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GTAIV DLC still on track to release this November
Over the past few months, we've been hearing all kinds of conflicting reports regarding the Xbox 360 exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content and its release date. All of which has led us to question whether the DLC will release later this Fall, sometime next Spring or later in 2009.Thankfully, Eurogamer had a chance to chat with "sources close to Rockstar North" and learned that the DLC is still on track to release sometime this November. Just as Microsoft promised. Sadly, we are still in the dark regarding what will be included in the DLC or its pricing, but seeing that MS reportedly spent $50 million on it, we doubt it'll be cheap. We're starting our own rumor based on our own speculation which is based on absolutely no facts and predict that the GTAIV DLC will end up costing a whopping 1600 Microsoft points. Tell your friends, you heard it here first!
Microsoft: Grand Theft Auto IV DLC coming this Autumn
In the midst of the Leipzig Games Convention, Microsoft has issued a statement (via IGN) about the much-ballyhooed and long-delayed Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content. Said Microsoft, "In autumn there will be news from Liberty City; the first episodes of GTA IV will be available for download exclusively on Xbox LIVE, underlining Xbox 360's leadership role in the field of digital entertainment." While we're fairly certain "news from Liberty City" is indicative of an Autumn launch, the "news" could just be a more confirmed release date for later this year. Take-Two previously noted that the DLC is expected in Fiscal Q109 (between November 1, 2008, and January 31, 2009). We've put in a call to Microsoft for clarification, who may or may not be too busy booking tickets to San Andreas. Update: Heard from Microsoft who confirm that the exclusive DLC itself is coming this Fall.
Conan grandly thieves Europe from Niko Bellic
In charts reporting the latest game sales numbers in Europe, Age of Conan landed the #1 spot in both Sweden and Germany, surpassing even Grand Theft Auto IV.Take that with a grain of salt, though, as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of GTA4 were counted separately, and each appeared in high spots in both countries' charts. It seems likely that in Sweden, at least (where GTA4 occupied second and third place), GTA4 still outsold AoC when all platforms are added up. In Spain, AoC placed fourth.Funcom has already launched additional servers to accommodate an impressive player base. AoC might get even bigger when it goes cross-platform.
The voice of GTAIV's Roman is broke, rent him
Those keeping up on Grand Theft Auto IV (that's all of you, right?) will remember that a few weeks ago Michael Hollick, best known as the voice of Niko Bellic in GTAIV, was covered by the New York Times in an article pointing out that the actor will receive no residuals or royalties of any kind for his performance. It's important to note that he doesn't point the finger at Rockstar but rather the Screen Actors Guild, which does not have specific rules regarding electronic performances. While Hollick may have landed the New York Times, Jason Zumwalt, the voice of Niko's cousin Roman, has turned to YouTube. Where it could be argued that Hollick's approach to the matter had a certain degree of tact, Zumwalt's approach is a bit ... different. Essentially, he's asking gamers to "Rent Roman." It's all a little hard to explain. Maybe you should just watch the video. Find it after the break (NSFW thanks to some salty language).
Zero Punctuation visits Liberty City
Yahtzee's latest Zero Punctuation review this week is none other than everyone's favorite crime simulator, Grand Theft Auto IV. While he (of course) does his best to pick the game's fault apart one by one, Yahtzee still comes across as actually liking the game. Fans of ZP will know that this is high praise indeed (though we imagine it will still spark nasty, hate-filled emails from GTA fanboys). As for the negatives, the review makes note of wonky driving, escort missions, and the constant need to entertain Niko's friends. Beyond such criticisms though, the review deigns to call Grand Theft Auto IV "really good." Find the review embedded after the break.[Thanks, webster1990]
UK GTAIV first week sales: 926,000 copies
Hey, remember those ridiculously high Grand Theft Auto IV sales estimates Chart-Track provided for the UK? It looks like they weren't ridiculously high enough, as the final numbers have now been released. Sales for the first week of GTAIV availability in the UK reached a whopping 926,000 copies (approximately) with 631,000 being sold on the first day, handily topping the original day one estimate of 609,000. Of the 926,000 copies sold during the first week, 514,000 were for Xbox 360 with the remaining 413,000 going to the Playstation 3.The game also managed to drive console sales, raising Xbox 360 sales by 125 percent and PS3 sales by 127 percent from the previous week. Perhaps most impressive of all, in its first week of sales GTAIV has already surpassed all but the top three UK titles of 2007 (FIFA 08, Brain Training, and Call of Duty 4). Just to clarify, that's one week sales versus total sales for 2007. One last statistic: GTAIV is now the record holder for one week sales for a multiplatform game in the UK.Yow.[Via Joystiq]Note: You may have noticed that 413,000 and 514,000 don't add up to 926,000. We're guessing that the numbers are the result of rounding one way or another.
GTAIV carjacks top spot on Xbox Live
Well that didn't take long. Major Nelson has posted the most recent Xbox Live activity top ten. As predicted, Grand Theft Auto IV has (appropriately) stolen the top spot from Call of Duty 4. It would be interesting to find out the percentage of players playing multiplayer versus those that are sticking to the single-player campaign. Regardless, given the amount of content there is to discover in GTAIV, it's likely that it will remain at number one for quite some time. The question now is what game has the power to knock it down. The only thing that comes to mind is (Game of the Year 2008) Ninja Gaiden II. As much as we know Ryu could probably take Niko one-on-one, we're not sure his game has the strength to topple GTAIV.[Thanks, marklar]
Explore Liberty City with Google Map application
Between the comprehensive in-game map, the GPS-imbued minimap, and the TomTom-esque functionality of certain vehicles, we've yet to misplace ourselves within Liberty City's digital boroughs. Still, if you find yourself lost whilst playing Grand Theft Auto IV, we guess this Liberty City map application (mapplication?) using the Google Maps interface would come in handy. A number of user contributions have already been made to the map, showing the location of hidden items, easter eggs, pigeon locations, stunt jumps, and yes, even hookers, whom we assume were fitted with GPS locaters by trained prostitute handlers before being released back into the wild. It makes for a useful cartographical companion for those with a laptop near their console of choice -- if you don't mind ruining the fun of exploring the nooks and crannies of Rockstar's intricately crafted metropolis for yourself, that is.
IGN responds to concerns over exclusive GTA IV review
Earlier this week, Variety's Ben Fritz expressed concern over IGN's exclusive first review of Grand Theft Auto IV, asking rhetorically, "How can we trust a videogame review when the outlet running it has been given a major commercial favor ... from the publisher of the game?" Well, GameDaily Media Coverage Columnist Gus Mastrapa went the extra mile and asked that very question to some people at IGN. And he even got an answer!"We in no way trade scores for an exclusive," said IGN VP Tal Blevins, adding that publishers have no access to or say in the text of a review before it goes live. That doesn't mean IGN didn't make any concessions to secure the exclusive, though. IGN Xbox editor Hilary Goldstein admitted the site used promotional placement on the site's top feature bar to secure the exclusive. "Our bargaining chip is to basically say, 'I will put it here if you let me have this,'" Goldstein said. Mastrapa likened the practice to an "exclusive cover story" in a game magazine.As for Variety and Fritz, Goldstein seemed unimpressed with with his journalism bona fides. "Nobody from Variety called us and said, 'Hey, would you like to comment about this?'" he said. "He says in blog post, 'If I had the game right now I would have broken the embargo.' To me that goes against your ethics." Nothing like an I'm-more-ethical-than-thou battle to get your heart racing in the morning.
Greenberg: GTAIV could steal top Live spot
Is it all that surprising? Xbox 360 director of product management (and all around snappy dresser) Aaron Greenberg told Reuters that it wouldn't be surprising to see Grand Theft Auto IV snag the top position on Xbox Live. While most Xbox Live gamers know that shooters like Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 are generally the major competitors for the number one slot on Xbox Live, Greenberg said of GTAIV, "The multiplayer in this game is so well implemented that I can't imagine anyone owning a copy without trying to play it on Xbox Live." Greenberg is probably right about that. After all, he forecasts (correctly, we'd guess) that GTAIV will be the highest selling game of 2008, so there will certainly be plenty of players ready to go online. The question is whether or not players will continue to play once they've given multiplayer a try.Will GTAIV take the top spot? We're going to go out on a limb and say yes. Will it stay? We'll have to wait and see.[Via Joystiq]
Behold: the GTAIV Special Edition unboxing
We realize that many, many Grand Theft Auto fans have already perused the contents of their shiny, new Special Editions of Grand Theft Auto IV -- which includes an actual safety deposit box, among other things -- but there are also plenty of gamers out there who opted to grab the vanilla edition instead. It is with this in mind that we point you to 360Sync's unboxing of the Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition (it's the Canadian version -- note the "Édition spéciale"). Grab your smoking jacket, pour the Courvoisier, and savor the images.
Joystiq Network poll: GTAIV causing problems?
Amidst reports that Grand Theft Auto IV is causing problems for owners of both the 360 and PS3 version, we'd like to poll our community on the subject. Most reports claim that the game freezes, forcing players to restart the game (reports also suggest that models other than the 60GB PS3 are not affected). Thus far, only one X3F blogger (me) has encountered any issues. When attempting to retry a mission, said blogger was greeted with an unending loading screen and forced to shut off the console.We've set up a network wide poll that will be shared among Joystiq, PS3 Fanboy, and Xbox 360 Fanboy to get an idea of how widespread the problem is. Let us know if you've had any issues and don't forget to detail your problems in the comments. Are you having problems with Grand Theft Auto IV? Yes, and I use the Xbox 360 Yes, and I use the 60GB PS3 Yes, and I use the non-60GB PS3 (please specify in comments) No problem (Xbox 360) No problem (60GB PS3) No problem (non-60GB PS3; please specify in comments) Don't own the game, I just felt compelled to click something
GTAIV broke UK sales record says Chart-Track
According to Chart-Track (as reported by gamesindustry.biz), Grand Theft Auto IV has handily shattered UK game sales records in several categories. First of all, the game broke overall first day sales records, with a whopping 609,000 copies sold. This tops the previous record held by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which sold 501,000 on its first day in 2004. Regarding specific consoles, GTAIV's first day sales reached 335,000 units on Xbox 360, breaking the previous record of 266,000 units held by Halo 3. First day sales on PS3 hit 274,000, trouncing the previous record of 80,000 units held by Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. For the moment, the figures remain estimates and they may change once Chart-Track combs through the numbers on May 6. Expect official numbers then.[Via Joystiq]
Gamespot: Brief 9.5 for GTA IV was a 'bug'
[Update: Gamespot EIC Ricardo Torres has posted a fuller explanation of what exactly caused the bug. In short, Torres says the 9.5 review was not final and was changed to a ten during the regular peer review process. A glitch in Gamespot's servers caused the score to be briefly published before it was ready.]Given the flood of perfect review scores for Grand Theft Auto IV, observant gamers were justifiably surprised when a score of 9.5/10 briefly appeared on Gamespot.com Monday. That surprise turned to confusion in some quarters when the score (which had no accompanying review) was quickly taken down and later replaced with the fifth 10/10 in Gamespot's history (complete with corresponding review text). Message boards and some blogs jumped at the change, throwing around charges of "review fixing" and alluding to Gamespot's recent Gerstmann-related credibility problems.Don't go running for your pitchforks and torches just yet, though. According to a forum post by Gamespot's Aaron Thomas, the briefly displayed 9.5 was just a pre-production glitch and never an official review score. "We never posted a review with the score of 9.5," Thomas writes. "What you saw was a bug that sometimes causes scores to appear on the site before reviews go live. Sometimes that score is correct, sometimes it isn't. In this case, it wasn't." Nothing to see here, folks. Move it along. Save your indignation for the thugs trying to push Niko around.(full disclosure: I write a weekly column on the game media for Gamespot)
GTA IV online is down [Update]
If you are a proud owner of Grand Theft Auto IV on the PS3, then you might not be so proud to know that the online multi-player mode is down. Or, at least it appears to be so for PS3 patrons. Numerous players have received errors upon attempting to connect; this blogger included has not been able to get the multi-player to work. An error message pops up: "Cannot connect to game provider, please try again." Hopefully, Rockstar can get things running soon. Wouldn't want to upset the GTA IV crowd, if you know what we mean. In the meantime, get back to the single player game. We'll keep you posted as we find out more.[Thanks, Aron A.!][Update: It's back up. Yay!]
Grand Theft Auto IV impressions: A stranger in Liberty City
The PlayStation 3 has forced us to become accustomed to having to endure lengthy installations prior to being able to sit down and play a game, a fact made all the more aggravating for Grand Theft Auto IV, both because of the already overflowing anticipation as well as the aftertaste of having been up for multiple hours elbow to elbow with fellow players waiting for the opportunity to play the game. But there's little use in complaining at this point, so I took the opportunity to make me some tea and a sandwich as I prepared for what was to be a memorable evening that would mark my first visit to Liberty City ... ever.%Gallery-3442%
Small Wait Auto: GTAIV Wal-Mart launch recap (Tulsa, OK)
Click to embiggen Apart from the one guy standing behind me, the image above represents the entirety of the crowd that was on hand for the midnight launch of Grand Theft Auto IV at the Woodland Hills Wal-Mart in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That's all of them. Seriously, there's no one hidden off camera (apart from behind-me-guy mentioned above). There is no line extending down the DVD isle. What you see is it. I've been to midnight launches before, and I can tell you that this was by far the smoothest one I've had to endure. Compared to the hours I had to wait in line for Halo 3 last year (in addition to the time I spent once the line actually started moving), Wal-Mart was nothing. I was literally standing at a register at midnight, and I was back in my car, game in hand, by 12:07.Wal-Mart's plans for the GTAIV launch were leaked earlier this month, proclaiming that the chain wanted to be the "Fastest way to play GTA IV." While it seems to be more out of coincidence than actual planning, my Wal-Mart certainly proved to be quick. After the break, I've compiled some of the reasons to consider Wal-Mart for your next midnight launch.
GTA IV freezes sometimes, but there's a fix
Disaster! Panic! One of the biggest releases of the year and people are having problems? That almost never happens. Sometimes. Reports are coming in of Grand Theft Auto IV freezing during, and just after, the opening cutscene. Weirdly, anecdotal evidence is revealing that the issue seems to be exclusive to the 60GB version of the PS3. How frustrating!Don't worry, there's a fix. Rockstar has stated that simply deleting your game data and then reinstalling will fix the issue. So if you're being plagued this particular bug then give that a go and see what happens. If it works, let us know. If it doesn't, then let us know that too. If you can keep the tears back long enough to type out a comment, that is.
Nega-review: Grand Theft Auto IV
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GTA_IV_Nega_review_A_Look_at_All_Bad_Comments_From_Reviews'; "GTA IV has its flaws as a game." (1) "The flow of the game basically goes like this: you watch a cutscene, someone in the cutscene says that someone has done them wrong, you're told they need to be taught a lesson, and then you get in a car and go teach them the lesson. At that point another cinema is triggered and the process repeats. ... it can definitely become a little repetitive." (2)"It's not like previous GTAs, or most other sequels, where there are new stand-out features that you can easily discuss and rate." (4) "GTA IV [actually] reduces the amount of activities when compared to the previous game, San Andreas. You cannot go the gym to beef up Niko's muscles. And eating a ton of cheeseburgers won't turn you into a massive, wobbly mound of lard." (3) "You'll probably be surprised to hear GTA IV has noticeably fewer weapons and vehicles on offer than GTA: San Andreas did. ... Yes, this means San Andreas' more unusual vehicles like fighter jets, hovercraft, go-karts and jetpacks are all absent. Don't expect to be wielding chainguns, flamethrowers or chainsaws either." (4) "The world itself is smaller than the state-sized San Andreas" (7) and in general the game has "a feature list that's a step back from its predecessors." (4)"Even though the plot line is simpler than previous GTA games, it still gets cluttered at times, with a glut of characters entering the scene; it can be tough to keep track of exactly why things are happening and to whom." (9) "There's still a clear difference between this and [even] a B-level Hollywood production. ... Every story note [is] delivered by flat, to-the-point dialog [and] we get characters over-explaining their feelings and opinions, leading to some awkward exchanges. (8) On top of that, "Niko's Serbian ... is God-awful." (3) Gallery: Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Line Auto: A diverse gathering (Broken Arrow edition)
Given the nearly unquantifiable level of anticipation building up to the midnight unveiling of Rockstar's opus, it seemed prudent to roll up to the local Broken Arrow, OK Gamestop well in advance of the game's release. All of the preparation went for naught, however, as the store kept its doors open all night as enthusiasts congregated inside, joked in the secret language that only we nerds can appreciate, and not-so-quietly chatted about the game they would very soon be playing.
