Rockstar talks GTA IV technical problems

[Chris]

IGN have recently participated in a conference call with several Rockstar Games employees; including Lead QA Arthur Chiang, Technical Director Kevin Hoare, and VP of Development Jeronimo Barrera. There's 3 pages of questions and answers to graphics and community related questions. Here's one quote I think sums up a lot of forum users:

IGN: Then why do you think this has reached the level of proliferation through the online gaming media as it has because a lot of games are released for the PC and they all have technical issues with various hardware setups but this one seems to be more prominent than most. If it is just an expected volume of user problems, as you say, then why the furor?

Jeronimo Barrera: I think we have pretty passionate fans and they're going to let us know when they're unhappy with something. We're trying to address every issue we can whether it's through our support line or going to forums, we're constantly scanning to make sure we aren't missing something. Obviously we want this to run on everybody's machine. I think these guys can explain a little bit more like what separates us from other games. What we're doing is really cutting edge, there's a lot of stuff going on onscreen.

He's right, we are a passionate bunch of fans. We're incredibly vocal and that can be seen in any GTA forum you visit. Old graphics card drivers are, according to Rockstar's support staff, one of the biggest problems. nVidia users are advised to upgrade to the beta drivers we mentioned yesterday, ATi users will have to wait until Wednesday for updated drivers.

You can read the rest of the interview over at IGN

[Crafty1980]

Personally, after reading that interview/conference call, I've got a little bit more respect for the developers... (only a little mind you)

I just really wish they spent more time in trying to iron out all the major (and quite frankly schoolboy) errors that have been coming through so quickly. I realise it's nigh on impossible to thoroughly test every possible combination of PC setup, but they are effectively using us all as beta testers! (or should we be called Gamma testers?!?! ) Does that mean I can claim my £30 back??

Seriously though, I'm glad they have had the balls to front up to us all on what seems a pretty regular basis and are clearly working hard to sort everything ASAP. There's nothing worse than being kept out of the loop!!

Right... Now speaking of beta testing, I want to be added to the GTA5 team! You never know, that might be running better than GTA4 already!! haha

[Mehhh]

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to see the interview, Ty for sharing Chris..

I am glad to see that they are looking at the problems w/ interest & are diligent in attempting to correct them.

Thats just how its supposed to work when something like this happens.

Granted I have an attitude like anyone that when I pay for something, I expect it to be, dare I say "trouble free", BUT reality then sets in, I realize NOTHING is 100% trouble free, jus look at "us" ^_~

I was pretty upset for sure but I dont hate Rockstar, they're trying, more testing, sure, more time, sure, but hey who had it ?? Man we were already fuming over wanting the game out NOW, then it got delayed & we were really "hot"..

In a world of pc gaming, technology changing so rapidly and a game as complex as GTA IV, I can see why we have many problems now, look at VC & SA, they pale in comparison on the pc to GTA IV pc..

They really do have a valid point, I spose we could think of it this way, you can take 100 million users for example, each w/ an Xbox360 or PS3, now tell me, do ANY of those consoles vary in hardware/software from the manufacturer ??? Yet take the same 100 million users each w/ a PC, how many of those 100 million are the same in hard/software ?? You have countless brand and generic pc manufacturers, people building their own pc w/ varying components, w/ countless custom configurations, Rockstar can't possibly account for everything, so I can understand the pressure they feel now ..

I'm glad that Rockstar is still passionate about working games for the pc, including the continued support for this one! I thought I read something about controller support implementation, is that in the coming patch or something existing ? I think for optimal enjoyment of the game, I need to be able to use a controller because the controls for the game via mouse/kybrd are abit too many, one of the most frustrating for me is, trying to control the camera w/ the mouse while I'm driving ..

Someone told me once that to get MS's stamp of approval, is pretty pricey ..

Thanx Rockstar for addressing the issues, many of us are trying to help out fellow gamers too!