Stagueve sent us this super cool tribute to GTA which shows flyovers of most of the GTA:SA scenery. I’m not sure the Who music is quite right, but it is sufficiently martial to make me stiffen up a little, especially in anticipation of GTAIV and the promise of Russian mobsters Hot Coffee-ing gazelle-like ladies from the Ukraine. → Read More
Shameful. After MyFox Fox News Chicago ran a little piece questioning why a violent game is being advertised on city buses, the head of the Chicago Transit Authority had the ads removed. There are so many things wrong with this, from ignorance on parade to the violation of free speech as a public authority arbitrarily decides what gets to be advertised and what doesn’t. Earlier they decided that M-rated games were equivalent to X-rated movies. No doubt there are still ads for Cialis, the NRA, and the military still cruising around town. In fact, this very issue came up in Boston with a marijuana legalization campaign and they sued the Transit Authority and won. Ridiculous, isn’t it? But this is how we do it. Two steps forward, one step censored. Jack Thompson was not involved in this little fracas but I’m putting him in the tags anyway. → Read More
There’s no confirmation on this, so take it with a grain of salt, and also beware that there are SPOILERS ahead if you clicky this link. If that wasn’t spoiler-y enough for you, there are descriptions (also unconfirmed) here. Personally, I believe that the best achievements in GTA games aren’t listed, because they can’t be predicted. There should be an achievement where you upload a replay of something utterly insane that just happened, and if it meets their standards you get the achievement. Then they could pack it up and send it back out as free content to put on the ingame TVs you walk past. How am I not a game developer? [via Kotaku] → Read More
This reminds me of old times where you’d have a sheisty, inaccurate, hand-drawn map of say Hyrule crammed into the tiny instruction booklet. Some enterprising fellow uploaded some pics and promptly removed them, but not before they made it to the tips inbox at Kotaku. They’ve got it all nice and gallery-ed up so take a look. The town itself looks interesting, and is obviously divided into island-style boroughs and about 50 or so neighborhoods. If you look closely you’ll see dots for new stuff like cabaret clubs, internet cafes, and old holdovers like Cluckin’ Bell and Pay n’ Spray. Just one month to go till you’re cruising those streets for real. → Read More
Apparently there’s some game called “Grand Theft Auto IV” coming out. I’ve never heard of such a game but so help me God if it’s violent or glorifies crime, I’m going to try to get on Fox News to talk about how bad it is for our nation’s youth. Maybe it’ll just be a courtroom style simulation where you play a lawyer who prosecutes people that steal cars. I’m guessing it’s that because Microsoft’s issued 500 Xbox 360 consoles with the game’s logo on the side and a briefcase containing various peripherals — much like a lawyer’s briefcase would contain various law-type things. Xbox Drops 500 Limited Edition GTA IV 360s [Complex.com] → Read More
[photopress:gta4edge2.jpg,full,center] After reading part two of Edge’s interview with Rockstar’s president and GTA IV writer Sam Houser, published today, I went to the game’s Web site for the first time. I’m absolutely blown away by the attention to detail. Like, Radio Vladivostok is exactly how I’d imagine an ex-pat, Russian radio station. Dukes—Queens, where I live, unfortunately—is “where my maid lives… the best thing is the airport.” It’s true, people! Queens should be condemned. The bitterSweet, aka BlackBerry, let’s you “be everywhere and nowhere” simultaneously. It’s incredible that this is a video game. Why would you watch some awful action movie when you can be immersed in such a detailed world? The Making of Grand Theft Auto IV [Edge/Next-Gen.biz] → Read More
[photopress:gtaedge1.jpg,full,center] I plan on dressing like this quite soon Do you time to read a 6,000+ word article on the making of Grand Theft Auto? Most people I know, writers included, would say “no,” then punch me in the stomach for asking the question. Y’all need to make an exception for this. Edge, which, once again, is the only gaming mag I actually respect, has published the first part (of two) of its GTA profile. Needless to say, it’s tremendous. Read it. It’s Sunday, what else are you doing? Tomorrow Edge publishes part two, wherein they discuss the upcoming GTA IV, which I’m now, having read all 6,000 words, looking forward to a lot more. Here’s to April 29. Grand Theft Auto: The Inside Story [Edge/Next-Gen.biz] → Read More
It wouldn’t be really worth posting unless the pictures were totally bad-ass, and they are. Since you won’t be getting your hot little hands on it until April 29, just satisfy yourself for now with some sweet screens. There’s video in the via, too, if you like that kind of thing. There’s also some new Mirror’s Edge shots, which I am personally excited about. [photopress:screenshot_193972.jpg,thumb,pp_image] [photopress:screenshot_193974.jpg,thumb,pp_image] [photopress:screenshot_193977.jpg,thumb,pp_image] [photopress:screenshot_193980.jpg,thumb,pp_image] GTA IV: 15 new screenshots! Two trailers! [CVG] → Read More
Computer and Video Games was lucky enough to get two full hours of straight-up gameplay with Rockstar’s newest opus, and they say its all coming up roses. There’s a ton of gameplay experience in there and they detail the physics, graphics, aiming system, and all the new features you’d expect to hear about. Sounds pretty awesome to me, and I’m happy to hear that the framerate is solid, too. GTA IV: Hands-On [Computer and Video Games] → Read More
So Grand Theft Auto IV is going to have a drinking mini-game wherein your character will stumble around more and more based on how much alcohol he consumers. Gee, I wonder if this is going to make it onto cable news channels in segments where some uptight lady from some civic organization who’s never played the game talks about how video games are bad for kids. Can’t wait. → Read More
To coincide with the new GTA IV site (I’m guessing anyway), one of the original developers for Grand Theft Auto has put up a ton of pictures of his team and all the stuff they’ve worked on. There’s some cool GTA stuff like that above, shots of the nerds themselves, and most importantly for me, a bunch of stuff from Body Harvest, a game I’m about to go home and play like right now. Check it out. Mike Dailly’s DMA Design Flickr set [via Eurogamer] → Read More
MTV has an interview with developer Jeronimo Barrera in which the GTA IV delay is cited as a good thing (why not squash bugs and polish for a couple more months) and also as being caused by the PS3 version. They’re “identical” now (except the 360 version doesn’t need a hard drive) but that the PS3 development contributed significantly to the delay is “really no surprise to anybody.” Of course, there’s more context to it than that, but it’s more grist to the rumor mill that grinds out PS3-trashing sausage, if you’ll forgive the painfully mixed metaphor. In any case, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so let’s all slow our roll on blaming fools until we’ve actually played the game. Guranga! ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ Developer Announces Release Date, Says Whether There Will Be Another ‘Hot Coffee’ [MTV News] → Read More
Geek fight! Apparently some people at Rockstar (the company behind the Grand Theft Auto series) “spazzed out like little babies” at a parody in the new Simpsons game where Bart wants to play a game called Grand Theft Scratchy. “They’re supposed to be rockstars…That’s not a big Rockstar move, to be afraid of The Simpsons making fun of their game,” said Simpsons game writer Matt Warburton. → Read More
We’ll be keeping this story high on the front page for a bit simply because it contains such an excellent set of thought-provoking questions. – JB Today concludes our week-long look at video game violence and content. Originally we hoped to include comments from other voices, and efforts were made to hear from Florida Attorney Jack Thompson and Senator Joseph Lieberman. But neither gentleman was able to meet our deadline. In the case of the distinguished U.S. Senator we can understand, he has a government job after all. Repeated calls were made to Mr. Thompson, in response to his posted offer to talk to us. At press time calls were not returned. So instead we’ve decided to conclude this round-table on video game violence by posting a series of questions and asking you to tell us what you think. → Read More
The Nintendo Wii and DS are selling so well that Nintendo isn’t even bothering to make sales predictions anymore. There’s now 5.84 million Wiis out there and 40 million DSs, numbers that Nintendo really didn’t anticipate. Sales are so strong that the company is complaining that it has to keep reassessing its sales targets. So if you didn’t believe it before, believe it now: the Wii is winning (for now) and it’s going to take one hell of a killer app on the other side to make any sort of difference in this console war. As long as everyone’s happy with their Gaming System of Choice, I’m happy. Nintendo hardware sales revealed [MCV via Next Generation] → Read More
PLAY Magazine UK must have the ULTIMATE hook-up at Rockstar. The magazine has just revealed that popular GTA series will be getting its sixth installment very soon. Amazing that details have already leaked out considering GTA IV isn’t even yet out and is still highly anticipated. Rumor has it that the game will feature a recently-fired designer from a game mag. going on a shooting-spree. Next month page promises GTA VI in June issue [Games Radar] → Read More
