Technology GTA 4 Thread
- Thread starter PaulyPac
- Start date
Sam Houser - "Its Official, Im American now...I can now vote but for anyone but Hillary Clinton. I love America."
The Sixaxis will be used in GTA4 but in a way thats done Right.
A possible MMPOG GTA in the future. May be subscription based.
Beat up cars will eventually stall, leaving you to flee on foot.
Tired will shred apart when they are shot.
Ps3 Version will have warmer colors while the 360 version will have more vibrant colors.
Tap Up on the D-pad brings up the Cell phone. Up a second time brings up the key pad.
There are several different cell phones you gain through out the game. the basic has contacts, organizer, camera, and multiplayer mode. The MP3 version is obtained later in the game.
You can kill anyone and everyone, even your contacts.
Theres a conservative talk station called WKTT (We Know the Truth). This is making fun of Rush limbaugh and will have those red stater rants that was recorded from real fans that called in doing that time period R* was taking calls from fans.
DJ Lazlow Returns
Bloggers play some form in the game.
The old GTA cheat codes we come to love seem to have returned.
You can drop grenades out of the vehicle while driving. you can also "cook" the grenades.
R* is really getting into episodic downloads. may see some for the PS3 version.
The Sixaxis will be used in GTA4 but in a way thats done Right.
A possible MMPOG GTA in the future. May be subscription based.
Beat up cars will eventually stall, leaving you to flee on foot.
Tired will shred apart when they are shot.
Ps3 Version will have warmer colors while the 360 version will have more vibrant colors.
Tap Up on the D-pad brings up the Cell phone. Up a second time brings up the key pad.
There are several different cell phones you gain through out the game. the basic has contacts, organizer, camera, and multiplayer mode. The MP3 version is obtained later in the game.
You can kill anyone and everyone, even your contacts.
Theres a conservative talk station called WKTT (We Know the Truth). This is making fun of Rush limbaugh and will have those red stater rants that was recorded from real fans that called in doing that time period R* was taking calls from fans.
DJ Lazlow Returns
Bloggers play some form in the game.
The old GTA cheat codes we come to love seem to have returned.
You can drop grenades out of the vehicle while driving. you can also "cook" the grenades.
R* is really getting into episodic downloads. may see some for the PS3 version.
EGM Scans
http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta001wv4.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta002vg0.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta003vq6.jpg
http://img127.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta005su8.jpg
http://img127.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta006rr7.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta007tb4.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta008tg9.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta009qz7.jpg
http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta010fj7.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta011oi5.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta012rz7.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta013ur0.jpg
http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta014px7.jpg
http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta001wv4.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta002vg0.jpg
http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta003vq6.jpg
http://img127.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta005su8.jpg
http://img127.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta006rr7.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta007tb4.jpg
http://img223.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta008tg9.jpg
http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta009qz7.jpg
http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta010fj7.jpg
http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta011oi5.jpg
http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta012rz7.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta013ur0.jpg
http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gta014px7.jpg
- When night, ten thousands of lit up windows can be seen in Liberty City.
- It seems that you can breathe in while sniping, for more accuracy.
- The game looks nothing like it did back in March 2007, after trailer 1, the game was looking far from finished, with very unstable FPS count. Now the FPS is amazing all the time, no matter how much going on on the streets.
- When inputting the info in the police databases in cop cars, Niko drives with one hand and operates the computer with the other one.
- Some spotted street names were: North Holland, Ruby street, and Silicon street.
- When driving by, you can occasionally spot peds having problem with their cars, standing and shouting and waving with their arms.
- At one moment Niko said: "What the hell is wrong with these people ?" while driving by in the car.
- Characters breath can, besides on the street, also be seen when traveling to higher altitudes, like skyscrapers
- You can hang onto passing boats and climb onboard (similar to VCS I guess)
- There is a helicopter-tour place where you can take a tour around LC with a guide, or hire your own helicopters. Or just shoot the guide and steal the helicopter. *
- It seems that you can breathe in while sniping, for more accuracy.
- The game looks nothing like it did back in March 2007, after trailer 1, the game was looking far from finished, with very unstable FPS count. Now the FPS is amazing all the time, no matter how much going on on the streets.
- When inputting the info in the police databases in cop cars, Niko drives with one hand and operates the computer with the other one.
- Some spotted street names were: North Holland, Ruby street, and Silicon street.
- When driving by, you can occasionally spot peds having problem with their cars, standing and shouting and waving with their arms.
- At one moment Niko said: "What the hell is wrong with these people ?" while driving by in the car.
- Characters breath can, besides on the street, also be seen when traveling to higher altitudes, like skyscrapers
- You can hang onto passing boats and climb onboard (similar to VCS I guess)
- There is a helicopter-tour place where you can take a tour around LC with a guide, or hire your own helicopters. Or just shoot the guide and steal the helicopter. *
Sam Houser: "GTA IV crazier than ever"
Rarest of rare interviews with Rockstar president
Quote:
The April issue features a massive (we're talking 16 glorious pages of words and pictures) look at the blockbuster series and an interview with Rockstar president, Sam Houser, in which he talks about GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas and GTA IV.
Quote:
* GTA III's mute lead character was effectively a mistake. "That was one of those things where I think I only remember noticing kind of late on," Houser says, "like '**** - he doesn't speak'. And I've never said that to anyone before - I'm being honest here. But I remember thinking, well, it kind of works - who cares?"
"People were not really interested" in GTA III when it first appeared at E3 2001, and the game was overshadowed by State of Emergency. "I was really shocked at the time," Houser recalls.
Quote:
* "[Ray Liotta] was a very interesting guy to work with because we had to have him in for quite a long time. In some sessions he was so fired up and he was into it, but then sometimes it'd be like he was in some kind of a hole, and he was very dark and couldn't work. He's a pretty amazing guy, kind of an amazing actor."
But... "He made some comments later on through his agent, something like, 'Hey, that game was so big I should have charged them more money', and I hate that kind of chat. It's so cheesy. Like he's saying, 'Next time I'm really going to pin it to them'. Well, how about we just killed off your character? There is no next time. That's how we handle that."
Quote:
* We immediately embraced it - I didn't see it as a risk," Houser says of choosing to have a black lead for San Andreas. "It was certainly leftfield for the industry at that time but, you know, I'm proud to do things like that. And anyone who has a problem with that, we don't want you buying the game anyway, mate, quite frankly."
He's an undeniably potent fountain of ideas, but Houser explains that even he goes too far: "When we were making [San Andreas] one of the things I talked about - and thank God they didn't give in to my idiocy - was, 'Hey, we've got to make it interesting to drive four hours on a freeway and you have to stop to fill up on fuel'. And the team were like, 'God, give it a rest, mate'."
Quote:
* Houser explains that the game had to become "more and more thematically sophisticated and mature," but also assures that GTA IV still has all the fun stuff. "It's crazier than ever, in a way - the humour is madder than ever. It's more full-on than ever, definitely."
The morality! "People talk a lot about some of the things in games like Mass Effect, where you create these moral dilemmas - well, we haven't really been making a big deal out of that stuff, but a lot of the things that you are going to do in GTAIV will have real consequences, without wanting to give any of it away. Towards the end there are some very big things that happen that absolutely change things in an 'Oh, tell me that didn't just happen' kind of way. Not always good either."
And that DLC promises to be pretty damn substantial, maybe even equating to something rivaling a whole new game when it’s all released: "I think the mission packs with the episodes are going to be pretty deep, offering another full-on adventure in this world. I think we will be in a position to market them not a million miles away from the way the boxed game is marketed."
Not that that initial adventure isn't sounding massive. Maybe even excessively so.
"Is it too big? I don't know. It might be. It certainly is big, definitely. But again, I'll go back to what I said earlier: it's a good problem to have. And I never want people feeling that we've duped them in any way, shape or form".
Rarest of rare interviews with Rockstar president
Quote:
The April issue features a massive (we're talking 16 glorious pages of words and pictures) look at the blockbuster series and an interview with Rockstar president, Sam Houser, in which he talks about GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas and GTA IV.
Quote:
* GTA III's mute lead character was effectively a mistake. "That was one of those things where I think I only remember noticing kind of late on," Houser says, "like '**** - he doesn't speak'. And I've never said that to anyone before - I'm being honest here. But I remember thinking, well, it kind of works - who cares?"
"People were not really interested" in GTA III when it first appeared at E3 2001, and the game was overshadowed by State of Emergency. "I was really shocked at the time," Houser recalls.
Quote:
* "[Ray Liotta] was a very interesting guy to work with because we had to have him in for quite a long time. In some sessions he was so fired up and he was into it, but then sometimes it'd be like he was in some kind of a hole, and he was very dark and couldn't work. He's a pretty amazing guy, kind of an amazing actor."
But... "He made some comments later on through his agent, something like, 'Hey, that game was so big I should have charged them more money', and I hate that kind of chat. It's so cheesy. Like he's saying, 'Next time I'm really going to pin it to them'. Well, how about we just killed off your character? There is no next time. That's how we handle that."
Quote:
* We immediately embraced it - I didn't see it as a risk," Houser says of choosing to have a black lead for San Andreas. "It was certainly leftfield for the industry at that time but, you know, I'm proud to do things like that. And anyone who has a problem with that, we don't want you buying the game anyway, mate, quite frankly."
He's an undeniably potent fountain of ideas, but Houser explains that even he goes too far: "When we were making [San Andreas] one of the things I talked about - and thank God they didn't give in to my idiocy - was, 'Hey, we've got to make it interesting to drive four hours on a freeway and you have to stop to fill up on fuel'. And the team were like, 'God, give it a rest, mate'."
Quote:
* Houser explains that the game had to become "more and more thematically sophisticated and mature," but also assures that GTA IV still has all the fun stuff. "It's crazier than ever, in a way - the humour is madder than ever. It's more full-on than ever, definitely."
The morality! "People talk a lot about some of the things in games like Mass Effect, where you create these moral dilemmas - well, we haven't really been making a big deal out of that stuff, but a lot of the things that you are going to do in GTAIV will have real consequences, without wanting to give any of it away. Towards the end there are some very big things that happen that absolutely change things in an 'Oh, tell me that didn't just happen' kind of way. Not always good either."
And that DLC promises to be pretty damn substantial, maybe even equating to something rivaling a whole new game when it’s all released: "I think the mission packs with the episodes are going to be pretty deep, offering another full-on adventure in this world. I think we will be in a position to market them not a million miles away from the way the boxed game is marketed."
Not that that initial adventure isn't sounding massive. Maybe even excessively so.
"Is it too big? I don't know. It might be. It certainly is big, definitely. But again, I'll go back to what I said earlier: it's a good problem to have. And I never want people feeling that we've duped them in any way, shape or form".
Grand Theft Auto IV' Hands-On: Less Like A Video Game Than Ever Before
Our gaming expert got two hours with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the highly anticipated game.
By Stephen Totilo
There are two ways to play a "Grand Theft Auto" game: following the rules or not following them.
On Wednesday morning at the headquarters of Rockstar Games, we took Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers in hand and spent two hours with "Grand Theft Auto IV," trying both. The result: a better understanding of what "GTA" rendered on cutting-edge video game hardware feels like and how it might impact fans and nonfans of the series in a whole new way.
"Grand Theft Auto IV" is only six weeks away from release, but only recently have the developers at Rockstar let reporters get their hands on the game. During MTV News' session, we explored the depths of the game's missions and the randomness of simulated city life that makes every tour of a Rockstar gaming metropolis a sandstorm of surprises.
We flew helicopters, we returned an in-game text message on our cell phone, we crashed lots of cars, we wondered if the game's version of the Statue of Liberty was supposed to look like Hilary Clinton (not intentional, Rockstar says), and we earned a five-star wanted rating on the series' newly expanded six-star police-alertness meter.
First we followed rules, or at least tried to. A Rockstar rep working the MTV News demo turned the lights out and loaded a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game, displaying it on a large flat-panel TV. He used a developer cheat to warp the game's protagonist, immigrant Niko Bellic, to a mission called "Jamaican Heat." This mission is available early in the game and involves Bellic escorting a gun dealing Rastafarian named Little Jacob to a drug deal gone bad.
These "GTA" games are certainly still not for kids. Little Jacob names the drugs he likes. The game's improved aiming controls offer smooth, precise techniques for shooting enemies in any body part. The radio stations still lampoon current events and skewer sacred cows. As ever, "GTA" is a crime story, unapologetically profane, irreverently sarcastic.
Following the rules had us pursuing a few more "GTA IV" missions, one involving a shoot-out in a brownstone in the game's stand-in for Brooklyn, another a shoot-out at a dock, and another that wasn't a shoot-out. This last mission, named "Call and Collect," featured Niko helping a dirty cop by shaking down a blackmailer. We did this — almost — without firing a shot, relying instead on the power of cell phone technology. The blackmailer was hanging out near a fountain in a small park, though the game didn't indicate exactly which person milling about in that area was him. Instead, Niko received a text message on his ever-available cell phone. With a few presses of the controller, we could call the texted number, causing the blackmailer's phone to ring. Once the call commenced, the goal was to walk Niko through a crowd of people, looking and listening for someone talking on their cell phone. We heard him first and eventually stood face to face, with Niko's and the blackmailer's phones to their ears, their voices echoing through the phones and the virtual thin air. The blackmailer almost ran. Niko's gun stopped him. And then Niko ran from the cops. Mission just about complete.
While we followed the rules of these missions, it became clear that Rockstar has tried to make "GTA IV" feel like less of a video game, a change that will likely excite fans and further horrify the series' critics. Shooting a policeman, a criminal or a civilian will cause them to tumble with convincing physics. Shot people look hurt. Cars handle more realistically and more distinctly, depending on the type, making driving feel more true to life. The improved physics and animation make the game feel more real, the player's actions more fraught with consequence. We stole a car, tried to evade police and fishtailed through an innocent crowd. Our car was damaged. The cops swarmed. And so while trying to drive up a hill, our vehicle simply stalled. The police won that one. When we stole a motorcycle in another mission, we were arrested immediately, without a shot being fired.
"GTA IV" has been designed with the intention to strip away a lot of its predecessors' video-gameness. Extra guns and health packs don't float a few inches above the ground, waiting to be walked through. They lie on flat surfaces, waiting to be picked up. A Rockstar rep told MTV News that the developers didn't even want those found items to glow, as they do now, because that's not realistic. But a concession was made so players could more easily identify what they could and should try to grab in this world.
"GTA IV" felt less like a video game because there is no "Mission Complete" graphical flourish as there had been in old games, just a brief instrumental riff to indicate a job's successful finish. Icons in the upper-right corner of the screen still display the player's equipped weapon and money, but they are reduced in size, subdued to blacks, grays and whites, doing as little as possible to distract the player's eyes.
In its missions, the game feels less like a game and more like interactive drama. It's a playable crime story, doing what it feels it should. Get in a car and the GPS system maps you to a destination — and, if you're in the right car or turn the option on in the game's pause menu, it talks you there as well. There's less getting lost, less struggling with the controls, less frustration, at least as judged by a two-hour session.
When the game still feels like a game, however, is when the rules aren't followed. That's the way that so many people play "GTA," when the games become a glorified "Pac-Man," a sandbox for mayhem or interactive Keystone Cops-style slapstick, pick your metaphor. The Rockstar rep had suggested the missions but humored our dalliances, which broke any illusions of this being completely hard-boiled fiction. We spotted an old roller-coaster and sprinted to its crest, then tumbled down its steepest drop. We sprinted on foot uncommonly fast, tiring less quickly than "San Andreas"' protagonist CJ, feeling like a bit of a superman. We took a helicopter for a joyride, in this case, in the PS3 build, traversing the city with haste, thrusting with the R2 button, rudder-turning with L1 and R1. The scenery was viewable from an optional in-cockpit, first-person view, the densely detailed Liberty City rolling by so quickly underneath that it's little wonder that the private jets parked at the game's airport are not usable. They'd be too fast for this game's amount of real estate. Mostly we used the helicopter to land on skyscrapers and in busy intersections, the rotor blades magically hurting no one — not the least of whom Niko, despite what would probably be classified as hard landings. This is not the way a real world would work, and that's a good thing.
Off its rails, the game can be cartoonish. We stood Niko at the foot of Liberty City's Statue of Happiness and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the statue, sending tourists fleeing and denting the statue not a bit. A tourist had dropped a jug of milk and a loaf of bread. A policeman, sensing cause for alarm, approached and dodged a few shots of the RPG right in his direction. He had a gut but was nimble, and he had a backup fleet of choppers and, across the waterway, armored vans and SWAT teams to back him up, an imbalanced cartoon dynamic of cops vs. robber that saw justice again prevail.
As absurd as some of the moments in our session with the game could be, though, it was clear that "GTA IV" presents a more convincing world than its predecessors did. It presents a place less riddled with imperfect game design and awkward controls, replaced with improved technology and handling. The game lets the content — not the struggle to maneuver through that content — arrest the player's attention. It's a realer "GTA." Is it also a game? Of course. Is it still "just" a game? That depends on your perspective and what your hopes are for how something like this might impact those who play it.
"GTA IV" will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.
(On a more personal note to Rockstar: Our subways in the real New York City aren't dingy and graffiti-covered anymore. And the building where this story was filed houses MTV, not Music Entertainment TV, aka Me TV. What exactly is "GTA IV" trying to imply?)
Our gaming expert got two hours with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the highly anticipated game.
By Stephen Totilo
There are two ways to play a "Grand Theft Auto" game: following the rules or not following them.
On Wednesday morning at the headquarters of Rockstar Games, we took Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers in hand and spent two hours with "Grand Theft Auto IV," trying both. The result: a better understanding of what "GTA" rendered on cutting-edge video game hardware feels like and how it might impact fans and nonfans of the series in a whole new way.
"Grand Theft Auto IV" is only six weeks away from release, but only recently have the developers at Rockstar let reporters get their hands on the game. During MTV News' session, we explored the depths of the game's missions and the randomness of simulated city life that makes every tour of a Rockstar gaming metropolis a sandstorm of surprises.
We flew helicopters, we returned an in-game text message on our cell phone, we crashed lots of cars, we wondered if the game's version of the Statue of Liberty was supposed to look like Hilary Clinton (not intentional, Rockstar says), and we earned a five-star wanted rating on the series' newly expanded six-star police-alertness meter.
First we followed rules, or at least tried to. A Rockstar rep working the MTV News demo turned the lights out and loaded a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game, displaying it on a large flat-panel TV. He used a developer cheat to warp the game's protagonist, immigrant Niko Bellic, to a mission called "Jamaican Heat." This mission is available early in the game and involves Bellic escorting a gun dealing Rastafarian named Little Jacob to a drug deal gone bad.
These "GTA" games are certainly still not for kids. Little Jacob names the drugs he likes. The game's improved aiming controls offer smooth, precise techniques for shooting enemies in any body part. The radio stations still lampoon current events and skewer sacred cows. As ever, "GTA" is a crime story, unapologetically profane, irreverently sarcastic.
Following the rules had us pursuing a few more "GTA IV" missions, one involving a shoot-out in a brownstone in the game's stand-in for Brooklyn, another a shoot-out at a dock, and another that wasn't a shoot-out. This last mission, named "Call and Collect," featured Niko helping a dirty cop by shaking down a blackmailer. We did this — almost — without firing a shot, relying instead on the power of cell phone technology. The blackmailer was hanging out near a fountain in a small park, though the game didn't indicate exactly which person milling about in that area was him. Instead, Niko received a text message on his ever-available cell phone. With a few presses of the controller, we could call the texted number, causing the blackmailer's phone to ring. Once the call commenced, the goal was to walk Niko through a crowd of people, looking and listening for someone talking on their cell phone. We heard him first and eventually stood face to face, with Niko's and the blackmailer's phones to their ears, their voices echoing through the phones and the virtual thin air. The blackmailer almost ran. Niko's gun stopped him. And then Niko ran from the cops. Mission just about complete.
While we followed the rules of these missions, it became clear that Rockstar has tried to make "GTA IV" feel like less of a video game, a change that will likely excite fans and further horrify the series' critics. Shooting a policeman, a criminal or a civilian will cause them to tumble with convincing physics. Shot people look hurt. Cars handle more realistically and more distinctly, depending on the type, making driving feel more true to life. The improved physics and animation make the game feel more real, the player's actions more fraught with consequence. We stole a car, tried to evade police and fishtailed through an innocent crowd. Our car was damaged. The cops swarmed. And so while trying to drive up a hill, our vehicle simply stalled. The police won that one. When we stole a motorcycle in another mission, we were arrested immediately, without a shot being fired.
"GTA IV" has been designed with the intention to strip away a lot of its predecessors' video-gameness. Extra guns and health packs don't float a few inches above the ground, waiting to be walked through. They lie on flat surfaces, waiting to be picked up. A Rockstar rep told MTV News that the developers didn't even want those found items to glow, as they do now, because that's not realistic. But a concession was made so players could more easily identify what they could and should try to grab in this world.
"GTA IV" felt less like a video game because there is no "Mission Complete" graphical flourish as there had been in old games, just a brief instrumental riff to indicate a job's successful finish. Icons in the upper-right corner of the screen still display the player's equipped weapon and money, but they are reduced in size, subdued to blacks, grays and whites, doing as little as possible to distract the player's eyes.
In its missions, the game feels less like a game and more like interactive drama. It's a playable crime story, doing what it feels it should. Get in a car and the GPS system maps you to a destination — and, if you're in the right car or turn the option on in the game's pause menu, it talks you there as well. There's less getting lost, less struggling with the controls, less frustration, at least as judged by a two-hour session.
When the game still feels like a game, however, is when the rules aren't followed. That's the way that so many people play "GTA," when the games become a glorified "Pac-Man," a sandbox for mayhem or interactive Keystone Cops-style slapstick, pick your metaphor. The Rockstar rep had suggested the missions but humored our dalliances, which broke any illusions of this being completely hard-boiled fiction. We spotted an old roller-coaster and sprinted to its crest, then tumbled down its steepest drop. We sprinted on foot uncommonly fast, tiring less quickly than "San Andreas"' protagonist CJ, feeling like a bit of a superman. We took a helicopter for a joyride, in this case, in the PS3 build, traversing the city with haste, thrusting with the R2 button, rudder-turning with L1 and R1. The scenery was viewable from an optional in-cockpit, first-person view, the densely detailed Liberty City rolling by so quickly underneath that it's little wonder that the private jets parked at the game's airport are not usable. They'd be too fast for this game's amount of real estate. Mostly we used the helicopter to land on skyscrapers and in busy intersections, the rotor blades magically hurting no one — not the least of whom Niko, despite what would probably be classified as hard landings. This is not the way a real world would work, and that's a good thing.
Off its rails, the game can be cartoonish. We stood Niko at the foot of Liberty City's Statue of Happiness and fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the statue, sending tourists fleeing and denting the statue not a bit. A tourist had dropped a jug of milk and a loaf of bread. A policeman, sensing cause for alarm, approached and dodged a few shots of the RPG right in his direction. He had a gut but was nimble, and he had a backup fleet of choppers and, across the waterway, armored vans and SWAT teams to back him up, an imbalanced cartoon dynamic of cops vs. robber that saw justice again prevail.
As absurd as some of the moments in our session with the game could be, though, it was clear that "GTA IV" presents a more convincing world than its predecessors did. It presents a place less riddled with imperfect game design and awkward controls, replaced with improved technology and handling. The game lets the content — not the struggle to maneuver through that content — arrest the player's attention. It's a realer "GTA." Is it also a game? Of course. Is it still "just" a game? That depends on your perspective and what your hopes are for how something like this might impact those who play it.
"GTA IV" will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.
(On a more personal note to Rockstar: Our subways in the real New York City aren't dingy and graffiti-covered anymore. And the building where this story was filed houses MTV, not Music Entertainment TV, aka Me TV. What exactly is "GTA IV" trying to imply?)
Grand Theft Auto IV’ Surprise Features: Saturday Appointments And Slow-Mo Driving
Earlier today we posted my hands-on impressions of “Grand Theft Auto IV” at MTVNews.com.
While writing my story I ran out of room (read: forgot) to include two game details I hadn’t heard about before:
*Days Of The Week
*Slow-Mo Driving
Sorry, sorry, folks. Let me make it up to you. I’ll explain both features:
Days Of The Week - “GTA IV” has days of the week. It doesn’t have seasons. It doesn’t have months. But this cutting-edge power-house of a game has days of the week. All seven? Unconfirmed. But I can report it has Thursdays and Saturdays. Let’s assume it has the other five as well.
I discovered this while pausing a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game and spotting the word “Thursday” near the map. I asked the Rockstar PR rep who was overseeing my session to explain what exactly this could mean. He told me about a mission called “The Final Interview,” in which the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, will need to assassinate a lawyer. Niko will be able to apply for a job at the firm from the game’s Internet cafes, but will only be called in for an interview on a Saturday. That’s when Niko can show up and take care of business. On any other day of the week he won’t have access.
Now don’t you worry, “GTA” has not gone all “Animal Crossing” on you. You won’t need to wait until an actual Saturday or start tinkering with your console’s internal calendar. The days change in the game with the sunrises an sunsets that the series has had for years.
What more will be done with the days of the week? I don’t know. But I’m sure you can dream up plenty of possibilities: Niko going to a football game on Sunday, getting his laundry picked up on Wednesday, watching his favorite TV shows on a Tuesday. Actually, let’s hope for none of that.
Slow-Mo Driving- You can drive slowly in “GTA,” even while driving fast. Yes, indeed, the laws of time and space need not apply as the game will borrow a little from “Max Payne” or “Burnout” and let you drive in slow-motion. I learned this near the end of my demo as I drove a Hummer-like truck through part of “GTA IV”’s Manhattan stand-in, Algonquin. The Rockstar rep suggested that I hold down the B button on my 360 controller. This changed the camera view to an elevated, cinematic perspective. I could still drive in this camera view.
While driving from a cinematic perspective I was then encouraged to click the 360 controller’s left thumbstick. This slowed things down. I was thinking of “Burnout”’s after-touch system and stopped directing my truck. But the Rockstar rep told me I could keep driving. It was a little awkward to steer with the left stick while keeping it clicked in, but it seemed manageable.
I’m not sure why this feature was added. It seems to go against the vibe that I reported in my piece today of Rockstar making “GTA IV” feel less like a game than the “GTA” predecessors. But it will allow the game to be viewed in a more stylish, cinematic context.
I did not have a chance to test the limits of the slow-mo driving, to see if it would help during a high-speed chase or make me more capable of landing a stunt jump. But those seem like safe bets.
After I saw those two features I played the PS3 version of the game and flew a helicopter. But you read about that already. Didn’t you?
***
What more do you want to know about “GTA IV”? I played it for two hours, but I certainly didn’t see it all.
Earlier today we posted my hands-on impressions of “Grand Theft Auto IV” at MTVNews.com.
While writing my story I ran out of room (read: forgot) to include two game details I hadn’t heard about before:
*Days Of The Week
*Slow-Mo Driving
Sorry, sorry, folks. Let me make it up to you. I’ll explain both features:
Days Of The Week - “GTA IV” has days of the week. It doesn’t have seasons. It doesn’t have months. But this cutting-edge power-house of a game has days of the week. All seven? Unconfirmed. But I can report it has Thursdays and Saturdays. Let’s assume it has the other five as well.
I discovered this while pausing a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game and spotting the word “Thursday” near the map. I asked the Rockstar PR rep who was overseeing my session to explain what exactly this could mean. He told me about a mission called “The Final Interview,” in which the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, will need to assassinate a lawyer. Niko will be able to apply for a job at the firm from the game’s Internet cafes, but will only be called in for an interview on a Saturday. That’s when Niko can show up and take care of business. On any other day of the week he won’t have access.
Now don’t you worry, “GTA” has not gone all “Animal Crossing” on you. You won’t need to wait until an actual Saturday or start tinkering with your console’s internal calendar. The days change in the game with the sunrises an sunsets that the series has had for years.
What more will be done with the days of the week? I don’t know. But I’m sure you can dream up plenty of possibilities: Niko going to a football game on Sunday, getting his laundry picked up on Wednesday, watching his favorite TV shows on a Tuesday. Actually, let’s hope for none of that.
Slow-Mo Driving- You can drive slowly in “GTA,” even while driving fast. Yes, indeed, the laws of time and space need not apply as the game will borrow a little from “Max Payne” or “Burnout” and let you drive in slow-motion. I learned this near the end of my demo as I drove a Hummer-like truck through part of “GTA IV”’s Manhattan stand-in, Algonquin. The Rockstar rep suggested that I hold down the B button on my 360 controller. This changed the camera view to an elevated, cinematic perspective. I could still drive in this camera view.
While driving from a cinematic perspective I was then encouraged to click the 360 controller’s left thumbstick. This slowed things down. I was thinking of “Burnout”’s after-touch system and stopped directing my truck. But the Rockstar rep told me I could keep driving. It was a little awkward to steer with the left stick while keeping it clicked in, but it seemed manageable.
I’m not sure why this feature was added. It seems to go against the vibe that I reported in my piece today of Rockstar making “GTA IV” feel less like a game than the “GTA” predecessors. But it will allow the game to be viewed in a more stylish, cinematic context.
I did not have a chance to test the limits of the slow-mo driving, to see if it would help during a high-speed chase or make me more capable of landing a stunt jump. But those seem like safe bets.
After I saw those two features I played the PS3 version of the game and flew a helicopter. But you read about that already. Didn’t you?
***
What more do you want to know about “GTA IV”? I played it for two hours, but I certainly didn’t see it all.
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