GTA info here !!!

[bluntblaze]

Lately we've seen publishers and developers favoring the Xbox 360 over the PlayStation 3. Some developers have complained that the PS3 is difficult to develop for, and top publishers have been making previously Sony-exclusive games available on Microsoft's console, where the install base is much higher. But one high-profile developer is sticking up for the PS3.

An interview with the UK's Official PlayStation Magazine reveals that Rockstar's creative VP Dan Houser believes the 360 is impairing the development of Grand Theft Auto IV. According to the magazine's online partner, Computer and Videogames, Houser says the lack of a guaranteed hard drive and the smaller storage space of the DVD format is limiting the game's progress. In contrast, all PS3s have a built-in hard drive and the console's Blu-Ray format can hold about five times as much content as DVD.

Houser does admit that of the two consoles, "both have enormous challenges," and "both have their own particular pleasures and pains."

"To be honest with you we haven't solved all those riddles yet," Houser explained.

ps3 1 - xbox 0

[bluntblaze]

dang i have to spread some rep befor i rep you again blunt...

i guess im willing to wait lol

[420marijuana420]

you can rep me to speed things along

[bluntblaze]

i just repped ya for the hell of it.:thumbsup:

[bluntblaze]

this is the times where we wait.

im gonna try to scrape a few bits of info together

[bluntblaze]

all i can find is this from ign its not really news but it'll do for now.

It's not everyday you're offered a whistle-stop tour of GTA IV so when Rockstar called up and invited IGN along for our first glimpse of Liberty City, we grabbed our cameras and headed for the nearest open-top bus. Silly idea really, because the tube would've been much faster and we wouldn't have got soaked to the skin. Anyway, having arrived at Rockstar (and hung our sodden jeans on the radiator to dry), we sat down in a darkened demo room and prepared to take in the sights of Liberty City.

From the moment the giant 60-inch plasma blinked into life we were impressed. There stood Niko Bellic, the bearded Eastern European, rough-around-the-edge chap who's the focus of Grand Theft Auto IV. He's standing idly in his cousin Roman's taxi depot, a tiny room with paint peeling from the walls and paperwork littered on the floor. Outside, the morning sun rises through the buildings across the street, pouring light through the grubby windows and casting shadows on the wall and floor. As we take in the view Niko fumbles through his pockets and idly kicks his boot on the ground, while in the background a radio spits tinny music which fades from one speaker to the other as the camera pans around the room.

It's hardly the most glamorous of starts for what is arguably the most anticipated game of the year but it provides a glimpse into the grittier, dirtier world that Rockstar is hoping to create in GTA IV. It's more realistic, almost organic, and new approach is immediately apparent in Niko himself. Up close he's a lot more world-worn than GTA characters of the past, his face scarred and wrinkled, giving him the look of someone who means business. But while this new level of detail makes the most of the high-definition generation, there are some knock-on effects, like changing the physical attributes of your character a la CJ from San Andreas. "If you think about San Andreas, the character's face had shape but not much texture", explains our helpful Rockstar rep. "There wasn't much scarring or wrinkles or anything like that, so it was much easier to fluff it up a bit to make it look like a fatter person or suck it in so they appear thinner. Doing something where there's this level of texture - with the level of graphics and the detail on the character's face - you'd literally have to map how the face would look like at every permutation." It looks like Niko can scoff as many burgers as he wants then without piling on the pounds, and if all the character models look as good as our East European friend then we're happy.

Out on the street, Niko ambles along the pavement while bystanders chat and cars cruise past, honking their horns at other vehicles and generally going about their everyday business. It's worth noting at this point that the code we saw was extremely early and therefore our tour of Liberty City stuck to a rigid path. We only got to look around a tiny area of Broker (although Rockstar added "When you take into account we've got four of the five boroughs, plus we've got Aldernay, which is our version of part of New Jersey, it's absolutely huge") and there wasn't the opportunity to run off and explore; indeed, for much of the demonstration Niko shuffled along so we had a better opportunity to "take it all in", but more likely because the RAGE engine still has another six months of tweaking before it'll be properly ready to shift something the size of Liberty City around quickly and smoothly.

Back to the city, Niko pauses for a moment so we can see how he casts dynamic shadows as he walks along. Shadows get longer later in the day when the sun begins to set and gets lower in the sky, plus they realistically hug the surfaces of anything he walks past, such as the underground drain he passes by shortly after leaving the taxi depot.

Looking along the street, it's apparent that Rockstar has gone to great lengths to ensure the city really does define what next-generation gaming is all about. It's not the same as previous games, only bigger and sharper. In fact Liberty City is smaller than San Andreas in terms of footprint: "GTA IV is similar in scope to San Andreas but much more detailed, much more dense, not only horizontally but vertically as well," explains Hamish Brown, PR manager for Rockstar UK. "On one hand you've got horizon-to-horizon views, on the other you've got many layers of the city built upwards towards the sky." More effort has gone into making each area and each road - even individual houses - completely unique too, so when you're cruising along a street it won't be filled with identikit buildings.

This level of exterior detail continues into the insides of buildings, as demonstrated when Niko draws a pistol and cautiously walks inside one of the brownstone buildings in downtown Broker. As Niko passes through the door (with no pause for loading - it's possible to play GTA from start to finish without a single load time) it opens up to a dingy room with a battered sofa in one corner and a kitchen down the hallway. Niko can walk along while aiming and the camera sits just behind his shoulder so the player can clearly see their surroundings, as well as the targeting reticule. Unfortunately there are no undesirables lurking in the shadows so we didn't actually get to experience combat firsthand. Instead Niko holsters the pistol and walks through the back door and out in the rear alley.

Here more people are gathered, chatting idly about the price of real estate and how Italians get three hours for a lunch break ("There are only eight lines of unfinished dialogue in the game right now", adds our Rockstar representative). Looking up, a web of fire escapes and steel ladders snake up the side of each building, hinting at the possibility of Niko being able to climb up onto the roofs to escape from the cops.

For now however we're sticking to terra firma, although we are treated to a brief overview of the city when Niko climbs a nearby telegraph pole and peers across the horizon. He has a real feeling of weight and grasps the rungs tightly as he climbs, his feet sitting on the steps rather than floating above them. Looking around, ahead is Liberty City's equivalent of the Brooklyn Bridge - all girders and steel supports - although as yet it appears unfinished, presumably so the opening action of the game is concentrated to one area. To either side is a hotchpotch of warehouses, town houses and rundown buildings, divided by elevated subway tracks that twist and stretch off into the distance ("We're still figuring how they'll work in the game - whether you'll be able to ride them and if so whether you'll actually be inside or will be teleported to the city"). Below, the streets are relatively empty, but according to Rockstar that's because it's early in the morning and the city is only just waking up. It'll get busier as the day goes on.

Back on the ground, Niko runs across the road toward a car, giving us our first glimpse of how the lead character has a much stronger physical presence in the game. For starters it feels like he's carrying weight and has a proper centre of gravity, so when he legs it around corners he leans into the run and likewise takes a few steps to slow down and stop rather than grinding to an immediate halt. He'll bump other people out of the way too, for which he gets a torrent of verbal abuse.

Niko's newfound weight is demonstrated when he jacks a car too, by smashing in the window with his elbow before reaching in and unlocking the door. Once inside he hotwires the engine - just one of the many carjacking animations new to the game - and drives off. The radio kicks in the moment the car pulls away from the kerb and while Rockstar was keen to stress the music we heard is only placeholder for the time being, its guitar-heavy funk vibe particularly suits the style of the game.

Out on the road, the camera pans around the car as it cruises along the beaten up streets, revealing the new physics systems introduced into the game by the RAGE engine. Just like Niko, the car has a much better feeling of weight, so it rolls on its suspension when turning a corner and the tyres move independently, hugging the bumps and contours of the road. On that note the road layout is a lot more organic than before, snaking and undulating between buildings. And, like many of the buildings in Broker, the road surface is in dire state of disrepair, with chunks of Tarmac missing and exposing the bricks underneath. Again, Rockstar chose to drive through the city at a snail's pace so we had more time to take in the surroundings, although all we really wanted to do was watch Niko floor it and see what happens when he smashes into another car. Thankfully Rockstar is planning to unveil more about the game in June so hopefully we'll see more of the physics engine doing its thing then.

As Niko cruised through an industrial district of Broker, the streets started to get busier as the working day began. People rushed to clock-in on time and, as we neared the docks, factory workers carted boxes from one warehouse to another. As is evident in the trailer, the non-player characters in the game look relatively different from one another. Admittedly the bystanders don't look completely unique at the moment but remember this code is extremely early and that's all likely to change.

Pulling up alongside a warehouse, Niko clambered out of the car and walked down a graffiti-sprayed alley towards the dock front to plot his next move. Seagulls squawked overhead and as Niko looked out over the water it rippled realistically, reflecting the sunlight shining above. Across the other side of the water was Algonquin, GTA's equivalent of Manhattan, its skyscrapers poking up through a thick layer of morning smog. It's an impressive sight and hints at what GTA will hopefully end up looking like. At this early stage it's evident there's a lot of work still to be done optimising the game so it runs quickly and smoothly, but Rockstar is confident that, come October, GTA IV will "define the next-generation action adventure."

From what we've seen we can't really argue. Already Liberty City looks - pardon the pun - streets ahead of Saints Row and all the other copycat GTA games from recent times. Also, if Rockstar's promises ring true then GTA IV will be much more than just an exercise in next-generation visuals, with as much effort focused on developing the gameplay and the way players interact with Niko and the city. As Rockstar admits, "It's totally normal in film for people to bond with a character emotionally but it's still pretty rare in videogames. There's no reason why we can't do that and more - we've got a 100-hour game and you're controlling the guy so by all rights you should feel closer to him than some guy your watching detachedly." We'll go along with that.

So when Niko pulls his cell phone from his pocket and punches in the number of his contact to find out what to do next, we can only wait patiently to see what's in-store for our East European friend. It's likely that at some point in the game his past will catch up with him ("The Russian Mafia will be involved") and it's unlikely Niko will ever hit the big time. After all, as Rockstar admits, "It wouldn't be realistic if he ended up as a huge property baron. Besides, if Niko had properties worth $10 billion then why would he want to do a mission for $150?" Quite. One thing's for sure though, if this is brief teaser is anything to go by, Grand Theft Auto IV is going to be a true next-generation experience, and one we cannot wait to play more of.

[bluntblaze]

The second trailer of Grand Theft Auto IV will be releasing on Thursday June 28th. The title is "Looking for that special someone". here's some new artwork http://files.gtanet.com/images/3415_...d_pullover.jpg


:GTA IV still on track for October,

The suggestion by an analyst at Wedbush Morgan that Take Two's new management team might delay Grand Theft Auto IV, due to its close release to another big video game, as well as a strategy to impress investors by pushing it into a following fiscal year, created quite the buzz recently. However, when parent company of Rockstar Games, Take Two Interactive, posted their financial results for their second quarter of the 2007 fiscal year today, they made it perfectly clear that the game will retain its release date of October 2007. This was also mentioned during a conference call where the executives reaffirmed investors and fans of the series that they're going to meet their initial release date.

During the Q&A session of this conference call, several questions were asked regarding GTA IV, including whether we'll see a PS2 release of the game in the future. T2 replied by saying that this is unlikely, due to the fact that they're developing a next generation game and that once you see it you'll understand why it won't make its way to older platforms. So there you have it, officially! Something else that was revealed during the session, as well as partially in the press release, was that the two promised episodic episodes - both offering hours of new game play - will both be releasing during 2008. Interestingly, in the press release, this is listed specifically for the Xbox 360 version of the game. No word on extra downloads for the PS3 version as of yet, but rest assured it has yet to be ruled out.

During a question on this, it was revealed that while both versions of the game will be very close, they won't be identical experiences. We're not going to jump to any conclusions just yet, Dan Houser, Vice President at Rockstar Games, did say in a magazine preview that it is their goal to have no differences, and that there are no platform preferences. Maybe it will just be differing on things such as frame rate, graphics and controlling; the PlayStation 3's SIXAXIS controller has a motion sensor, offering unique experiences, while the Xbox 360's controller offers better control on vehicle acceleration with its right trigger, More GTA IV news to follow soon.


:hippy:

[JustinSKS]

I for one can not wait! I was the first one at my local Gamestop to reserve the special edition! OMG GTA IV! Is what I will be like the day I get it. Seriously, I agree with it being better than Christmas. I was so excited for San Andreas. Man, can't wait.

[cannabis campbell]

So its definately coming out on???

ps3 and the 360??? or just the ps3??

Does anyone know the official release date for the UK

[slipknotpsycho]

So its definately coming out on???

ps3 and the 360??? or just the ps3??

Does anyone know the official release date for the UK

it is definately coming out for both.....

Grand Theft Auto IV - News: Official Facts, Rumors, Ideas