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Niko's voice earned about $100,000 from GTA IV
The New York Times has an interesting piece this morning about how actor Michael Hollick earned about $100,000 for playing GTA IV protagonist Niko Bellic. Had the actor done the role for almost any other medium than video games, he would have received very generous residuals and royalties off the title, which made $500 million in its first week. The piece basically explores how all the actors in GTA IV would be rolling in dough had the work not been in video games.Of course, if the actor gets residuals, does the artist who "made" Niko get a cut? Although the actors provided voices, and apparently motion-capture, what about all the other people that worked on the creation of these characters? People aren't buying these games because of the actors, they're getting it because of the title and its associated gameplay. In time, this issue will probably come to a head (especially as the industry grows), but for now it comes off like actors whining while everyone else is getting a similarly bum deal. Maybe it's time the video game writers, artists and developers started complaining too? Union, union, union!
Niko Bellic has second career as folk singer
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GTA_IV_s_Niko_Bellic_is_also_a_folk_singer'; We imagine many of you are probably suffering Grand Theft Auto IV withdrawal, having rushed through the main campaign only to learn that Niko Bellic is, in fact, the great-grandfather of both Tommy Vercetti and Lance Vance. Luckily for you, we've got a great way to comfort yourself: Letting the music of the notorious hooker beater Niko soothe your savage craving. You can hear it right now on the MySpace page of voice actor Michael Hollick, the man who lent his larynx to Rockstar for GTA IV's lead. We'd suggest "Out of the Blue" to really complete the Niko crooning vibe. Just don't blame us when you can't take him quite as seriously when he's mowing down pedestrians.
PS3 firmware 2.35 released, doesn't fix GTA IV woes
For those of you continuing to have Grand Theft Auto IV lockups on your PS3 even after the May 7th Rockstar patch... tough noogies. The latest 2.35 firmware won't specifically help. Sony says that the "minor update" will "improve stability of some PS3 titles" -- then clarifies that GTA IV is not part of the vagary. Nevertheless, Sony does say that they "have a identified a solution that should resolve the issue." So buck up Niko and get on the horn with Sony, God knows the police won't help.[Via Joystiq, thanks Warren and Luis C.] Read -- GTA IV freezing / not loading help Read -- 2.35 firmware
Zero Punctuation enjoys Grand Theft Auto-rotica
Zero Punctuation takes on Grand Theft Auto IV this week, but if you're one of the five people who didn't buy the game and are hoping for some ZP hate-fest on par with the Super Smash Bros. Brawl review ... then you have another thing coming. Yahtzee doesn't exactly suck GTA IV's "thumb" -- like he does Valve's -- but the issues he grasps onto are relatively minor points about getting lost in the side stuff. Not really full of his trademark, hyperbolic bile then. Shockingly, he even says that after finishing the review, he went back and played the game some more. It appears Niko Bellic has found a friend in Yahtzee.Find this week's NSFW relative non-hate review of GTA IV after the break.
Suprising no one, GTA IV blends
We love hit web show Will It Blend?, but we're a little worried about this new iteration featuring a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. All we're saying is that we're going to be heartbroken if a team of moms and politicians re-dub the video to turn it into anti-game violence propaganda. ("Why am I blending GTA? So my kids won't kill people!") But just remember, gang: Tom Dickson would never say that, because he is right and pure and good. So don't be confused.Also: Of course it blends. What, are you kidding? It. Always. Blends.[Thanks, Chris]
Grand Theft Auto IV's Niko pops up on SNL
We talked before about the late-night media frenzy surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV's release, since it was kind of hard to miss GTA if you watch TV between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. It gave us no small satisfaction to see the game pop up on one of the late-night comedy stalwarts as Niko and Vlad (played by Bill Hader and Fred Armisen) appeared on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. You can see the clip from last Saturday above.Now, is it ... funny, per se? Well, our ribs have been more fiercely tickled, that's for sure. But they're trying. Isn't that the important thing?
Pachter: Wii owned in April, despite GTA IV release
The NPD numbers aren't going to be available until later this week, but Michael Pachter is still doing his thing and tossing some predictions out there. With that Grand Theft Auto IV game releasing in April (and shattering records like crazy), many might think that Nintendo is going to have to relinquish its throne for a short while, like when that Halo 3 game released. Pachter doesn't think so, however, and called for another victory for Nintendo.600,000 units is the magic number, according to the analyst, as he says Wii will once again reign supreme when the April NPD numbers release. Considering a pretty big Wii title released during that month, we're inclined to agree with the man.
Rumor: Sony may update PS3 firmware for GTA IV problems
It looks like help may be on the way for those of you who are still experiencing some freezing problems with Grand Theft Auto IV on PS3. One user on the official PlayStation forums said he received an email from Take-Two stating the issue was "with the launch edition of the PS3 and this game" and that "the game was checked over and passed as 100% compatible with the current version of the PS3."As for the fix, the alleged Take-Two staffer reportedly wrote that "Sony are aware of this difference and are looking into producing a new firmware just for the earlier version of the PS3." Wow, a whole new firmware update? For one game? We hope the swelled head doesn't affect Niko's balance when he's bludgeoning and murdering hookers.
Gamestop: GTAIV 360 sells almost 2 to 1 over PS3 in first week of sales
More news regarding the sales of GTA IV! Apparently GameStop has exclusively given its sales figures to Newsweek's LevelUp blog. And the figures say that 64% of all copies of GTA IV sold in the first week of sales were sold on the 360. An even two thirds would've made two to one, but these are only the first week's sales, so who knows how things will pan out as time goes by. We've heard rumors about the shipment sizes of the PS3 versions versus the 360 versions that (if true) could mean that initial shipment sales of the 360 version simply can't ever match the PS3 version until stocks are refilled. While the Gamestop sales are still good news, we'll have to wait for the April NPD for a more concrete take on the game's long term sales.
Rumor: GTA IV will return to San Andreas
Ah, sharp-eyed forums posters. Thank you all. Without your tireless efforts the internet's tubes would be quite empty. One of them over on the GTA Forums was messing around with the Rockstar Social Club and found an interesting item, a plane ticket. For Niko. To San Andreas. While this of course means nothing concrete (it could simply be an homage) it could refer to the DLC, which mas been rumored to resemble entirely new cities. Unfortunately, unlike real-world airplane tickets, there is no departure date for us to pine over. So, San Andreas DLC? Maybe.
HIPerSpace monitor wall makes a great Grand Theft Auto IV canvas
Rolling around jacking up innocents and tossing Molotov cocktails is pretty enthralling on your vanilla 46-inch HDTV, but can you even imagine the rush of swiping a hot dog, burning out in someone else's whip and then snagging a new pair of kicks on this? Researchers (and gamers, obviously) down at UC San Diego have re-engineered their middleware to enable such masterpieces as this to be played on the big monolithic HIPerSpace screen, and needless to say, we can't imagine much real work getting done with this new functionality coming to light. Head on down to the gallery to see what you're missing -- science, research and 4.0 GPAs are such beautiful things. %Gallery-22388%
GTA IV makes Xbox 360 sales jump 125% in UK
Microsoft is apparently quite happy with the hardware sales boost it received with the release of GTA IV in Europe. GameDaily reports that a representative for Microsoft Europe said, "Today is has become clear that consumers are finding Xbox 360 the best way to experience Liberty City." Microsoft stated that Xbox 360 console sales jumped 125% in the UK, "reflecting the popularity of this franchise on the platform."Not to rain on Microsoft's parade, but the company didn't actually reveal a sales number to go with that 125%. So, for all we know, the week before GTA IV released the company sold 10 consoles in the UK, and the following week it sold about 23. Let's put an end to the war of percentages! We know victory is 200% sweeter when fought that way ... but we believe that's true only 33% of the time.
SCEE President: 'You will probably see' GTAIV DLC for PS3
SCEE President David Reeves has indicated that PlayStation 3 owners may be able to enjoy some Grand Theft Auto IV downloadable content, after all. Speaking to VideoGamer at yesterday's PlayStation Day, Reeves said, "Well I think you probably will see it, it's just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take-Two to do that, and if that's what they want to do, I think that's the last shot they have."Of course, executives are known for their superhuman ability to talk a lot of hot air, and Reeves is no exception. The deal Reeves refers to is the $50 million Microsoft reportedly gave Take Two for exclusive GTAIV "episodes." It's unclear if Reeves is hinting at that DLC coming to Sony, entirely new DLC (also of questionable exclusivity) or absolutely nothing tangible at all.
Zelnick: GTA IV is glitch-free, Us: There's a GTA IV patch coming today
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick's recent interview with CNBC may just be the least surprising one you'll hear all month. First off, he thinks the company made the right moves in holding Grand Theft Auto IV back from its original release and in refusing to acquiesce to the advances of Electronic Arts. Can you believe it?Also, Zelnick insists that there are no glitches in GTA IV, which makes the news of today's incoming multiplayer patch for the PS3 version of the game just hysterical. Of course, when Strauss said that glitch line, we're pretty sure the interviewer was asking him in her own Draconian fashion if there's any hidden doin' it in the game. Now we're wondering if he's wrong about that too.Update: The v1.01 patch is now live (18 MB) -- thanks to everyone for the heads-up!
GTA IV sets sales records with 6 million unit / $500 million first week
Amazingly, prerelease estimates of a $400 million first week for the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto turned out to be low, with publisher Take-Two trumpeting a 6 million unit, $500 million debut. GTA in HD isn't without controversy however, with reports of overscan issues on older HDTVs (we've experienced it, with the last number or letter in mission descriptions sometimes running off the screen), and the PlayStation 3 version of the game not quite meeting our 720p expectations (although some say differences in textures and lighting more than make up for it). Being "only" 640p didn't stop previous record holder Halo 3, and looking at the numbers it appears Rockstar has made the right moves as well, although we're sure some will wait for the inevitable PC version to run the game in as high a resolution as possible.[Via Joystiq]
GTA IV snatches $500 million in first week
At last! The miserable, sleepless nights we've had to endure since Grand Theft Auto IV's launch will come to an end, with the New York Times thoughtfully informing us just how much money a gigantic corporation has earned from the release of one of the year's most anticipated games. That would be 500 million dollars in the first week, just so you know.Other statistics expected to escape from Take-Two's maw later today (Update: The figures have now been officially announced by Take-Two) point to the open-ended carjack caper having sold 6 million copies so far -- 3.6 million on the first day. Though Rockstar's smash success comes as little surprise and exceeds expectations, it'll be more interesting to see how it affects EA's ongoing hostile takeover attempt. Will the deal be sweetened?[Thanks, Jacques]
GTA IV sells 926,000 units first week in UK
Although we're going to have to wait until next month's NPD report for the US info, Chart-Track revealed that GTA IV sold 926,000 copies during its first week on sale in the UK. Gi.biz reports this means GTA IV has broken the "all format" record, while the "individual format" record still belongs to GTA: San Andreas with 677,000 units sold its first week on the PS2.We previously had Chart-Track's estimates on GTA IV's first-day sales, but the official tally was 631,000 units. During the first week, 514,000 copies were sold for Xbox 360, while 413,000 sold for PS3 -- a 55/45 split. We really wish Take-Two would just give the global figure already.Update: Yes, we know the math doesn't work (514k + 413k ≠ 926k), so we're guessing Chart-Track rounded up somewhere and rounded down somewhere else.
GTA IV is new king of Xbox Live hill
Niko Bellic apparently isn't stopping with conquering with Liberty City, he's now extended his dominion as Grand Theft Auto IV took the top slot on the weekly Xbox Live activity charts, dethroning longtime king Call of Duty 4. The rest of the top five was rounded out by Halo 3, Guitar Hero III and that old stalwart, Gears of War.To anyone who's grown accustomed to their friends list just being a solid column of "GTA IV" this shouldn't come as much of a surprise. But we'll be interested to see if the game's multiplayer can help it hang on in the charts even after fans start finishing Niko's story en masse.
Take-Two sues Chicago Transit for pulling GTA IV ads
Take-Two has sued the Chicago Transit Authority for violating its free speech and contractual rights after the authority pulled ads for Grand Theft Auto IV on the transit system without explanation. Reuters reports that Take-Two accuses the CTA of violating the contract for the $300,000 ad campaign that involved running GTA IV ads around the transit system for six weeks between April and June.The suit seeks an order for the CTA to run the ads, as well as at least $300,000 in damages. Reuters states the GTA IV posters were removed following a FOX news report on the ads. Now, we're not lawyers (although we do have one writing for us), so we can't say if the CTA violated a basic contract, but Chicago residents should let us know if they see the ads back up and snap a photo.[Thanks to all who sent this in.]
Forbes states the obvious over lack of Wii GTA
Forbes writer Brian Caulfield recently had a remarkable epiphany: because Grand Theft Auto IV won't be appearing on the Wii, any success it enjoys may not be positive news for the Wii.Okay, we apologize for the sarcastic tone, but seriously, could Caulfield's observation be any more ... obvious? "[Grand Theft Auto IV] is a bust for Nintendo because not a single copy of the game will be played on the Wii," writes Caulfield with razor-sharp insight, before he loses focus entirely and starts galloping off on tangents, discussing the PlayStation 3's in-built Blu-ray player and the Xbox 360's online service.His eventual point? That Grand Theft Auto IV would be difficult to port to the Wii (note: the fact that the Wii's biggest sellers won't be ported any time soon is ignored), and that this could benefit Nintendo's competition. Brian, color us gobsmacked.[Via Joystiq]
