There have been a few reports of GTA IV crashing on PS3s. The problem has been more or less identified as a problem with 60GB PS3 units, and Rockstar has advised that erasing your game data and reinstalling the game is the solution. Hmm. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing people tried to avoid by buying consoles in the first place?
If anyone is curious about the difference in graphics between the two consoles, Gamevideos released this video comparing the two side-by-side. I can’t really tell which one I like better. My opinion changes with each scene. What do you guys think?
Welcome to the Unreasonable Stance, where our own John Biggs takes the minority opinion on a tech matter and defends it with convenient data, spun numbers, fanboyism, and insults until he proves, without a doubt, that those that disagree with him are filthy mouth-breathers.
Like all men of a certain age, I love violence, drugs, and fast cars. But I definitely don’t love Grand Theft Auto IV. Want to know why? Because I’ve become fairly well-versed in the violence and depravity the game promises to simulate — a set of skills I learned, actually, from playing Vice City and the other episodes in this vaunted series — and, in looking at the game, now, from a dispassionate and uninhibited standpoint, I find that it fails on a number of basic levels. The student has, it seems, surpassed the teacher and I worry that others will soon find themselves in the same situation.
Well, a little ole game by Rockstar was released last night and I’m positive some of you have skipped out on work or class to play this morning. If that’s the case and you’re taking a tiny break between killing prostitutes or blowing things up then steer clear because I’m about to reveal a complete walkthrough of the game. Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned.
ROMAN’S MISSIONS
The Cousins Bellic
A nice easy introduction to GTA’s driving. Drive to Roman’s place with your drunk cousin in tow. If you fail this, you’ve got a long road ahead.It’s your Call
Another simple mission, and your first chance to use your mobile phone. Just watch out for the loan sharks and phone Roman when they arrive. Get back to the depot. Easy.Three’s A Crowd
Another mission with the loan sharks. Pick up Mallory at the subway. Then go pick up Michelle, then take her back to her apartment. Call Roman and he’ll tell you to buy some clothes – just don’t spend too much, because money’s tight at the moment.
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“That” game comes out today, I think, and one of the best parts of its launch is seeing how the regular, non-gaming press handles it. For example, the New York Times has a cute little story describing gamers’ “craving” for the game. All the bases are covered, including the numbers (five million copies expected to be sold in the next two weeks; the industry as a whole is already up 63 percent over last year’s numbers), pithy analyst quotes (”People say that if consumers are down to their last $50, the last three things they’ll buy are milk, eggs and video games”), and man-on-the-street perspectives (one college student would give up his cellphone to buy it, but not food—sensible!)
Two years after it was announced and delayed, GTA IV launches tonight with little marketing and big dreams. It’s expected to sell 9 million copies at launch and make $400 million in the first week for Rockstar Games and Take-Two who is currently fending off EA in the hopes that GTA IV will up the ante. EA has already extended their offer but dropped their initial offering of $26/share to just under that. There’s a lot riding on this game. Based on earlier reviews posted today, Take-Two’s stock is pricing at around $26.47/share, but went as high as $27.10.
But their lack of blitzkrieg marketing is a testament to the fanbase and Rockstar’s desire to keep things under wraps until launch. They want the hype to be created by someone other than themselves. They know the deal. They’ve been working on it for over two years. Of course, the game leaked onto the Web last week, but that shouldn’t hurt their numbers in any way. They’ve virtually done zero marketing for this game, which amazes me. Aside from the murals on buildings and some guerilla marketing on the streets, it’s been relatively quiet. You may recall seeing Halo 3 promotions at Burger King, 7-11 and other random places, but I don’t really think MS/Bungie needed to drop that much dough. The game was going to sell no matter what. The demand is even higher since it’s going across both next-gen platforms and not just the Playstation. The addition of a new multiplayer mode will surely crash Xbox servers tonight. When it does, blame Microsoft and not Rockstar. They know the deal, but MS isn’t listening.
The franchise has been shrouded with controversy for years over one thing or another. Senator Hillary Clinton being one of its biggest critics. Most of you will remember the uproar over the mini-game involving some sex acts with sellers of sex in San Andreas. But it’s mostly the violence that occurs in the games that get everyone into an uproar. I was just reading the latest issue of GQ on the plane this morning and Sam Houser was interviewed and he had some pretty compelling arguments as to why game lobbyists are a bunch of dumbasses. Ok, he didn’t say they were dumbasses, but I am. I can’t directly pull quotes because I forgot it on the plane, but he drew comparisons to The Sopranos. Anything that’s happened in any GTA title has happened in an episode of the now defunct mob drama. And it’s true. There isn’t anything we haven’t already seen before. I will agree that it’s not right for kids, but that’s not really Rockstar’s problem. Parents should be regulating and that’s just a whole other can of worms that I’d rather steer clear of. I also think it’s stupid that Rockstar had to edit the game for Australia. Why would people even want to buy an edited version?
Who’s excited? Anyone standing on line for the midnight launch?
I’m not a fan of UPS, despite it starting in my hometown. They’re late, and when they show up at my apartment with a package (at least once a month) they knock so faintly my dog can’t hear it. Also, they apparently steal video game shipments.
At least three UPS employees have been fired in the last 24 hours for stealing copies of GTA IV out of shipping boxes. I’ve always wondered if this kind of theft happened, and now we know it does.
Today is a day of GTA IV fever, and I won’t be taking part until it dies down some. You people frighten me.
Yes, as we all know, Grand Theft Auto IV was leaked onto the Internet earlier this week. But just how many people have grabbed the game, roughly, from some of the bigger sites out there?
Blackcats-Games, one of the biggest private, games-only BitTorrent trackers, has 45,747 users, of which a total of 4,207 users have snatched either the PAL or NTSC version. So, about 9 percent of those guys have grabbed the game.
TorrentLeech.org, which is more of a general purpose torrent site, has seen a combined total of 8,334 downloads. No idea how many users there.
The Pirate Bay, with who-knows-how-many users, and temporarily re-named “Liberty Bay” to celebrate the game’s “release,” makes it difficult to determine how many downloads have occurred. Right now, the NTSC version has about 160 seeders. But that number is essentially meaningless, given how many people “hit-and-run” torrents there.
Then there’s the Usenet downloads. I imagine more than a few people got the game from there.
Just some Saturday kickin’ about, is all.
And no, I do not have any invites to the aforementioned private sites.
Why all the hullabaloo about this game? It’s just a murder simulator, people! but if you must be there to get it the day it comes out, your favorite retailer has probably made an announcement on how and where to go about it. Best Buy has a store list, Wal-Mart’s internal plan was leaked, and just lately GameStop released a 68-page PDF of all stores with midnight openings.
Check if your local mega-shop is participating in the fanfare. I’ll be here, playing Kid Icarus.
Video switched. Real gameplay in this one after about a minute.
Don’t ask me where it came from, but here is a little splash of GTA action. Box shots, intro/gameplay video, and the last page of a review scanned from the Xbox 360 World review.
Excellent. I figured the sources probably did not want credit (given the circumstances), but if you are sourced and want a link, email tips and we’ll sort you out.
Does that make me bad? Sadly it’s only in PAL but I’m going to give a shot regardless. You’ll be able to find this yourself without much trouble, but Kotaku has calls in to R* to figure out how the heck this leaked.
When GTA IV comes out, you’ll have your choice of Xbox 360 or PS3 flavors. The PS3 version reportedly has a five-minute install before you can play, whereas the Xbox version is ready to go out of the box, and Microsoft wants yo to know about it.
The Xbox team sent out an email to its mailing list stating some fairly snarky things, such as by the time you’re ready for the title screen on the PS3, you could have boosted a dozen cars on the Xbox.
I’m waiting for the Xbox version myself, just because I prefer the Xbox to the PS3, but I don’t condone this kind of cheap shot. Stay classy, Microsoft.
I’m not watching it so there’s no comment from me on this one, but feel free to leave yours.
The PS3 version of GTA IV will require a five-minute install. While five minutes isn’t a big deal, especially given how long we’ve already waited for the game, there’s bound to be the “I don’t like being forced to do anything” crowd. That said, most of the crowd on CVG seems to be cool with the install, especially if it helps with things like pop-up and so forth—apparently the Xbox 360 version gives you the option to install, which cuts down on things like load time and pop-up&mdash. It’s no 20-minute install, like Devil May Cry was. That upset gamers quite a bit.
Rather than delving into all the financial aspects the WSJ article has on the current state of EA’s potential takeover of Take-Two, I’ll paraphrase and dish out what’s important. Take-Two currently has no other bids than the $2 billion EA is offering them. That puts Take-Two’s shares at about $26/share, which is up roughly 50 percent since EA publicly announced their intentions to take over the software company.
But without any other suitors, Take-Two is holding out until after the launch of GTA IV to boost their worth, which has been their main arguing point over EA’s offer. They’ve lambasted EA because GTA IV is expected to sell roughly $400 million in the first week. Take-Two is adamanetly telling shareholders to wait it out. EA’s tender offer expires tomorrow at midnight. If EA is unable to sway the shareholders to sell then they have the option to extend the offer and possibly raise their offer. I’d say it’s in TT’s shareholder’s best interest to wait it out.
Last week Rockstar released screen shots for various levels and modes of multiplayer to everyone’s delight. Well, details regarding those screen shots have emerged for Team and Race modes. Enjoy.
This could be the real deal, but then again, others thought this was the real deal, too.
As we approach the game’s April 29 release date, Rockstar keeps adding and adding content to the Grand Theft Auto IV Web site. A couple of new radio stations were added either last night or the night before (I try to check the site one a day, because I’m a dork), including Electro Choc (electronic/dance music) and Liberty City Hardcore (punk nonsense). There’s also a call-in radio show “The Men’s Room with Bas and Jeremy,” who look awfully like Opie & Anthony. I know they’re supposed to be in the game (they’ve admitted as much in recent days), but I have no idea if “The Men’s Room” is actually them.
Probably the only game I’ve looked forward to since junior high.
