After many gaming sites & magazines had a chance to take a look at the updated build of GTA IV a few days ago, it's time for a fiesta of previews to be released around the internet and magazines. Yep, so tomorrow, at around 5:30PM GMT, expect most big gaming sites to publish their preview on it featuring new info, screens and if we're lucky... a release date. You never know! Keep reading RockstarWatch as we'll be reporting on the previews as they go up.
Originally posted over at GameDaily, new features have been confirmed for GTAIV. Check out the article they released today!
Another 'X' on the calendar means another day closer to the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this spring. So far, we've been introduced to lead character Niko and his quest for the American dream in Liberty City. Today we take a closer look at Rockstar's free-roaming action game and new features designed to make the game "grittier' and "more realistic" than before.
Use Technology to Get Ahead
The benefit of having a Grand Theft Auto in the present instead of the '80s and '90s – new technology. Niko can keep in touch with his comrades by using his cell phone. Tap into the Internet and police computers to locate and identify targets and use the car's GPS system to get where you're going faster. Bonus for jacking nicer rides: they come with voice-enabled GPS systems.
Harder Police Alert System
Escaping the police gets trickier this time around. Once five-oh is on your tail, the search radius in your HUD gets wider and you have to escape. Get spotted by a cop while still inside the radius, the search area re-centers on you and you have to escape again. The good news: big shootouts during missions don't necessarily alert the police to your presence.
No More Character Customization
Rockstar removes the character customization and light leveling up (by eating, working out) that was included in San Andreas and returns the focus to the main character and his climb up the criminal ladder in Liberty City.
Scale Tall Buildings
Since the game takes place in a big skyscraper-filled city, the action will go vertical this time around. Niko will embark on missions that involve riding to the top of a tall building to snipe at enemies below. He'll also be able to commandeer helicopters and land on top of buildings at times. Also, shooting enemies standing on tall buildings or platforms might, if you're lucky, send them into a spectacular dive onto the pavement below.
Control Your Aim
You can aim freely, lock on to targets and all weapons include a zoom function (certain guns will zoom more than others). The weapon selection has been paired down from the ridiculous -- e.g. no more flamethrower, chainsaw – to the more standard rocket launcher, sniper rifles and automatic weapons like an AK-47 and M4 assault rifle.
Hail a Cab
Instead of always jacking cars to get around, you can hail a cab and choose a destination by setting a waypoint on a map, or choosing from a list of predetermined locations. You can either sit and enjoy the scenery, or for an extra fee, press a button to skip the Sunday drive and arrive immediately.
Make Friends
Never underestimate the power of schmoozing, in real-life or in Grand Theft Auto IV. In-between missions, call up your cronies to hang out and build relationships that can lead to say... someone meeting you in an alley with a secret stash of guns. Or, meet your cousin at a bar and then try to drive him home safely after you're well beyond the legal limit (while the in-game camera sways wildly). Nothing builds the family bond like drunk driving.
Yes, There's Multiplayer
Grand Theft Auto IV will have multiplayer, which may include cooperative play in certain areas of the game. No other details have been revealed yet, other than it will involve more than "your standard deathmatch" shootfest.
An inside source has today alerted us that Kikizo, GameSpot, IGN, GamesRadar, CVG, and 1UP will be going to the Rockstar Games studio to test run Grand Theft Auto IV again to gather new screen shots, information and much more about the new build. They are expected to visit this week. We should receive some content by the end of this month as soon as it is available from them. Stay tuned for more.
Update: Planet Grand Theft Auto has some more information on this:
It's no secret that the release of Grand Theft Auto IV is very near, and with that will come new previews on major gaming websites.
IGN, GameSpy and TeamXbox received their simultaneous demonstration earlier today in a San Francisco hotel. They had just over an hour with the game, and while they can't say anything regarding what they were shown, I have been told that the game is looking very polished at this stage. Previews from respective sites will be going up next week with new information and screenshots! Stay tuned!
Keep watching for updates over the next week!
The internet is flooded today with news of a second rating of Grand Theft Auto IV, this time by PEGI. The game received an 18+ rating, stating it contains Violence and Swearing. The rating records are not yet available on PEGI.info (the official website of the group) for an yet unknown reason However PlayStation's UK website contains the rating and information. ESRB and the BBFC are the next expected to rate the game, however with the current battles between the BBFC and Rockstar I wouldn't be expecting a terrific outcome.
An analyst from Next-Gen.biz has said he predicts Grand Theft Auto IV will sell 17 million units.
“...Before the first half of 2008 ends, we can expect the release of AAA titles such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl (expected to achieve 13.95 million units of GLS [global lifetime sales]), Wii Fit (expecting 8.7 million units of GLS), Grand Theft Auto IV (expecting 17 million units of GLS), and Metal Gear Solid 4 (expecting 4.7 million units of GLS).”
If we look at TechRepublic's article on the top 25 games of all time from last September we can see that, not only is this a huge increase in sales from GTA: Vice City (the most popular Grand Theft Auto statistics wise), but also that it would be number #3 if what this analyst has predicted is correct:
1. Pokémon Red, Blue and Green (Gameboy) - 20.08 Million Copies Sold
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - 18 Million Copies Sold
3. The Sims (PC) - 16 Million Copies Sold
4. Nintendogs (Nintendo DS) - 14.75 Million Copies Sold
5. Pokémon Gold and Silver (Gameboy) - 14.1 Million Copies Sold
6. Super Mario Land (Gameboy) - 14 Million Copies Sold
7-tie. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Playstation 2) - 13 Million Copies Sold
7-tie. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (Game Boy Advance) - 13 Million Copies Sold
7-tie. The Sims2 (PC) - 13 Million Copies Sold
10. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Playstation 2) - 12 Million Copies Sold
11-tie. Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64) - 11 Million Copies Sold
11-tie. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (Playstation 2) - 11 Million Copies Sold
11-tie. Grand Theft Auto III (Playstation 2) - 11 Million Copies Sold
14. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (Game Boy Advance) - 10.66 Million Copies Sold
15. New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo DS) - 10.52 Million Copies Sold
16. Gran Turismo (Playstation 1) - 10.5 Million Copies Sold
17. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Nintendo DS) - 10 Million Copies Sold
18. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo) - 10 Million Copies Sold
19. Final Fantasy VII (Playstation 1) - 9.8 Million Copies Sold
20. StarCraft (PC) - 9.5 Million Copies Sold
21. World of Warcraft (PC) - 9 Million Copies Sold
22. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (Nintendo DS) - 8.61 Million Copies Sold
23. Gran Turismo 2 (Playstation 1) - 8.5 Million Copies Sold
24. Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo 64) - 8.47 Million Copies Sold
25-tie. Halo 2 (XBox) - 8 Million Copies Sold
25-tie. Donkey Kong Country (Super Nintendo) - 8 Million Copies Sold
25-tie. Super Mario Kart (Super Nintendo) - 8 Million Copies Sold
25-tie. GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo 64) - 8 Million Copies Sold
25-tie. Pokémon Yellow (Game Boy) - 8 Million Copies Sold
Now put aside the fact this lists consoles, Grand Theft Auto IV would be here:
1. Pokémon Red, Blue and Green (Gameboy) - 20.08 Million Copies Sold
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) - 18 Million Copies Sold
3. Grand Theft Auto IV (Multi-Platform) - 17 Million Copies Sold
4. The Sims (PC) - 16 Million Copies Sold
5. Nintendogs (Nintendo DS) - 14.75 Million Copies Sold
That would be quiet an achievement wouldn't it? Would be good to see other games rather than just Grand Theft Auto hitting the top of the list though, perhaps Midnight Club 4 or L.A. Noire will manage that.
German gaming website, Cynamite.de (link translates to English), posted earlier today that an unnamed spokesman for Rockstar Games has announced a fourth Grand Theft Auto IV trailer. The site also suggests the final release date to be in the April time frame, one month after what has already been suggested by others.
"A spokesman for Rockstar Games has over Cynamite confirmed that a fourth of GTA IV trailer gets. Der Trailer soll, wie die vorherigen, im "Filmstrailer-Style" gehalten sein und keine direkten Spielszenen zeigen. The trailer, like the previous ones, in the film's trailer-style "be kept and no direct game scenes. Ein Video mit Live-Action aus GTA IV soll erst nach dem vierten Trailer veröffentlicht werden. A video with live action from GTA IV to be until after the fourth Trailer published.
Zu den Veröffentlichungsterminen der neuen Videos hält sich Rockstar Games allerdings genauso bedeckt wie zum Releasetermin des fertigen Spiels. The release dates of new videos adheres Rockstar Games, however, as cloudy as the release date of the final game. Wir gehen weiterhin von einer Veröffentlichung im April 2008 aus. We continue to go from one publication in April 2008." -- Cynamite.de
Note that this is all rumor though, nothing official yet.
Could this be our first glimpse of a map of Liberty City? This screencap is from the boat scene. If you look on the dash board of the boat it looks like it's the city outline. My thought is, they have such high tech boats so why such a primitive map? Maybe they are primitive people, who knows?! At any rate, here is the photo for you from Bluespot.
Thanks goes to The GTA Place for the heads up!
The holidays is always a very busy time of year for everyone, but we find it difficult to believe we could've missed the official announcement of a Grand Theft Auto IV release date. See, we're pretty sure it's not official, but even so, we're wondering if a source has some sort of inside knowledge that nobody else knows about.
In order to make sure you're fully updated on the ongoing saga of the GTAIV release date, let us refresh your memory:
Australian game site GamePlayer reports that online retailer Games Warehouse has assigned a date and price to Rockstar's massively anticipated title: March 15 and AU$108.95 for the standard edition; AU$149.95 for the Collectors Edition. In a bizarre twist, the standard edition of the PS3 version supposedly retails for AU$119.95. Since the story hit, none of this has been confirmed by Rockstar or Take-Two.
European site MCVUK reports that the UK release date for GTAIV is April 25, according to sources "close to the game's publisher." Well, those sources have gone mute since the story arrived, and again, nothing about this is confirmed.
In easily the most concrete news regarding a GTAIV release date, Take-Two revealed the game would hit store shelves some time between February and March. This was mentioned following the publisher's final quarter fiscal results, and is probably true. But we still see no exact date in there.
And now, GameTrailers has quietly added their own date for the game: March 3. ...did we miss something? Is this a placeholder date, like the ones GameStop and Amazon uses for pre-orders? But if so, how come those guys aren't using that date? Amazon.com still lists GTAIV with an April 30 release, and GameStop says it ships on April 1. GameTrailers just posted a video where GT supposedly teamed up with Rockstar; could this mean they have some inside info? Well, we don't know, but we do know we have yet another GTAIV release date to investigate. Yay.
Rockstar have turned up in a red suit today for a Christmas gift to all us fans, 5 new screenshots and 1 new peaice of artwork of Grand Theft Auto IV. Need we say more? Unwrap these babies below, and have a very Merry Christmas!
*New character in the artwork screen is called Faustin.
Upon the release of Take-Two's financial report Rockstar have clarified today that the downloadable content mentioned in the conference call is not something new.
Take-Two CEO Ben Feder stated that "In fiscal 2009, we'll also be offering additional episodic content for Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox 360" during the call. This started a bunch of rumors all over the Internet about the possibility of new Downloadable content on top of the already two announced packs. But in fact, it seems one of the two packs will be released in 2008 and the second one will be delieveled in 2009.