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'GTA4' is returning to Steam next month without multiplayer
Grand Theft Auto 4 will return to Steam on March 19th after it was abruptly pulled from the digital storefront last month due to an issue with Microsoft's defunct Games for Windows Live service. Developer Rockstar Games will rerelease the game, as well as its Episodes from Liberty City DLC, as a single package called Grand Theft Auto 4: Complete Edition. Unfortunately, Complete Edition won't include online multiplayer or leaderboards.
'GTA4' leaves Steam after an old Microsoft service breaks game sales
Rockstar is learning first hand about the pitfalls of trusting your game's functionality to a third-party service. The developer has confirmed to The Verge that it stopped selling Grand Theft Auto 4 on Steam after Microsoft stopped supporting the Games for Windows Live platform the title depends on. It's "no longer possible" to create the extra game keys needed to sell GTA4, a Rockstar spokesperson said. You can still play the Steam version if you already have a copy, but newcomers will have to go somewhere else to experience Niko Bellic's life of crime.
Amazon discounts over 1,000 digital PC games
Amazon kicked off its Digital Games Mayhem sale, discounting over 1,000 downloadable PC games. Okay, we didn't count to make sure the retailer had that many games on sale; we were too busy adding the Rockstar Ultimate Collection to our online carts. The bundle features 12 games from the developer at 85 percent off ($25.49), including L.A. Noire, GTA 4 and GTA Vice City. The sale also knocks 75 percent off the Metro Franchise Pack ($12.49), Saints Row Franchise Pack ($18.75) and Batman Mega Bundle ($22.50), the latter of which includes Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Origins in addition to Origins' season pass. As for individual games, Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is 40 percent off ($14.99), Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is 55 percent off ($11), NBA 2K14 can be downloaded at 68 percent off ($9.59) and Civilization 5 is 46 percent off ($16.24). All deals in the Digital Games Mayhem sale are good until May 31. [Image: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment]
GTA 4, Red Dead multiplayer gameplay unaffected by GameSpy closure
Rockstar's collection of games are some of the many to be affected by GameSpy's closure next month, although for the most part the studio's latest releases won't suffer. Rockstar plans to transition out of GameSpy's matchmaking service when it closes on May 31, and for some of the studio's older games, that will signal the end for their online features. The closure means Rockstar is removing all the online features from Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and Dub Edition Remix, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on DS and PSP, and Beaterator. The racers are losing all online multiplayer as a result, while Chinatown Wars and Beaterator are dropping their Social Club features. The music mixing game is also ditching track uploading and downloading. No surprises: Grand Theft Auto 5 is totally unaffected, and online multiplayer gameplay remains intact in GTA 4, too. However, GTA 4 is dropping multiplayer leaderboards on PS3, while all platforms are parting with Social Club stat tracking and leaderboards. By the by, all of that also goes for the Complete version of GTA 4 and the Episodes from Liberty City.
PSN Spring Fever franchise deals include Call of Duty, GTA
If the seven games debuting on PSN this month at discounted rates don't spice up Sony's Spring Fever sale enough for your liking, the sale will also include sales on four different franchises. Games and DLC in the Call of Duty, Need for Speed, BioShock and Grand Theft Auto series are on sale at varying points in March for all PSN users. The sale spans five games in the Need for Speed series, each down to $9.99 ($5 for PS Plus subscribers) tomorrow through March 10. Those games include Need for Speed: Most Wanted on both PS3 and Vita, Hot Pursuit on PS3, The Run on PS3 and Carbon on PSP and Vita. The Call of Duty series continues on March 11 through March 17 and features a variety of game and DLC bundles for Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops and Black Ops 2. Both Black Ops games can be purchased together for $69.99 ($62.99 on PS Plus) as well as all three Modern Warfare games for $64.99 ($58.49 for PS Plus members). Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series rolls in next on March 18 with sales lasting through March 24. The sale knocks GTA 5 down to $39.99, GTA 4 to $5.99 ($4.79 on PS Plus) as well as a handful of other PS3 and PSP games in the series ranging from $5.99 each ($4.79 for PS Plus) to $2.99 each ($2.39 on PS Plus). Lastly, the first two games in the BioShock series will also be $9.99 ($5 for PS Plus members) March 25 through March 31. Those games are joined by BioShock Infinite's Burial at Sea Episode 1 DLC for $10.40 ($7.34 on PS Plus) as well as Columbia's Finest Pack and Clash in the Clouds for $3.49 each ($2.44 on PS Plus). [Image: Rockstar Games]
Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5 discounted on Xbox Live this week
Rockstar's open-world epics Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 4 are on sale as part of this week's series of exclusive deals for Xbox Live Gold members. Gold subscribers can currently pick up the digital version of GTA5 for $40.19, while GTA4 can be had for a mere $9.99. Grand Theft Auto 4's DLC episodes are also on sale this week. The Lost and Damned is up for grabs at $4.99, while The Ballad of Gay Tony is $7.99 through next Monday. Xbox One owners looking to score a deal this week can pick up Twisted Pixel's LocoCycle for $9.99 -- a permanent drop from its original asking price of $19.99. [Image: Rockstar]
Grand Theft Auto 5 already overtaken GTA 4 lifetime sales in UK
In just three weeks of UK sales, Grand Theft Auto 5 has sold more copies than Grand Theft Auto 4 has in nearly five years of lifetime sales. The staggering statistics come courtesy of UK figure-gatherers Chart Track, who report GTA 5 is already the country's 12th biggest-selling game of all time. To reiterate, this stat applies to UK sales. Still, with global sales surpassing $1 billion in the first three days, UK sales at 2.25 million copies in the first week, and now this, Rockstar is probably feeling okay about keeping the game on current-gen platforms (for now).
PlayStation Plus gets free Malicious, cheap Grand Theft Auto
This week's free North American PlayStation Plus game is Malicious, a third-person action game in which players defeat an eclectic collection of bosses and pilfer their powers. Meanwhile, the Spring Fever sale event continues for PlayStation Plus with a series-wide sale on the Grand Theft Auto games, including recent PS2 Classics GTA 3 (for under $5) and GTA: San Andreas (for under $8).
Rockstar drops Grand Theft Auto playlists on Spotify, iTunes
Rockstar has released the soundtracks for its most recent Grand Theft Auto games onto Spotify and iTunes. Sadly, just the tunes from Grand Theft Auto 3 and every entry since are here – none of Rockstar's zany commercials or satirical talk radio stations.The only place to get the full soundtracks still is through Rockstar's box set releases; however, if you want to just listen to the ads, you can point your browser to The Advertising Council.Rockstar recently revealed the box art for Grand Theft Auto 5, due on September 17 for Xbox 360 and PS3. Even though over 100,000 have signed a petition calling for a PC port, Take-Two has not announced Grand Theft Auto 5 for the PC at this time.
Steam Summer Sale, Day 6: Black Ops, Spec Ops, Limbo (and other stuff too!)
Another day passed, and your bank account is that much lighter, but Valve's annual Steam Summer Sale is back with a whole mess of new discounts. For instance, that copy of Train Simulator 2012 you've been holding out on? It's seeing a massive 90 percent discount, and will cost you just $3.49 if you snap it up soon.Or how about that Wargame: European Escalation game you've had your eye on, eh? That's ... oh who're we kidding? You want Grand Theft Auto IV for your PC and you want it for like $5. Done. The same could be said for RTS classic Company of Heroes (just $2.50!) and recently released third-person shooter Spec Ops: The Line ($33.50). Head on over to the Steam Store for the full listings of sales, which expire tomorrow afternoon.
GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption DLC discounts in XBLM's weekly deals
This week and next, Microsoft is offering savings on DLC for the Xbox 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption -- discounts that, if you were straining to tie them into GTA somehow, you might call "a steal." From today through July 18, you'll be able to get the RDR Undead Nightmare Collection (containing three separate DLC packs) for 1,000 Microsoft Points, down from 1,600. That deal is part of a "Zombies!" promotion also featuring Dead Rising 2: Case West (now 400 Microsoft Points) and Stubbs the Zombie (800 MSP). From July 19 through July 25, it's all GTA, with GTAIV add-ons Ballad of Gay Tony for 800 MSP, The Lost and Damned for 400, and GTA San Andreas for 800 points. See a few more items, including new Avatar items and Dance Central DLC, on Major Nelson's site.
Feature-length film, The Trashmaster, made entirely in Grand Theft Auto IV
If you're familiar with The Sims-style gaming, where actual life, art, and the game can easily blur, this little story may not come as a huge surprise to you. Grand Theft Auto IV player / enthusiast Mathieu Weschler spent two years making The Trashmaster, a feature-length 'film' made entirely in the game, about a garbage man who has another gig on the side. Now, we'll freely admit that we did not watch the entire thing (yet), but from what we have seen, it actually looks fairly engaging! The film is embedded after the break.
Steam Holiday Sale discounts Left 4 Dead 2, GTA IV, NFS: Hot Pursuit
The Steam savings keep on coming as today's deals offer up another bevy of digital wares on the cheap. There are plenty to choose from, including Left 4 Dead 2 at a very reasonable $6.79, the GTA IV collection (which includes both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony) for $10, and hefty discounts on Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Singularity and Transformers: War for Cybertron. Hit the jump for the full list.
Amazon deals: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, GTA IV: Complete, more
Generosity is a wonderful, uniquely human impulse, but no matter what television and every Christmas song would have you believe, it's also a finite resource. Haven't you already done enough for others this season? Haven't you earned a little something for Big Poppa? Isn't it time you stopped referring to yourself as "Big Poppa" unironically? Why not treat yourself to some Amazon Lightning Deals today? You can already find Gold Box deal Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood for $38 or Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete for $26, and more (find Thrifty Nerd's best guesses after the jump) are being teased for later in the day. Go on ... you've earned it.
Rockstar squeezes its art into expensive book trilogy
To celebrate its swiftly-approaching tenth anniversary, Rockstar Games will compile all of the visual elements that have gone into designing its catalog of games into a three-book set sometime next month. The pages therein will contain everything from conceptual illustrations, models and wireframes to advertisements and box art. This beefy, aesthetically pleasing package comes with an asking price of $450. As attractive as these tomes would look propped against one another on our coffee table, we find it difficult to reconcile the fact that we could spend the same amount of money on a PS3 or 360 and copies of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto IV and Episodes from Liberty City. Heck, we'd even have enough cash left over for one of those novelty-sized party subs, which would increase our enjoyment of the aforementioned items tenfold.
Red Dead Redemption surpasses 5 million units shipped
More than 5 million copies of Red Dead Redemption have been shrink-wrapped and shipped to retailers across North America and Europe since the game's May 18 release -- and, presumably, folks are buying 'em. Publisher Take-Two announced the mailing milestone today, amidst its quarterly earnings, celebrating the commercial and critical success of Rockstar's little Western that could. Just five months ago Red Dead Redemption appeared doomed. At that time, an anonymous Rockstar source told us, "It will take 4 million sales at full price to recoup the development costs of Red Dead. The good news is they are not expecting to make money with Red Dead Redemption." The accuracy of that estimate notwithstanding, today's shipment announcement suggests that Take-Two and Rockstar now expect to enjoy strong, continued sales of Red Dead. Of course, let's not get too celebratory over a measly 5 million shipped. As if to put the upstart Western in its place, Take-Two also revealed today Grand Theft Auto IV's lifetime global numbers: 17 million sold.
Take-Two Q2 revenue up to $268M, BioShock 2 sales 'lower than expected'
Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two has announced its financial results for its second fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, 2010. Net revenue of $268 million represented an increase of 54 percent over the $174.3 million recorded during the same quarter last year; a change that Take-Two attributes to sales of Major League Baseball 2K10, as well as the introduction of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City to PlayStation 3 and PC. In a related investor call, Take-Two Chief Financial Officer Lainie Goldstein noted that 32 perecent of revenue was driven by the publisher's catalog titles, including NBA 2K10 and Grand Theft Auto IV. And while BioShock 2 contributed to the increased revenue and became a profitable endeavor, Goldstein noted that the dystopian shooter incurred "lower than expected" sales. "The title was well-received by the media and was profitable for us," she said. "However, sales slowed down sooner than we had expected." Operating income for the quarter rose to $16.9 million (last year's second quarter represented a loss of $10.4 million), while total revenue for the company's first-half financial year totaled $431.2 million.
Episodes from Liberty City $10 off at Amazon
Are you enjoying your nightly Wild West adventures through the expansive world of Red Dead Redemption, but wish the game was set in a more contemporary, urban environment? Here's a fun little fact you might not know: Before making Red Dead, Rockstar worked on a series called "Grand Theft Auto," which fits that very niche. Amazon recently reduced the price on the most recent GTA release by one Hamilton: Episodes from Liberty City, now available through the online retailer for $29.99 on consoles and $19.99 on PC. Just don't be alarmed when your precious horsies are replaced by unfeeling metal automobiles, or when your beautiful, intricately crafted six-shooters are replaced by primitive-looking rocket-propelled grenades. That, dear friends, is the steep price of modernity.
Heavy Rain in Liberty City: a GTA IV Machinima
If you've played through Heavy Rain, you know that most problems can't be solved by shooting a dude in the face. For GTA IV's Niko Bellic, that's very much a real problem solver -- a tactic he has no problem using. So it's a pretty odd juxtaposition to see the two games spliced together like they are in the video past the break. It's a pretty great video, but we feel we should warn you that you probably won't get it if you've never played Heavy Rain. Unless you're watching this part, which we're pretty sure is funny no matter what game(s) you've played. [Via Kotaku]
Xbox Live Deal of the Week: Ballad of Gay Tony for $15
If you've been waiting for an excuse to sink your felonious teeth into the Grand Theft Auto IV expansion The Ballad of Gay Tony, listen up. This week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week, you see, knocks the usual 1600 ($20) price of Gay Tony down to a more palatable 1200 ($15). Not bad for a night of virtual clubbing in Liberty City. That said, if you haven't picked up The Lost and Damned (the other GTA IV expansion) either, you can grab the full Episodes from Liberty City package for $30 from GameStop or Amazon. [Via Major Nelson] Xbox.com: Add The Ballad of Gay Tony to your Xbox 360 download queue ($15)
