So some jerk has not only played Grand Theft Auto IV—apparently RockStar hates us, even though we’re in NYC… I can’t blame them, really—but he’s already beaten it. The knave writes for Xbox World 360 magazine, and sister publication GamesRadar (remember DailyRadar? Penny-Arcade sure hated them) has an interview with the Luckiest Man on Earth. The editor, Rob Taylor, says it’s a dream come true to be the first person to play a highly anticipated game and that he’s honored to have done it. As to what he actually said, Taylor, as you might expect, came away laregely impressed with the game, saying it “exceeded [his] expectations” and calling it a “stratospheric leap forward” compared to previous GTAs. The main story mode took about 24 hours to complete, FYI. His last line really sets the tone, saying GTA IV “by a country mile” (that’s way long!) is better than previous games in the series. So, news flash, it looks like the game will be good. Surprises galore (n. the Cure album) this weekend, I see. For example, Newcastle won! That is surprising! → 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
We’ve known for awhile now that GTA IV, when it hits, will have the ability to program the in-game radio with music purchased online. But now Amazon’s getting in on the action, allowing those who’ve bought in-game songs to transfer them to their iTunes, iPods, etc. What’s really great is the MP3s are DRM-free, meaning switching them to your device and desktops and steampunk mp3 players should be a snap. → Read More
http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=32309 So here’s the last trailer for Rockstar Game’s GTA IV. Let’s hope they work out all the bugs because they need to get this into production by the 10th to meet the launch date. → 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
Flickr’d Oh burn, EA. Take-Two’s board of directors have advised shareholders that they’re worth way more than the $26/share EA is willing to pony up. The press release is mostly a bunch of legal jargon, but it reveals the obvious that others are willing to compete with EA. There could also be a merger between Take-Two and EA or a third party. A few reasons why the BoD is rejecting EA’s offer includes: EA’s Offer price is inadequate and substantially undervalues the Company. The Company’s financial advisors, Bear Stearns (you’re joking, right? -PH) and Lehman Brothers, have each delivered an opinion stating that, as of the date of such opinion, the EA Offer price was inadequate, from a financial point of view, to the stockholders of the Company. The EA Offer is opportunistic and has been timed to take advantage of the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the interactive entertainment software industry and the Company’s biggest selling and most profitable franchise. Oh gosh, the list goes on and on. The Chairman of the Board, Strauss Zelnick, pretty much summed everything up with this, → 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
UK retailer, HMV, is offering up 1000 MS points as well as some vouchers “giving you over GBP 130 worth of savings” when you pre-order the Xbox 360 version of the upcoming Rockstar title. Grab it now for GBP 39.99. HMV [via Euro Gamer] → Read More
Probably not! They’re tearing it apart in the comments over at Kotaku. I agree that the disc-to-PS3 transfer looks kind of fishy. What do you think? GTA IV Intro Leaked? [Kotaku] → Read More
According to Spain’s official PlayStation magazine, PlayStation.RevistaOficial, GTA IV will support up to 16 players online and will include 15 different game modes. There will be team and solo game types within the single player game mode maps. The ability to tweak in-game options was also revealed that include weapons selection and traffic density. Known game types include the following: → 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
Earlier this month, EA offered to buy out Take-Two for $25 a share which was rejected and then resulted in an offer of $26 a share earlier this week, which was also rejected. Today, they offered to take over the mid-sized publisher for $2 billion. EA is the number one publisher on the planet, but they’ve been losing a little steam since last year and they’re looking to absorb Take-Two before GTA IV is released which is a smart move considering it’s one of the hottest anticipated titles aside from last year’s Halo 3 and this fall’s Gears of War 2. Take-Two isn’t looking to negotiate any such takeover until April 30, the day after GTA IV comes out. Now you might think that TT is solely relying on the GTA series to be worth a damn, but they’re slowly building a rock solid foundation that’s being solidified by titles such as BioShock and 2K sports titles. Besides slumping game ratings based on what metacritic.org has shown about EA, what other reason does EA have to purchase Take-Two? → Read More
http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=30918 This game can’t get here soon enough. A little over two months until it comes out. → 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
Wired.com has a great and in-depth interview with Microsoft Game Studios CVP, Shane Kim. When asked how Microsoft would ramp up efforts to do battle with Sony in Europe, Kim had this to say: “Making sure that we own the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV from a platform perspective is really important. So how do we work with our partners there? I think it really is about marketing, right? We already own it, I believe, from a content standpoint, because we have the exclusive episodes. And so Xbox 360 is still going to have the ultimate experience for GTAIV. But we have to make sure the customers know that. Because if you look back, again, to the role of GTAIII and what that played in terms of PS2′s development — in Europe as well, because it was huge in Europe — GTAIV, first time on our platforms, so that’s a great opportunity for us. We need to take advantage of it.” For all intents and purposes we’ll leave it at that. But you should really give the interview a good once over. It’s rather informative and gives great insight into what the heads of game studios are constantly thinking about in terms of doing battle with other platforms. It’s on like Donkey Kong! Interview: Shane Kim Talks Xbox In 2008 [via CVG] [Update]: Rockstar has updated the GTA IV site with new movies and pics. Check em out. → 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
If rumors are to be believed then April 25th is the day most of us have been waiting for. I was never really into the GTA series until San Andreas, but IV has me chomping at the bit. It was believed that the long awaited title from Rockstar would be released in March, but that is apparently untrue according to sources close to Rockstar. The April launch date falls in line with Take 2′s most recent financial statement, which pegs the game for release in Q2. Stay calm, fanboys. We’ve got a four months to go. April 25th UK release for GTA IV [MCV UK] → Read More
Don’t blame the heads of Sony and Microsoft’s game divisions for wanting to sleep in today; they just learned that Grand Theft Auto IV has been delayed until next spring, throwing off their respective holiday lineups. Take Two, the game’s publisher, which had the final say in the matter vis-à-vis Rockstar, delayed the game for “additional development time required to complete the title.” Another high-profile video game delayed. How I wish more developers would simply adopt the “when it’s done” policy. This release date one-two step is like one long, drawn out tease. → Read More
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