Grand Theft Auto 4

Liberty City will be a lot bigger than you think: here's proof!

It's been suggested that just because GTA IV concentrates on a single city as opposed to an entire state it's not going to be a very big game world. We're not so sure. And we've used Google Maps to prove it.

First we used Google Maps editing kit and dropped in all the known locations that have been seen in the trailer. Then we added the Liberty City/NYC boroughs revealed by the Game Informer preview. Finally we drew a boundary around certain geographical locations that we can imagine serving as useful boundary points in the game - sea, major roads and the JFK airport for example.

The results are pretty surprising. The area the map could potentially cover is huge.

We haven't even taken into account that the trailer shows a ferry terminal that might be a link to Staten Island. That would be another huge chunk of land to incorporate. Those disgruntled residents might still see Richmond County in GTA IV yet.

To see the map click here. Feel free to zoom in and out to check out the real-life locations. We'll be updating the map/redrawing boundaries with each round of coverage as new locations and buildings are revealed so be sure to check back to the map now and again.

Take 2/Thompson Settlement

There has been a lot of legal controversy between Take 2 and Jack Thompson, but recent news predicts it might not continue. Remember earlier when Jack Thompson threatened to sue to block the sale of Manhunt 2 and GTA IV, and Take 2 filed a countersuit against Thompson's public nuisance tactic, to which Thompson filed another countersuit? Well now the two parties have agreed to a settlement where Take 2 will drop their federal lawsuit and Thompson will drop his counterclaim. Facing the possibility of jailtime, Thompson has agreed that he:

1.) will not sue or threaten to sue to block sale or distribution of any game published by Take Two or its subsidiaries (i.e., Rockstar)

2.) will not communicate to Take Two or anyone doing business with T2 (like, say Wal-Mart) any accusation that the company committed any wrongdoing by selling its games. Thompson is not restricted from criticizing the content of T2 games, nor is he prevented from acting as counsel in lawsuits brought against Take Two by other parties

3.) will make any future contacts with T2 through its attorneys

Let's hope Thompson doesn't find a way to continue being annoying.

OPM and PLAY previews

There are two magazines with GTA IV previews coming up in a couple of weeks. Be sure to pick up the June issues of these magazines on the following dates:

May 1 - Official PlayStation Magazine
May 17 - PLAY Magazine UK

Expect some in-depth previews from these, which should include brand new screenshots and information. (Check out the misprint on PLAY, it's titled "GTA VI")

GameInformer Q&A - The Answers

Andrew Reiner has answered your questions about Grand Theft Auto IV. The article contains some surprising (read: dumb) questions that have been answered, such as one about hot chicks(?), however there are a few good questions that were answered too, below is a quick summary of what we've learned from this. The whole article is way too long to post here, so check my second post in the comments if you'd like to read it all.

* Helicopters are confirmed
* GameInformer's demo was only 15 minutes, they didn't manage to see if seasons were implemented
* AI is likely to have been vastly improved
* It seems as though we're able to climb objects such as telephone poles
* Liberty City seems very realistic
* Girlfriends make a return, slightly surprising judging by the amount of people who really didn't like this feature in San Andreas
* It's very possible that characters from previous GTA games will make an appearance
* There really are no loading screens

Hardware Limitations and GTAIV

A number of large gaming websites have been reporting on an interesting quote from Dan Houser, creative Vice President of Rockstar Games, in the latest issue of Official PlayStation magazine. The question posed to Dan regards the limitations of the Xbox 360, with it only being capable of playing games on DVD format, and the fact the "Core" system lacks a hard drive - 6GB of an Xbox 360 hard drive is reserved for system use and game features, such as in-game caching to speed up load times.
Dan not only confirmed that the Xbox 360 does limit what they can do with the game, but also suggested that the PS3 also has a few limitations of its own.

On PS3 you've got a guarantee that every machine is going to have a hard drive and, with Blu-ray, you've got plenty of storage, whereas on Xbox 360 there's no guarantee of a hard drive and you're working with the DVD format. Does that create limitations?

"Yep. To be honest with you we haven't solved all those riddles yet. Both of them have enormous challenges. Again, that's been an advantage having the guys at San Diego who are freakishly clever and full-time dedicated to us, but we're not there with either yet. There are problems on both. We'll get there with both, but both have their own particular pleasures and pains."

You can definitely count on Rockstar doing a great job with the game for both platforms, but which version, if any, will end up being a "better" buy? This question is probably only relevant if either you own both consoles, or if you don't own any and are still deciding which one to buy. The Xbox 360 seems to have greater limitations without it having a guaranteed hard drive, and the fact it uses standard DVD's, but then again, it also has exclusive content confirmed for it, while the PS3 version doesn't.

It's not clear what the specific limitations are for the PS3 version, but hopefully whatever they are they will be sorted out before October, the same goes for the 360 version. We'll update you when we get further information on the differences between both versions of the game.

Magazine Details

I've been working on a lot of projects at work, and registering classes for next semester, but I've found some time to get everyone caught up on new magazine details. For the sake of being crunched for time, I'm posting multiple magazine previews from multiple sources.

OPS Australia Preview

# People are reading newspapers, gesturing whilst talking on their mobile phones, people sitting on seats while talking and absent-mindedly flicking dust off their jeans. "We really know we're in Liberty City when we see an 80-year old granny staggering down the street as she takes swigs from a bottle of whiskey."

# You can feel the bass of passing cars, and hear the radio that they're listening to when it goes past.

# Niko passes an ATM and it prompts him to "access funds". It's likely that if you die, you may lose all your money, so putting it in a bank when you get a substantial amount seems like a good idea. The magazine also hints at being able to bribe people and the possibility of being mugged.

# As has been said, one can travel from the road into a building with no load times. Manual aim has been upgraded considerably from SA, and is now much easier.

# Niko exits into a seedy back alley, where it is "populated by piles of litter, weeds and homeless guys huddling around fires in barrels."

# As Niko ascends a telegraph pole, the animations are smooth. Also, at the top, the vertical density of the city can be fully realized. "The skyline is crowded with complex architecture, above-ground train-lines, fire escapes, endless billboards and the Broker Bridge in the distance."

# Niko breaks into an easy jog, showing realistic fluidity, leaning his body into corners as he takes them. A random passing car bumps into him and Niko stumbles backwards before regaining composure.

# Niko smashes a car window, hot-wires the car and climbs in while glass clatters to the ground.

# Broker has the real-life feeling of a bustling, lush new cityscape. Sunlight reflects off the car's paintwork, and the shadows are beautifully realized. The back streets of Broker, however, are much different. They are "a grungy mixture of rundown factories, overflowing dumpsters and dank back alleys."

# Driving physics have been "tirelessly tweaked and enhanced"

# On the size of GTA IV: "Dan Houser: Well, area wise, the scope is about the same as San Andreas. I don't know exactly how it compares area to area, but it's bigger then any one city we've had in a game before." Also, "If we give people exactly what they think the want then, a) we're not doing a very interesting job any more and, b) we're not going to amaze them."

# OPS asked "In terms of weaponry and vehicles you had a pretty good spread in San Andreas," to which Dan Houser replied "Yeah, I don't think we will be adding vast numbers of things there." They explain that its about honing in and tightening. "So, for example, with game in one city there are no longer planes because there's nowhere to fly to. ...you take planes to get here, and you don't take planes to get across the city."

# A big part of the gameplay will be on the rooftops, apparently. It should be very fun.

# Also, as a side note, they haven't really thought about San Andreas Stories, they are thinking of other things at the moment.

OPM Italy

# You can view the bus schedule at bus stops around this city, strongly encouraging the idea that players will be able to ride the bus for a small fee.

# When Niko draws a weapon, the camera will position itself over his shoulder and a crosshair will appear in the center of the screen, similar to manual aim in San Andreas. It will be possible to lock onto a target and strafe left and right to avoid any oncoming bullets.

# Grand Theft Auto will not longer be as easy as it's been in GTA IV's predecessors. You can't just jump into a car and immediately floor it. You may have to hot wire the car, or sneak up to it and break the window to enter.

# Niko will be able to climb several things such as telephone poles and fire escapes.

# You can look down into the grating of a sidewalk panel and view what's under Liberty City. Light will shine down into these places.

# Philip Glass, the composer of the trailer music, may be involved in the production of the game's soundtrack.

Official Xbox Magazine UK

# According to the magazine, GTA IV is currently 66% complete.

# Niko will be able to climb and descend exterior fire escapes and some meetings will take place high in the office buildings of skyscrapers. It's said that from on top of them you'll be able to throw people off.

# Hand to hand combat is also being reworked on for GTA IV, and will feel "much more natural" than before.

# One of the radio stations includes an "Eastern European-sounding" dancing station. No song artists have been confirmed yet.

# For confirmation, boats will be making a return and the handling is "really nice".

# When selecting your mobile phone, a zoomed-in version of the mobile screen pops up in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, where you can use its address book to pitch for "jobs" with gang contacts among other things.

# Dan Houser is quoted saying that the Liberty City in GTA IV is bigger than any single city they've done before, giving a more clear indication of the physical size of the game. He continues saying that the "detail" of the game is the big thing.

# Dan says that they're "certainly evolving the way the radio works". He says the same for police behaviour and their reaction to crimes. Nothing further is said about this...

# "Fun ridiculous" weapons is said to be in the game, because R* is not going too "naturalistic".

GTA IV Preview From Official Xbox Magazine UK

The latest issue of the UK publication Official Xbox Magazine is carrying a preview of Grand Theft Auto IV. They seem to have received the same demo that was given to the likes of OPM and GameInformer, however there are some new details revealed.

* Rockstar are progressing well with the game, which is now over two-thirds of the way to completion.
* It is implied that the ability to manually aim guns such as a pistol has now been implemented, when Niko pulls out a pistol, the camera will zoom in slightly, and a crosshair fixed to the centre of the screen appears.
* Hand-to-hand combat has also been worked on a lot
* OXM confirm that the much loved sexual innuendo famed in the GTA series will of course be seen throughout GTA IV.
* Niko is able to climb and descend fire escapes, telegraph poles and the like. He'll also be able to enter skyscrapers (and throw people off them).
* One of the radio stations is said to play Eastern European dance music
* Rockstar don't want the game to be too "naturalistic" so there will be some "fun" weapons in the game
* Central Park will have its own recreation in the game, it is not yet known what its name will be.
* Boats are confirmed and their handling is said to be improved.
* One of the advantages of recreating New York is that the guys developing the game at R* North can simply call the in-house researchers at R* NYC and ask them about specific things which they have far more knowledge about.
* Philip Glass, a highly influential composer, is working with Rockstar and involved with production of the game's soundtrack (he composed the music in the first trailer)

New GTAIV Preview From OPM Italy

Italy's version of Official PlayStation magazine have a preview of GTA IV this month, they also seem to have received the same demo as the other mags we've reported on so far. There isn't much new to say on this one if you read the new tidbits from OXM we posted about today. However, there are a few additional details to mention which clarify some of the things in said OXM article.

* Further to the new targeting system, it appears Niko is able to strafe left and right when locked on to a target after pulling out a weapon to avoid being shot.
* Emphasising the detailing gone into the city, you can see what's under grates on the sidewalk providing there's enough light shining into it.
* While hi-jacking cars driving along the road is a familiar task for GTA players, hi-jacking a parked vehicle seems like it has more to it now. No longer can you simply open the door and drive off. Now you'll have to be stealthy about it, break the window to get in, and then hot wire it.

These details may be a little sketchy due to mistranslation, as obviously the magazine is in Italian so keep checking back for any further clarification we get on the aforementioned details. Also in the magazine is some new artwork, depicting a man laying on a sofa smoking an unknown substance.

OPM Australia's GTAIV Preview

Official PlayStation Magazine Australia is yet another magazine with a GTAIV preview this month. As with the Italian one yesterday, there isn't much new to report on other than the few details below.

* During the demo that OPM saw, Niko walked past an ATM machine and a message appeared on the screen waiting for a button press in order to access funds. While nothing more is said about this, it does imply that we'll be able to deposit and withdraw money, and that itself suggests that we'll be needing to use money more wisely than in previous GTA games.
* Driving physics have been "tirelessly tweaked and enhanced".
* When a car drives past with loud music you'll be able to hear and feel the bass.
* You won't be able to play through a 'single player' game with a friend (co-operative), however, there will be a co-op mode implemented, along with other multiplayer modes which we still have no info on.
* Rockstar are focusing their attention on this game for now, and there are currently no plans for San Andreas Stories (or another GTA game) for the PSP.
* Further, it is not known whether GTAIV will pave the way for more sequels. Although Dan Houser has said he "would have a certain confidence" setting GTA outside of the USA, which certainly opens up the possibilities for future GTA games.

A New Digital GTAIV Screenshot

Apart from a number of magazine scans and screen captures from the first official trailer, we haven't seen any proper screenshots of Grand Theft Auto IV yet. However, an article published recently by the NYTimes which discusses the exclusion of the Staten Island borough appears to have included with it the first digital screenshot we've seen of the game. The image (below), which has been printed in a couple of magazines already, seems to have been resized from it's (presumably) original HD version, nevertheless, it's still nice to see something nice and shiny. Let's hope we get some nice high definition screens soon.

Some GTAIV Info from GamePro Germany

German magazine GamePro recently published their preview of GTA4. It looks to be the same as all the other magazines we've reported on so far, simply reiterating what we already know. A couple of minor new details have popped up though:

* Niko will have access to a wardrobe in his flat - it is not clear whether this will be on the scale of what we had in San Andreas, or more like what we saw in Liberty and Vice City Stories.
* There are several different animation sets for breaking into a car
* Rockstar are thinking about doing something that the True Crime games, by giving every street it's own name which will fade in/out of the screen when entered, rather like each area did in previous GTA games. This has not yet been finalised though.
* Rockstar are aiming to have no differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions (aside from possibly downloadable content)
* Rockstar are also trying to remove some of the less realistic things from GTA, such as arrow and markers showing the player where to go. Instead we will possibly make use of gadgets in Niko's possession such as his mobile phone.

New GTA IV Details from PLAY

Issue #153 of PLAY, the UK publication we reported on last month because of a printing error with the IV logo is now out. The 5 page preview provides a couple of interesting tidbits, in what is otherwise full of information we already know about.

* Niko's cousin Roman is thousands of dollars in debt
* Niko's mobile phone has the ability to receive text messages and also has a camera which you can take pictures with.
* In next month's issue (available on 14th June 2007) PLAY will feature an exclusive preview of the game which they are hyping up quite a bit

GTAIV: Special Edition

New info from Take 2's latest press release! There will be two versions of GTAIV available come October 16th (US Release), and 19th (Europe Release); the standard, which includes only the game, and the special edition, which includes:

-Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system or the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, both with special packaging

-The Grand Theft Auto IV Art Book, featuring never-before-seen production artwork from Grand Theft Auto IV

-Selected soundtrack CD from Grand Theft Auto IV, featuring new material from top artists, only available on this release

-An exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys

-Completing the collection is a limited edition Rockstar duffel bag

The special edition will go for $89.99 USD

Also, if you have already pre-ordered the standard edition from a retailer, you should be able to upgrade to the special edition.

au mai aparut poze

PSU3 Magazine Preview of GTA IV

UK publication Playstation 3 Unlimited has a new 6 page preview of GTA IV. There are a few new minor details provided by the magazine in its June issue.

* There are about four different camera angles
* The in-car camera basically acts as a first-person view, where you're able to look around across the bonnet (hood)
* Weather effects aren't merely for show, they will affect gameplay (such as vehicle handling)
* You'll be able to use the right analogue stick on the Xbox 360 (and presumably PS3) controller to look around.

Highlights

This morning I have three quick highlights from magazine previews. Thanks to GTA Net for the news.

// Playstation 3 Unlimited is claiming there are multiple camera angles from inside the car, such as a first person dashboard view.

// Official Xbox Magazine says that you can open trunks of cars by pressing the LB button. Maybe it can be used to store weapons or bodies for missions?

// Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK is claiming that it takes at least one hour to drive from end to end across the map. This information is very sketchy until Rockstar confirms it.

Kikizo's GTA IV Preview

Lesser known gaming website Kikizo has come up with an incredibly detailed preview of GTA IV which they published recently, seems like we completely missed it. Like all the other previews we've seen recently in magazines and on the Internet, Kikizo received the same demo, however they picked up on a lot more of the intricate details that we missed out on. I've highlighted a few points of interest from the article below, some we may have covered already, but perhaps not in so much certainty or with clarification from Rockstar.

* According to Rockstar, the AI, physics, character models, textures, pedestrian dialogue and music are all still in development and placeholder to some extent - but "it all looked pretty damn smart". One pedestrian quote Kikizo picked up on was "Do you know in Italy they get three hours for lunch?!"
* Clarification on the size of Liberty City is brought up, Rockstar's Hamish Brown told Kikizo: "On the one hand you've got horizon views, on the other you've got many layers of a city built upwards towards the sky. It's definitely the biggest single city we've ever done. That city isn't going to be the size of San Andreas, because that would be absurd, but if you take into account the level of verticality of the city, the number of buildings you can go into, and the level of detail in those buildings, then you're talking about a game that is similar to San Andreas in terms of scope."
* Some people have claimed that the game will take 100 hours to complete, Rockstar also commented on this saying "We honestly don't actually know at the moment, how many missions and how long it's going to take to complete the game, but there's an awfully large number of things to do - probably more than ever before - we can safely say that."
* While Niko was driving a car, Kikizo noted that "A great piece of funky jazz music (Fela Kuti - Sorrow Tears & Blood) played on the bassy car stereo" which really added to the vibe.
* Whether or not this will end up in the final game is not known, Rockstar aren't able to confirm what licensed and unlicensed music there will be, only that it will span decades and cover numerous genres.

You may have read on a number of gaming websites over the past week or so, news that a financial analyst has suggested that Rockstar should delay the release of Grand Theft Auto IV by up to two weeks so that it is not so close to the release of Microsoft's Halo 3 (due for release in late September). According to this Kikizo article, they contacted Rockstar for comment who then contradicted the by confirming that GTA IV is indeed on schedule for release in late October - you can now breathe a sigh of relief.

un mic offtopic ovisebdan... ti-a mai zis vreodata cineva ca esti disperat dupa grand theft auto?? . pls no rep

o sa ma prefac ca nu ti-am vazut postul

pe 28 iunie va aparea al 2-lea trailer numit "Looking for that special someone"

si.... deci... cand va fi lansat GTA IV?

Mesaj iniţiat de game master

si.... deci... cand va fi lansat GTA IV?

19 oct

360 UK Detail

Here is a minor detail from the weekend coming from the 360 Magazine UK.

Rockstar promised us that other cars would prove far more difficult to penetrate and that the police would be far savvier when it came to spotting stolen vehicles. Broken windows will get you noticed in Liberty City.

This is yet another detail relating to GTA IV's unprecedented level of realism. What happens when a cop sees a stolen car, do you pull over, or do you get a star and start the chase? I hope the second trailer displays the new, more realistic side of the LCPD.