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New-gen GTA V looks great, and you can play in first-person (video)
The re-release of Grand Theft Auto V on PS4 and Xbox One (PC version delayed until 2015) is just days away now. As a result, Rockstar is cranking up the PR campaign by showing and telling why it should get your hard-earned money (again). Yesterday it delivered confirmation of the leaked first-person mode that brings even deeper immersion to your criminal hijinks -- according to a comment on CVG's podcast, you can even watch the cutscenes in first person -- along with a video preview of what it's like (viewable on YouTube here and in higher quality, higher bitrate video at Gamersyde.) Today it has another highlight reel to present, showing the difference between the PS3 and PS4 version across scenes.
'Grand Theft Auto V' coming to PS4 and Xbox One November 18th, PC version delayed until 2015
Great news next-gen (well, guess that would be "current-gen" now, wouldn't it) console owners -- you'll be able to snag Grand Theft Auto V for either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One on November 18th. Along with the usual slew of graphical improvements, the enhanced version of GTA will feature new weapons, vehicles, activities and mani interesting furry animals. Not to mention new songs, denser traffic and a completely new foliage system! PC players will get all the same perks, but they'll sadly have to wait until January 27th of 2015 to get their hands on it. On the plus side, if you already own GTA V for Xbox 360 or PS3 you can easily transfer your online character.
'Grand Theft Auto V' is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC
If you've long suspected that Grand Theft Auto V would reach next-gen consoles and the PC, you were on the mark -- Sony and Rockstar have confirmed that the open-world crime saga is coming to the PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One this fall. Moreover, any progress you've made in Grand Theft Auto Online on the PS3 or Xbox 360 carries over to its next-gen equivalents. How nice is that? In a blog post, Rockstar says the upgraded versions will have "across-the-board graphical and technical improvements to deliver a stunning new level of detail. Increased draw distances, finer texture details, denser traffic, and enhanced resolutions." That's not all though, since the gameplay will have all the new features added since the originals released, and extra tweaks to things like weather, damage, wildlife and more. Check out a brief clip of the new version after the break (look at all that traffic!).
MMO Family: How to encourage reading through video games
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, author Christopher John Farley posited that literature can learn from the rise and success of video games. Polls reveal that families are increasingly concerned that their children aren't reading as much as they should. And they're right to be concerned because studies have shown that good reading habits are forged during childhood, and after age 12, it's extremely hard to get kids to read if they aren't big readers already. Video games and literature seem an unlikely duo, but there some important ways that gaming can encourage reading. Let's explore this topic in this week's MMO Family. (Photo credit: Tim Pierce)
Grand Theft Auto V's iFruit companion app reaches Windows Phone
Grand Theft Auto V players with Windows Phones have been missing out on the game's iFruit companion app for a full two months, but they're getting their turn today. The newly available port shares the same features we've seen in its Android and iOS counterparts, letting criminal masterminds tune their rides and take care of Franklin's dog Chop. Those eager to visit Los Santos Customs from the comfort of their Lumias can download iFruit now from the Windows Phone Store.
Grand Theft Auto Online players start getting virtual payouts for their troubles
Rockstar promised that it would compensate GTA Online players for their service problems during October, and it's (somewhat belatedly) making good on its word. As expected, the developer has started paying these early adopters $500,000 each in virtual currency to keep them organizing heists and racing cars. All the handouts should wrap up within the next two days, Rockstar estimates. There should also be fewer hiccups in the future -- the company is already rolling out a fix that prevents cloud sync outages from erasing progress. GTAO members aren't entirely out of the woods, but the bonus cash may give them a good reason to stay in Los Santos.
Rockstar gifting Grand Theft Auto Online players $500K (in online cash) for ballin'
Rockstar Games sympathizes with your GTA Online woes, folks. The company's dropping two massive deposits of cash ($250K apiece) into player accounts in the coming weeks, and the first could be coming "by the end of next week." After those pesky issues with game progress and content disappearing are solved (again, hopefully "by the end of next week"), the deposits are scheduled to begin. Not every single person who owns Grand Theft Auto V will get the cash, but anyone who logged in and played GTA Online "during the month of October 2013" is qualified. After scooping the next title update (1.04), Rockstar will tell people via its newswire website when the deposits are going in -- and just like that, magically, said deposits will appear in-game for qualifying players. After that, you may commence with the ballin'. Or maybe just buy yourself a Burger Shot franchise and settle down, get a nice condo in the outskirts of Los Santos. The choice is yours!
Daily Roundup: Galaxy Gear and Note 10.1 (2014) reviews, CEATEC 2013, GTA 5 multiplayer and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You can now turn your iPhone into the iFruit from GTA V
Grand Theft Auto V does a great job of skewering modern tech culture, as well as Apple itself, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the "iFruit" smartphones that are seen in the game. Now, with the help of a handy skin from Mobile Fun, you can turn your iPhone 4, 4s, 5 or 5s into an iFruit too. The covering is pretty basic, with the key changes being the name "iFruit" replacing the "iPhone" moniker on your smartphone's backside, along with the fruit bowl logo. The skin is made of vinyl and retails for a reasonable US$12.99. [via Inventor Spot]
GTA V makes $1 billion in three days, may be fastest selling entertainment product in history
Calling Grand Theft Auto V one of 2013's most anticipated video game releases would be a massive understatement, but if you wanted some sort of monetary proof of the claim, Take-Two interactive has it. According to a press release issued today, GTA V has cleared over $1 billion in sales in its first three days on the market; crunch the numbers, and that adds up to more than 16.5 million units sold. Take-Two says that it believes this makes it the fastest selling entertainment property in history -- the last major release to make that claim, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, took 15 days to reach the milestone. It's an impressive accomplishment, but it's potentially only the tip of the iceberg: GTA V is rumored to be ported to PC and next generation consoles, and has a literal product lifetime to hold down its sales record.
Grand Theft Auto V's Apple parodies are hilarious, and probably NSFW
Grand Theft Auto developer Rockstar Games always has its thumb on the pulse of pop culture, and the just-released Grand Theft Auto V proves that the heralded game company hasn't missed a step. Set in Los Santos (a fictionalized modern day Los Angeles), the game is heavy on cultural references including a widespread love of gadgets. Apple even makes an appearance in the game as the fictional "Fruit Computers." One of the three playable characters carries a phone -- called the iFruit -- that looks quite similar to the iPhone 4s, including an OS that looks a great deal like iOS 6. On top of that, most computers in the game feature a Safari-esque web browser, and you can even visit the Fruit Computers website to see a fake Siri clone called "Shelley." You can check out all of this in the video above (be sure to click the fullscreen icon to get an adequate view of things). Fair warning: Some of the Siri -- er, sorry, Shelley -- conversation gets pretty NSFW.
Must See HDTV (September 16th - 22nd)
After an all too long wait, GTA 5 has arrived -- check out Joystiq's review here. For a different source of violent content, you might also want to check out the series finale of Showtime's Dexter this weekend or World War Z on Blu-ray. Breaking Bad's penultimate episode is also on Sunday night, while other shows including Under the Dome and Million Second Quiz are packing it in for the fall. New arrivals this week include Fox's controversial Dads, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while Bones, New Girl, The Mindy Project and Key & Peele are all brand new. Look after the break for our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Report: Rockstar investigating early copies of Grand Theft Auto 5
Rockstar is looking into the possibility of retailers breaking Grand Theft Auto 5's street date over the weekend, GamesIndustry International reports. The game is just two days away from beginning its life of crime. Rockstar told GamesIndustry that it is "in the process of investigating early 'sales' to determine how and why that is occurring." Its investigation follows photos posted online by users showing supposed copies of the game.
Take-Two files complaint over GTAV.com
Grand Theft Auto V publisher Take-Two is doing the right thing and filing a complaint about gtav.com rather than just shooting up the place and taking it, Fusible reports. Take-Two's pursuit of the domain follows a streak of over two dozen similar events this year concerning URLs poised as fake beta portals for GTAV. Each previous ruling favored Take-Two, but the publisher lost a similar dispute over bioshock.com in 2010 because the site was created before Take-Two trademarked Bioshock. The owner of gtav.com registered the domain in 2008, so there's a chance that they managed to do so before Take-Two thought to trademark the inevitable sequel. Although it currently redirects traffic to GTAV's official page, gtav.com was once a blog focused on covering the upcoming game.
Will GTA 5 have an MMO side?
The good folks at Rockstar Games have released a new gameplay trailer for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 5, set to release on September 17 of this year. Why are we talking about a single-player game here on Massively? Just watch the last 18 seconds of the video embedded below. "And then, there's Grand Theft Auto Online," the narrator says as the video shows the main character looking out over a city of almost a dozen other players flying and driving around. Rockstar says they will show off the online features "soon," so we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out just how massively multiplayer this teased online feature could be.
