Grand Theft Auto IV -- It might feature crime and prostitutes.

Short walkthru and some nice looking new screens...

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3159821

Apparently the game features more walking and looking at stuff than crime and prostitues so far!

er, prostitutes...

Missions are [...] longer

I think this makes me sad, I think. Wasn't long-ass missions one of the annoying things about San Andreas?

It was the lack of save points mid mission that really got to me!

The Wu-Tang game is great.

xp Yeah, save points would help. I only ever attempted the last mission once - after fighting my way into the building, and fighting my way up all the stairs, and fighting my way past the big bosses, I was all PLEASE LET THIS BE OVER NOW. But no, suddenly the building was on fire and I had to fight my way all the way downstairs again. I died, of course, and then gave up. SO CLOSE. I'm kinda disappointed I never finished it.

I did it 8 or 9 times. Always lost at the same place where the brother is hanging off the fire truck. I could never drive up close enough. It just pissed me off that there was no checkpoint at all :(

The last mission does let you skip stuff though. If you fail the mission after you get out the building and then restart, it let's you start from when you started chasing the firetruck. This is in the PS2 version, I don't know about other versions.

Not on the PC it doesn't. Yet another reason why I like the PS2 more than PC at the moment!

No? Wow, does that suck. On PS2 I think there are three different spots in the last mission you can restart from, provided you get past them in the first place.

Oh, boy, these new screenshots. Rockstar will now have the distinction of having made two games based in Coney Island!

WARRRRIORSSSS!!!

This is the wrong board, but I'm still happy to see NBA Playoff fever reach the shores of the Emerald Isle, even if belatedly!

They brought good comics too! (Cheers again)

Trailer 2 due out 26th June

so it's in, and I'm downloading it now. anyone else seen it?

http://grandtheftauto.yahoo.com/

Hmm... it seems less impressive than the first one somehow - maybe it's the music(?) - though there are some nice looking scenes. I'm eager to see some non-cut-scene footage though at some point....

Looked like a lot of that footage was gameplay to me, wasn't it?

I doubt it.

I think I'm gonna get really sick of that dude's accent if I have to hear it for 40 game hours.

the old trailer with the phillip glass music is hilarious. i havent watched the new one yet!!!

The Phillip Glass one is a parody (or homage perhaps?) of the Francis Ford Coppola produced film "Koyaanisqatsi". Once you realize this, it's the best game trailer of all time. Shot for shot, it's identical, and the soundtrack is the same.

All sorts of Koyaanisqatsi clips on youtube.

Wow, that is very similar!

i remember these, and now i only just realise Philip Glass did that ultra strange version of Bowies - Heroes. I heard it on an Aphex Twin album.

A lock box?

The idea that you're supposed to buy this sixty dollar game then buy two more episodes six months later to actually play the "complete" game is something that's really starting to grate on me. How much is this shit actually going to cost if you want to play the "full" game? 120 dollars?

Welcome to the next level of "high budget games"

See also: the insane rise of low-cost, "casual games" market. Coincidence? I think not.

Can somebody PLEASE confirm that there are no missions in this game where you have to use a forklift to load crates into the back of a truck?

lol OTM

Hahaha, I was drunkenly talking to a mate earlier tonight about fork lift truck missions! I purposely chose my real life job to avoid that sort of thing. I don't need it in my favourite games! See also the "airing books" section of Shenmue 2.

Plz to also avoid missions that involve aiming either rocket launchers or miniguns with a ps2 controller.

I would like that lockbox!

Delayed to somewhere between February and April 2008 :(

yep, just came here to say that.

http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=258238

I'm disappointed, but I guess I feel like there are so many other interesting looking games coming out this fall / winter, that it's not too big of a deal

Bioshock hits this month, so that ought to take care of some needs

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7278970&postcount=195

:( :( :(

bums

If I were God, I would have given the developers this idea: Once you complete 100%, then you unlock a PLAYSTATION in ur base that lets you replay any mission.

If I were me, I'd point out that NYC does not actually have brown air

That's such a damn good idea. There was a mission in San Andreas where you're jumping barrels in a plane, and if you fall out, it shows you landing on a car. I finished the mission in one go, so I've never been able to see this.

I hear the computer bar where you check your e-mail in IV is called tw@.

they almost cottoned onto this in Vice City Stories, where for the first time they let you replay the Rampages.

it would be a good idea though, saves me having to replay the whole game again. not that i'm complaining about that too much :)

So with a new trailer coming out in a week or so, do you think this game is back on track for a release in early 2008 (maybe by April)? Or are they going to drag this thing out till this time next year?

Was it ever off-track? i thought they made a statement just recently reiterating the timeframe. Not that they didn't do that in like August of this year, too. Occasionally I think about what it'll be like if this game comes out and it's broken or it sucks or it's been trumped by other games that came out during the delay... And I am really, genuinely embarrassed by how disappointed I feel by even the THOUGHT. Like, it hurts my feelings.

I am a grown man!

I'm very curious to hear some details on what kind of multiplayer stuff they're putting in there too. No info has been dribbled out so far, right?

What about the save system? Have any of the previews talked about that at all? Is there any chance that they've come to their senses and inserted a quick save - or at least checkpoints on the longer, multi-part missions? It really isn't fun having to completely repeat twenty or thirty minute long missions (speaking as somebody currently stuck on repeat with the last san andreas mission) over and over

Didn't San Andreas kind of do this, actually? You can skip past the earlier parts of long missions that you have to retry. And there's a checkpoint on the last mission too, although it's a long way in.

I only hit one checkpoint on GTA:SA, the mission with the Russians. There weren't even any taxi cabs with the arrows pointing to them.

Am I wrong in thinking that all you can skip is the drive to the mission (in SA? on ps2). When I die I almost always just reload, so you can't do the skip trip, but then it's quicker anyway since one still has all their weapons and everything (you lose 'em when you get out of the hospital, and then you still have to make your way back to the mission starting point too, I thought). It would be funny if just now I learned I was playing the game wrong - making it harder than it need to be. I've been trying to finish this game up finally, but now that I've finally made it to the last mission I'm losing the will. This morning was only my third try at it (first time died clearing out the third floor, second time died in the fire on my way back down) & after twenty five mnutes of work (not fun) I got to the point where you have to catch smoke dropping off the back of the firetruck and just couldn't catch up. Not sure I want to go through all that again (and possibly again and again)

you were so close...

Many of the missions have checkpoints. On the last mission, the checkpoint starts at the point when you're in the car, chasing the firetruck.

So if you hadn't reloaded, you could skip all of that stuff.

On the ps2? are you sure? how do you load to a checkpoint then?

I got to the firetruck. The last level was so long that, by the time I'd get to the firetruck, I would fail and then say "FUCK THIS GAME", and then automatically turn the PS2 off ... so I never discovered that the game had a checkpoint there. Oops.

Yeah SA had a couple of checkpointed missions, for sure on the last mission at least.

Vice City Stories also had a new checkpoint feature on the sub games (thank god) after every five levels, so if you got to level 6 on the Paramedic and then failed - it would restart you on level 5 the next time you got into an ambulance.

I like being able to save and get rid of all my wanted stars - would they still let you do that if you could just save anywhere? It seems like the game would be too easy. You can't put a tank in the pay and spray and normal cars don't spawn when you've got 5 or 6 stars, so I think I'd prefer the save points the way they work right now. Although they could place them in more convenient spots.

Jeff - find Katie in San Fierro (she's hanging round the country club with a blue arrow pointing at her). Once you start dating her, and you don't need to actually go on a date, you get to keep all your weapons when you die.

Having to hightail it to a save point with the cops after you is so much a part of the GTA experience I doubt they'd change it. I mean, I think that's the thing I associate MOST with playing GTA games. But there's got to be some compromise between losing your weapons every time you die and there being no penalty for death or getting arrested. Everybody just restarts every time they die. Maybe the replacement of Ammu-nation with the gun dealer is more of a move toward taking the weaponry you need for a mission and just carrying a handgun or something the rest of the time?

Vice City Stories also had a new checkpoint feature on the sub games (thank god) after every five levels, so if you got to level 6 on the Paramedic and then failed - it would restart you on level 5 the next time you got into an ambulance.

Man, this was such a big relief.

tell me about it, i think i did a backflip on the sofa when i discovered it.

I really don't want them to include a quick save, this would ruin a lot of the gameplay for me (stuff that's already been mentioned)

But there's got to be some compromise between losing your weapons every time you die and there being no penalty for death or getting arrested

I think dieing is punishment enough, especially if you were in the middle of a mission. Having said that, again VCS brought something new along - having to buy back your weapons after being killed/busted.

Fuck - the checkpoint on the final mission is good news - hopefully next time I try it I won't need to use it and will just cruise thru perfectly :)

V- for whatever reason, if I remember right (it was a long time ago), when I ran into Katie she wouldn't date me - I think she said I was too skinny!!!

She's the one in the driving lessons building or something? Yeah you have to get fat.

btw antexit, v - I agree that running from the cops and having to make it back to a safehouse or through some stars is an important and fun part of the game. the way I would implement quick save into the series, would be more the way they use it in half-life - if you use quick save it just saves everything about your game exactly where you are - so if you go back to that save, you're still in exactly the same (possibly) fucked-up/wanted situation - that way you could still have safe houses and all that to save at as well, that would knock off your stars and everything. the main thing a quick save feature would improve are those longer missions where you've done a ton of stuff right only to keep fucking up at the same (or nearly the same point) and having to go through a ton of (repetitive) stuff again. That's fun on a game with a really refined control scheme like super mario bros - but on a more dynamic game with kind of clunky controls, like gta, those repeated sections get to be a drag

Anyhow, I doubt they're changing anything about the system, but I think it would make the game more fun and playable - less repetitive and frustrating

Any chance tomorrow's trailer will list the new release date?

I would think so!

Two new screenshots btw:

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3763_gta_iv.jpg
http://media.gtanet.com/images/3764_gta_iv.jpg

The one in the driving school = Michelle, not Katie. Katie's usually hiding just behind a bush (and yeah, just eat something/go on a treadmill/find a sexier car if you're not good enough for her).

Oh, many more screenshots.

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3756_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3760_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3761_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3757_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3755_gta_iv.jpg

http://media.gtanet.com/images/3759_gta_iv.jpg

dudes i never found any of the missions in gta hard! the ones with the model planes in SA were frustrating as fuck, true. but in general my big criticism of the whole series is that most of the 'difficulty' is in completism -- it takes so fucking long dinking around getting all the secrets, but the actual story you can blast through in like 45 mins. harder missions plz!!

Some of the races were pretty hard.

i cant beat that dirtbike race in vcs right now!

gff pls to come round to mine and complete radio controlled planes mission for me thx

One mission I remember having a particularly hard time with was "Just Business" - an early one where you have to kill a bunch of mobsters inside a building, then outside a building, then (here's where I remember it getting tough) a really long motorcycle chase, where you had to do several things just right.

Also for some reason, the flying mission "N.O.E." where you have to stay below radar and drop off a package and then land back at the airstrip - actually caused me to give up on the game for about five months (until I recently picked it up again & did it on my second try).

Also was never able to do the zero mission shooting down those toy planes (ten or more tries) - luckily it's an optional mission...

But yeah - the hardest thing about the game is just the length. And all the new things you have to keep learning, like flying and landing the hydra only to have to use that knowledge on that one mission. Also when I finally got to the end of that one and was about to land, I panicked and hit the eject button instead of the landing gear down (doh - twice)...

It's too bad so many people give up on the Zero missions. The third Zero mission is one of my favorites in any GTA game. The second Zero mission is really fun too, but definitely the hardest mission in the game other than the final mission (sans checkpoint knowledge).

my trick for getting the races done -- and some of the flying missions iirc -- is to switch to 1st person view. it's a good idea in some of the missions where you have to drive a fast but fragile car, too.

also if i remember right: the last RC plane mission is kind of a crapshoot. you have to get the nearest one first and the furthest one last, and it's just kind of luck if they end up in open areas where you can shoot w/o other shit getting the way or turning around too much

Wow, do most people really just restart every time they die? I don't think I've ever done that. It's not like it takes that long to just go to Ammu-Nation and get new gear if you need it.

But it's expensive, and often you get stuff like rocket launchers, sniper rifles or powerful guns in the game way before they're available at Ammunation, and you don't want to lose them.

I just stock up on ammo/guns with the millions I earn at the $1mil blackjack tables. Otherwise I don't reset, only turn off. It's cheaper than throwing my controller at the tv set.

But do you reset your losses at the blackjack tables? Because THAT is cheap.

I AM CHEAP.

IF THEY PUT IT IN THE GAME IT'S NOT CHEAP.

Anything I can do to avoid some RPG-style, rote leveling up is well worth the scorn of a few gamers.

I thought it was cheap that before the last mission you had to take over a bunch of gang territory. That part was just a grind (I almost quit then).

Taking over gang territory was like my favorite part of that game.

Except for that 100 yards pwned by the Mexicans in east LS.

ooohhh... victory at last (what - four years in the making?). The Yellow Kid - thanks so much for your info about checkpoints - I doubt I would have gone back to it without that knowledge. Luckily I was able to get right up to that point again on the first try - though I did fail twice on the chase and once on the next section (I can't believe it was another one of those shoot the motorcycles and cars chasing you sections that I just mentioned hating earlier today - which I probably actually only failed the first time because over the noise of my shooting the firetruck I didn't quite hear / understand dude saying it was useless and to shoot the shit chasing us). My save is only at 61.5% so it looks like there is still I lot I could do if so inclined.

I'm ready for IV, but I guess I'm going to give III a try first, which I never played before.

III in my opinion had the greatest map, atmostphere, and level hardness.

Just be ready for the lack of swimming, camera rotation, climbing, flying vehicles and motorbikes.

You can't control the camera in III? I don't remember that. God that would drive me CRAZY now.

you can do the 'look behind' whilst on foot, or the look left, right, behind whilst in vehicle. But not the cool (and very handy) 360 rotate.

I definitely liked SA's map better. I spent a week in the Back O' Beyond once.

New trailer makes me kind of excited for the story on this one - it seems like it's going to be a little tighter, make a little more sense and possibly be a little more genuinely dramatic. The character animations on the other hand don't look to be advancing as much as the enviornments...

I'm liking the whole, New York, "welcome to America" vibe. If they make a 5 though, the should set it in Europe...

this is a great trailer, extremely similar looking to GTAIII. Which is absoloutely no bad thing.

That music is fantastic too.

Pause it where it shows two cops cars a police chopper, wow.

I should hope they let you supply your own soundtracks, it being the next gen and all.

Just started III - only a couple of missions in but the camera seems fine to me... actually walking around seems a little less clunky than with the camera in San Andreas for some reason - the way the camera shifts around as you're driving is a bit worse tho (awkward). What I really miss is not being able to pull up a full city map to plot your routes - just having the little radar bubble makes it a little harder to tell the best way around (maybe since it's a smaller city, as one progresses through the game it'll be easier to memorize one's way around?).

I still get a little weirded out by the echoes of the pedestrians' laughs and comments as they walk around. Still loved the game, tho'.

yeah the ambience of III is well eerie

It's definitely easier to memorize the map in III. I knew that thing inside and out, it was a little sad.

gff, thanks for the cam tip! i won the dirtbike race!

yeah that in-car camera view is ESSENTIAL for that City Slicker mission because the car is a complete bitch to drive at high speeds round corners.

New hands on previews and screenshots are up now on various sites...

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1844/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/p1/
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/847/847102p1.html
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=180050
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/grand_theft_auto_4/preview-734.html

Consensus seems to be 3-4 more months...

Three months max, they say. By the end of April. Nice to know it's not delayed any further.

Apparently - the game automatically saves after you complete each mission, and the missions also have save points during 'em - which if you fail the mission, you can automatically jump right back to via an onscreen prompt if you so desire. There's also still a safe house save system, for when you want to take a break, but say, haven't just completed a mission. Sounds like they have fixed the save system exactly like I was hoping!

Release date now set at April 29th, a long way away.

http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=289342

Isn't that the anniversary of the LA Riots? COINCIDENCE I THINKS NOT

and i'm still undecided on whether to get 360 or ps3 for this

oh mang, i found out recently that someone i know really is well is working on this game! they wouldn't tell me anything about it though :(

Apparently - the game automatically saves after you complete each mission, and the missions also have save points during 'em - which if you fail the mission, you can automatically jump right back to via an onscreen prompt if you so desire.

I can't tell you how many times I'd complete a mission, only to get shot to death on the way home to save.

it's annoying but you laugh about it down the pub later.

If you ONLY want to play GTA, Ste, PS3 may be better at this point çause of the Bluray (unless the PS3 version is fucked up somehow as they often are), but if you're interested in playing online or playing other next-gen games you should get an Xbox, which has like 20 times as many good games for it.

yeah, that's basically the conclusions I came to. And I'm unsure whether I will or won't be playing other games. Past records show that I play very little on consoles other than GTA. I still have a few months to decide.

I hope that I can shoot from inside cabs, and I rillyrilly hope that I can shoot the cabbie while he's driving. (Pls no media a11iance ppl read this post.)

Ste - as somebody who owns both a 360 and a ps3 I usually wait to see if people are saying there is any significant difference between the performance of multi-platform titles. If there isn't - I will always go for the ps3 version 1. Because I feel like my 360 can die (again) at any moment 2. I just prefer the ps3 style, interface, controller, quietness etc... 3. I feel like the ps3 will have a significantly longer life span than the 360.

In the case of GTA 4 you will eventually be able to buy some sort of additional chapters or something on the 360, 4-6 months after the game comes out (maybe sooner? because of the delay?). In a weird way that kind of bugs me, but I've never bought additional add ons for a game yet and am not sure I would in this case either. There should be plenty of game in the original release. Unless I hear the ps3 version is gimped in some significant way (which I doubt on such a big title) that's the version I'll be picking up, but I don't think there is one right answer (at least not yet).

oh - a another thing in favor of the ps3 version... The game is supposedly to have a multiplayer online component - on the ps3 it'll be free to play that, on the 360 you'll have to buy a one year subscription to gold for $50.00 USD if you want to play it online (though when you first get a 360 I think you still can get one month free of gold).

You can also buy XBox Live Gold in 3-month chunks. That's what I do. You definitely don't have to buy the year... you're either Gold or you aren't.

I forgot about that - though gold is even more expensive when bought in smaller chunks (twenty usd for three months). It's not like it's super expensive, but it's not free either. I've been debating with myself if it's worthwhile re-upping (I think mine runs out in a week or two)

Anyhow - I'm excited it looks like the game has an official release date. April 29th will be here before we know it. I really didn't think the game would be coming out until the end of 2008

it's annoying but you laugh about it down the pub later.

-- Ste, Thursday, 24 January 2008 16:20 (Thursday, 24 January 2008 16:20)

After putting foot through screen.

you will eventually be able to buy some sort of additional chapters or something on the 360

Is there any technical reason why the PS3 isn't getting this offer? Because if not I'd say they'll probly bring it out sometime in the future, depending on rising increase of PS3 perhaps.

sorry..

increase of popularity/sales of PS3, should I say.

It's not a technical thing, Ste, it's an exclusive deal Rockstar did with Microsoft, announced a few E3s ago. I know exclusives often turn out to be "timed exclusives," but I think this is the kind of thing where Rockstar got paid fifty million dollars to give the content to Xbox and Xbox alone, as a console selling-point. Kind of moot now that most people have gotten sick of waiting for the game and chosen one way or the other... Except you!

Funny Amazon review comment on gtaIV:

"Having never even heard of Grand Theft Auto, not owning an XBOX and the game not being out for another 4 months, I can quite happily give it 5 stars based on 3 lines of badly spelled gibberish written by a 13 year old that I saw somewhere or another. "

official site's up!

link please, as I thought Rockstar official gta site has been up for some time now hasn't it? Or is this something new.

Was thinking about a future-setting GTA and how a lot of people dislike the idea. But how about a not-too-distant future with only subtle looking futuristic graphics but allowing the designers to allow 'some' new inventions but not too ridiculous ones to be included?

Failing that, a 1979 british version including ford cortina's, capri's, and bedford vans?

It was a placeholder site that's been up since the announcement. This is the whole flash-based, daily-updated jammy with lots of video and pics and maps and new info. www.gta4.com

And I tell you again, get 1 Crackdown for your futuristic GTA needs. One of you guys is playing it every time I log on to Live... Who is it again?

i just realised, i woke up this morning with an unplaceable tune rattling around in my head. I now realise it's actually the tune from Trailer 2.

It's me, I am always playing Crackdown. My little brother got it for me for xmas and i only just now got around to playing it and boy, is it a hell of a lot of fun. Definitely will tide any GTA fan over until 4.

I haven't played it in ages. Next time I see you on I'll pop it in and we should try out the multiplayer, which is just two guys wilding out in the same city, right? You can do whatever you want?

Yeah, pretty much. It's the exact same game, with more humans.

Crackdown is/was a lot of fun, especially with two players, but it's a little broken in the sense that most of the main stuff to do in the game is too easy, especially with two people once you have powered up a bit. Jumping around the city trying to collect orbs is probably its best component, but there isn't really enough variety or challenge (except for some of the races and stuff, which are just kind of lame actually, especially the car stuff) for the game to really hold up. It's great fun about for about a week's worth of gaming though! Hopefully a few of the similar looking games coming out this year (Infamous, Prototype and Mirror's Edge) will build on and top Crackdown.

The GTA site is at http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/ btw

oh - a another thing in favor of the ps3 version... The game is supposedly to have a multiplayer online component - on the ps3 it'll be free to play that, on the 360 you'll have to buy a one year subscription to gold for $50.00 USD if you want to play it online (though when you first get a 360 I think you still can get one month free of gold).

-- Jeff LeVine, Thursday, January 24, 2008 12:30 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Link

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

god im regretting this xbox more and more every day.

good news - release date is 2 days before my birthday. yay!

I might actually spend my gummint rebate check on a PS3 now, yikes. Sorry EL BOT TOM.

They're saying it takes an hour to get from one side of the map to the other, presumably on foot. This is quite something, I did a timed 'strole' from one corner of the SA map to the other last night which took just over half an hour.

The only eventuality I had was at some point a nutcase wanted to run me down in a big-foot, but i out maneouvered him and he gave up. (i was playing the multiplayer game)

also, looks like i'm opting for the ps3 for this. i have a question.

do i *really* need to buy a hdtv?

Oh, Ste.

I would've said "Oh yes" until I got one. Now I would only say "yeah, probably."

I used to have to play my NES on a black and white TV in my bedroom. I could DO it, but it sucked.

It would be cool to see the difference in person between playing a new game on an HD vs. SD TV. Now is actually a pretty good time to start thinking about an HDTV as the prices have gotten quite a bit more reasonable. If you're not super worried about a big size screen you can even get some pretty nice 22" HD monitors for 350 USD - in particular I was recently looking at the Gateway HD2200 which has hook-ups for HDMI and component video as well as the standard VGA. Note that neither the PS3 or Wii can be hooked up via VGA (as far as know - maybe with an expensive (100+) VGA converter box), but you can buy the 360s 40 dollar VGA cable to use it with a standard computer monitor.

I JUST ORDERED A HD TELLY HA HA HA I AM MAD!

good work.

so it didn't arrive and the order has been cancelled.

so close.

damn.

EA to buy Take Two and therefore Rockstar?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7262328.stm

I thought that that bid was already rejected a few days ago? Or is that a new one?

oh nvm it says it's rejected there

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=lcpdrecruit&content=video0

some new stuff appearing

Have you bought your console yet Ste?

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/wet/loveMeet/embed/mboringloser.jpg

"Hank, I married a MAN, I didn't marry a ... GAMER"

Antexit, no not yet. I wasn't impressed with a recent PS3 demo of COD4 and Burnout so I'm holding back until the release of this game. It still may be an xbox360.

Came across this board and am in the same prediciment as Ste. I found this article, which has me leaning towards the PS3.

I don't believe that 16.4% failure rate. I'm pretty sure it is quite a bit higher. As somebody who has both systems, like I said above, I prefer the ps3, because (among other things) it runs A LOT quieter (as somebody who plays a lot more late at night, a quiet machine is nice) and smoother - sometimes my 360 seems to have trouble loading open world streaming data - which worries me & it has definitely crashed more than my ps3. On the other hand, the 360 has better library of games, is less expensive and is going to have the extra content for GTA IV eventually (I'm assuming each extra episode with be 15-20 dollars though). And as somebody whose 360 got the red rings of death, it's not too big of a deal - you just call up Microsoft - they send you a box - you send in your 360 - and about three weeks later you get it back.

i really want my 360 to die so i can get a new one already!

The only problem with that is - the "new" 360 they sent me back actually works worse (runs as loud, makes more weird sounds, crashes more) than the one I had before. I guess it was probably a refurbished one?

Do you get your DLC back?

With the red ring thing you detach your hard drive and power cables and just send in the box. So when you get your 360 back, you just clip your hard drive back on and you're pretty much good to go (just have to recover your gamertag, I think).

erm, ah. i think i'll get a ps3 then. lol.

might as well if you're not playing a lot of gamews, you have a bru-ray then as well.

A quick warning though - it might be worth it to wait a bit on the ps3 until they start bundling in the dual shock 3 controller (I think that happens before gta IV, right?), as it's a much better controller than the orginal pack-in (more solid feeling + rumble).

i was thinking about that but then i realized i was gonna get a second controller anyway so i ordered a dual shock from play-asia. or yes-asia. or something.

Oh Ste I just remembered, only the 360 version will have the exclusive "downloadable content" aka episodes you can download and add to the game a few months after release.

Anybody see that quite good-looking fake(?) intro that someone put on youtube today?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQWTijxy6x8

online mutliplayer details + screens

holy shit am i excited by this. like the single player isn't going to swallow my life on its own.

Yeah, surely we're all going to be multiplaying this lots, so the console ste should buy is the one that most of us have? Which is...what? I'd guess 360. That's what I'll be playing on.

meh, tried GTA multi mode on the San Andreas game, it's really an anticlimax.

I like to play GTA solo anyway, it's that sort of game for me.

(altho MultiTheftAuto is a lot more fun, but it's just vehicle based - no on foot action)

The multiplayer stuff here looks to be a lot more fully realized than earlier attempts. Time will tell, but I'm definitely looking forward to fooling around with those different modes this time around (never did before).

lol is that supposed to be a scan from an actual magazine?

360 = more single player once they release DLC! the choice is so easy!

So a new, and final, trailer is to be released tomorrow.

I have this awful feeling that they'll fuck something major up and make it unplayable. In both Stories games they managed to completely ruin vigilante missions by making them ridiculously hard (crims just shot the shit out of your car), these were one of my favourite parts of the game.

Have you decided on a console yet Ste? I love that you can jump in and out of multiplayer from single-player. ILG hoo-ridin'!

god no, and time is ticking away. What has everyone else got, or getting?

I think the majority on this board are Xboxers? If you're really buying a console as a GTA platform, seems like if you're a real nut for the game the episodic content is a dealmaker, since they're otherwise identical, and more of your multiplayer buds have it. Though if I were buying a system this year and wanted something futureproof I would probably opt for the PS3.

The thing about picking up a ps3 would be that you could also pick up Gran Turismo prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4 (in May, right), Wipeout HD (in June?) and Little Big Planet in the fall - and also free online. But if you're just buying a system for one game (and don't mind a noisier, somewhat clunkier machine), you probably save a little money if you pick up an xbox, plus like others have said, you can also only buy the extra content (whatever that will be) if 100 hours of game isn't enough for you.

http://kotaku.com/372415/gta-iv-street-map-leaked

Besides Gears 2 are there even any 360 exclusives worth knowing about this year? It really seems like it's the PS3's year.

From Official Xbox Magazine: "Jeronimo Barrera, a senior developer at Rockstar, says it takes testers playing 4 hours a day 'a good 2 weeks to get through the whole single-player game.'"

40 hours? That ain't very long for this kind of game, even if they're just playing right through.

I think 40 hours is about how long it took me to get through the last one

For me it was way longer, but I did a lot of fucking around and side missions along the way.

and you didn't have the pressure of getting the job done on you either :P

when you dick around at all when playtesting you don't playtest for long

Yeah, half the fun was just driving/flying/biking/fucking around. Trying to find weird little bits on the map like the ramp on the top of a mesa in the desert, where you could launch a 4-wheeler off of before pulling a parachute.

That kinda thing.

I forgot - has there been any announcement if the game will let you set up custom soundtracks?

See, I think dicking about has a lot of positive effects on playing the main game. Like you can discover short cuts, hidden packages give you weapons and in short you just get a lot of practice with driving or shooting.

GUYS:

On April 29th Rockstar Games will release the most anticipated game of 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV. In addition to the game, the company is launching the Rockstar Social Club, a new website that will extend your experience of Grand Theft Auto IV and all future Rockstar Games titles.
The Rockstar Social Club is more than just a standard gaming site. It features all of the statistical leaderboards that gamers have come to expect, and combines them with performance-based competitions and awards.

Registration for the Rockstar Social Club begins on April 15th and anyone can sign up with their Xbox Gamertag and/or a PlayStation Network ID.

GTA IV, the first game featured on the Rockstar Social Club, has exciting features beyond multiplayer leaderboards, including:

* LCPD Police Blotter — A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

* The Story Gang — This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

* The 100% Club — Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

* The Hall of Fame — This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

* The Liberty City Marathon — A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

The Rockstar Social Club doesn't stop there. With special competitions, leaderboards and challenges rolling out regularly in the weeks and months following the game's release, this is just the beginning of an on-going Liberty City experience and is a small taste of what's to come from Rockstar Games for GTAIV and beyond...

: O

* LCPD Police Blotter — A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

Imagine they took this info, and flipped it back on the game, making some areas of town more dangerous than others IN REAL TIME :O

New (final) trailer is up everywhere...

yeah, it's pretty lame too.

but still, can't wait. antexit, that all sounds pretty neat.

ya congratulations antexit.

Thank you all so much!

have they released the soundtrack yet?

only trouble with the 100% ranking is that most of those quick enough to get on will more than likely have cheated.

Its looking like a ps3 for me, the only reason to get the xbox would be for the downloadable extras and we're not even sure that they won't in future be available for ps3. Usually they are, I'm taking the risk.

And if they don't ever become available, meh, in a couple of years i'll just get a cheap 360 to play them on.

A thought towards the multiplayer.

Will it feature traffic and pedestrians? That would be mammoth programming task wouldn't it, for client pc's to deal with the same AI of non player characters and vehicles.

If it didn't include them it could be a bit shit though.

Might not be that hard if there's only a limited number and they ony behave pseudo-randomly. Maybe...

It's the vehicles more than the peds I'm thinking, say for instance you have a race situation and you the leader drive through some heavy traffic successfully. The guy behind you who might be just far enough away to not see this traffic yet, by the time they get to that position - will they be faced with the same 'random' traffic? Or will it have spawned new (perhaps not quite so heavy) traffic making things unfair.

if u follow.

(you the leader of course have already drove further on, effectually creating more traffic down the line)

I guess we could live with it even if the traffic remained random and only the same traffic would be encountered if two different players viewpoints crossed at the same time. But then what about sniper rifle scopes, that could pose some problems?

Go for a 360, 'cuz Fallout 3 is comin'

to be fair, i hadn't realised how much cheaper the 360 was. i could be back to square one here.

Go for a 360, 'cuz Fallout 3 is comin'

-- kingfish, Friday, March 28, 2008 2:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

for ps3 too!

It's weird how each trailer released for this game was less exciting than the one before (loved the first one), but I'm still looking forward to the game more than ever.

my favourite trailer was number two, but this was purely because of the boggs music

more on multiplayer

the game is doomed by my expectations for it, which i don't seem to be able to mitigate or control at all.

A friend of mine sent me a mysterious message a few days ago that I have three weeks to come up with $2500...

Turns out it's so I can buy a TV and PS3 and this game in order to be wheel man for his drive-bys.

Wow, you could buy that stuff for $1500, easy. Less, even. Your friend is mental.

I think he's planning on me rolling a big BRAVIA. Plus, wait he doesn't have a PS3 yet either!

Regardless, we're definitely both mental.

do we know if you can really climb lamp posts?

and why

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/hes-finished-gta-iv-and-mgs4/a-2008040914415107076

"I blew through a crosswalk just as a guy was – I was kind of going through fairly slow – but he was holding his coffee cup, the car came really close and he kind of jumped. I mean, the reaction – because they're using the Natural Motion engine – the guy sort of reacted to the car. He jumped back, dropped his coffee, starts bitching about dropping his coffee and, you know, you just go by. But the whole sort of movement and interaction between the person and the car looked like what would happen if you went too close to a guy carrying a cup of coffee on the sidewalk. "

"One example was that, as I was failing a mission and I was retreating, I got like a two-star warning, so I’m trying to get out, and I rear-ended a taxi. All of a sudden it bursts up into flame, fire started coming out. I was like, "oh crap," so I drove a little bit further out of the way, and it was in an intersection with a lot of other cars. Then a few seconds later, a guy stumbles out of the taxi in flames. So then the first car explodes, and another car that was right next to it catches fire.

"So I actually felt kind of bad about this. I mean, the poor guy’s running around on fire. So I pull out a telephone and I call the fire department. So a few seconds later, a big fire truck comes up, parks too close to one of the cars that explodes right as it gets there... and then the fire truck explodes. Six or seven cars ended up going up in flames and exploding, and people are running around on fire. It was all sort of this dynamic setup that I kind of triggered by one tiny event: I rear-ended a car."

sounds like just another typical day in Theft land really

Shoulda left a note.

Played the shit out of Vice City last night, the pedestrians are hilarious. There was a guy who was just giggling and farting, he ended with a 'look at those great titties' remark which just made me bawk with laughter.

yeah, IV will need some "I need some titties ta squeeze" type comments

They've released official multiplayer info

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=multiplayer

I'm very excited about multiplayer, perhaps more than I am about the main game. You should all make sure you have me on your Xbox Live lists, ready for release! I'm Jimdoo.

(Ste, have you chosen between 360 and ps3 yet? I'll feel cheated if you choose sony and I don't get the chance to shoot you)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_soundtrack

does anyone know if this will work on ps2?

aw

god i need to swap my xbox360 for a ps3 quick.

oh and i saw the trailer for this on afternoon tv a week or so ago.

Seriously i'm considering just waiting until this comes out on pc in which time I'll have purchased a super duper system, and it'll probly be twice as shit hot than either console versions.
I'm finding it real hard to come to terms with coughing up that much money for a ps3/360 + HD telly for just one game.

i'll make my choice after hearing u guys review it on April 29

anyone else taking a sick day/vacation day on April 29?

anyone else feel ashamed of what they've become?

I'll be home, but not for this necessarily. I might have to wait until my birthday (May 1) for it. We did buy a shit hot LCDTV though.

May take a sick day. May try to pick the game up at midnight if a store within walking distance stays open.

Ste - you could get a 360 and hook it up to your computer monitor (VGA cable sold separately). Still expensive for one game though. I wonder if R* is going to bother to put this out on PC - has anybody heard anything official?

ooh, now i didn't know that. hmm.

OK, I am officially excited about this now. Only problem is I won't have a really big telly until the end of May and it's usually difficult to differentiate between locations on the map with the one I have at the moment. But I'm not waiting until the end of May to play this. No way.

Am I the only girl in this beeyotch?

If they don't put this out on PC I will be very ;_;

Ha! There are other girls, around, well, like, one I think. Abbott?

I am officially excited about this, and inadvertantly it turns out I am also off work on the 29th. I'll be bagging this for the 360.

Madchen, do you have an Xbox 360? What's your gamertag?

:D

Yes, but I am not hooked up to technology other than the telly yet -that will happen at the end of May too. I do have a sludge-coloured headset at the ready though, courtesy of Halo.

Have we noted that the release coincides with a bank holiday weekend? Bye bye hedge trimming, car washing and visits to stately homes then.

Hah! Are you going to jump on the Call of Duty 4 gravy train too?

Madchen, I am here and excited too!

going. to. be. mega.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=132265

oh. god.

that sounds seriously delicous, particularly the new wanted star system.

Although I'd be interested to know how that works with police chases, would you lose your wanted level if you managed to lose the tail?

Does anyone know who the mystery guest celebrity is?

can't believe this thread is over a year old

o_0

haha my first post, a year of anguish and indecision

I was reading the cover feature of Edge this morning and getting all excited again.

And there's a funfair! </girl>

Did you buy a 360 solely for this Madchen?

Hey, I'll bet Rockstar Social Club will have cross-platform friend groups and stuff for stats-- hello ILG group!

(x-p)
No, Stet gave it to me for my birthday. With Halo, which I am not getting on with (it makes me feel sick).

Hell, this is the first GTA set after September 11th, isn't it. The amount of reactionary bullshit for them to draw from is a veritable ocean.

san andreas?

san andreas was set before 9/11, i nthe early 90s or so

did you guys not read that 9/11/2001 is the DAY the game starts??

it's gonna be a big part of it

Yeah, it's pretty weird-- I don't know why it's not being reported more.

They say it starts on Nikos' boat to america and RIGHT when the coastline of liberty city comes into view from the ocean the first plane hits.

i guess they were worried that the controversy might overshadow the other stuff about the game they want to publicize... it actually makes a lot of sense they wouldn't play it up.

it will put the whole immigrant experience story in a much more contemporary perspective, for one thing.

i guess this is why they're not allowing planes in this one??

That's how they got AROUND allowing them! The security gets so much more strict after 9/11 you can't get onto the runway to steal one.

oh, that's smart!

confirmed for the soundtrack

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/310803coup.jpg

look. just give me this goddamn game already. the waiting is too much.

1up preview, though mostly positive, throws a little water on the fire...

"You'll likely notice the same graphical "quirks" that the series has dealt with since the jump to 3D [...] There's some long-distance graphical fade-in as well as some street-level hazards that appear only after you hit them. Traffic will be nonexistent one second, then three cars deep when you rotate the camera back around, and then completely disappear when your wanted level gets to two or three stars"

and the shooting is still a question mark in my book, they say "Pulling the left trigger halfway on the 360 controller lets you aim a weapon freely, while a full pull locks on to the closest enemy or nonplayable character in your camera's view."

I certainly don't like the sound of that half pull. And I wonder if having a lock on shot will take some of the fun out of the multiplayer

theres no button to just lock on?

More soundtrack details coming in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_soundtrack

Jazz-Fusion station will probably end up my favorite.

I'm glad that I don't recognise most of those.

Looking forward to driving around to Oxygene though.

I'm a little confused since it's (according to upthread) based in 2001-ish? But, I see "Get Innocuous" by LCD Soundsystem on the Radio Broker station? Not too get too aspierube but they've been very good about avoid anachronisms in the past games, is that out the door now?

erm guys i think slocki was joking about the 9/11 thing

GTA4 is set in 2007

L
O
L

The trailer with "Get innocuous" was on TV last night. Have decided to buy 360 as they're on sale at the moment, play the hell out of this game and save up for PS2. God I want this game so much. GTA:SA doesn't work on PC so seriously starting to get withdrawal symptoms.

well, color me retarded, it sounded pretty awesome so i wanted to believe it -_-

rockstargames.com/socialclub is supposed to be taking registrations today, i dunno when, exactly, but sometime. keep your eyes open!

shipping to stores today, will anyone break the street date like argos did with halo 3?

I got my ipod touch a couple weeks before they were supposed to be selling them... might be worth a punt to play on some tesco worker's ignorance?

i think the soundtrack is now the feature i most anticipate with each new game.

Having read the gamespot.com "hands=on" review of the multiplayer aspects, I could not be more excited for this game. Get here already!

link?

my 360 is totally spazzing out now and pretty much refusing to do anything too processor intensive which basically means, swos=yes, xbla=yes, cod4=no. doesn't bode well for GTA4. not sure whether to courier the thing out to msoft on monday/tuesday and hope it's back in time for GTA4 next tues. anyone got any experience with msoft support on RRoD?

alternative is obv, it works intermittently and seems to work after the 'towel trick' for a few days at a time, just a pain to have to do the towel trick obv

GTAIV Multi-Player Hands-On

Do want.

I have just sent my 360 in for servicing, the RRoD/towel trick was getting me down + doubtful I can afford GTAIV on launch day = no launch day blow out for me. : /

The waiting!!! This final week is killing me more than the whole last year!

Just mostly really looking forward to running around a well designed open world and exploring

yes and yes. i won't be in a hurry to start any missions. i want some quality explore/random death time.

I'm trying to think where I should buy it since I didn't pre-order. Supermarkets don't do pre-orders so that's probably my best bet, but I'd probably have to get up stupid early to go to the nearest Tesco or whatever before work :'(

I'm always amazed by how little I care about the GTA series. I sometimes feel like there's something wrong with me.

OTM.

There is something wrong with you!

what has life done to Dan P to make him stop caring?

Did Blizzard close down it's servers or something? This new and unfeeling DP scares me.

taken from the window of my flat; how close I live to tesco:
http://img.skitch.com/20080422-nn6ie6bwyh1wc56jh6ax8x1f87.jpg

not that I have a 360 right now : /

someone was shot at that pub on the corner a few weeks ago. real life gta

take two / rockstar have done an immense job of marshalling the hype for this game… it has been a exercise in precision control: with info only being leaked out slowly… apart from the world map being leaked to kotaku (?), they've done really well

do we even know what the hud looks like?

Among the songs listed for the latin music station, according to wikipedia: Aqua - "Barbie Girl."

Excellent. Great song. I say this without a hint of sarcasm, I genuinely like that song. It is miles better than Salsa. I realise that I now look like a fool. So it goes...

Download Grand_Theft_@uto_IV_MULTI5_PAL_READNFO_XBOX360-iC0N.t0rrent

come on barbie let's go party

gameplay videos starting to leak out now... going to be a busy week for the takedown temp at take two

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/206925.html

Download Grand_Theft_@uto_IV_MULTI5_PAL_READNFO_XBOX360-iC0N.t0rrent

come on barbie let's go party

-- antexit, Wednesday, April 23, 2008 12:11 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

will that play on your setup?

the 'leaked' videos are either removed immediately or complete bollocks lol

I saw a couple today, low quality but undoubtedly footage of the game

has dampened my enthusiasm slightly tbh

just worked http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/206871.html

I've seen a couple. The only thing that was a little disappointing was how bouncy the driving bits looked (still).

it just rminded me fr all the innovation it is still a gta game and I've never partic liked gta games lol

I decided not to watch that because for whatever reason I really enjoy the process of starting a game for the first time.

Yeah - I clicked on a link that was to the opening credits and watched about ten seconds before deciding, wait - I want to see that for the first time when I'm actually playing the game. However, the gametrailers clip I linked to above doesn't really spoil anything - it's just a minute or so of a gun fight / car chase (not any different really from anything in the earlier games - though it looked good - especially the shooting!). I also watched a longer clip (removed) of Niko walking around a bit and stealing a car - didn't feel like those really spoiled anything - just gave me a little more solid idea of what to expect.

But yeah - it's time to stop watching videos and start crossing my fingers for the call from "that special someone."

you know tyra banks?

joeks

jeff, you have a connec' who is going to hook you up early?

hey u guys
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v61/akane2299/GTA-comparison.jpg

...hawt.

Who is that, Ashlee Simpson? Miley Cyrus?

nothing on Gametrailers works on my pc, what does it require?

Ste - I'm not sure. Try dailymotion - it's flash (I think) and seems to have the most stuff...

GTA IV results sorted by most recent http://www.dailymotion.com/search/gta%2Biv/1

I obtain much hard one.

Who is that, Ashlee Simpson? Miley Cyrus?

-- Leee, Wednesday, 23 April 2008 21:21 (Yesterday) Link

that would be jessica chobot. she's a writer or something for ign.

Dailymotion search engine doesn't seem to work for me either, I'd need to go through google to get them (but they're not indexed there yet)

then again, i don't care. i can wait a week for official glimpses of game footage for lawds sake.

http://www.gamestop.com/gs/landing/gtaiv/gta4midnight.pdf

I wonder if Game Buzz will have a midnight opening (then again I am too old for that shit)

omgwtf? According to my xbox, meltang is playing this NOW!

And I'm not. :((((((

Sorry guys.

oh god you are gonna get XBLBanned :(

how is it?!

Oh THAT's the chick. the stripper gamer chick.

this one, in other words:

http://faqsmedia.ign.com/faqs/image/article/709/709912/blog_fran_chobot.jpg

haha melton you tease

am I going to be able to walk into a shop, in England, and buy this on Tuesday? The Internet seems to have sold out

i pre-ordered it on amazon, i can wait until it's available. Besides, i still don't have a telly yet.

but to answer your question, most probly not.

although there could be a chance that one of the smaller shop types will have a few copies around?

I am counting on you, Some Dude On E-Bay

I am almost irrationally excited about this game : /

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2008/04/23/gta_iv_okay_here_we_go.html

Melton, you're crazy. UR GONNA GET BANNED

lol truth bomb

see, naughty xbox owners. You don't see ps3 users up to this sort of shenanigans.

That Guardian article is great!

stripper game chick?

lots of teevee ads in the UK for the 360 version, have seen no teevee presence for the PS3.

i am totally getting this game, and my girl is hell of excited about it too. stevietonychick is my gamertag, for when we are all up and at 'em (some time next week, i'm guessing).

The big "pre-orders sold out!" thing is something that seems to happen with every new GTA. And yet come street date there are always HUNDREDS of copies around, I've never had trouble picking one up on day one (although to be fair I do work in games retail innit).

If nothing else, there are plenty of places who aren't even taking preorders. Are Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda etc doing them? Because they'll all have buckets of stock.

10/10 on IGN
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/869/869541p1.html

oooh how do they square that with this:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=134409

... I was thinking about this on the way home tho, there's probably so much money to be made in digg-effect ads and click-throughs by being the 'first' to post your online review that it totally justifies any blowback take two could potentially direct your way

this game gets 10/10 for the "heat" ref alone (in one of the trailers there is a vignette of a bank robbery and the robbers have AK47s and holdalls slung across their backs)

holy shit from the ign video review:

picking up a prostitute in your car comes replete with full 'cowboy'-style animation

: O

I didn't follow it, but didn't they get in heaps of shit for the hot coffee thing?!!!

http://img.skitch.com/20080425-jh4qt82i86eahyi6y69sifrdtq.jpghttp://img.skitch.com/20080425-t4fw8k3c52ub67qn78p93e8eb1.jpghttp://img.skitch.com/20080425-cw58d7r7j2pmxp99jsm3rd86f.jpg

I was glad to finally hear somebody actually say the multiplayer was really fun (and actually worth the cost of the game alone).

This is the game that's going to make me finally buy an xbox360.

This is the game that makes me wonder if I should buy a PS3.

This is the game I'm going to buy.

This is the game.

This.

^

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to walk around town for the first week I own this.

you're not even gonna bother to play it??

Full soundtrack now up on Wiki

It's "meh" out of 10 for me...

Did anyone post the xbox achievement list here yet? These might not be accurate (it's old leaked info) but if they are then they're great:

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/684082/GTA_4_Achievements_Leaked.html

180 in darts! Turkey in bowling! Beating a friend at pool! etc.

Terry Riley - "A Rainbow in Curved Air"
Liquid Liquid - "Optimo"

http://www.justin.tv/jimmy_the_bum

some guy playing live; utterly useless tho and potential spoilers but tbh I've watched a bit and he hasn't done anything of any worth

: ?

There's some cool stuff on the soundtrack, but I'm super bummed about the "hardcore punk" station. I was looking forward to it when I heard the Bad Brains were gonna be featured, instead it's just a bunch of meathead NYHC bullshit. I know it's supposed to be NYC, but COME ON.

It's actually really entertaining to listen to, especially with the knucklehead reactionary meatball DJ. Uh, I've heard it is, anyway.

had a taste of this yesterday, i won't spoil anything for anyone suffice to say I think it's lovely.

my nephew works in a store and has managed to secure me a copy for my lovely new ps3 on tuesday! yay

Played a bit of this round at my friend's bit last night and the driving was ultra-hard and the combat system seemed to have actually gotten worse!

Though of course I reserve judgment until I've played it for some extended period of time and it does look wonderful and crashing in to a low wall and going flying through your windscreen is fun.

My copy has shipped from Amazon (for 360). Bring it on!

Gametrailers video review:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/33327.html

my brother drove past gamestop today, and they were throwing out some big gta4 cardboard promo boxes. y'know, like they put on display in the window. so he took one. it looks nice next to our games.

Ok, this is nuts - I've got another friend who has his copy early and is playing already, which means I can now compare my GTA4 achievments to his though xbox.com, which means I get to see the full list. And mostly it's the same as the one I posted upthread. But at the bottom is:

Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie
Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match.

!!!

Endangered Species - collect every hidden package

hmm, i think i saw a suspicious looking pigeon which might have been part of this (not saying where) - it didn't fly off when I got near. Unfortunately I died just before I could inspect further.

I am sad that from tomorrow on I won't be able to read this thread :(

why?

my telly has been shipped!
Everything is almost complete!

am I mad to buy a temp xbox just to play.this game?

Ste, I'm suffering from self-ban until I get my place painted and fixed up. Two weeks at most. I've never been so motivated!!!

Czn, no. No you are not. I might even buy the temporary one off you when you're done!*

*That is not a promise. Just the ranting of a desperate man!

I'm sure I've never wanted to be a weekend over more. Sad really

wanted a weekend to be over more. jeez

My local store now claims they're going to be kicking out copies this afternoon!

I'm going to buy one and then return it for a refund when the xbox service center has got its finger out

: /

<A HREF="http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2008/04/playstation3-magazine-recommends-buying.html";>This</A> is a pretty interesting turn for the books. Just wish I had either a PS3 or a 360... :(

Oh well, that was some good formatting... You get the picture.

hmm, that doesn't actually work. :)
Try <A HREF="http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2008/04/playstation3-magazine-recommends-buying.html";>this</A>

OH COME ON
http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2008/04/playstation3-magazine-recommends-buying.html

http://www.afterelton.com/blog/lylemasaki/grand-theft-auto-iv-gay-niko-bellic