In a mere 24 hours from now, several thousand's of Australian’s will put their hands onto the cover of this year’s most anticipated game. Grand Theft Auto IV will be released at exactly this time tomorrow night, 12:01am. Many game stores will be having a Midnight Launch; others will open early on the day to release the game to a no-doubt large line of eager gamers. Whether you have it pre-ordered or are planning on buying it from a local store on the day, we do hope you enjoy the game.
However remember, others won’t have the game until several hours after you. So keep that erge to ruin it for your American, English or German friends locked up in the game controller. Don’t upload videos of you playing it, don’t hop on MSN and tell John about the 3rd mission where so-and-so dies, and above all don’t go uploading the game illegally.
Let others experience the game for themselves and have that feeling we all love, that feeling of opening the box and putting the disc into the console then watching that loading bar for the first time. We all want to enjoy the game, so don’t go and ruin it for your best friend or some random person on a forum somewhere. Let them have the same excitement you will have.
Well that is it from me for the next two days, I have a game to get ready for and then play non-stop until my eyes are sort and blood shot. Aj will keep you up-to-date on the American happenings and Ciaran on the UK news. But from me, I do wish you a fun and eventful 2 days; I’m sure you are all going to truly enjoy Grand Theft Auto IV, the game that took 4 years to develop and only a small time to excite, impress and send the media into frenzy. Thanks Rockstar Games and Rockstar North, for another fantastic contribution to the world of entertainment, from the kings of the word itself.
That is the first line of a very short article, found in The Sunday Mail (Adel, 27/04/08), that pretty much bashes Grand Theft Auto IV. GTAIV is being released worldwide on Tuesday, everyone is excited, everyone is hyped up, it has a perfect score on numerous websites, it’s the game of the year, and still people don’t want it to be released, when will they get over it?
Anyway, here is the full recap of the article:
VIDEO gamers can buy cocaine, visit strip clubs, fire rocket launchers and set enemies alight in a violent new game that has family groups outraged.
The latest instalment of the Grand Theft Auto series, to be released worldwide on Tuesday, contained such graphic violence that it had to be modified to meet Australian classification standards.
The Australian Office of File, Literature and Classification (OFLC) gave Grand Theft Auto IV an MA15+ rating and warned of strong violence, coarse language, drug use, and sexual references. Australian Family Association spokeswoman Angela Conway said such severe violence could affect the player’s behaviour more than violent films.
I want to know where this cocaine, rocket launchers and setting people alight are. If it happened in real life, then yes, people should be complaining, but at the moment it’s just a wonderfully made video game that simulates this. I say, go and pre-order it today!
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IGN has just posted their review of Grand Theft Auto IV. The review consists of an article and a video review. The video review features real gameplay with the HUD enabled (Yes I know, the trailers were in-game footage). What did they give the game? GTAIV received a perfect 10 out of 10 and it's been nearly a decade since IGN has given a game a perfect score. Certainly a good day for Rockstar in light of all the game footage being posted by people who have managed to get the game early. We highly recommend you check out the jammed-pack 7 paged review by IGN and watch the video review. You can view the video review below or click the link below to download an HD version of the review.
Download: GTAIV Review 1280x720 HD WMV
IGN Review: Grand Theft Auto IV
The official Grand Theft Auto IV website has recieved a small update today. The update is a small video about Niko Bellic.
Official Site: Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar have replied to the news of PAL and NTSC leaks of Grand Theft Auto IV:
It’s difficult. It’s hard to think that so many are willing to download the games and are unwilling to support us with all the efforts we put into it.
We would like to once again urge you to NOT download any torrent files or view any leaked video of the game. Support Rockstar, after all they have just spent 4 year's developing this fantasic game for you, and really in the long run you are ruining the game for yourself if you choose to view leaked videos. If you chose otherwise, I'm sure karma will catch up with you one day.
Amazon has update their product page for the The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack which comes with the Special Edition of the game, and can also be purchases separately. There are 16 tracks, some by bands you may know others by unknown bands. Here's the track list:
- Soviet Connection (Theme from GTA IV) by Michael Hunter
- Dirty New Yorker by Mobb Deep Featuring Havoc & Prodigy from H.N.I.C. Part 2 Sessions
- No Sex For Ben by The Rapture
- No Fraid A by Munga
- Where's My Money by Busta Rhymes
- I Want You by C.J.
- Rocky Mountain Way by Joe Walsh
- Stand Up Jamrock by Bob Marley & The Wailers and Damian Marley
- Liberty City: The Invasion by Seryoga
- Vagabond by Greenskeepers
- On A Journey by Electrik Funk
- Nickname by Qadir
- Holy Thursday by David Axelrod
- War Is Necessary by Nas
- Zombie by Fela Kuti
- 5:23 (Maiden Voyage) by Global Communication
A few facts:
- There are 16 tracks in total.
- Michael Hunter; who made 'Soviet Connection' which is the games main theme, also did the main theme for San Andreas.
- Seryoga has an exclusive song entitled 'Liberty City: The Invasion'. You may remember him from the song in the third trailer.
- You can purchase the Soundtrack separately (not in the Special Edition box) on Amazon.
Source: Amazon
RAGE is, quiet literally, the backbone to everything you will see in Grand Theft Auto IV and upcoming Midnight Club: Los Angeles. It's creating realistic and complete worlds that is making everyone just a little excited. So how exactly does it all work, and whats the advantage of it? Well 1UP has published a nice article today answering both those questions, and more!
We will leave you too read the article on 1UP, since it really can't be summarized. However, they also included 9 new screenshots showing just how powerful this technical masterpiece is:
Read: on 1UP
Only a few days after the news of Grand Theft Auto IV being edited and slightly censored in Australia, I contacted the OFLC via email to ask if they knew how it had been edited, and what the reasonings were. Obviously this was before we learned that Rockstar had not submitted a uncut version first, rather they submitted an edited game for rating rather then attempting to have the full-uncut game rated first.
This was a smart move, as being rated "18" in the UK, there was no chance of the uncut version being released in Australia due to the OFLC not having an R rating for games (adults only rating). I today received an email back from the OFLC, the are rather busy so it did take awhile. They state that they did not rate the uncut version, and therefore can not speculate as to what has been edited, instead they told us to contact Rockstar directly, which obviously isn't necessarily now.
However an interesting point is that the OFLC alerted me to a future Public Discussion paper for the introduction of a R rating for games, making adult games, or anything that should not be played by persons under the age of 18, able to be released. Manhunt 2 for example. Australia has missed man terrific games and gaming series' due to not having an adults rating for games, and there could be a change in the wind. Best part; on the most part it seems Grand Theft Auto IV's editing has been the spark of this, which in itself shows just how powerful the game and the series is. Or maybe it's just that some of the Classification Ministers like the series?
I am aware of concerns that the content of this game has been modified for Australian release. The Classification Board will classify a computer game in the form in which the distributor submits it. The Classification Act does not provide the Board with the power to direct a distributor to modify a computer game. You may wish to contact the creator and/or distributor for further information about different versions of this game.
Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers with censorship responsibilities have agreed on an initiative to seek community views on the issue of an R 18+ classification for computer games. A discussion paper is being developed and will be released for public consultation. You may like to participate in the consultation when it is announced and make a submission.
The Attorney-General’s Department is aware of research into game-playing trends in Australia, including findings that the average age of Australian gamers is 28 years old. The Department is also aware of the wide range of views on the introduction of an R 18+ classification for computer games in the community.
The OFLC also make note that Grand Theft Auto IV was rated officially on the 12th of December, 2007. I'd like to thank the OFLC for the information, and urge any Australian's out their too submit their support and/or opinions when the Consultation becomes Public within the coming months.
The-MinusWorld has developed a nice little Activity Book for Kids to experience the thrill of car jacking, pimping and being a bad ass Grand Theft Auto style without playing the adult computer game itself. It's more censored than the Australian version of the game even, no bullets or blood in this one!
Grand Theft Auto IV baby! It’s the game of the year no matter how you spin it. Seriously, what else are you looking forward to (
Metal Gear Solid 4)? Although, this M rated masterpiece begs the question: how do the youngins get their play on? Surely they’ll get carded at the gates of GameStop, leaving them with no way to experience Niko’s hustle through the newly revamped streets of Liberty City. Why waste that expensive marketing campaign and all that street hype on just the big kids? Well, The -Minus World got the hook up, an exclusive first look at Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV Activity Book For Kids. Sure, it lacks the bullet fun frenzy of the actual game, but for the tek-toting tykes of tomorrow, it’s the next best thing!
They also included a few previews of the booklet, which can be found below:
Release date of the activity book is yet unknown, rumor it that it will be given out with any purchase of a MacDonald's Happy Meal.
Thanks; The-MinusWorld.
As you may have heard, there will be minor differences between the Australian and US/EU versions of Grand Theft Auto IV in order to comply with the AU rating system. What you probably didn't know is that this may have caused GTAIV to be region locked.
According to Kotaku AU, many people have emailed Rockstar asking about the lock, and several have gotten the following response :
..All copies of Grand Theft Auto IV are region locked for their specific territories.
Also, while there are some minor differences between the Australian and US/EU versions, they are not significant in the scope and detail that make GTA IV such an incredible experience...
Region locked for their specific territories? Not good for people who may have imported, and not good for anyone if this happens to effect multiplayer. While this isn't confirmed by the "press release" standards of being official, it does seem to be true. Although by the looks of the email, it seems (and we hope), this will only effect playing the actual disc, and not restrict any online multiplayer.
Source : Kotaku Australia
Also, you may have noticed I'm a new name around here. Well I've been friends with Jared for quite some time now, and also run the fansite GTAUnderground.com. Anyway, greetings. I hope to enhance the site anyway I can.
Update: It has been brought to our attention that the PlayStation 3 does not have a region locking function, therefore the above statement only affects the Xbox 360 version of the game.