R* have sent us our September batch of exclusive fansite screens, they look great and there is now less than a month to wait til we can play it. Thanks R*

Also on the official San Andreas website there is some new artwork most likely of Salvatore Leone, you should remember him from GTA3. Now I added this artwork to the artwork page when it was first on the site but didn't post about it because I didn't think it was that significant but I see most sites have now posted it so, here it is if you haven't seen it already...

We can reveal that the actor who will be voicing San Andreas' Carl Johnson is Young Maylay, he's an up and coming rapper from Los Angeles.

Dan Houser described him as having a "powerful" voice. Official Playstation 2 Magazine USA, Issue 86 was the mag that had the info, an extract from it is below:

"Actually, it was through DJ Pooh. He's been a producer forever...I was introduced, then the Rockstar family picked me up...I didn't know that Dan was listening, and I guess he was getting the idea about me being the voice right then."

Thanks to GTAGaming for the heads up

The new artwork on the official San Andreas website suggests that two of Vice City's rather unknown characters who worked at the Boatyard will return in San Andreas, you can see the comparison in this picture below from GTASanAn:

You can just make out their name tags which read their names, In Vice City we don't actually know their names but the texture files do reveal them, they are called CSdwayn.txd and CSjetro.txd

I'm sure these aren't the only characters to return, there are probably a lot more, if you spot any do tell us about them via the submit news form.

This month's issue of Official Playstation 2 Magazine from the Netherlands features a massive nine page exclusive on San Andreas, containing 26 screenshots, some of which are new. There is a small amount of new info mainly on CJ's skils. GTAXclusive have posted scans on their site if you would like to see them.

- You can control trams by yourself.

- You can adjust the camera in different directions for example to prevent a crash during a chase.

- Tuning with your car will have no effect, only nitro will fasten up your car.

- If you gain enough experience you can control a tow truck. With this you can lift up cars and move them.

- While diving you can have a nice view on the fish. The time you can stay under water will be notified with a blue stamina meter.

- Underwater you can only use a knife.

- Rockstar isn't giving any information away about the animals, but in the water they saw some dolphins between the fishes.

- Sometimes a plane just crashes out of nowhere, accidents happen.

- You must earn some experience before you can play different types of games in Casino's.

- At the end of the game you would have made a small army of gangs.

Hehe, I told you something might happen tonight, and it did. All of a sudden there's an email from Rockstar announcing a load of stuff.

The San Fierro part is now available to see, and there is a brand new trailer which is absolutely awesome and shows off the incredible gameplay.

The official San Andreas website has now been updated.

The city of San Fierro is now unlocked.

Plus the debut of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Trailer.

Check Out The Official Website Here

I will try and get all the new information and screens added ASAP, Rockstar Games website is getting so much traffic it keeps timing out so I can't get it all right away.

also in the email they told us of the official GTA Advance site launch..

The long awaited arrival of Grand Theft Auto

on the GameBoy® Advance.

The Official GRAND THEFT AUTO ADVANCE Website is now live.

Featuring screens, news, and more...

Official GTA Advance Website

This is very strange now, its as if somethings happened thats stopped Rockstar doing anything, since September 10th we've had nothing. Yet in September 2002 for Vice City there were new screens and previews virtually every few days, and that was what it was like last month for San Andreas. Maybe they are just playing with us but it certainly isn't normal. The last thing we heard was "COMING SOON.. OFFICIAL SITE UPDATE: SAN FIERRO" and it hasnt been updated, but maybe it will tonight, after all it is usually a Friday or Saturday when we get updates. Maybe its the PStwo thats causing delays.

On the official website there was a very minor update in the way of the ESRB rating and is now rated mature, as expected. With details of:

- Blood and Gore

- Intense Violence

- Strong Language

- Strong Sexual Content

- Use of Drugs

Anyway there is a bit of new info, from P2 magazine:

- On the pause screen map each gangs turf will be highlighted in their colour.

- When attempting to win a turf war that part of the map will flash red.

- To take over parts of a gangs territory, you must survive the gang war, and it isn't easy, Rockstar themselves even used an invinciblity cheat to do it.

- Before buying new clothes you get to try them on in changing rooms to see what they look like.

While there is currently no GTA related news to post I thought I'd post this.

The Hype Council have asked us if we would like to promote a couple of upcoming games. The games are Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, both banners are in the rotator above (you get a random one upon loading the page). On the Goldeneye website you can play a cool Flash thing where you see how 'villainous' you are and by accumulating a certain amount of points you can enter things such as sweepstakes. Check out the promotion website by clicking the banner below.

The other game we are promoting, MOH:PA, has an official demo which you can download and play, it looks pretty awesome but the filesize is pretty hefty. Check out the banner below for more information.

Thanks to FreshRollyG from GTA-SanAndreas.com for this info.

After 2 weeks of no new info Gamepro have some, its a long page of posts so I won't summarise it, it's easier if you just read it all yourselves.

Read it Here

Now I know this isn't much of a news story but there's nothing much to post about as we've had no new info from Rockstar for over 2 weeks now, and the official site still hasn't had its update yet.

Anyway when I read the latest issue of PSM2 UK (# 54) I was rather dissapointed by the fact they said "San Andreas Map Revealed!". Naturally I assumed that Rockstar had given them the first preview of the whole map. But when I looked at the map (which was for some reason printed in grayscale) I thought it looked incredibly similar to one that was submitted to this website.

Now you may realise i'm talking about that fantastic map that tnk made (look here if you haven't seen it) and if you compare it you will see it is exactly the same, now PSM2 have not given any credit to tnk which I thinks kinda rude. They just say "San Andreas will look exactly as you see above, providing you believe the work of bloody talented internet tricksters."

They basically just point out the same inaccuracies we found last month. Anyway its worth the read if you don't mind not getting any new info.

Just reading through the latest PSM2 which I have something to comment about in a later news post, I noticed it said what was being banned from the Australian version of the game.

It says that the Australian censors have requested that both the new Burglary and drug-taking features be removed.

However the guys in New Zealand aren't such tight assholes and don't really care like the UK and USA, and furthermore, games bought from NZ work on your Aussie PS2, so if I were you make sure you get a copy from NZ if you don't want a censored one.

There is just over 5 weeks left now until we get our grubby mits on a copy of San Andreas, if you haven't pre oredered it yet, you might want to think about doing so, and soon. You can make great savings by pre ordering the game and the starategy guide from Amazon.co.uk, and by doing so we will also get a small perecentage that will go towards the site's running costs. So here are the necessary links to products you might want to buy, you can save £10 on the game and £3.30 on the guide so buy them together and make a saving of £13.30.

Update: By request I have added links to Amazon.com for those of you living in the US and wanting an NTSC copy of the game and wanting to help the site. Click the NTSC link to get to the product page on amazon.com.

There is some new info from a couple of recent magazines. Namely GamePro and EGM.

- There are now underwater missions

- When using a powerful weapon close-up it will remove the body part completely

- If you ever get lost, you will receive a phone call on your Cell Phone to put you back on track.

- There could be kids in the game, it also has ‘make a quick getaway on some kids bike’ and ‘There is so much going on. Cars, bikes, citizens, gangs, kids’. Then remember there is an amusement park.

- There is a mention of CJ being able to surf, but it’s not confirmed

- You can do certain stealth kills with melee weapons, each weapon having a different animation. E.g. with a knife you impale the blade into their necks.

- CJ actually has his own crib in Orange Grove

- Peds can sleep and also you can do stealth kills while they are sleeping too

- You can visit shops, markets and drug related businesses in Hashury

- You can play basketball by yourself or take on other people

- There are pubs in the country towns

- Angel Pine is the size of 2 Vice City Blocks

- There is a motel up on Mount Chiliad

- You can also add artistic designs on your car at TransFender

- You can now power slide with the handbrake, and not so stiff and quick like previous GTA’s.

- Not only does your cars structure get damaged, but modifications made on your get bent and wrecked too.

- You can fly 3x higher then in VC

- Gambling is a stat and is increased based on your maximum bets

- You can only play at some tables if you are a high roller

- Recruiting gang members depends on your respect level

How Turf Owning Works:

To take over turf you go to enemy territory and start taking out the rival gang. After you survive a couple waves of attacking, the turf now belongs to OGF, and as such they will start spawning on the street. Every now and then someone from a rival gang will try to take the turf back...So you got to scrap together a posse and defend it.

Thanks to FreshRollyG and GTA-SanAndreas.com for this news.

According to this GamesRadar Article the release date for the GameBoy Advance version of Grand Theft Auto has also been held back a week. It says 'late October' but one would assume it would have the same release date as San Andreas.

As for the top-down GBA version of Grand Theft Auto, which was also due to be released on 22 October, this is now scheduled for "late October" so we wouldn't be surprised for that to also be put back to 29 October to coincide with San Andreas.

Thanks to ChaD4212 for this info, we finally get a glimpse of Las Venturas.

There are loads of casinos to gamble in such as the V-Rock Casino which resembles the Hard Rock Cafe. Others include "The Visage", "Pirates in Men's Pants", "Caligula's Palace" and "The Pink Swan".

While in a casino, there are a lot ofgames available to play, these include Blackjack, Video Poker, Wheel of Fortune, Slots and Craps.

Elvis Presley impersonators are present.

The famous Las Vegas cowboy sign is there but features Avery Carrington (of Vice City Fame) instead.

A huge Candy Suxx statue is on one of Las Venturas' buildings

Rockstar just emailed us with links to two new teaser sites.

You can visit them here:

CluckinBellHappyChicken

Fear It? Do It!

also they told us to look out for a San Fierro update on the official site later, so keep checking http://www.rockstargames.com/sanandreas

Just as Vice City was it looks like San Andreas is being delayed a week also. Numerous people on MSN told me about this today, if you read http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=142901 you can see it clearly says this:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be available exclusively for the PlayStation 2 and is expected to be in stores in North America on October 26, 2004 and in Europe on October 29, 2004.

so it is a bit longer than we expected to wait but also a bit crap for me, October 22nd was the start of the October school holidays so I was gonna have a whole week to play it and write a walkthrough, now its coming out on the last day.

However some good news does come out of this, in the way of a release date for the PC version

Additional products planned for fiscal 2005 from Rockstar Games include Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PC in the third quarter, as well as two new console titles based on proven brands from Rockstar's internal studios, in the third and fourth quarters. Rockstar also plans to release Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in Japan in fiscal 2005.

So we can expect to see the PC version hitting the shelves sometime between April and June 2005

Had an email from Rockstar to say that the official site has been updated with wallpapers and screensavers, check it out. GTASanAndreas.com

Rockstars Webmaster, Richard Kruger has sent us the screens from IGN and Gamespot, I began uploading them last night but there was yet another server error, so i'm uploading them again now.

Check the Screenshots page out a bit later once they are all uploaded, i shall probably make it into pages so it loads a bit faster too.

Multi Theft Auto Codename Blue is in progress and it looks like it will be awesome. It will now be fully integrated into Vice City so will feature almost everything from the single player mode.

Everything will run much smoother and faster.

Much more stable than previous versions.

It's fully moddable

improved server

The official website is located at http://www.multitheftauto.com/blue.php so check it out for more in-depth info.

Thanks to Cam for notifying me of this.

Gamespot are also fucusing on the countryside in their previews, however they also have a video preview with Greg Kasavin talking about it (no actual footage though), it has a very big filesize so broadband only, it's 6m 31s long and the High Res version is 167.8 MB - Low Res is 76.9 MB

Some new details:

- There is a bulldozer that features rear-wheel steering, has a fully operational front plow (using analog stick)

- The monster truck has four wheel steering

- New weapons including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and a shovel plus fire extinguisher

- downhill racing for the BMX

- Wayfarer is the bike in the countryside

- The Banshee look alot like the one from GTA3

- a cropduster is present

Links: A Drive Through The Country, Screenshots and Video Preview

IGN have put up their latest preview of San Andreas, and as you can tell from the title it focuses on the countryside.

There is some new info and screens in there so check it out

- Angel Pine comes complete with its own mom and pop liquor store, a quaint little bakery, a single-screen theater, and a humorously-named motel known as "U-Get-In."

- the Desert Eagle is a new lethal weapon in the game, at first CJ will hardly be able to hold onto it as its so powerful

- an industrial strength lawnmower has been included (it is faster than running though)

- rural races take place all over the state in 4x4's, dirt bikes etc

- truck stop called RU haul, CJ can do 18-wheeler races and tow cargo around, if you jackknife it, the trailer disconnects and behaves differently depending on the load

- foliage is randomly generated rather than jut popping up in the same place all the time

- there is a real moon on a 30 day lunar cycle as opposed to the single texture used in GT3 and VC

- the moon and the stars will even look brighter when you're away from the lights of the city

- there are six different attributes related to how players use guns that can affect their overall performance when firing (Reload time, Fire rate, Accuracy, Weapon Stance and Movement, Dual Weapons)

One final aspect of the 18-wheeler that players should take note of is that Rockstar tells us that they make unbelievable "rolling bombs." So if you ever want to take out a large group of guys in concentrated areas or just want to see a bunch of pretty lights, simply speed your tanker towards the crowd and dive out at the last minute. Follow it up with a quick blast with your rocket launcher and BOOM! Instant mass barbeque!

Link: Country Living: The Open Roads of San Andreas

Some minor things to point out. First of all I added a menu to the right, it contains links to topics recently replied to in the forums to get more poeple visiting there.

Also I'd like to announce that GAME are promoting their pre-orders for San Andreas, If you pre-order from them now you will recieve a free San Andreas Bandanna with it, quite cool if you like that. You can click the link below or on the banner you should see above (its random though). They will ship worldwide too which is good.

Just like to announce for the benefit of our German speaking visitors that Rockstar have opened the German Official San Andreas website.

Check it out at SanAndreas.de

as far as i'm aware it has all the same content as the english site.

Also, unrelated to this, I'd just like to point out that GTA Advance is due for release on the same day as San Andreas in Europe as well.

Thats October 22nd for those who have been living under a rock for the past few months

Rockstar have made a press release today about San Andreas' soundtrack and their new collaboration with Interscope Records.

"The in-game radio stations featured in Grand Theft Auto have been one of the most celebrated and revolutionary aspects of the game since its inception. Through our partnership with Interscope Records, we are confident that the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack will continue to reach new standards of excellence and creativity, and will exceed anything that the video game industry or Hollywood have ever produced in terms of size, scope and depth."

- Take 2 Games Official Press Release

Read the full press release Here

It would seem Gamespot have the first official details on the soundtrack to San Andreas.

The partnership with Universal represents a change for Rockstar; the soundtrack compilation for 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was done in collaboration with Sony, on its Epic Records label.

Still no specific details but we'll update you when we know any.

Read the whole article Here

The september issue of Playstation Extreme has some details on San Andreas, most of which we already know, however it is confirmed that we can smoke.

- You can buy cigarettes in certain locations, and after purchasing them you will be able to smoke them

It is not yet confirmed but we would assume this affects Carl's health and make him get out of breath quicker

Links:

GTASanAndreas.net, GTA-San.net (German)