EGM received some special treatment this month, not only did they receive an preview of Grand Theft Auto IV at Rockstar North's studio, something no other magazine has yet had, but they also bagged an exclusive interview with the man himself, Sam Houser. EGM seem to be proud of their grab also, they certainly put in a lot of work to insure it was quality and not just quantity, however it is huge! There is also an interview with PatrickW, the infamous creator of the San Andreas "Hot Coffee" modification. They discussed the modification with him, how it affected his life and how he feels about Rockstar & GTA now. You can see that on page 10, and the preview itself is 13 page long.
Points of interest:
- The idea for Niko Bellic is inspired by a favorite driver in Rockstar's driving service.
- We mentioned this briefly in an article a few months back, cars that received too much damage will have their engine stall, rendering them useless to you.
- Tapping the D-Pad brings a phone menu where you can access text messages, an organizer, multiplayer modes, a camera and a contacts list which updates as you meet new people. Tapping twice will allow you to make calls.
- There are two models of phones, one which you begin with (the one mentioned in the last point) and the second ,which comes later on in the game, includes the aforementioned MP3 player.
- Our favorite comedian Lazlow is confirmed to be returning on the radio.
- There are 16 radio stations, not 18 as mentioned by other previewers.
- Emergency vehicles such as Fire fighters, police and ambulances will respond in real time, including the travel from their stations around the city. You can also call an emergency service from your phone, which is handy if you require a police vehicle for a mission here-say.
- Developing relationships with people through-out the metropolitan area is crucial. The better the relationship, the more you'll benefit. Ignoring someone for a long period of time will result in angry messages.
- If you fail a mission, the next time you attempt the missions dialogue will be different.
- The reasoning behind part of the city being closed off this time around is due to a terror alert. You can still visit locked islands, like you could in San Andreas, but we would recommend against throwing yourself into the attack line of the city's police force straight away. Your wanted level will go up, and you'll be left to fend them of for yourself.
- Niko is said to be a man with no country, in the same was as Claude had been known as a man with no name.
- Niko spent time in third world prisons. Noticing how GTA4 is feeding off the modern day world? Realism is the games strongest point.
- Girlfriends have returned, however this time they will be more incorporated into the story.
- Sam Houser on multiplayer: "I just like running up to a bunch of players with the grenade cooking in my hands and taking them all out with me."
- You can resist arrest when getting busted by hitting A/X, a larger wanted level will be the result though.
- They say; If you enjoyed the San Andreas multiplayer modes, then you should be a happy with GTA IV online.
- The motion sensing in the PS3 version will work in "a way that makes sense" said Sam Houser.
- Most interesting point is that when the development of Grand Theft Auto IV started the map of Liberty City was to be enormous. Practically the size of the state of New York. Rockstar thought it was logical to go bigger after San Andreas, however soon decided to focus on the entire Grand Theft Auto experience rather then the playing arena.
Scans of all 13 pages:
Screenshots (3 new, low-quality):
thanks to Asif at GTAGaming.com and CosmosTheMouse
We'd like to apologies for the lake of coverage on the previews released yesterday, due to technical error we were unable to bring you all previews and media screenshots. So here is everything, only a few hours late...Thanks also to GTA-Division.com for some more preview links and some information we missed previously.
Previews:
- IGN
- TeamXbox
- GameSpy
- CVG
- VideoGamer
- Kikizo
- 1UP
- TVG
- GamesRadar
- Virgin Media
- GameTap
- Gamespot
- Yahoo!
- SPOnG
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Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were used as demos for the previewers, they saw one or the other, not both.
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An in-vehicle GPS system will guide you along appropriate paths required to reach your objective. Similar to real-life GPS systems, if you take a path different to what you are recommended to take the system will recalculate a new path for you to follow.
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Different cars have different GPS systems, the fancier the car the fancier the GPS system. The most appealing cars will have voice navigation. (other will most likely having a map similar to past games).
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Niko is a master at Krav Maga, which is a fighting style used by Israeli Special Forces.
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You start off on the island containing Broker and Dukes, and the rest of the islands are blocked off. Bohan opens up shortly after.
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Customization that we saw in San Andreas has been dropped from Grand Theft Auto IV.
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Car headlights can be put on full beam or dipped, but can’t be turned off (like in real-life)
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There are 18 radio stations with a variety of genres, one of which is named Vibe FM (R&B/Soul).
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The mission markers are now yellow arrows floating in the air, pointing at the floor.
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Extra features such as eating, working out, and the aforementioned car customization has been dropped from Grand Theft Auto IV, which could be looked upon as a good or a bad thing depending on your view.
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Girlfriends such as that in San Andreas have returned, however Hot Coffee has not. You can still take your girl back to your place or hers, but the game will skip to the next morning.
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Vehicles that were seen as fantasy (unrealistic) have been removed. That includes: aeroplanes, tanks, the jetpack, bicycles. Speed boats, heli's and plenty of cars are still in though.
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Overall; Rockstar have taken a more realist approach to Grand Theft Auto IV then in past Grand Theft Auto's. Features seen as unrealistic and vehicles (like jetpacks) have been removed completely, extras that were praised by some and hated by others have been changed or removed depending on their usefulness and new features have taken their place.
Screenshots:
VideoGamer has come through for us again, this time revealing what we all wanted to know, how long will Grand Theft Auto IV take to complete? According to a Rockstar Games spokesman the game can take around 100 hours to complete, that is if you play the game correctly:
"If you're not in a rush and you answer the phone when it rings it'll take about 100 hours to complete,"
The representative also notes that the main missions and side missions are harder to differentiate, as there are loads of each and both have a large array of stories:
"It's harder to distinguish between main and side missions - there are loads of both,"
If you look back to past Grand Theft Auto's you'll notice or remember that the games were rather easy to beat, being non-linear you could get by just via the main missions. It seems this time Rockstar may be taking a slightly different approach, an "everything counts" theory. Most likely meaning that particular side missions will be required to help you in later or current main story missions. Making for an overly more enlightening and full-on experience.
Thanks again VideoGamer.
Demo's aren't a Rockstar thing really. In fact, only 5 Rockstar games have been given the demo treatment. However eager Xbox 360 users have been waiting and hopeful of one to appear on Xbox Live Marketplace for some time now. Rockstar have stated a demo for Grand Theft Auto IV would be not "worth the time and effort", which we think everyone can agree with.
They told VideoGamer.com this week that...
"[M]uch of GTA 4 is the driving around and we wouldn't be able to give out the whole city. We would have to give away half the game for free. People would think Liberty City is a tiny city,"
The representative who was talking to VideoGamer.com also went on to say that Rockstar North and the team would rather put in their time and effort into "making the game look great". It's impossible to argue with that, and it's not like a demo is needed to create interest or media attention for the game, plus the release isn't that far away for a demo or the time required for the demo's creation to be worth the effort.
VideoGamer.com [Source]
Those new previews of GTA IV are now on the interwebs. Here's the links to all the new previews:
*We personally recommend Kikizo as they have done an excellent job with past previews.
10:00 am Pacific Standard Time, or 6:00 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the time the new previews for Grand Theft Auto IV by many of the big gaming websites will be released, the same ones we talked about earlier this month, be sure to check here a that time for a wrap up of all media, screenshots and important points of the previews. As well as links to all of them, as always, easy to navigate through. We like making your life easier, time is precious, and so is having a bookmark to RockstarWatch. Drop by again soon!
Thanks Jordan.
Our friends at GTA4.TV have received word from Kikizo themselves that they are releasing their new previews which we spoke about earlier this month on Thursday, which for more of the world is tomorrow. More detailed, should be Friday for the Australian audience, US should be Today and UK should be between Thursday and Friday depending on the release time exactly. Which according to GTA4.TV may be around 5pm GMT if they stay true to past releases. Get ready for some new information and new screenshots, brought to you firstly by RockstarWatch, as always keeping you informed on all things to do with Rockstar Games.
Microsoft Blogger Breakfast was held today for eager Bloggers, information on Xbox and Gaming was the hot topic for the get-together. A number of lucky Bloggers had a chance to throw questions at Microsoft representatives Chris Satchell, Aaron Greenberg and John Schappert, who where more then happy to answer them. Grand Theft Auto IV and the exclusive DLC content was of course brought up, some bullets are below:
GTAIV DLC
- When MS says exclusive, they mean that no other system can have DLC content for GTAIV
- It will be bigger than a lot of people think. GTA3 Vice City and San Andreas were basically expansions of GTA3. Think of the DLC that way. We are talking major expansion for GTAIV.
- No price has been discussed yet. It’s up to Rockstar on whether or not they will charge for it.
- If successful, DLC may be the new way to deliver GTA expansions.
Spectacular stuff, the fact the DLC content will be like a past game in size and content means the work being put into them must be huge. No doubt Xbox 360 is the place to be for extended GTA IV play, but is it all to much? Are they over-doing it? The perspective we need to look at it from is the customer, so you and me. With content of that size it means a large download and possibly a large price tag. However as we all know Rockstar love to surprise us, no doubt the expansions will be worth it. The one possibility we aren't supportive of is future Grand Theft Auto games as DLC content, mostly because that cuts Sony and the PC out of the picture, which means less customers and sales.
It also sounds as if future games are to be expansions, like GTA London was to Grand Theft Auto 1, which doesn't keep to what has made Grand Theft Auto popular. Expanding can only work so far, and Rockstar did that once, then they went down the line of releasing completely new games with new storyline and new characters. A line we hope they continue with, and this method put forward by Microsoft seems a little ill-thought out in that regard. More information should come soon and clear up a few things, till then enjoy whats left of your weekend.
GTAUpdates has managed to get their hands onto the March Edition of GameInformer a few days early. The 2 page article doesn't contain any new information, or screens for that fact, however it looks into the countdown to the release of the game and a look over the already-announced features. The scans of the magazine by GTAUpdates are not actually scans, they are digital photographs, which we would usually keep away from posting, however they are great quality and readable, see below:
New Zealand gaming website Gameplanet today posted a review of Grand Theft Auto 4, in which this week they sat down with Rockstar Sydney for a preview of what they say is "possibly the most anticipated game in history". You can read the full 5 page review on their website here, and below you can see a new screenshot that was released by Gameplant from Rockstar. As always, enjoy...
Thanks to Adam for the heads up!