It's been a while since we've had any GTA IV modding news to post about, but today, four years after the first public release, version 1.3 of popular modding tool OpenIV has been released.

OpenIV 1.3 bring two long awaiting features. First, now it possible to view WDR and WDD models from Max Payne 3. You have all same features in viewer like for GTA IV. Second, at last, openFormats for GTA IV now supports WFT “fragments” modes, this is mean soon you will have ability to import vehicles models into 3Ds Max. Also it will be possible to make “destroyable” map objects, like you can see in video above.

Links: OpenIV.com | Download

For anyone looking to complete their GTA collection on Steam, the entire franchise currently has 75% off in the annual Winter Sale. The deal will continue throughout today and tomorrow so there's plenty of time to snap up whichever games you still need. Click the image below to go to the franchise page or see the links beneath it for individual game pages.

Invididual game links:

• Grand Theft Auto III
  
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  
• Grand Theft Auto IV
  
• Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
  
• Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition
  

Rockstar have today uploaded more previously unreleased desktops and character artwork from Vice City, including the Crime Tree desktop (seen above) originally seen on the official Vice City website.

we've dug into the crates a bit and created nice hi-res desktops of all the other character art that was never officially released in the Vice City collection. That's Avery Carrington, Cam Jones, Candy Suxx, Colonel Cortez, Gonzales, Hilary King, Old Man Earnest Kelly, Kent Paul, Steve Scott, Tommy Vercetti, Umberto Robina - AND, all of the radio DJ character art: Adam First, Pepe, Fernando Martinez, Oliver 'Ladykiller' Biscuit, Mr. Magic, Toni, and Lazlow.

Head on over to Rockstar's downloads page and grab these and more over at the Vice City collection of Wallpapers, Icons, and Avatars.

Also, in case you missed it yesterday, Rockstar have made available official GTA V t-shirts which you can order from the Rockstar Warehouse, they are the GTAV Logo Tee or if you prefer, the V Logo Tee.

Rockstar have just posted up the final part of their 3-part behind the scenes look at Vice City. Today's part looks at the design of the fantastic city that we all spent so many hours in, some of us spending more time in this game city than we did in our own ones in real life!
 

Sun-kissed beaches, glamorous night spots, sprawling mansions, squalid ghettos and the various vehicles you use to traverse them...
Creating the world of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City called for tireless and meticulous City Design in making its ambitious level of architecture, locations and modes of transport possible. Today's concluding Part 3 of "The Lab" - a rare behind the scenes look at the design of Vice City through interactive displays originally produced nearly a decade ago for an exhibit at London's Design Museum - has some very special glimpses of the modeling, interior design, and 3D rendering that brought Vice City to life.

• “Buildings”- Rare rendering videos that show the Cherry Poppers ice cream factory, the Malibu Club, and the Diaz Mansion from wireframes through to 3D models and fully rendered locations in the game world.
• “Interiors” - 360-degree video tours of the inside of the Ocean Apartments lobby and dining room, the Malibu Club's dance floor, and Ken Rosenberg's stately office.
• "City Wireframe”- Focused around the city's Downtown area with its hi-rises and landmark Hyman Stadium, see the city come alive from wireframes to final city render with a view to the south.
• "City Renders" - Render images of various parts about the city both interior and exterior - living spaces, work spaces, playtime and outside vistas.
• "Vehicle Design" - 3D models, wireframes, final renders and damage models for a variety of vehicle types in the game - the Box Ville truck, the Faggio scooter, Squalo speedboat, Sandking rover, Hermes vintage sedan, and the Maverick chopper.

Merry Christmas everyone! As it's now Christmas Eve in most parts of the world, Rockstar has given us a little early present in the form of 5 brand new screenshots. Really interesting ones too! Check 'em out.

What do you think about these then? You can also check out all previously released GTAV Screenshots in our gallery.

Remember back in the old days when videogames came in boxes and had instruction manuals and discs among other things? A nice touch Rockstar added to this experience was providing a double sided poster with the game map on the back. Today, Rockstar have posted high-res downloadable digital versions which you may be interested in if you've recently started playing the games again. Click the thumbnails below for the full size images.

via Rockstar Newswire

Here's part two of Rockstar's look behind the scenes at the making of Vice City, as we celebrate the game's 10th anniversary this year. This part focuses on sound design.

From the attention paid to the Vice City radio dial which hosted an unprecedented soundtrack of licensed music from the 80s plus original 'talk radio' stations, to the intensive sound design that helped make the game's open world come alive, today's edition of The Lab has some glimpses behind the scenes that have never been published online til today:

• “Radio Stations”- Tune in to audio from all 9 original radio stations from the Vice City radio dial: Fever 105 (soul hosted by Oliver "Ladykiller" Biscuit), Radio Espantoso (latin hosted by Pepe), Emotion 98.3 (ballads hosted by Fernando Martinez), Wave 103 (new wave hosted by Adam First), Wildstyle Pirate Radio (rap hosted by Super Rockin' Mr. Magic), V-Rock (rock hosted by Lazlow), Flash FM (pop hosted by Toni) and talk stations K-Chat and VCPR. For the 7 music stations, you can hear snippet mixes of selected excerpts whilst for the 2 talk radio stations, "The Lab" contains the station audio in its entirety for a full streaming listen.
• “SoundFX” - A special breakdown of just one small element of Vice City's sound design - helicopter sound effects. As the section explains, the total amount of space available at the time for sound effects would hold less than 12 seconds of music from a CD, therefore all of the sounds created for the city needed to be very short. Each sound has to be produced in isolation so that it can be controlled independently depending on how the player interacts with the game. Listen to the various individual sounds used and then check out a video demo of the final product in action as Tommy Vercetti lifts off in the chopper.
• "Pedestrians”- Wherever you go in the streets of Vice City - from the beach to the shopping mall to the airport - you're sure to overhear tons of colorful dialogue from the city's resident peds. Strutting playboys, lecherous pervs, blue collar slobs, glamorous fly girls, and more - have a look and listen to a sampling of the vast audio recorded in populating Vice City's ambient world.

In somewhat related news, Rockstar North finally launched their brand new website yesterday. Anyone who might be interested in working there, or who has interest in game development may like to check it out. For ordinary fans there's not really much to talk about but it's nice to see the company get a beautiful website to show itself off.

Here's a cool feature from Rockstar, some behind the scenes content for the original Vice City! Check out the interactive feature embedded below. And continue reading for more details.
 

Nearly ten years ago, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was honored by London’s Design Museum as an annual design award nominee recognizing the ‘biggest contribution to design in 2002’ alongside such other newfangled technology as Apple’s iPod. Part of the award festivities included a special installation at the museum for which we produced an exclusive set of interactive kiosks to give visitors a glimpse of how Vice City was created – specifically focused on the game’s Animation,Sound, and City Design architecture.

• “Motion Capture”- a rare video showing a cutscene between Kent Paul and Tommy Vercetti going from motion-capture through to 3D model wireframe to finished product.
• “Sketch Book” - a progression of original character sketches through to final models and now-iconic illustrations of such folks as Lance Vance, Avery Carrington, Ken Rosenberg and more.
• “Tommy Moves”- a set of clips showing the genesis of Tommy’s animations whether jumping into a Comet sports car, dive kicking a biker off his chopper or running with a chainsaw...

Link: Rockstar Newswire

The iOS version of Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition has received an update today. The change log for version 1.1 includes bug fixes and minor new features.

• Improved stability on the iPod Touch 4th Generation
  
• Fixed an issue where a player’s helicopter spins when flying
  
• You can now change what song is playing from your custom playlist by shaking your device
  
• Fixed issue where some players experienced their device’s keyboard appearing during gameplay
  
• Assorted Bug Fixes
  
• ***Please Note: "Tap to Shoot" was enabled by default in the latest update. To restore the shoot button, navigate to the Control menu via the Options menu and disable "Tap to Shoot"***
  

You can download the free update by checking for updates in iTunes or by going to the App Store on your device. If you don't already have the game head on over to the App Store where you can pick it up for .99 / £2.99 / €4,49.

For those of you with the Android version, that also got a very minor update a few days ago - v1.02 mainly provided bug fixes specifically for Samsung Galaxy S2 users.

In other related news, a couple of days ago Rockstar released high definition Vice City artwork that has been used to promote the 10th anniversary of the game, additionally, they've also released all the artwork, wallpapers and avatars created back in 2002 for the original game in high definition too.

Grab 'em from the Rockstar Downloads page in all the popular desktop, social media background and avatar sizes.

Also, we're pleased to now offer the full range of sizes for all the original desktop artworks that were created for the Vice City website back in the day - these are also available from the Rockstar Downloads page as wallpapers, buddy icons and avatars.

As part of the celebration of Vice City's 10th anniversary, Rockstar North producer Leslie Benzies and Art Director Aaron Garbut have given interviews to Digital Trends, Crave Online and T3.com. There's a lot to read from all three publications but we've selected a couple of choice quotes that we think are interesting.

Firstly, here's one Rockstar selected themselves, with Aaron talking about iconic moments in Vice City that had a lasting impact.

For Vice City, there were a lot of moments that just clicked. When we first blocked in the map and drove about it for the first time; when we put in the helicopters and flew over the city; seeing the dancers in the club; driving down Ocean Drive at night; putting in the hardware store for all the less conventional weapon; the first time we had the player change clothes; driving over ramps in boats; smashing up a car with a hammer for the first time; being chased by golfers as I ran off in their golf cart; seeing the models of Love Fist for the first time; driving around on a moped the day they went in… It’s 10 years ago but these and so many other moments are still clear. It’s fantastic seeing a game evolve, especially when it happens quickly. Seeing everything click into place, having the opportunity to poke and prod it, try things out and learn from it all. Tiny things can be seminal moments.

And another one from Aaron, who explains that originally they wanted to include more countryside in Vice City:

We had talked about doing the Everglades. I think we even roughed some of it in. That would have been great. Basically expanding out of the city into the surroundings would be good, you get such good contrasts, but that was something that we devoted a lot of energy to in the later games.

Finally, Les had this to say on the possibility of Vice City returning in a future GTA:

It is always a possibility. There are a few references to the city in our current-gen GTAs so it is part of that HD universe, and it is certainly somewhere we would love to revisit. However Vice City, perhaps more than any other GTA game, was as much about the era as the setting. Miami in the 1980's is so iconic it would feel strange to revisit the city in a different time period.

Of course at some point we would like to have one big world containing all our cities and let the player fly between them and revisit their favorite areas, and in that context reimagining Vice City would be very interesting.

That last sentence is something to think about. I can't count the number of times I've seen that requested in wishlists posted on our own and pretty much every GTA and gaming forum out there. Makes you wonder what next-gen GTA titles might have in store for us...

Head on over to Digital Trends, Crave Online and T3.com to read the full interviews.

After last week's mishap with Rockstar accidentally releasing a version of Vice City with corrupt files, today they've made right and the correct version is now live on Google Play available for purchase. Good news for those who already purchased last week, just update the app and you're good to go!

The 10th Anniversary Edition is an enhanced version of the award-winning original game, optimized for mobile and tablet devices with several new mobile-specific features including an intuitive, fully scalable and customizable user interface, new camera controls, upgraded textures, greater resolutions and increased draw distance.

Vice City for Android is compatible with the following devices:

Android Phones: Motorola Atrix, Motorola Atrix HD, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Photon, HTC Rezound, HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy R, Samsung Epic 4G, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Google Nexus 4, Sony Ericsson Arc HD, Sony Xperia Nozomi, Sony Xperia Play, Sony Xperia Sola, Sony Xperia S / P / T & TL, Sony Walkman Z Series Media Player

Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Asus Transformer Pad TF300T, Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 / 7.7 / 8.9 & 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Sony Xperia Tablet S, Toshiba Thrive, Toshiba Regza, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10, Fujitsu Stylistic 10.1

Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition can be downloaded now from Google Play (.99 / £3.74 / €3,81).

Looking for the iOS version? See our news article from last week for relevant links.

Rockstar have now officially announced the availability of GTA: San Andreas in the North American PSN Store as of yesterday, and today it will also become available in European and Asian PSN Stores as they are updated. The game is priced slightly higher than most PS2 Classics, at .99 (£11.99 / €14,99), although given the size and replayability of the game, one could argue this is a fair price point.

Alongside the release, Rockstar have also put "The Introduction" online. This film, created using the San Andreas game engine, was originally only released with the official soundtrack double CD edition and with the special edition of the North American PS2 version of the game. Here's what Rockstar had to say about it.

To help prepare you to go back-back to SA, what better to watch than "The Introduction" - the original 20-minute prologue video that highlights the action in the days before the story in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas begins. The Introduction is told from various characters' viewpoints, which are intertwined together to reveal the network of organized crime forces operating throughout the state of San Andreas. Tension builds as threats are carried out, stakes are raised and communication breaks down. In Los Santos, a drive-by shooting in Grove Street Family's territory ignites a series of events to be further explored in the game.

Watch it on YouTube below.

Rockstar have now made some new apparel and collectibles available for order on the Rockstar Warehouse. The items commemorate Vice City's 10th Anniversary and include new t-shirts and various collectible items - those of you who have been around for all 10 of these years may remember a couple of these as classic Vice City and Vice City Stories promotional items. Here's what Rockstar have to say on the new logo tee and colour changing tee.

Vice City 10th Anniversary Logo Tee

This 100% cotton tee features the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 10th Anniversary logo on the front and a small Rockstar Games logo right below the neckline on the back. Available in pink and black variations for both men's and women's sizes.

Vice City 10th Anniversary Body Faders® Tee

These 100% cotton tees are constructed from a temperature sensitive pigment that changes between two colors. The blue tee features the sleek and low profile Infernus on the front and changes from blue when cold to sky blue when warm. The grey tee features the iconic Vice City girl on the front and changes from grey when cold to white when warm. Both tees include a small Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 10th Anniversary logo just below the neck line on the back.

Vice City 10th Anniversary Collectibles

The above collectibles are also available, they include a Head Band, Rubik’s Cube®, Beach Ball, Pin Set and Money Clip.

Full details on all these can be found on the Newswire.

Hungarian magazine PCGuru has a new issue out containing a new screenshot of Grand Theft Auto V. The screenshot shows Trevor once again getting his daily Vinewood sign climbing fix (previously seen here and here).

Unfortunately we only have a poor quality scan but here it is:

We'll update if we can get our hands on the digital version.

Source: GTAForums thread

Sony's official US PlayStation blog has confirmed that GTA: San Andreas will be coming to the PSN Store this week, following the news in October when we discovered that the ESRB had rated the game for PS3. The US PlayStation Store receives its updates on Tuesday while the European and Asian stores will get it on Wednesday. We expect the price to be .99 as we've seen with GTA III, though this has not been confirmed.

Like GTA III, San Andreas is being brought to the PS3 as a PS2 Classic, meaning there are no remastered graphics or trophies or anything like that, it's a direct port. Perfect if you no longer have your PS2 copy around to play.

As of yet there is still no word on when Vice City will be released on the PS3, it was rated for the system back in January. Music licensing issues are suspected to have put a delay on getting it out, however we've since seen the game released on iOS with a few songs removed, so we can hope that these issues are all resolved now and that the game will appear soon-ish. We'll update you when we hear anything more about it.

UPDATE: The Android version of Vice City is currently taking a massive hit with 1-star ratings coming thick and fast from unrelenting and annoyed Android users. Due to Google Play's ridiculously low filesize limit on apps, developers who wish to put out large games are forced to make users download "expansion" files upon first launching the app. It is this secondary download which is failing for what appears to be almost everyone who has installed the game, with "XAPK validation failed" messages. Hopefully Rockstar and developer War Drum Studios will be able to get a quick update out to fix this issue. Meanwhile, iOS users are enjoying a flawless experience.

UPDATE 2: The Android version has now been removed from Google Play for the time being...

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition is now available to download on the iOS App Store and Google Play worldwide, or will be very shortly if it is not yet 6th December in your part of the world. Here's a few details about the game from the iOS App Store:

To celebrate its 10 year anniversary, Rockstar Games brings Grand Theft Auto: Vice City to mobile devices with high-resolution graphics, updated controls and a host of new features including:

• Beautifully updated graphics, character models and lighting effects

• New, precisely tailored firing and targeting options

• Custom controls with a fully customizable layout

• iCloud save game support

• Massive campaign with countless hours of gameplay

• Support for Retina display devices

• Custom iTunes Playlist*

*To listen to your custom playlist, simply create a playlist titled “VICECITY”, launch the game, and select the radio station “Tape Deck”

iPhone Screenshots:

Download Links:

iOS: App Store - .99 / £2.99 / €4,49 - 1.0GB download size

Android: Google Play - .99 / £3.74 / €3,81

Are you already playing it? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

Device Compatibility:

Apple iOS Devices: iPad, iPhone 4, 4S & 5, iPod touch 4th & 5th Generation

Android Phones: Motorola Razr, Razr Maxx, Razr Maxx HD, Motorola Atrix, Motorola Photon, Motorola Droid Bionic, HTC Rezound, HTC One X, HTC One S, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Sensation, HTC Droid Incredible 2, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Note 1 & 2, Samsung S2, Samsung Galaxy R, Sony Xperia Play, Sony Xperia S, P, T & TL, Sony Walkman Z Series Media Player, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Google Nexus 4

Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, LG Optimus Pad, Medion Lifetab, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 / 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Toshiba Thrive, HTC Flyer, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10

Rockstar have released a few screenshots from Vice City: 10th Anniversary Edition. The screenshots show the HUD to be similar to the one you may have become familiar with in the mobile version of GTA III. The game will be released this Thursday, 6th December on Google Play and the iOS App Store and will be available for selected devices.