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GTA4 Information Round-up


Chris

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Before we start receiving information on GTA IV, which will hopefully be soon, I've rounded up all the facts, rumours and news we've heard so far to bring you all up to date with where we're currently at.

Facts

GTA4 is currently scheduled for release on October 16th 2007 in North America, and October 19th 2007 in Europe. The game will be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 simultaneously.

The Xbox 360 version will feature downloadable episodes providing hours of new gameplay content, these downloads will be made available via Xbox Live.

Pesky Lawyers

Lately we've seen the infamous Florida lawyer Jack Thompson up to his old tricks again. Spong was just one of a number of websites which received a copy of an email JT sent to Bill Gates, his nonsensical rhetoric can be read in full at Spong, the general jist of it is that he's trying to persuade Microsoft to prevent sales of Grand Theft Auto IV to millions of minors, a figure which he sources from an article which has no mention of the game at all. Nice try Jack, but yet again you fail.

Set in the UK?

Back in August 2006, Craig Kerr was hired by Rockstar North as an environment artist. A quick look at his portfolio shows us that much of his work was based on places in the UK. While the images don't seem to be live anymore, he does state they were what landed him the job. This is a relatively small hint that GTA4 could feature London and/or some other UK areas as a setting. Of course this is more of a speculative observation, and should not be taken as a hard fact, yet.

Europe also features heavily in the thoughts of fans, as do some American locales such as Chicago, as well as Rockstar's fictional Carcer City. In any case it would be wise to rule out Los Angeles as a possible locale, as Rockstar's upcoming L.A. Noire (official site) is using this setting, albeit in a 1940's era - a time period we could also rule out.

In-Game Advertising = Modern Day / Future Setting?

In a press conference held by Take Two back in early December, in-game advertising was mentioned as an option for creating an additional revenue stream from GTA4. The implications of this are that if GTA4 will indeed have in-game ads, it would suggest a present day or near-future setting. The reasons for this simply being that adverts for modern day products/services would be completely out of place in a game set in the past, there wouldn't be any relevance and they would be ignored. The response to this prospect by some fans was that many would prefer the game to retain it's fictitious, satirical adverts based off real life products, as these obviously add a lot of humour to the game.

Wii want GTA

Also in December, Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, said in an interview with an American television station that Nintendo has done all it can to persuade Take-Two Interactive Software to bring the Grand Theft Auto franchise to Nintendo consoles, and it is now up to the third party publisher to decide whether Rockstar Games' best-selling franchise will appear on Wii. The main concern from fans has been how the game would make use of the Wii's remote as the controller.

GTA4 PC Version

There is currently no official word on a PC version of GTA4, though it is highly expected. The PC versions of GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas all had a period of months before they appeared on the PC, it is hopeful that Rockstar will once again follow the same pattern. Modifications often being cited as one of the main reasons for purchasing he game for the PC, in addition to better graphics and multiplayer capabilities through 3rd party modifications.

Our current poll suggests that over half of you are willing to wait for the PC version to come out before you play the game. Though this may be a little biased based on the fact we have thousands of people visiting this site for mods everyday, it's strong evidence that a PC version is sought after by the fans.

Online Multiplayer

Fans have been longing for multiplayer capability since GTA3, over 5 years ago. Some of the more curious members of the GTA community found from looking through various files show that Rockstar were actually planning on implementing such a feature in GTA3, which wasn't completed for what could be a number of reasons. GTA San Andreas was Rockstar's first venture into this domain, with 2 player minigames bringing a little more replayability to the PS2 and Xbox versions. The two GTA releases on PSP featured Ad-Hoc mode multiplayer support for up to 6 players, other than that there have only been third party modifications for the main three PC games, MTA and SA-MP being the current big two for San Andreas.

The fact that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have decent online gaming brings more hope to fans for a proper multiplayer experience on the console versions.

New Game Engine

Grand Theft Auto 4 is expected to make use of RAGE (Rockstar's Advanced Game Engine), previously used in Rockstar's Table Tennis game for the Xbox 360. The benfits of this are needless to say, much improved aesthetics, and better rendering of objects amongst other things. Gameplay will hopefully be an immense improvement over previous iterations.

More Developers

In late 2006, Janco Partners analyst Mike Mickey stated that there are a total of 150 developers working on Grand Theft Auto 4, which is more than any other GTA game so far. For comparisons sake, GTA Vice City supposedly had 120 developers working on it. The sheer enormity of Grand Theft Auto 4 is likely to amaze everyone with the huge increase in developers working on it, coupled with the advanced capabilities of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

A new COO at R*

On January 3rd, a Take Two Press Release revealed Rockstar Games had appointed Gary Dale as the new Chief Operating Officer, with former COO Terry Donovan presumably having left the company. Dale was the European Managing Director for Capcom since 2003, and has worked with Rockstar Games in the past. He brings with him "a wealth of operational experience and industry knowledge to Rockstar Games".

That's all we have for now. You can discuss this round up in our forums, and more specifically talk about the game in our GTA4 forum along with an abundance of fans. We've made a couple of minor layout changes (it's still not final though) to the GTA4 section of our website, and have removed some obsolete content. We'll be updating our GTA IV pages soon to reflect what we find out, so stay tuned for more updates on that.

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In-game advertising would definitely be a good way for Rockstar to get some more cash. Like when your driving down the street or whatever, seeing signs for top stores and restaurants and stuff. I wouldn't mind that, but it's not a big deal.

I hope they release a PC version. It's probably the only way I'm going to be able to get Grand Theft Auto IV. I have a Play Station2 and a PSP, but my next-gen console is going to be a Nintendo Wii so I won't be getting a XBOX 360 or PS3 to play the new Grand Theft Auto games... plus the modifications and everything will definitely enhance the gameplay.

Referring to the whole "selling violent video games to underage children thing", maybe children that aren't mature enough to understand that they shouldn't go out on the streets and kill people, etc. shouldn't be playing it but I know a good load of people that play Grand Theft Auto, are underage, and haven't thought about that at all. I know there are some teenagers these days like it, but there are also teenagers that know the difference and are mature enough to play the games and I don't really see a harm in them playing it if they understand not to do it in real life, I'm one of them.

I forgot to comment on the Grand Theft Auto for Nintendo Wii portion of the article, so here goes. I really would like to see GTA for the Wii. Why not do something so it would require and work well with the classic controller? That thing would handle it better than using the Wiimote, or even using the Gamecube Controller. The Wii supports those two standard old-style controllers so I'd say they could customize Grand Theft Auto IV to work with those.

In conclusion, I really hope there will be either a Wii or PC version of Grand Theft Auto; preferably PC.

Edited by Google Guru
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I still don't get why XBox 360 gets those episodes while the XBox only has been getting the GTA games since 2004...maybe 2003, I don't know. Playstation and computers have been getting GTA games pretty much since GTA came out...so why are these systems left behind?

I thought of the possibility that since Microsoft, creators of the 360, are the ones that got the game first on the computer, which is why I'm thinking they could have just said "instead of putting it on the PC, put it on the 360." Which might be why the 360 could possibly be the only system you could get the episodes on, but at the same time I still think it's unfair being that the Playstation got GTA pretty much at the same time as when the computers did. So I think every system, computer, whatever should get these downloadable episodes as well.

Seeing that I have a PS3, I already could see that you could download new features for games off of the Playstation Underground, so I don't get why Rockstar would be holding back unless Microsoft is holding something against them. Another possibility is that Playstation 3 might get something even better than the episodes...maybe along with the episodes, and Rockstar doesn't want to spill the beans yet.

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You speak as if it's only going to be Xbox 360 exclusive. It's not the fact that PlayStation 3 won't be getting it, it's the fact we've simply had no word on it yet, i.e. there's been no official confirmation, so we can only speculate. Don't dismiss it too early. I'm fairly certain the PS3 will see some form of downloadable content, we'll just have to wait to hear from either Rockstar or Sony themselves to find out what that is.

Sony are failing so immensly badly at the moment in comparison to Wii60 that they're going to want to do everything they can to make GTA4 their main console seller. They can do this with exclusive content, and lots of it.

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I still don't get why XBox 360 gets those episodes while the XBox only has been getting the GTA games since 2004...maybe 2003, I don't know. Playstation and computers have been getting GTA games pretty much since GTA came out...so why are these systems left behind?

I thought of the possibility that since Microsoft, creators of the 360, are the ones that got the game first on the computer, which is why I'm thinking they could have just said "instead of putting it on the PC, put it on the 360." Which might be why the 360 could possibly be the only system you could get the episodes on, but at the same time I still think it's unfair being that the Playstation got GTA pretty much at the same time as when the computers did. So I think every system, computer, whatever should get these downloadable episodes as well.

Seeing that I have a PS3, I already could see that you could download new features for games off of the Playstation Underground, so I don't get why Rockstar would be holding back unless Microsoft is holding something against them. Another possibility is that Playstation 3 might get something even better than the episodes...maybe along with the episodes, and Rockstar doesn't want to spill the beans yet.

Yeah, I got the GTA 3/VC Double Pack for Xbox for Christmas 2003.

More than likely, PS3 will get some downloadable content. We all know Sony wouldn't upstaged like that.

Who wants to bet that the first pic of the game will feature the main character? Before SA was released, the first pic featured CJ.

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Before my computer crashed it could barely handle San Andreas...but now for some odd reason it's running smoothly. I would guess it was because of more space, but game speed doesn't involve space.

You speak as if it's only going to be Xbox 360 exclusive. It's not the fact that PlayStation 3 won't be getting it, it's the fact we've simply had no word on it yet, i.e. there's been no official confirmation, so we can only speculate. Don't dismiss it too early. I'm fairly certain the PS3 will see some form of downloadable content, we'll just have to wait to hear from either Rockstar or Sony themselves to find out what that is.

Sony are failing so immensly badly at the moment in comparison to Wii60 that they're going to want to do everything they can to make GTA4 their main console seller. They can do this with exclusive content, and lots of it.

Anyways, I know that there is still a possility that PS3 could get the content, but you keep saying "some form of downloadable content" as if it wont be as good if there is any for it. Just the way you say "some form" makes it sound like it's gonna be a piece of shit.

Edited by Original GTA Master
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Anyways, I know that there is still a possility that PS3 could get the content, but you keep saying "some form of downloadable content" as if it wont be as good if there is any for it. Just the way you say "some form" makes it sound like it's gonna be a piece of shit.

Yeah well tbh the only reason I'm saying "some form" is because I'm not sure if they're going to offer new missions, new vehicles, new pieces of land, such as another island or something, multiplayer maps... who knows. I'm not saying it's going to be worse than what the 360 gets. Probably be much the same.

Thank you all for your comments btw. Glad you appreciate it. I already see many Polish sites have translated my post into Polish and posted it on their sites. Shame only one of them linked back to me, but oh well. Who cares? :)

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I forgot to comment on the Grand Theft Auto for Nintendo Wii portion of the article, so here goes. I really would like to see GTA for the Wii. Why not do something so it would require and work well with the classic controller? That thing would handle it better than using the Wiimote, or even using the Gamecube Controller. The Wii supports those two standard old-style controllers so I'd say they could customize Grand Theft Auto IV to work with those.

I'd love to be able to use the WiiMote. Either steering my car, or aiming my guns or something. Would be a cool little feature. Something different for the GTA world.

Before my computer crashed it could barely handle San Andreas...but now for some odd reason it's running smoothly. I would guess it was because of more space, but game speed doesn't involve space

Um, yes? The more space you have you have the faster your PC runs. The faster your PC runs the smoother your game will run. Trust me, I've seen games run pretty shitty because of HDDs filled up to about 99% of their capacity.

GTA IV shall be a pretty amazing experience in accordance to the GTA series. I'm just hoping it isn't too hyped up....

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Before my computer crashed it could barely handle San Andreas...but now for some odd reason it's running smoothly. I would guess it was because of more space, but game speed doesn't involve space

Um, yes? The more space you have you have the faster your PC runs. The faster your PC runs the smoother your game will run. Trust me, I've seen games run pretty shitty because of HDDs filled up to about 99% of their capacity.

Well according to pretty much everyone I talked to, including people at numerous places that handle computers, say that space has nothing to do with how fast some thing runs. What matters is what is running at the time the game is or how big or small the video card is. You're the first person that told me that said space is an issue.

Anyways, it doesn't matter because GTAIV wont run on my PC...wouldn't even be able to start. GTAIV is pretty much the only reason I wanted to get a PS3.

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Ok enough of the PC talk, it's still not confirmed for it yet, wait til it is before we all start complaining. If you've filled up your hard drive, Windows won't be able to allocate any of the space as Virtual RAM, hence you will actually have less memory for the game and will experience slow downs, FYI.

At the moment I'm planning on getting GTA4 for the 360 since I can't really justify buying a PS3 when it comes out here in March. I'll have to wait at least a few months until the first price drop... hopefully in summer sales or something.

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Ok enough of the PC talk, it's still not confirmed for it yet, wait til it is before we all start complaining. If you've filled up your hard drive, Windows won't be able to allocate any of the space as Virtual RAM, hence you will actually have less memory for the game and will experience slow downs, FYI.

At the moment I'm planning on getting GTA4 for the 360 since I can't really justify buying a PS3 when it comes out here in March. I'll have to wait at least a few months until the first price drop... hopefully in summer sales or something.

Yeah.....360. I see someone getting pwn3d in the near future over XBL. Could be me, I don't know.

GTA4, I'll will be waiting outside the nearest EB Games and will probably be the first person in East TN to get it. I can see my excuse now. When my teachers say why I was 5 hours late for school, I'll just say I was up until midnight waiting for GTA4 and playing it for 13 straight hours. I'm sure my English teacher will understand.

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ill just wait until it comes out for PC(please god :innocent") and If it doesnt, i have my PS3 Emulator standing by :P

.......... Right...... Because they'll have one of those VERY soon...... Definitely. Because they even already have a fully-functioning PS2 and Xbox emulator, right?

yeah they have 3 or 4 PS2 emulators out there, and 1 Xbox one. Ive Seen An Xbx 360 emulator and it worked, and i actually slapped the kid,stole his laptop, had a spare blank CD in my B-pack(lucy me :P) burnt it onto a CD, now i just need the Play disks to play them....

EDIT:but ater i god in deep trouble by the Principal...

@ Tec 9: i actually have a teacher that would actualy beat me to the line up for GA4 at the lical EBgames, he likes GTA alot, an he would say that i am "a" school when im actually at EBgames :P

Edited by wheelman101
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yeah they have 3 or 4 PS2 emulators out there, and 1 Xbox one. Ive Seen An Xbx 360 emulator and it worked, and i actually slapped the kid,stole his laptop, had a spare blank CD in my B-pack(lucy me :P) burnt it onto a CD, now i just need the Play disks to play them....

EDIT:but ater i god in deep trouble by the Principal...

@ Tec 9: i actually have a teacher that would actualy beat me to the line up for GA4 at the lical EBgames, he likes GTA alot, an he would say that i am "a" school when im actually at EBgames :P

Yes, they have a few PS2 emulators, but last time I checked, none of them were much of anything. Do you know what it takes to emulate a system? I call major BS on your story. What laptop out there is capable of running a 360 emulator? The money it would cost to buy such a system would make whoever took it to school the BIGGEST JACKASS THERE.

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