The lucky guys at Kikizo were the recipients of some free Pißwasser beer from Rockstar today, pictures of the stuff can be seen in their article. More importantly, their review is also finally out. They, like most other sites, have given the game an amazing 10/10 across all areas, but unlike other reviews, they've actually had time to go through and complete the game, and have kept their review spoiler free so it's okay to read.

The Final Word: Yes, it's worth all the hype and more. I absolutely love this game, and I can't WAIT for the episodic updates. Just make sure you get both of those endings! And don't even think about using cheats until you've done it properly.

Check it out, Kikizo's GTAIV review.

ELSPA sent out a press release today with some amazing statistics on how Grand Theft Auto IV sold in the UK on day 1. The previous day 1 record was held by GTA San Andreas, which back in 2004 saw a total of 501,000 copies sold. GTA IV has "comfortably eclipsed" that record, selling a total of 609,000 units (combined PS3 and Xbox 360 totals) in it's first 24 hours.

Of these 609,000 units, 335,000 were the Xbox 360 version of the game - beating out the previous record holder Halo 3, which had managed 266,000 on it's release day. Similarly, the game set a new record on PS3 with the game selling 274,000 units, easily beating out the previous record holder Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, which managed just 80,000 sales. The figures show that the Xbox 360 version is slightly more popular at the moment with 56% of the share, while the PS3 version therefore has 44%.

ELSPA managing director, Mike Rawlinson, commented "The scale of GTA's day one sales are phenomenal and reflect a vibrant market which continues to grow".

Statistics for the United States and other territories should be available soon, where we expect the game to have sold equally as well.

Source: ELSPA (via GamesPress.com)

After a six month delay and years of waiting for most fans, Grand Theft Auto IV is now finally out in stores across the world. Australia and New Zealand were the first countries to enter April 29th and have GTA IV available to them, and around 12 hours later, the UK and the rest of Europe can now get the game. People living in the Americas still have a few more hours to wait. Also remember that the Social Club will shortly be opening its doors. So keep an eye on that for lots of cool features and stats.

As you're probably aware, many lucky people have already got their hands on a copy of the game. We've now made subforums in our main GTA IV forum to accommodate all the new topics, and depending on the amount of discussion going on we may well add a couple more to help organise the inevitable chaos. If you're not already a member of our forums, you can easily register an account which will only take a few moments and is completely free. This will give you full access to the forums, allowing you to post your own topics and reply to others, as well as join clans set up by other members for GTA4 - you could even set up your own! So, come on in and join nearly 15,000 other members!

We're aware that at this time, we'll most likely be losing a few members (at least for a while), mainly because people are spending all their time playing GTA IV and wish to avoid spoilers and such. But we're also aware that we're going to get a lot of new members too, many of you will probably need help at some point in the game, and the forums are an excellent place to seek and receive that help. Additionally, TGTAP aims to have it's own guides and maps up for GTA IV, so stay tuned for more updates.

Thank you all for visiting TGTAP.com.

Have you been worrying about your chances being squashed in being one of the first to hit 100% in GTA IV, (to achieve the goal on the Rockstar Social Club) or for any other goal on the Social Club due to people receiving the game early? In a reply to an email sent to TheGTAPlace.com, Rockstar has told us that they are “taking care of it” regarding the leaderboards in the Rockstar Social Club (and with all the people who already have the game). Just letting everyone know there is no need to worry, and the playing field for getting your name on the leaderboards should still be fair even if those lucky few did get their copy early!

Hi Misho,

Thanks for the email. No need to worry about people circumventing the leaderboards on the R* Social Club, we are taking care of it.

Cheers,

Webmaster@R*

For those of you who prefer to cheat your way through the game because you're not that good at it, or are just looking to have a bit of fun and mess around, we now have a list of confirmed GTAIV cheats - we know they at least all work on the Xbox 360 version of the game, but should be fine on the PS3 too.

You'll need to enter the numbers into Niko's cell phone to activate the cheat. We should also warn you that some, if not all of the cheats will disable Xbox 360 achievements. It is also advised you don't save with cheats on.

Just like a lot of other gaming websites, GameSpot has just released some gameplay videos of Grand Theft Auto IV. They're definitely worth checking out, not too much that's new though compared to the other videos that were shown today.

Click here to see them!

Some of the webmasters who attended the fansite event in New York recently are participating in a live podcast right now. You can join in and listen for free as long as you have an account on TalkShoe.com. Join the chat or use the applet below if you're registered.

Update: The chat has now ended and although I wasn't in it, I did listen to it and it was a pretty good show. Make sure you stay tuned for news on future chats like this.

Just a quick post letting you all know that we've updated our GTA IV achievements page with all 50 Xbox 360 achievement images, and added one achievement which was missing from the original leaked list.

We'll later update this with the 'unlocked' images once we obtain them all, as we only have about half of them at the moment. You'll be able to then see what it looks like once you have unlocked the achievement.

UPDATE: On a related note, some users have raised a question about how this will tie in with the Social Club. When it opens, will these lucky players who already have 100% for example be eligible for the "First 10 to 100% the game" goal? It would be unfair on all those who have to wait until Tuesday to get the game. We've contacted R* for comment about this, and we'll update you if/when they respond.

GameInformer, GameSpy.com, and GameVideos.com all posted their reviews of the game today as well. All three gave the game a perfect score! GameInformer gave the game a 10/10 (their “second opinion” was also a 10), GameSpy gave it a 5/5, and lastly GameVideos scored it an A+! Follow the links below to the three reviews:

• GameInformer (10/10)
  
• GameSpy.com (5/5)
  
• GameVideos.com (A+)
  

On top of the reviews, a number of sites also added more videos of the game as well. Check them out at the links below:

• GamesRadar.com (18 gameplay videos)
  
• GameSpy.com (10 gameplay videos)
  
• GameTrailers.com (5 gameplay videos)
  

Finally, WikiCheats.com has updated their page for GTA IV, adding a walkthrough (obviously this would contain spoilers), a few cheats (for weapons, etc.), secrets, city maps, and “quick strategies.” You can find that here. Be sure to check out the ton of other news and reviews posted earlier today!

X-Play (The G4 show) has just released some excellent gameplay videos of Grand Theft Auto IV. Along with that they have released a hands-on session of Grand Theft Auto IV that they have been working on for five days. There is so much to watch... that's not all. They are going to have a one hour special tomorrow night at 8PM EST on the G4TV channel! There is so much going on today, I'm expecting a lot more than this.

Watch the videos by clicking on the side of the blog, you'll get it: click here.

Thanks NotYouHaha

Wow, so many videos and reviews have been coming in today! No wonder, as the game is being released in less than two days. IGN has posted up a bunch of new videos, all of them showing new gameplay. They have a selection from both consoles, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. All of the videos are in HD format for IGN subscribers, even if you're not the videos look unbelievable.

Click here to see the videos.

On a side note, IGN also has a bunch of images up for your viewing pleasure. You can see them here.

1UP.com, ComputerAndVideoGames.com (CVG), EuroGamer.net, Kotaku.com, and TeamXbox.com have all posted their reviews of GTA IV today, all of which gave the game a near-perfect score. EuroGamer and TeamXbox gave the game a 10/10, ComputerAndVideoGames (CVG) gave the game a 9.5/10, and lastly 1UP scored it an A+ (Kotaku doesn’t give out letter or number scores, however their review was also positive).

You can check out the reviews by following the links below:

• 1UP.com (A+)
  
• ComputerAndVideoGames.com/CVG (9.5/10)
  
• EuroGamer.net (10/10)
  
• Kotaku.com
  
• TeamXbox.com (10/10)
  

GameTrailers.com just put up an exciting new review on Grand Theft Auto IV. It shows some new features that other reviews haven't shown, such as minigames and taxi's, along with cell phone ringtone downloads for Niko's phone and some of the 100 websites that you can visit in the game itself. I highly recommend you watch this review, it is definitely the best one that has come out yet.

Click here to view the review.

Thanks little_homer

CGaming has just put up an excellent video review of Grand Theft Auto IV. They explain the singleplayer, multiplayer, and everything from how Niko walks down the stairs to how big Liberty City is. I strongly recommend you check it out, here's the YouTube video:

Thanks GTADon.

Something which I've only found out today due to the fact this appears to have had no coverage whatsoever on the internets, not even from Major Nelson, is that the second GTA IV theme is now up on the Xbox Live Marketplace. It costs 100 points and features the artworks you've been seeing recently, the characters on a white background with some part of the city on it, and in my opinion it looks a lot nicer than the first GTA IV theme.

Since there has been nothing about this anywhere, and not even the xbox.com page has been updated, I have taken some photographs of the theme off my television, and they're viewable on my flickr photostream linked below, click the thumbnails for bigger images.

The theme was probably put online sometime this week, perhaps along with the xbox.com exclusive advert. If you want to download the theme you can, by going to the marketplace blade and straight to new arrivals. If you're reading this post and the theme is no longer 'new' you can get to it by going to game store > themes and gamer pictures > all themes.

GameSpot.com today have added a fifth official trailer for GTA IV, despite us all being told “Good Lord, What Are You Doing? AKA Everyone’s a Rat” would be the last trailer before launch. It features some scenes we’ve definitely already seen, and also quite a few new ones. It’s worth the watch, and to me personally gives off the “launch trailer” type feeling, almost like something you would see on a commercial for the game (as in the “Welcome To The Jungle” trailer for San Andreas). You can see it below:

Edit: For some bizarre reason, the video below refuses to work. The trailer is still up and plays fine on GameSpot.com, and you can view it here. A working version can now be seen below.

Edit (2): Multiple members are reporting seeing said trailer on TV channels across the U.S. It seems this is the U.S. commercial for the game, much like how we were treated to new footage for the European commercial for the game. A YouTube version of the trailer can also be found

IGN.com has today posted their review of the much anticipated next game in the series, GTA IV. IGN has given the game a 10/10, giving it 10s in every single category. Here’s their breakdown:

• 10 - Presentation - The story is Oscar quality. The use of the phone as a gaming portal is genius. There’s really nothing more that could be asked for from GTA IV.
  
• 10 - Graphics - The level of detail is astounding. Liberty City feels alive and lived in. While there are some technical issues, the artistic merits push the score to the max. A true marvel.
  
• 10 - Sound - The dialogue makes the story. Without the excellent writing and the stellar voice acting, the story would fail. And the soundtrack kills -- more than 200 songs and almost all are great choices.
  
• 10 - Gameplay - The cover and targeting system work great. Blind firing with an RPG is a thing of beauty. Everything works in harmony and not a single one of the missions is bad. The most fun I’ve had in years.
  
• 10 - Lasting Appeal - The story will take anywhere from 25-45 hours to complete, depending on your skill level and attention span. There’s plenty more to do once you finish the story, such as excellent multiplayer.
  
• 10 - OVERALL 10/10, Masterful
  

This makes the game one of IGN’s highest scored games, as they rarely hand out the perfect review. You can read the review here. Or, watch their video review below:

Also, be sure to check out Chris’s post on his visit to NY to play GTA IV early!

Back in March, a number of webmasters from the biggest GTA fansites were contacted by Rockstar. This was to say we had been invited to experience Grand Theft Auto IV in New York City towards the end of April, before the game's release!

The other webmasters which received an invitation were:

• Adam, illspirit, Andy and Jevon - GTA4.net
  
• Zidane and Kodo - GTAGaming
  
• Psy - GTA4.tv
  
• Jordan - PlanetGTA
  
• G-WizZ - GTAWH
  

On Sunday, 20th April, I arrived in New York City with the UK webmasters (the others would join us the next day). On Monday and Tuesday we were able to spend literally all night playing GTA4 single player and multiplayer respectively, before leaving NYC on the Thursday. Some of the webmasters including myself have written about our special trip, so if you're interested in what went on, be sure to read our feature: The premier GTAIV fansite pre-launch party.

Other webmaster's stories: GTA4.tv, PlanetGTA, GTA4.net, GTAGaming and GTAWH

Feel free to use this topic to ask me questions on things I didn't cover in the article. Obviously we're not allowed to spoil or reveal any major details, so don't bother asking about those.

The official Grand Theft Auto IV website has been updated with an introduction video for Niko Bellic, focusing on his past.

There's also a high resolution version available at GameTrailers.

During the last few days there have been an abundance of GTA IV articles being posted online by major gaming websites. We’ve compiled a list of some of the better reads, so be sure to check out whatever fancies your interests. Below is a list of said articles and a short description on what you’ll find:

• PSW (PlayStation World) Magazine has reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV, giving the game a 10/10. A highlight from their 10 page review, “A masterpiece from both a technical and storyline standpoint. You have not and probably never will play another game quite like it again.”
  
• 1UP.com had a preview of GTA IV’s Euphoria and how it works, the article also contained 8 new screenshots. It can be read here.
  
• 1UP.com featured another article on GTA IV’s RAGE engine and its capabilities. It can be read here.
  
• GameSpot.com had a Q&A on GTA IV’s weapons, cover, and combat systems. It can be read here.
  
• IGN.com posted an article on “how to talk dirty and influence people,” earlier today, which can be read here.
  
• IGN.com posted an article on the challenges that occurred in the making of the game, titled “GTA IV: The Power Broker.” It can be here.
  

Lastly, Amazon.com has posted the boxarts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 special editions of GTA IV. They’re different from the normal game, and even different from each other. The Xbox 360 version features the famous Niko artwork we’ve seen (with a bridge in the background), while the PlayStation 3 version shows off another popular artwork of a lady and a lollipop (with the Statue of Happiness in the background). The boxes are longer than your normal video game box (because they most likely contain all of the special edition goods inside of them). You can see both below:

Amazon.com has revealed the soundtrack that will be sold in stores and come in the special edition package of Grand Theft Auto IV. There are some familiar faces, such as Michael Hunter who made the theme for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, turns out he also made the theme for Grand Theft Auto IV. The track listing is as follows:

• Soviet Connection (Theme from GTA IV) - Michael Hunter
  
• Dirty New Yorker - Mobb Deep Featuring Havoc & Prodigy from H.N.I.C. Part 2 Sessions
  
• No Sex For Ben - The Rapture
  
• No Fraid A - Munger
  
• Where's My Money - Busta Rhymes
  
• I Want You - C.J.
  
• Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh
  
• Stand Up Jamrock - Bob Marley & The Wailers and Damian Marley
  
• Liberty City: The Invasion - Seryoga
  
• Vagabond - Greenskeepers
  
• On A Journey - Electrik Funk
  
• Nickname - Qadir
  
• Holy Thursday - David Axelrod
  
• War Is Necessary - Nas
  
• Zombie - Fela Kuti
  
• 5:23 (Maiden Voyage) - Global Communication
  

In this 16 track album there are a couple of custom songs that Rockstar did make, you can hear a preview on Amazon.com.

Source: Amazon.com

Update: It appears Amazon has taken the music down, clicking that link will result in an 'Access Denied' message.

Now that GTA IV has gone gold GameSpot has had time to interrogate a couple of Rockstar Games employees and has shared some new info in the article as well:

• Completely controllable skeleton (ex: can move all five fingers).
  
• The lighting in the game has opened the door to "more cinematic cutscenes".
  
• The animation team is double than San Andreas animations team.
  

There are some more technical details within this article if you care to read, there are also some new screenshots as well.

Link: Grand Theft Auto IV Q&A: Animating the World

Two more publications have reviewed the next installment of Grand Theft Auto, (which is only a week away from release), both of which have given the game amazing and near-perfect scores. First up was the U.S. version of Official Xbox Magazine (OXM), the review was obviously favorable. The final verdict was a 9.5/10. Their conclusion:

• + Wounderful environment with gajillions of great things to do.
  
• + Multiplayer is a deep, terrific addition to the series.
  
• - Would be even better with a little editing: it starts slowly, has a few too many “filler” missions.
  

Xbox World 360 (U.K.) scored the game a 98%/100%, which is said to be their highest score ever given. Their conclusion:

• + Oscar-worthy dialogue
  
• + unfeasibly rich game world
  
• + inspired mission design
  

Both reviews have quite a few mission and story details, and even include achievement details, Easter-egg details, and more. Be sure to check them out whenever you see them at your local shop.

In other related news, pictures of the special edition packaging of the game have surfaced. They appear to be from an Australian store, those can be found here. Lastly, it appears an ad for GTA IV which was featured on Chicago’s buses has been removed. The official report from Fox News can be found here. Reasoning behind the ad being taken down was due to it being “violent.” You can discuss the ad and more, in our forums.

IGN has posted up an article today with an interview with someone from Rockstar named Aaron Garbut. It is definitely worth a read, it explains Liberty City in full detail. He also explains how the game will be nothing like the other GTA's besides the general feel. The article also has some new screenshots up that will be shortly added to our screenshots section.

You may read the article here: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/868/868124p1.html

The French magazine PSM3 reviewed GTA IV in their latest issue. Expect the number of reviews to grow immensely as we approach the release of IV, with a little over a week left before it hits stores worldwide.

The review points do contain a minor spoiler (the description of another mission) so it will be displayed at the bottom of the list:

• On the PS3, the L2 and R2 buttons (LT/RT for the 360) are used to break and accelerate this time around.
  
• The underground subway is confirmed to be usable in IV.
  
• You are able to buy weapons at stores, but whether the stores are called "Ammu-Nation" as in previous GTAs is unknown.
  
• As is already known, you are able to buy clothes at various stores in Liberty City, just like in San Andreas. However, unlike San Andreas, when you want to try on an item of clothing, Niko won't go back into the changing room for a few seconds while the game loads the textures like CJ did. The new apparel will be displayed instantly.
  
• When rendering at 1080p, the game looks amazing and the city is so detailed that you could wonder around for hours at a time without an objective and find interesting new things
  
• Pay 'n' Spray locations will not affect your wanted level when you use them this time around, but they are still available for repainting your vehicle.
  
• PSM3 France called it the "Best game ever made" and gave it a perfect 20/20 score.
  MINOR SPOILER:
  
• Just like III, Vice City, and San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV includes a mission involving a bank heist. PSM3 said that escaping involves use of the subways.
  

The only grievance PSM3 had with the game was the aiming system. The magazine claimed that aiming felt 'heavy' at times, but because of how immersive IV is and how much of an improvement the controls are from previous games, that this is barely noticeable.

Thanks to GTA4.fr (French) for the news and GTA4.tv for the translation.

German magazine Games Aktuell have reviewed Grand Theft Auto IV and given their verdict on the game. The review is actually based on their preview sessions at R* earlier and not on the final retail version of the game, though they still include the review screenshots (seen in OXM and OPM).

• Graphics: 9/10
  The gigantic size of the city makes you forget the few graphical imperfections of the game.
  
• Sound: 10/10
  Best GTA soundtrack ever, and probably the most compelling feature in the game.
  
• Controls: 8/10
  Far from perfect but a big step from the previous GTA games.
  
• Multiplayer: 9/10
  Great concept and innovative integration with the single-player mode.
  
• Gameplay: 10/10
  We can't score it 11/10...
  
• Conclusion:
  GTA4 is by far the best action game ever created.
  

Thanks for the heads up Scott.

GamesRadar have managed to get themselves an audio Q&A with Matthew Smith, Craig Conner and Will Morton, three senior members of the Rockstar North Audio team.

The article talks about the ambient sounds in the game, pedestrian dialogue and the soundtrack of the game. There article is a pretty interesting read, here are some notable quotes from it:

• Most of the time what you hear is really happening - what’s so great about GTA IV from an audio team’s perspective is that you hardly ever need to fake anything – the world’s so rich and so busy, that if you make individual things sound right, the whole ambience pretty much just appears by itself.
  
• Gunfire is a good example of how complex videogame audio has become; a single gunshot typically consists of around 10 individual components, whose volume and placement we control independently with distance, to create a bright, wide, punchy sound up-close, and a more reverberant, muffled sound at a distance. For multiplayer, we balance this so that guns only really sound dangerously beefy when they’re at a distance you can be hit from, so it’s intuitive what’s threatening and what’s someone else’s private war.
  
• It’s difficult to quantify how many speaking parts there are, but at our last count there were over 740 unique voices in the game. There are over 80,000 individual lines of dialogue, more than 7000 of which are Niko’s lines. If you were to listen to each line back to back, it would take over 29 hours. Also, these figures don’t take the radio, TV, and mo-capped cut-scene dialogue into consideration.
  
• We also decided to make the pedestrian dialogue more realistic in GTA4. As an example, peds in previous games would walk around and randomly chat to themselves if they weren’t doing much else. In real life, people (generally!) don’t go around talking to themselves, so we dropped this behavior from GTA4. However, we realized that the random chat of old GTA games was a good way for the player to pick-up on what sort of personality a ped has, so we created the cell-phone conversations in GTA4 as one realistic way of portraying personality.
  
• The DJS have far more AI than previous titles. They know what time of day it is, what the weather is like and what’s going on in LC. They've even done their research on their playlists, some of their own tracks appears on them. In fact all the DJS are either famous singers or musicians (or both.) They have plenty to say about their chosen genre of music as they've lived it, loved it, or are living it.
  

The article also contains a number of brand new screenshots. You can see them over at GamesRadar.

Grand Theft Auto IV is finally finished and ready to go.

During Take-Two's shareholder's meeting earlier today, it was announced that GTA IV has "gone gold," and according to Take-Two CEO Ben Feder,

[Grand Theft Auto IV is] in production and in trucks en route to retailers.

This is certainly good news as it ends any rumor of delay or intervention by Electronic Arts, who attempted multiple times to buy Take-Two to make a profit on Grand Theft Auto IV.

New information about the game was also revealed when Lazlow was interviewed on the Opie and Anthony show today:

• The Xbox 360's downloadable content is confirmed to contain new missions, new characters, and new comedy acts.
  
• You can use the in-game websites to go on dates with people in the game.
  
• If Niko is shot in the leg, he will realistically limp and bleed from the location of the wound.
  

Much more information is revealed in the show, listen to it below!

Sources:

Grand Theft Auto IV golden, already in transit

Part One and Part Two of Lazlow on Opie and Anthony

You can now pre-register for the Rockstar Social Club using your Xbox Live gamertag and/or PlayStation Network ID. The Social Club will fully open once GTA IV is released, and will provide all kinds of statistics on your game progress. There are even prizes for those who complete the game the fastest. See our original news story for all the details.

The website states that early adopters who pre-register before April 29th will be rewarded by being automatically entered to win a special once-in-a-lifetime prize for true GTA fans: your portrait custom drawn by Rockstar Games in the signature style of Grand Theft Auto IV's illustrations. You'll need to be aged 18 or over, and reside in one of the following countries: United States, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom. For more details head to the sweepstakes page.

Link: Rockstar Games Social Club

The full version of the TV advertisement for GTA IV we posted about yesterday is now on the official Xbox site. A number of the scenes shown were not in yesterday's video.

Link: Xbox.com

Official PlayStation Magazine UK is the latest magazine to review Grand Theft Auto IV. The review includes a selection of screenshots, mostly the same as the OXM preview, but there are a couple of new ones as well. Like OXM, they awarded GTA IV a perfect 10 out of 10.

Below is a summary of new/interesting points in the article, some of which you may consider spoilers, although nothing major is revealed:

• One of the reasons Niko goes to Liberty City is to track down the man who betrayed his old army unit.
  
• Cars don't catch fire after a bit of damage any more.
  
• There are several points at which you need to make life or death decisions between prominent characters.
  
• Comedy clubs feature real comedians.
  
• "Michelle" is the first girl that Niko hooks up with.
  
• Dimitiri Rascalov is Mikhail Faustin's right hand man.
  
• Another use of the phone include "calling a target to make him come to the window and into Niko's sniper sight."
  
• There is a museum called the Libertonian museum, which features dinosaur fossils and exploding vases. Environments such as these have been created specifically for shootouts.
  
• The name of every radio station is revealed:
  
  • Electro Choc (dance)
    
  • Fusion FM
    
  • IF99 - International Funk (funk)
    
  • Integrity 2.0 (speech, hosted by Lazlow)
    
  • Jazz Nation Radio 108.5 (jazz)
    
  • K109 The Studio (disco)
    
  • Liberty City Hardcore (punk/hardcore)
    
  • Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 (classic rock)
    
  • Massive B Soundsystem 96.9 (dance hall)
    
  • PLR - Public Liberty Radio (call-in speech)
    
  • Radio Broker (rock)
    
  • San Juan Sounds (latin)
    
  • The Beat 102.7 (contemporary hip-hop)
    
  • The Classics 104.1 (old-skool hip-hop)
    
  • The Journey (Ambient)
    
  • The Vibe 98.8 (soul)
    
  • Tuff Gong Radio (reggae/dub)
    
  • Vladivostok FM (eastern european)
    
  • WKTT - We Know The Truth (right wing talk radio)
    

Thanks to GTA4.net for the heads-up.

An advert on Irish TV shows some new GTA IV footage, unfortunately all we have for now is a poor quality mobile phone recording a decent version is now online.

Credit to several GTAForums members for uploading this.

Rockstar have just sent us this exclusive screenshot for The GTA Place, it's among the first digital shots to show the HUD.

See more exclusives at GTA4.net, PlanetGTA, GTA4.tv, GTAGaming, GTASite.net, GTANetwork.it, GTA-Series.com, GTAGames.nl, GTAInside.com, GTAWH, GrandTheftAuto4.fr and GrandTheftWiki

Thanks again Rockstar!

Despite the fact New Zealand have given the game the R18 rating, the country will be receiving the same censored version of the game it's neighbour Australia is getting. The R18 rating means it's illegal for New Zealanders under the age of 18 to buy the game, so why they're getting a censored version is unknown. No previous GTA games were edited for New Zealand, only Australians have suffered that, due to the fact the current highest rating there is MA15+.

Rockstar still haven't confirmed what exactly has been cut, though they assure us it's nothing that will compromise gameplay. For any Aussies or New Zealanders wanting an uncut version of the game, your best bet is probably importing from the UK (if you require a PAL version).

Source: PALGN

The Rockstar Social Club website now displays an image saying, “Pre-Registration Begins 4.17.08,” two days later than what we were told on March 27 (registration was officially set to start on April 15). We are unaware of exactly what caused the sudden, short delay, but we’ll keep you posted!

The latest issue of Official Xbox Magazine (UK) has reached subscribers today and it contains the world's first review of Grand Theft Auto IV. The magazine gave GTA IV a perfect 10 out of 10 score.

The magazine's verdict says:

• Amazingly realistic world.
  
• Stunning action set pieces.
  
• Genuinely engrossing storyline.
  
• Hugely entertaining multiplayer.
  
• Vast in every respect.
  

In addition to this there's also a number of new screenshots on the article, including some which show off the game's HUD. Numerous other small bits of information are scattered around the article, below is a summary of the more interesting facts:

• Skipping a trip in a taxi costs more than it would if you sat back and enjoyed the ride.
  
• The Statue of Happiness is actually clutching a coffee cup, not a Sprunk/beer can as many had previously thought.
  
• Some celebrity voice actors play themselves in the game.
  
• Similar to Crackdown, hidden packages in GTA IV make a quiet sound as you get close to them, helping your search.
  
• Sometimes your in-game email account will get spam.
  
• Driving through flames will set vehicle tires on fire, causing them to degrade and burst after a while.
  
• A mission similar to "Dead Skunk in the Trunk" from GTA3 is in the game, this time there are two bodies in the trunk, and if you hit a bump and it opens, you'll have to get out and quickly close it again before any pedestrians notice.
  
• The mobile phone you receive at the start of the game is an old, second hand model capable only of calling and texting. You'll need to wait for an upgrade later in the story to unlock the full functionality that people get from more modern models.
  
• Downloadable content is confirmed to contain at least 10 hours of gameplay.
  

Thanks to RAWRferal for the scans. Go out and buy the magazine if you're able to as it's a great read.

On a sidenote, the magazine mentions an achievement called Assassin's Greed, this was also on the "leaked" list, and from what we've since seen it does appear that these achievements are indeed the real deal. We had tentatively updated our GTA IV achievements page yesterday with those from the list, achievements are sorted by GS and grouped into single player achievements first, followed by multiplayer.

The official GTA IV website has received a nice big update today with lots of new sections launches including multiplayer, there's also new screenshots.

Link: Official GTAIV website

The next round of previews of GTA IV are now online, with these ones focusing on multiplayer again. As expected there's not really any major new bits of information, but the previews are still interesting reads and useful if you missed anything. Links to the previews are at the bottom of this post, and the 12 new screenshots which you may have caught a glimpse of yesterday are now in our gallery.

Some interesting points from Kikizo's article:

• Each player can choose radio stations independently of everyone else in the car
  
• For those of you worried about lag while playing online, "Rockstar told [Kikizo] that it's been tested with hundreds of people up at Rockstar North and transatlantic, and the performance is apparently consistent and solid".
  
• There's an option to turn off player markers and player locations on the radar, making for some excellent stealthy knife-only matches, for example.
  
• Kikizo's opinion on helicopter travel: "[it's] brilliant - you can lean out of the side in an over-shoulder perspective and shoot bitches on the ground; the cinematic view as the chopper traverses the tangible cityscape is simply awesome."
  
• One notable feature missing from multiplayer is replays - perhaps R* might consider packing this in with downloadable content?
  

The following websites all have previews up:

• Kikizo
  
• IGN
  
• GamesRadar
  
• Kotaku
  
• GameSpot
  
• CVG
  
• TeamXbox
  
• SPOnG
  
• Destructoid
  
• GameTap
  
• TotalVideoGames
  
• GameDaily
  

GameTrailers.com has just released the latest episode of "The Bonus Round". This episode focuses on Grand Theft Auto IV, and talks about what we can expect from the game in terms of sales, controversy, and gameplay. The second part of the episode talks about the 360/PS3 console war and which version of GTA IV will come out on top, and the third part takes a look at the greatest moments of GTA's history. The show's panel consists of Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Morgan analyst, Pete Wanat, Executive Producer at NBC Universal, and Chris Morell, Senior Editor of GamePro.

Check out the episode over at GameTrailers.com

Thanks to Dennis and our friend Laz at GTAUnderground for the heads up.

A few gaming sites have put up a dozen new multiplayer screenshots of GTA IV today, you can check them out on French site GameKult.com and GamerSyde - both these sites have broken the embargo placed upon them, as these were due to be revealed tomorrow in new multiplayer previews from sites such as Kikizo, IGN, CVG, GameSpot and GamesRadar.

Thanks to toxic546 for the heads up.

Gaming website ComputerAndVideoGames.com has posted an article about their experience with GTA IV's Liberty City. Information revealed includes:

• Mini-games confirmed for GTA IV include pool, basketball, darts, golfing at driving ranges and arcade games, such as Go Go Space Monkey, which was also featured in San Andreas.
  
• The trucking company from San Andreas, RS Haul, returns and missions based around the company have returned as well.
  
• 'Gruppe Sechs' securicars have returned and players are able to steal them and deliver them to locations for a reward, but this task is said to be much trickier than in previous games.
  
• The game features many references to 'Crackdown,' a GTA-style game available for the Xbox 360 which also uses RenderWare, GTA's previous engine.
  
• Vehicles such as the Stallion and Comet from previous games appear in IV, as well as the NRG500, a motorcycle. A new motorcycle called the NHG900RR is also confirmed to be in the game and is rumored to be the fastest one available.
  
• GTA IV contains photos of Vice City, similar to the maps found scattered around San Andreas. References to previous GTA games through graffiti is also spread throughout the city.
  
• Binco, Burger Shot, 24-7 and Clucking Bell are all returning, in addition to many other brands from previous GTA games. 'Alderney' features several strip malls where you can purchase food, clothing, and more.
  
• New York City-style news tickers on buildings will be constantly updated based on what crimes you commit in the game.
  
• There are several innuendos and references to the Hot Coffee mod for San Andreas.
  
• As previously mentioned, pedestrian actions will be incredibly varied and detailed compared to previous games.
  
• "Flushing Meadows (site of the NY World's Fair) is featured in its entirety, as is a recreation of theme park Astroland at Coney Island. Rides such as the Corpse Ride and Cyclone can be tested, and the major tourist spots will play a part in some missions."
  
• Sprunk can be purchased, as in San Andreas, to replenish your health.
  
• Similarly to Saints Row, yet another GTA-style sandbox game, phone numbers are scattered throughout the city and you can call them for whatever services they entail.
  
• A place called the Videogeddon Arcade allows you to play arcade games and posters attacking violent video games can be seen.
  
• The 'sky tram' featured on the box-art for GTA IV can actually be used as a mode of transportation, although it costs money as do the taxis.
  

Read the original list here @ ComputerAndVideoGames

Thanks to Wheelman101 for finding this.

Also, the new issue of GamePro features a preview of GTA IV's multiplayer. While the article contains no new information, three brand-new screenshots are featured in the article:

Thanks to nikolaibellic for finding these.

GamesRadar have put up an interview with deputy editor Rob Taylor of Xbox World magazine - this man is the first person in the world to have completed the main storyline missions of GTA IV. The interview basically covers questions on what he likes about the game, and how/where/when he did it etc. It's a pretty interesting read and there's absolutely no spoilers.

Here's one interesting tidbit on how long it took him to complete:

In terms of the time it takes to finish, how does it compare with others in the series?

That's a hard question to answer really. I finished the story mode in 24 hours, without skipping cut scenes, but I literally blitzed through and hardly took on any side missions. If I was to play it again (which I will be, right on launch day!) I'd say to wrap up the story will take at least 40 hours at a normal pace, plus another – say, 25? – to wrap up the remainder of the missions. In truth though, you could be paving the streets of Liberty City in a year's time and still not have discovered everything. Plus, if you're a 360 owner, there's the promise of downloadable content to come...My advice is: just kick back, take your time and breathe every fresh sight and sound in, don't simply rush through just to finish it before your mates. I wish I'd had that option!

Read the full interview at GamesRadar.

The latest issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) and Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM, U.S.) both feature brand new previews and screenshots of GTA IV. EGM received a preview of GTA IV’s multiplayer features, while it is unaware of what OPM got their hands on as of now.

EGM’s preview was four-pages long and contained three new screenshots, none of which are multiplayer ones, and none of which have appeared online (yet). To anyone with the magazine, be sure to send TGTAP your magazine scans of the new screens!

OPM’s preview also contained three new screenshots, which have appeared online in the form of scans (obviously not the best quality). They feature Niko being chased by the cops, running in his casual suit, and shooting someone or thing in a toilet. You can view the screenshots below:

Thanks to Chargr for the screenshot scans!

Gaming website Kotaku recently received a hands-on preview of GTA IV. The article features no new information, however is a good read as it sums up a ton of interesting features GTA IV has to offer. You can read it here.

In other GTA IV-related news, gaming blog Destructoid also had a hands-on preview of the title, and will be posting their impressions in the coming week. Look out for that one, although it’ll most likely be similar to the above Kotaku preview, offering us no new details. Check back to TGTAP for information on all previews, reviews, and anything else related to GTA IV as we come closer and closer to the game’s late April release!

Rockstar Games have teamed up with GameStop and created a commercial showing some brand new gameplay footage in GTA IV. In the minute long commercial, top celebrity "Jeremy St.Ives" takes you on a guided tour of Liberty City.

Rockstar has just provided some of the fansites with exclusive screenshots. We received the screenshot below, which depicts Niko escaping from the cops.

See other screenshots at GTAGaming, GTA4.net, GTA4.tv, PlanetGTA, GTA-Series, GTASite.pl, GTANetwork.it, GTA Warehouse and GrandTheftAuto4.fr.

Thank you once again Rockstar!

1UP's Crispin Boyer was recently invited to visit Rockstar North's offices in Edinburgh, Scotland for an interview with Sam Houser. He's written a short but interesting article about his adventure (which includes the theft of some water!), and since Rockstar wouldn't let him take any photos from inside their studios, has filled the article with photos he took in Edinburgh.

There's no new info about GTA IV, but it's a fairly humorous article which you should definitely check it out if you have a few minutes.

Link: Grand Theft Auto IV Travelogue

IGN have posted the second part of their massive interview, this one is 9 pages long and they continue their talk with Dan Houser and Aaron Garbut, discussing how Rockstar is upping the ante with its latest open-world action game. In addition to the article are 5 brand new screenshots, follow the links below to see them.

Links: GTA IV: Pushing the Limits, and 5 new screenshots

And for those who missed it: Part 1 of the interview, Building a Brave New World