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Did Microsoft pay $50 million for GTA IV content?
The other day it was announced that the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV would feature exclusive episodic content not found in other versions and today we've learned why. Per Take-Two's latest fiscal conference call the company discussed an extra $50 million on the balance sheets listed as deferred payments split into two $25 million dollar chunks. The transcript confirms that the $50 million relates to the 360's episodic content and when asked to explain the release of such content it was explained as such:"The first 25 is for the first episodic content package that's supposed to go out and that is in March of '08. That's why it moved into current because it's in the next 12 months. The second 25 will be for the second episodic, the episode, and that will be later in fiscal '08."So, Take-Two received an extra $50 million for GTA IV's episodic content on the 360 which will be available in two installments, one next March and one sometime in 2008. The question is where did the cash come from and we can only speculate Microsoft's deep pockets had something to do with it. And if it was Microsoft, we'd be almost certain that the once talked about PS3 content is now canceled.[Via the gta place]
GTA IV episodic content exclusive to the 360
What's that smell? It's the unmistakable aroma of exclusive content coming to the 360 ... lovely. Yesterday, gameindustry.biz confirmed with a Take-Two representative that Grand Theft Auto IV will feature episodic content that will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 platform. Yup, you'll only be able to get such episodic content on your lovely white box and no other console. Life is great isn't it? No other details were confirmed about such content other than its exclusivity.GTA IV is huge game and if the 360 version is going to get content that no other version on other consoles has, it's a big deal. Now we just hope that such episodic content doesn't cost us anything or, if it does, it doesn't break the bank. Our fingers are crossed.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
Second GTA IV trailer coming soonish
The last time we waited for a Grand Theft Auto IV trailer nobody knew what the game had to offer or even what it looked like. At the time it released, the interenet stopped for a moment. And now it looks like we're going to have to go through all the madness once again. Over on the official GTA IV website, the main splash page is announcing a second trailer called "Looking For That Special Someone" that will be available June 28th. And even though there is no suspenseful countdown clock, we're still excited to see more GTA IV goodness. We advise you to prepare for the worst, because June 28th could be the day the internet calls it quits.[Via TeamXbox]
Grand Theft Auto IV images galore!
Rockstar has rolled out a handful of new Grand Theft Auto IV images and we've incorporated them into a new gallery, along with previously released content as well. The shots all show off a very impressive level of detail, from foliage in the trees to reflective surfaces on automobiles. We also get some close looks at GTAIV's protagonist, Niko Bellic (seen above behind the wheel of a likely stolen ride). Check out our extensive new gallery below and tell us what you think.%Gallery-3451%
GTAIV hops on the special edition bandwagon
It seems like every major release -- and even some not-so-major releases -- gets a special edition these days. The latest to hop on the bandwagon is the next in the franchise that power-hungry politicos love to hate, Grand Theft Auto IV. We have to admit though, as special editions go, this one's a doozy. For the bargain basement price of $90, you get a metal safety deposit box, an art book, a soundtrack CD, a keychain for holding the keys to the deposit box, and a Rockstar duffel bag. Oh, and you get a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV as well. We dig that the special edition basically gives you the end result of a high profile theft: a loaded safety deposit box in a duffel bag.What say you, fanboys, does it top the cat helmet?[Via Joystiq]
New York pol compares V-Tech Rampage to GTAIV
Confusing politicians about video games is like shooting fish in a barrel it seems. State Senator Andrew Lanza (R) of Staten Island, has publicly come out against a flash game called V-Tech Rampage, in which players reenact the recent massacre at Virginia Tech. Concerning the game Lanza stated, "There are certain things in life you don't make light of and should not be turning into a game ... It's not a game, it's a tremendous loss of life."Unfortunately, Lanza revealed his lack of understanding about the game when he called on "retailers, manufacturers and Web site hosts" to distance themselves from the game. V-Tech Rampage is an independent game created by an Australian man named Ryan Lambourn. Clearly, Lanza doesn't understand the distinction between industry product and that which is independently produced.Still, Lanza finds a way to lump GTAIV into his statements, saying, "You've got Grand Theft Auto where you murder police officers ... To me, I can't imagine people marketing and distributing it, and putting it in the hands of kids, but it's happening." If we're going to continue the fight against violent games, can we at least get a new scapegoat? GTA is getting old.[Via Joystiq]
Some GTA IV details, Rockstar claims 66% complete
The UK's Official Xbox Magazine uncovered some more dirt on the upcoming Rockstar flagship title, Grand Theft Auto IV. Why are we referring to an Xbox magazine? Because the details contained are going to apply to the PS3 version as well, we're certain. We'll summarize the findings, as we love to do so greatly (do you appreciate bullet point summaries as much on any other site? Didn't think so!). Rockstar claims a 66% completion rate on GTAIV. "Liberty City" is bigger than any city they've ever done before (taking into account the loading splits between city areas in older games). The real key is in the level of detail. Expect Central Park to make an entrance, but it'll have a fictional name. Let's see ... Middle City Square Recreational Outdoor Facility? Manual aiming seems to make a debut, as when Niko pulls a pistol, a little crosshair appears on screen. Let's hope it's a more refined aiming system than, say, 50 Cent Bulletproof. Also, there will be some "ridiculous" weaponry ... expect Bubble Guns and Potato Launchers. Hand-to-hand combat is getting reworked to feel more natural. You can climb outdoor fire escapes! Sometimes, meetings take place in high offices of skyscrapers where it's rumored you can toss people right out the window. Eccentric! You might be able to change your camera view in a car to suit your needs (it's still being worked on). Controls will shift, especially control of the radio. Cops will have adjusted reactions, etc. Boats are coming back with "really nice" handling. What wasn't covered was the deal with disc storage space. While it's been said that the DVD media format and lack of hard drive in all 360s may hamper some features of the game, we're still unsure if the extra space for Blu-ray is going to be taken full advantage of on the PS3 version of the game. I've got a rant on the tip of my fingers, but I'll digress. It's shaping up to be a fine game. Let's hope it doesn't turn into just a pretty version of the last-gen GTA's.[Thanks, Jonah!]
Saints Row 2 will be alive in 2008
During THQ's earnings report, the big whigs on hand announced that they'll be releasing a Saints Row sequel sometime next year. They went on to say that they've canceled plans for porting the original Saints Row to the PS3 and will be using all that team's resources for Saints Row 2. So, Saints Row will remain an Xbox 360 exclusive for the foreseeable future, if not forever.We also can't help but draw a connection between the cancellation of the PS3 port and the release of Grand Theft Auto IV later this year. The competition would not be good for a ported PS3 version of Saints Row, so they probably figured why waste the cash. Speaking of GTA IV, is anyone interested enough in the Saints Row franchise to buy it on top of GTA IV (or ignore a GTA purchase all together) or were all those Saints Row sales filling a GTA void at the time?[Thanks, xBlaCkPlaGuEx]
The 360's crappy hardware is gimping GTA IV
Okay, so maybe it's not as harsh as the headline sounds - but Rockstar recently acknowledged in an interview with OPM UK that the lack of a hard drive in the 'cheap' 360 SKU combined with the lack of Blu-Ray is limiting what the team can do in GTA IV. Unfortunately, this effects the PlayStation 3 version as well, since they are aiming at both versions of the game being identical.This is one of the first times I've seen a company acknowledge that making a multi-platform game ends up limiting what they can do. Normally that sort of talk is up to fanboys - not Vice Presidents of major companies. It's a shame to hear that the 360 is limiting what GTA IV can become, but hopefully Rockstar takes a queue from The Darkness and adds-on a bunch of content to fully utilize the space that Blu-Ray offers.Oh, and to be fair - Rockstar also said that the PS3 offers it's own challenges that they have to overcome (cough, the Cell BE, cough).
Rockstar: 360 hindering GTAIV development
Speaking to the Official Playstation Magazine, Rockstar's creative vice president, Dan Houser, noted that the Xbox 360's lack of a guaranteed hard drive poses a challenge for the development of Grand Theft Auto IV. When asked directly about the issue, Houser agreed that the hard drive issue presented limitations. It should be noted, however, that Houser elaborated that both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have their share of challenges. As Houser put it, "both have their own particular pleasures and pains." What exactly these pleasures and pains are is anyone's guess.For what it's worth, the version of Grand Theft Auto IV being shown to the press is running on an Xbox 360. Do with that what you will. [Via Digg]
Staten Island slighted by GTAIV
Many will recall yesterday's big Grand Theft Auto IV news including plenty of new details about the game. One of those details is causing a bit of a stir in Staten Island. It was revealed yesterday that only four of New York's five boroughs would be represented in GTAIV, with Staten Island being left out. It seems that Staten Island (or at least one of its newspapers) is miffed at its exclusion from the game. As John Annese writes in the Staten Island Advance "When did Staten Island get run off the road as a borough of New York City?" A gamer at a local gaming center stated, "If you're gonna base a game on the five boroughs and you leave out one of the boroughs, it's kind of unsettling" (he added that he would still probably buy the game though).Of course, not everyone is displeased with the news. Linda Baran, the president of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce noted, "That's something I appreciate being left out of." A mother at the gaming center shared similar sentiments, noting that GTA is "not a great game" and that her son wasn't allowed to play it.Naturally, as game journalists, we're disappointed that so many people remain unaware that games have grown up over the years. Still, the response is expected at this point. Considering the flack companies have been getting lately for basing their games on real world locations, it's interesting to see things turned the other way around.[Via Game Stooge]
GTAIV multiplayer announcement to come in the future?
The May issue of Game Informer had a nice hands-on with Grand Theft Auto IV on the 360, so naturally as soon as readers got their hands on the magazine, the information spread like wildfire. Apparently scans of the magazine were at some point here, but we couldn't get to them. Here's the information that's been leaked thus far: Main character: Niko Bellic, either a Croatian or Serbian (our vote is on Serbian). A multiplayer announcement will be made at some point in the future. You can use a mobile phone to call contacts (think of what this could mean in multiplayer) No planes! The game takes place in one city. You will have more choice than in previous games, although you'll still be taking orders from someone. Multiple branches in the story lead to a more open experience and different outcomes The story structure is supposedly "quite different" from the other titles. That's it for now. We'll keep searching for more leaks and information.
Loads of new GTAIV details rounded up
With scans of the latest Game Informer hitting the net earlier today, our paymasters at Joystiq have uncovered lots of juicy details about Grand Theft Auto IV. There are so many details, in fact, that it would be impossible to enumerate them without the aid of a bulleted list. Lucky for everyone, we have such a function handy for just this kind of situation. Many of these bits were copied directly from Joystiq because we're lazy to preserve clarity. So, here we go.
GTA IV scans hit the internet (and run)
Our buddies at Xboxygen nabbed over a dozen scans of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTAIV to the kids) from the latest Game Informer. The screens give a nice idea of the level of detail in the game, as touched upon by the recently released trailer. The shot above in particular is a great example of how alive the game seems to be. In this shot, you can see reflections on the car, realistic shadows, and of course, lots of pedestrians. It's unfortunate that this shot shows off two identical NPCs (the women in white shirts and jeans), but the level of detail is still very impressive. There are also some nice shots of GTAIV's locations, cars, and characters (including some character art). Hit the "read" link to check 'em out. Be sure to head back here and tell us what you think.
GTA IV -- real life spoof trailer
This is a great weekend post because sometimes, after a hard week of working and reading news, you just need something to stare at and blankly chortle to yourself. Yes, we said chortle -- what're ya gonna do about it? Whoever put this real-life GTAIV trailer together deserves props, because we all know Liberty City is just a mask to disguise the truth. Enjoy, guys and gals.
GTAIV trailer reimagined in real life
Video games have a way of creating dedicated fans. With the advent of YouTube and viral videos, many video game fans are turning to user created movies. Some films, like the ones produced by Mega64, poke fun at video game conventions. Other films take existing game engines to create new stories, something that has become very popular with Halo and Halo 2. This video, however, brings something different to the table. The video is a recreation of the recently released trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV. The entire video is done in live action. That in itself is worth a look, but what makes it even more interesting is that the video is composed entirely of clips found on YouTube. Has society come so far that we now make YouTube videos from pieces of other YouTube videos? Simply astounding. Give it a watch, check out the original, and tell us what you think.[Via GamePolitics. Thanks, Pedro Monscooch ]
New York appalled with GTA IV's setting
Every walk of political life has decided to go up against Grand Theft Auto IV already, despite implications you may actually be a "good guy" in the game. Or as good as you can get in a GTA title. The game takes place in New York, er, we mean, a New York-ish place known as Liberty City. The similarities have spawned a lot of hate from these politicians, naturally. They've always looking for a whipping boy and the GTA games usually work great.New York City councilman Peter Vallone had a pretty humorous quote on the issue: "Setting Grand Theft Auto in the safest big city in America would be like setting Halo in Disneyland." Well, we'd like to live in Liberty City, too, if it's really that safe!Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had this to say: "It's despicable to glamorize violence in games like these, regardless of how far-fetched the setting may be." Far-fetched? But everyone else is complaining how close to home the setting is. If you guys can't unite against this, no one will ever take you seriously. Well, we won't take you seriously anyway, but we'd respect your ability to know what you're talking about.
GTAIV trailer now on Marketplace
If you're the kind of person who prefers to watch trailers on a television, then you should be pleased to know that the GTAIV trailer is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace. Whether the trailer is the most masterful or the most over-hyped thing ever created is up to you. Still, we have to say, Liberty City looks mighty pretty, especially in HD. Go download it and begin planning your domination of the Russian crime syndicate today!
GTAIV Trailer today
In just under 7 hours, the Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer should be hitting the series of tubes. Hopefully you've properly prepared yourself for this. We're interested to see what kind of hype this will generate, with the logo having been showcased on FX for a half hour accompanied by the ticking count down. Also interesting to note is that the xbox.com Game Detail page showcases box art which could be placeholder, as it's just the "IV" logo slapped on the template for 360 Titles. That's not to say that it couldn't be official, but it greatly differs from all the box art since GTA III, which may actually be the point. In any case, we'll be closely watching Rockstar's game page this afternoon, will you?[Thanks, Chris G]
Grand Theft Auto IV's 30 minute infomercial
Last night the guys over at Gamertag Radio were channel surfing and ran across an interesting countdown clock on FX. It looked familiar, but was it really an ad for Grand Theft Auto IV? Yes indeed, it was an infomercial for GTA IV, but was lacking any real substance. Rockstar purchased a 30 minute spot on FX airing from 2:00AM EST to 2:30AM EST to show nothing more than a simple countdown clock (viewable above) complete with loud ticking sound. This is the same clock that appears on the official GTA IV website which is counting down to our first glimpse of the game. Let's just say this trailer better be something special Rockstar, because teasing us with a long and dull infomercial doesn't make us happy. Next week we'll see what you have to offer ... next week.
