AMD announced recently that they are releasing the next version of their Catalyst driver, 8.12. It’s currently available for download from their site. The new version of the driver includes speed increases for some of the most popular games, along with improved video transcoding and filters.

On the other side of things, Nvidia’s new 180.84 beta drivers have been released in response to issues with GTA IV performance, and while some users are reporting up to an up to 10 FPS frame rate improvement, most are reporting no change at all.

In some cases, users have been reporting that the frame rate has actually even dropped, or that the new drivers have decreased stability.

Given the fact that the drivers are still very much in beta, it’s probably best to skip them for now.

[via Tom's Hardware]

You know how in trailers of terrible “family” movies there’s always a part where the announcers says, “Here we go again!” in that dumb “enthusiastic announcer guy voice”? Think of that right now, only juxtaposed with the sights and sounds of Liberty City, for it has been revealed that Grand Theft Auto IV uses SecurROM DRM. That’s the same DRM that upset so many would-be Spore players (but didn’t bother Fallout 3 players).

Straight from a Rockstar rep:

GTA IV PC uses SecuROM for protecting our EXE… Product Activation is a one time only online authentication when installing the game. GTA IV has no install limits for the retail disc version of the game, and that version can be installed on an unlimited number of PCs by the retail disk owner.

So, if we’re to believe this shadowy Rockstar fellow, the actual restrictions imposed by SecuROM seem to be minimal. That is to say there are none, as all it’s used for is to validate your CD key. Certainly that seems reasonable. You should also know that the game requires Games For Windows Live—how in God’s name did Microsoft manage to foist that upon savvy PC gamers?—is required to play the game.

Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC is to be released on December 2. SecuROM or not, expect to find cracks available within two seconds of its release, if not before then. Such is life.

via Rock, Paper, Shotgun

GTA IV is set for a PC release on December 2 and Steam is currently offering Vice City for anyone who pre-orders before then. What are you waiting for?

Pre-order

A round of applause for Eurogamer, which did the thankless task of testing out the NXE’s HDD Install option and comparing it to normal method of playing games off the DVD. Several games of all shapes and sizes were checked, including Gears of War 2 (or should I say Gears of Bore, yuck), GTA IV and Halo 3, and found that, on average, you’re likely to shave a few seconds off your loading time by installing a game to the hard drive.

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There’s a nifty, jargon-free interviewover at Variety with Rockstar Games’ Dan Houser. (Let’s just call Houser the czar of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.) In it, which you really ought to read in its entirety, Houser explains the differences between Japanese and American gaming preferences (and how that affects GTA), how the industry has moved beyond all-Japanese developers and Japanese-style games to one where Western developers have finally gotten their act together, to the upcoming DLC for GTA IV.

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Downloadable content (DLC) for the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV should be available this November. Eurogamer, in true Woodward and Bernstein style, claim to have a source who swears up and down that the DLC is shaping up nicely, and will be comprised of two, 10-hour episodes.

Considering many games don’t even top out at 20 hours these days, gamers should be in for a treat in two months’ time.

That is all.

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VG247 seems to have the inside scoop that Rockstar will release DLC for GTA IV sometime in January or February. There are mixed signals as to when the content will arrive since MS claims the “first episodes” will be out in “autumn” while T2 says it will arrive in their Q1, which is November to January. We’ll have to wait this one out.

EA has been after Take-Two since late last year. The process went public in February with Take Two letting EA’s offer expire five times. Now, EA has finally given up on its attempts to acquire Take Two at around $25-26 per share. The deal would have been worth around $2 billion, however Take Two has held fast that the offer was too low.

It looks like EA is finally going to listen and take a second look. EA may be the world’s largest video game publisher, but having the Grand Theft Auto franchise (not to mention BioShock) would certainly be an impressive feather in its hat. Take-Two and EA expect to enter into a confidentiality agreement, formalizing the process to “evaluate strategic alternatives”.

Despite breaking sales records left and right, GTA IV didn’t cause any measurable uptick in console sales. That probably hurts Sony more than Microsoft, seeing as though the GTA series has, since GTA III, been seen as a PlayStation franchise; Sony was expecting PS3-holdouts to see the game and buy a system. Didn’t happen.

In fact, sales of the Xbox 360 version nearly doubled those of the PS3 version, 867,000 to 443,000. A function of install base, sure, but still not something Sony wants to see parroted around the press, on blogs and message boards for the next few days.

An NPD analyst puts it quite plainly:

The continued success of GTA IV is not translating into big hardware sales for the PS3 or the 360. But there may yet be a lift in June due to gift-giving for Father’s Day and graduations

Sure, a bounce because of Father’s Day. Pretty sure my dad is too busy, you know, working, to be playing video games.

So there, no Halo effect.

I eagerly await PS3 fanboys—ahem, Josh—to now accuse me of hating the system, when the truth of the matter is I couldn’t give a damn. And why should I?

Grand Theft Auto IV is still among the top five torrented video games on Blackcats, the premiere, video game-specific, private BitTorrent tracker. With something like 970 seeders (the numbers fluctuate by the minute it seems) between both the PAL and NTSC version, the game trails only the just-released Race Driver Grid and Enemy Territory Quake Wars.

And did everyone beat the game yet? I got up to the first mission where you’re allowed into Manhattan and haven’t played since. I tire very easily of games these days, sad face.

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EA’s self-imposed deadline vis-à-vis its proposed acquisition of Take-Two expired Friday with nary a peep from either company. EA, fond of money, offered to buy Take-Two, the publisher of GTA, back in February, with the two companies going back and forth like little children ever since. Well, mainly EA; Take Two has been fairly quiet throughout, telling AFP that any further action is “in [EA's] court.” Speaking of balls being in courts, just two hours till game seven of Cavs/Celtics. I’m excited.

So yeah, numbers. EA, remember, offered Take-Two the equivalent of $25.74. Meanwhile, Take-Two closed at $27.10 Friday—on what planet would shareholders accept a bid for less than the present value of the stock?

I’d expect EA to murmur something tomorrow.

Admit it, some of you did this, too. You just didn’t have the guts to make a video. Some language NSFW, so find your headphones.

We get the point, Blendtec. You have a kickass blender that blends just about everything we fawn over these days. Of course your blender is going to obliterate a copy of GTA IV. Get over it and think of something new.