and elsewhere (where do they find all these fans?!) I feel like trying to conceptualize something myself, but wanting it to be genuine and not a rip-off of someone's previous idea...which is hard! Mouthoff email is the way to go to submit things for their official approval, Thinking to break out my pens and paper and see if I can come up with something, I always felt the competition is just better over-all, but I do have skill with art, just get the feeling without doing it rather constantly to improve, probably get rusty at it. The type of art in Rockstar's latest feature still spans a bunch of different creative avenues. I think it's hard not to feel like that might be a great way to say thanks to Rockstar by giving something back. (I'm always wondering how many on staff are enjoying the user feedback, they remain nameless and faceless after all) Well, if you did contribute, featured on Newswire or not, sound off here in this thread or post a link to something you perhaps uploaded and hosted online as well

Ha, wait, Not so Fast in that assessment; http://hexus.net/business/news/system-builders/75425-laptop-sales-unlikely-boosted-windows-10-launch/ Another thing you can look up causing consternation and frustration is the Builder License premise that MS hopes to put that to bed, for good?!?!? It's unclear with versions of Windows 7 and 8 alternating between licensing specifics for those building their own gaming platform, or other, OR computers to sell, second hand, etc. To also allow for dual boot platforms and Virtual Machine applications. This would be fundemental for Apple owners looking to use their Intel CPU power with Windows (Wintel) BTW, There are a few, though dated, articles detailing the proof in consumer sales and online markets for the various Windows that don't bare out strict licensing guidelines, though this might not even bother some people, it was pointed out Enterprise (business licensed OSes) version would have periodical auditing, and I noted with Windows 8 a seemingly short span online update audit, but this also seemed to lesson over time, though I don't strictly use Win8 either, it hasn't stopped working or updating. I'd point out that InfoWorld claims nearly a year before they advised Microsoft of all these changes being implemented and should receive some credit in a joking manner, but there's reality that most test driving Windows 8 found the same to be true, or missing from Windows 8 since it's Developer's Preview genesis, which was as bare-bones as you could get, since Apps used then are non existent now! hahaha

A recent TV news story just touched on the evolution of car engine and exhaust sound, dispelling the perception that they were actually generated by the car's engine and exhaust system, NO, in fact, the electronics in the car and speakers create or RECREATE a sound of the Musclecar era. What puzzled me is the suggestion this is the car's inboard speaker system producing engine and exhaust note for an enthusiast effect. I'd like to hear what you guys think about this faux evolution in motoring, though it's neat for a video game, for an actual car, I think not! hahaha

As you MAY know, I built up an Asus Republic of Gamers notebook after my sister's husband bought one new, I thought I'd prove to him it could be done, and I could do it, using only eBay sourcing. Well, I'm kinda happy to report I am doing it again! Since in my initial foray I wound up with a nVidia graphics card and heatsink, of which there are plenty... on eBay Don't know why, but the original G73 ROG Asus that came with ATI Radeon HD5870 was very short lived so there appears to be evidently, few good cards available in the used market. Sadly, a lot of motherboards supporting them, outnumbering the video cards, in fact. There may have been trouble ASUS had with quality in the initial phases, however, I still feel determined to get the AWOL graphics card. In my constant eBay searches, I unearthed deals on Asus G74, G75 series and G73 Sandy Bridge revision parts. It's worth pointing out that well under $1000, you can get your own bid on one of these parts, and familiarize yourself with unit assembly and repair. Some parts have been worked on by owners unsuccessfully, it's true, but there are also those offering their services in repair of 'surface mount components' that incorporates board based soldering. Re-heating or 'reballing' things like ICs (Integrated Circuits) My interest in electronics stems from actual courses I took in the early 1980s, out-dated by the advancement in electronics, the basics are much the same, and digital circuits were already well in use in the early 1980s, however, typically astronomically expensive and over-sized on component boards. Now thanks to eBay's typical auction setting, some sellers just opt to let the high bidder get the item, so you have a great chance to get just the components you lack I have found studying a crash course in the G73ROG, that even the integrated-discrete GPU for G74 models is available as a MXM (Express mobile Graphics) card for the G73SW and G73JW models, as the nVidia GTX560, with 2GB of video memory, that means though it falls short of the 660GTX recommended for GTA V PC release, it should be up to the task of running the latest games at lower settings! A nice find, however, I'd recommend you get the top end 180 watt adapter for Asus laptops, it's a match in power output to the Toshiba SLI 8600 nVidia capable X205!

It's worth mentioning the MAJOR MAJOR fallout of the PC find, Hot Coffee in all versions of GTA San Andreas, the PC version was always delayed It's worth mentioning because Hot Coffee did have MAJOR implications for changing what Rockstar Games North was and is forever more. Despite them going from strength to strength amidst orchestrated public mayhem, the way reality panned out is that the changes for a Houser helmed Rockstar North meant people who would be key in development would jump ship and go elsewhere, Rockstar would have to deal with ratings boards primarily in the USA and distribution channels recalling San Andreas. The fall out I think is tangible in how Rockstar were previewing games and showing their software in a more open community fan base. In other words the secrecy level was increased beyond that of 'Fort Knox'. I think Rockstar were both worried and gun-shy, yet they would push on and try things never done before. The real idea I mentioned seemed to come from previous ideas Sam Houser had expressed and detailed again in the book Jacked, unauthorized as it was, the author's intent was to use as many sources of direct contact with Rockstar to lay a foundation for the companies' charted path. And how I feel it falls short is telling Rockstar's story after the ill-fated mis-steps of Hot Coffee. Now, it wasn't the only game to go into a sexual area with video games, but it was a huge selling hit which added to how many eyes were observing it. People trying to legislate games and movies, and records. 2005 was a watershed moment for better or worse.

Here's another happy accident thread link, talking about the modern age of GPUs, Techspot, a premier geeksite for peeps like me, did this article back in 2013, but I don't recall seeing it then. This jumps to the page I was looking for, really, more code names and key innovations for nVidia in particular, and to keep track of all the evolutionary stages, something akin to Intel's CPU roadmap is always helpful, in which differences of features and spec can be compared. Just as there is a CPU-World, you can also find a companion GPU-World for referencing online, even compare different core chips against each other before opting for your choice (as a purchasing guide) You can also submit your own findings if you have experience worth noting, and ability to square off processors using identical machines and tests. http://www.techspot.com/article/650-history-of-the-gpu/

I mentioned my hunt of various hardware I was building for a gaming capable machine, only to find the proposed specs for GTA V on PC do demand a bit more currency, that being CASH and a two year or newer life span in terms of how old the technology is and dated itself in the market. I was also looking at the latest Republic of Gamer and previous models to get some idea of the price differences, also including the CPU market and memory markets on eBay, where not only used or repair items come up, but also NOS and new items. I did find this on an earlier linking website, nVidia reporting their latest model intended to reach more gamers with a friendly $199USD price tag http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2015/01/22/maxwell-sweetspot-gtx-960/ I commented earlier today that an eBay priced GTX660 nVidia would cost you $100 USD in desktop variety, it's worth noting that perhaps an additional $100 USD investment would be worth it for a new gen card that should have some staying power..... God Willing!

I'm not sure about where to post a new topic relating to GTA V, based on Rockstar's news newswire updates... but I think it's fair to ask here as well, Who's pre-ordering GTA V PC and how will you be playing it? Will you take up the offer to converge console and PC accounts for GTAO for example? Will you be trying to make a gaming go of it on laptop or desktop? Will you be getting more then ones version, or is this your first time with GTA V, awaiting PC release only?? What hardware will you be attempting to play the game on? I looked up the GTX660 on eBay used, recommended nVidia based card option, and the desktop cards are only $100 [uSD] on average. Not too bad really! The laptop option I mentioned is much harder to obtain for budget minded gamers, I priced those specs around $800 used. The main thing posting here at this time is that Rockstar's Pre-Order deals END FEB 01, 2015!!

...Do Tell! I bought a number of laptops not to mention the desktops I took in or built in the last six or so years, the main goal was dual and quad core, graphics support key being the Express port and it's advancement. I wound up backtracking a bit, and the funny thing is the first set of laptops I got were Toshiba's MMX Pentium 90Mhz ones, still two batteries for them that work perfect. Toshiba transferred to Pentium 3 in that time, using the same batteries oddly (I assume a series of Pentium IIs also used them) My earliest IBM PS/Note was a 486 processor Intel. The speed and HDD along with memory capacity were astoundingly low, so you might be wary of even using Windows 95's impressive GUI on it, I can't recall exactly, but I think the HDD was only 800MB!!! CS410 model maybe? Toshiba Satellite with lacking touchpad, one of the earliest touchpad laptops I ever came across was actually Acer's first foray into manufacture, having taken over the line for Texas Instruments in Europe and Asia, eventually TI opted not to fight a legal battle and Acer took over full products from Texas Instruments, I mentioned this before I'm sure, but Acer still uses Extensa and Travelmate names for different series notebooks, but they didn't come up with those names! TI did! haha Here's an interesting sidebar about the firm known formerly as Silicon Graphics, Their Workstations have powered forward the current CGI revolution started around the time of Lucas and Star Wars, where his vision was to provide a technical workshop for movie makers, advancing all the arts of movie making. Worth your time reading up on this stuff.. http://www.hpcwire.com/2008/10/30/sgi_returns_to_visual_roots/

Yes, we lost are key financier, so GTAChronicles went down and is now a wasteland of ad links, I have no control over. I was an instigator in the formation of the site, and it was an answer and oasis from the heavy handed, and rock-headed moderation of GTAForums, I'm still happy to see this site is adverse and absent from, Though not nearly as active as GTAForums, the newer forums haven't got that same history, and it was likely much easier for everyone to cope back in the day, as I recall it. Well, I know I for one hope GTAChronicles could survive as long as any other site, but we are all tightening our fiscal budget, the good news is I heard back from Webmaster Mike, who is making an effort to save the domain. As a Dot Com it might prove too difficult, remains to be seen, but an update on our good friend Mike, he's alive and doing well, and his online trips became less and less frequent so he was actually unaware of GTAChronicle's present state. He'd also sadly forgotten how to log in, happens to the best of us! hahahaha

If your computer is shutting down to protect the OS, as it states mostly in BSOD, relate your experience in this thread! More then just shared horror story experience, I want to relate what just happened to me the past few days, I got repeated BSOD from Windows 7 after I tried an optional official update for Windows .Net Framework version 4.5.2 I tried a repair which failed, I then opted to remove the latest update, and as it rolled back, observed notifier that 4.5.1 was also being uninstalled. I can tell you since rebooting after that, the system appears stable once again, and as such, I advise NOT updating to that revision of the .Net Framework, and as I stated some time ago here IIRC, NET Framework's real use is in helping software written for Web 2.0 and beyond to work better among different interconnected machines, as I understand it, so in a manner, Cloud based online software might largely be effected by NOT having components to .Net from Microsoft, but as they are always expanding their own software, I'm sure they'll get this fixed or revised, your system won't die on you unexpectedly which is the MOST important thing, even if you lose some program functionality!

Windows incorporated Internet Exporer as it's web-browser default, defacto, most know this caused an Anti-Trust lawsuit to break up Microsoft's monopoly, which was somewhat successful, however, it's chief competition, Netscape still fell to the wayside. Firefox, Opera, and Google Chrome proved you could compete against Bill Gates' empire and actually keep a healthy competition going. AMD sadly could not compete with the original 1960s Intel, but because they were more brash as upstarts, they won awards for their innovation and are still leaders in the Technology Hall of Fame. They competed with Intel in much the same way others competed with Apple and Microsoft. It always felt like someone could lay claim to the PC end, but not really. The earliest companies to try and make headway would include Compaq before being eaten up by Hewlett Packard. The old Packard Bell some might remember, not to be confused by! hahaha Mine was an eMachine, Trigem, founded in the late 90s, they actually broke historical ground with brand new PCs priced at $600USD! This with a track record of few complaints and repairs. Ones I did observe related to the low end PSUs or power supplies, which are rather universal on the low end. As well, DVD and CD ROM failures, though included with a PC are not specifically made by that company, but they get the reputation for the shoddy product inclusion just the same. I think had products been tested when they were made, before going out in the market, things like failure rates could have been managed better, a PC makers' reputation often hinged on how low complaints about service were and how well that service was executed. Speaking of the START menu, overwhelming PC user displeasure did result in the evolution of Windows 10 we're seeing, More robust MS OS desktop in the conventional, non-touchscreen area, while retaining Windows 8 multi platform and appending new changes there as well, if they meet user experience concerns, will bode well for Microsoft Post-Bill Gates I'll add that Apple really pioneered virtually all the concepts for the home computer, Windows included, so I had a bit of disdain over the rather obvious theft of ideas, but Apple and Bill Gates were paying attention to what was going on in computer R and D and put those ideas into their respective products, The 'mouse' technology dates back even further then 1970 for example!

August 24th will be 20 years since Microsoft Windows 95 first entered the World's sub-conscious. It maybe a bit early to title the thread before the event and then it passes with much fan-fare as expected, and will appear titled incorrectly then!? haha Anyway, I was just stumbling on this factoid as I explored various computer retro articles online and pondering the new Windows 10. 20 years in the making of the modern desktop GUI! "pronounced Goo-ey" ...Well, I noticed too, it's January 24th, so it's the right day to post this! haha ;:~lp

Sorry to addendum if too soon, but the announcement kinda excites me, New Windows is a chance to revise all previous wrongs! HAHAHA Check out Wikipedia's evolving notes on the subject; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10 Also take note in the middle section, reference that Windows was skipping the naming to Windows 9 for unclear reasons, yet the MS spokesperson refuses to acknowledge that MS's OWN naming sequence groups Windows 95, 98 and ME under Win 9x. Windows 9 isn't a direct match to previous naming, but if you read the Wiki, it does discount, jokingly, naming it Windows One, which would CLEARLY be a bad move, even if not to present a technical association. Xbox One is STILL a bad device name no matter how you look at it, you can't reinvent the wheel by calling it a different name! hahaha