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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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 Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Theft Auto IV previews
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/847/847102p1.html
| Quote: |
Grand Theft Auto IV UK Update
GTA returns after six months of spit and polish. We take in an extended look at the near-final Liberty City.
UK, January 23, 2008 - A lot can happen in six months. Just look back over the last half a year: England were knocked out of Euro 2008, the Spice Girls got back together and Dumbledore came out of the closet. So with that in mind we were anxious and excited in equal measure when we got the call from Rockstar to check out the latest version of Grand Theft Auto IV. After all, it's been six months since we last walked the streets of Liberty City, so could all of the little niggles we'd noticed in previous versions – the stuttering frame-rate, restricted freedom of the city and overall lack of GTA's signature humour – have all be ironed out in a few months?
Sometimes ordinary people explode. Natural causes.
Yes. There, we said it. Yes, the frame-rate has been smoothed out; yes, the city is now fully populated meaning you're able to explore however you see fit; and yes, the trademark satirical dialogue and larger-than-life characters are very much back. Grand Theft Auto IV looks and feels like a GTA game, but one that's been punted into the next generation. And while the build we saw wasn't final – the music was still placeholder and there are a couple of visual tweaks to be done over the next couple of months – everything else is in the game. Better still, any worry we had that Rockstar wouldn't deliver on a proper next-gen GTA experience was instantly dispelled within the first few moments of our latest 90-minute tour of Liberty City.
Starting off in Broker in the full light of day, the first of three missions we saw took place in a setting familiar to anyone who's salivated over every tidbit that has leaked from the Rockstar offices. Basking in the glorious midday sun, we join Niko who is on the phone to Brucie, a previously unseeen character in the GTA universe in charge of a nearby garage. A short-haired beefcake, he reminded us more than a little of the Biff character from the Back to the Future series, his mannerisms and flamboyant stupidity infused with characteristic Rockstar wit and pop-culture savvy. Indeed, not only is the humour of previous GTAs present and correct, it is also given an extra lease of life by the new game engine, with characters indulging in little Howard Hawks-esque bits of business during dialogue, be it Niko nonchalantly thumbing his nose as he listens or in some of the wilder gesticulations of the steroid-pumped Brucie as he tells us he wants Rivas, a police informant, silenced in time honoured GTA style – with the business end of a pistol.
Having received our task from Brucie it was out onto the road, where we got to witness the game's free-form driving for the first time. Any fears that may have been raised by previous builds of GTAIV that suffered from inconsistent frame-rates are largely assuaged – they've clearly been burning the midnight oil over at Rockstar these past six months, as the environments of Liberty City manage to zip along at an agreeable pace. There are the occasional lighting glitches and texture pop-ups, but there's still time for these minor problems to be ironed out. Plus, bearing in mind the sheer scale of the city – it's far greater in reality than we ever imagined – we didn't really notice after a short while, instead wallowing in the vastness of it all.
Back to cruising the streets, one interesting feature is every road in the game a name has been given a name. This adds an enhanced sense of location, plus Rockstar aren't one to miss an opportunity at a little pop-culture reference – Jim Jones and Hubbard Avenue were just two examples we noticed on our travels.
Things have certainly moved on from Chase HQ.
The mission at hand required the acquisition of a police car, and there were a number of ways to achieve this. Firstly, you can use the tried and tested method of stirring up a little mischief to attract attention from the law enforcement agencies, but the method we saw utilised one of the new features to GTA IV – the mobile phone. We'll go into more of the abilities of Niko's cell phone a little later, but for this mission it was simply a case of bringing it up via the D-pad and putting in a call to 911. After a little interaction with a hilariously adroit automated emergency service switchboard, and a few little white lies later, the police were on the scene, with Niko waiting with his gun by his side. Again, the open-ended world of GTA meant there were numerous ways to get access to the police car – the approach we saw involved enticing the police away from the car and then hot-footing it in. |
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=180050
| Quote: |
Impressive," the echoey voice in my head whispered as a sunset-soaked Liberty City dock appeared in front of us. We're back at Rockstar's London HQ gawping at the first we've seen of GTA IV since its infamous delay. What a difference six months makes.
Of course Rockstar's 100" TV might have something to do with it, but IV isn't looking dated considering it should have been out for a few months already. In fact, it's running visibly smoother at the beginning of our demo. Niko stands on the waterfront at a dock in Broker. It's the kind of rusty, tramp-ridden area of town you'd expect to find flaming barrels and lots of pigeons and that's exactly what surrounds us here.
"The game is in a very, very different place now," boldly claims our Rockstar tour operator for this particular trip. "It's improved in virtually every single way imaginable. When we first showed the game a year ago, we said it was really early - it was the earliest we've ever shown a GTA game. A year later and just three/four months away from release you're looking at a game that's virtually complete."
There's still a lot of polish going on behind the scenes and the painful process of licensing IV's typically massive list of tunes is in full swing. But what's in front of us right now is looking rock solid.
Even with all the gorgeous building and cloud reflections in the water, and impressive real-time shadows skulking across the street, the framerate is bang on. Which is very pleasing to see after a jittery 2007 demo left us a little concerned that GTA IV wouldn't be quite as fluid as we'd hoped. |
http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1844/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV/p1/
| Quote: |
But this recent GTA IV demo also featured Rockstar showing off a number of the new features that the title will introduce. First and foremost is the fact that GTA IV will be on next-generation consoles, so it’ll have a much better look. The graphics seem crisp and clean, with characters that look more lifelike than ever before. The characters come to life with individual personalities, such as Brucie, a wacky guy with tattoos and his shirt off, and who seems a little too enthusiastic to be working crime life with Niko.
However, the game’s characters are also going to be more realistic in their actions and movements, with Rockstar laying much praise at the feet of the technologists at NaturalMotion. The company has created software products that take in-game action far beyond that of a physics engine. In fact, it’s a good bet that Rockstar and NaturalMotion would probably hope you wouldn’t notice the characters’ movements at all—that they’re so…well, natural that you won’t find yourself remembering that you’re playing a game. After all, there’s nothing that’ll snap you out of an artificial world you’re supposed to be immersed within than to spot a character who’s still trying to stroll along at a quick pace while pressed face first against a wall, or who continues running right at you while squarely in the path of the many bullets you’re firing.
No, from our one-hour demo of GTA IV, we saw many cases of characters under the influence of NaturalMotion. In fact, in one situation, Niko and his cousin were literally under the influence: They went to a bar and came away seriously inebriated, stumbling out of the establishment and often into each other as they tried to make their way back to Niko’s vehicle. The swaying walk and how the characters interact with each other and objects in the world around them aren’t pre-rendered animations, but are rather algorithms that govern their behavior based on their drunken conditions. The last generation of games wowed us with realistic physics on bodies and objects, and helped make “ragdoll” a commonly used term for describing video-game character animation. It seems that this generation will step the realism up by making characters “perform” more independently, so that replaying the same mission four times won’t likely have you seeing the same movements four times. |
http://games.kikizo.com/news/200801/037_p1.asp
| Quote: |
Rockstar is starting to open up more about the game as it nears the end of its marathon development process, and is answering more and more of our burning questions. Today we'll reveal a much broader look around liberty City including our first unrestricted look at the entire game map. We got to see was parts of Liberty City we hadn't been taken to before, and best of all, we'll introduce you to some awesome new characters and missions in detail you won't find anywhere else.
We're also starting to get a much better overall impression of what Niko is like as a character now. Hardworking, risk-taking, calm, firm and determined, with a subtle sense of humour. One aspect we're also curious about is Niko with the ladies. At one stage of our latest demo we saw the words, "alternatively you can ask her on a date" appear on the HUD. Intriguing.
The technical quality of the game is now very solid. The frame rate is drastically improved since we first saw it, and Rockstar says it is basically what the final game is going to be running at - it's obviously not going to get any worse. It looks like sex, quite frankly, and the solid frame rate combined with the exceptional detail and really make things feel powerfully real. Rockstar is basically just polishing now - some lip-syncing, a few glitch fixes here and there. But essentially the game is now finished. Our hands-on will be in about a month from now, and then we'll have a review close to when the game is hitting shelves "before the end of April", with the exact date is still to be decided, says Rockstar. |
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/grand_theft_auto_4/preview-734.html
| Quote: |
Niko sits perched atop a high-rise building in the financial district of Liberty City, the wind swirling around him. He is crouched, poised, surveying everything around him. He can see hundreds of buildings in the distance - houses, skyscrapers, shops, towers, all in glorious detail. He can see cars driving below, oblivious to the chaos that is about to ensue. He can see a blinding blue sky, almost cloudless, and an aeroplane casually gliding overhead. He can see a river, one that dissects the city, glistening below. The Liberty City skyline is busy to say the least. But it is not the skyline or the beautiful view that Niko is interested in. Oh no. He is interested in the three unsuspecting Mafia henchmen whose job it is to keep people like Niko out of the building site they are protecting.
This is the third mission we've been shown during our behind closed doors super secret showing of a brand new hot off the press build of GTAIV on the Xbox 360 (the game will also be coming out on PS3), a title that's sure to bust the gaming world wide open when it's released sometime between February and the end of April this year. Hyped isn't the word. We'd say anticipation for GTAIV is beyond a level our mere mortal minds can truly comprehend. Is it unfair to expect Rockstar to fulfil those expectations? Nah.
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Pics
http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/planetgrandtheftauto.gamespy.com/images/articles/gta4screens/ss012308/steam.jpg
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http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/planetgrandtheftauto.gamespy.com/images/articles/gta4screens/ss012308/cop.jpg
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Last edited by powerarmour on Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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Finally we know the reason Sony were so quite about GTA4 :-
| Quote: |
Rockstar Screws Microsoft on GTA IV
"We published an article a few weeks back called Microsoft in GTA IV Panic in which we detailed how the industry giant was stressing about the number of PS3 consoles the release of GTA IV would ship over Xbox 360s. We argued that this was evident in the way Microsoft had gone about marketing the Xbox 360 version of the game. We also pointed out how Sony had, it appeared, done very little in response (you’ll have to read it for the full explanation).
Now we know why.
As you have no doubt read, it has come to light that a new version of the PS3 will be made available in time for the launch of GTA IV. It is the 40GB model of the console, but it comes bundled with GTA IV. This is a big, big deal. Especially as the package doesn’t cost any more money than the unbundled version of the console.
The deal is only officially announced for a UK release, but we’ve been given the tip-off that Australia will receive the deal too… in fact we’ve heard unconfirmed reports that some retailers are already promoting it. And if it is making it all the way to little ‘ol Oz, then it should hit every other major territory as well.
This is a massive blow for Microsoft, who has already lowered the Xbox 360’s price point in Europe, and paid US$50 million for downloadable content in an attempt to lure the 12 million-odd PS2 owning GTA fans away from the Sony brand. Given the money and marketing that Microsoft has thrown at Rockstar, the console manufacturer may have expected to get some support back from the developer. On the contrary, Rockstar has, deliberately or not, undermined Microsoft’s chances of not only shipping a bucket-load of consoles, but potentially from coming out on top of the console wars.
Make no mistake; this play by Sony is the most explosive strike yet in the ongoing war between the two console makers.
We’ll probably never know whether Sony paid megabucks for this deal or not, but the facts are on the table. Sony’s most affordable version of the PS3 will come bundled with GTA IV. Currently, in Australia, that model retails for $699 (and has room to move should Sony feel the need)." |
http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Home/NEWS/NEWS/tabid/1482/Default.aspx?CID=cc15aa90-e533-470a-a6ac-f0e47946bc45 |
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powerarmour
--[papameister]--
Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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OXM UK Review 10/10 :-
| Quote: |
Amazingly realistic world
Stunning action set pieces
Geniunely engrossing storyline
Hugely entertaining multiplayer
Vast in every respect
10/10
Awesome things from the review
360 DLC is apparently 10 hours long.
Your ingame mobile creates radio interference.
Thunder Storms.
The Stooges on the soundtrack.
In some missions you have to decide who lives and dies. 'more time agonising over one particularly tough choice than we did over harvesting Bioshock's little sisters'
Headshot drivers who fall on the horn and the accelerator.
In one screenshot, I count 21 cars at a set of traffic lights, and I can't see behind.
Achievement for assasination missions called 'Assassin's Greed'
About the mobile
'You start out with Roman's cast-off mobile, good only for text and calls, but a later upgrade is much more useful. You're sent photos of assassination targets, can snap photos of your own to check on any police car computer, and can buy new ringtones and themes from your computer'
Cabs
'Being able to take cabs everywhere is a huge time-saver. albeit not cheap. The authentic view of the back of the dirver's head and the city through the window...'
Grumbles (pre-final build)
'Cover system stumbling in box-filled environments'
'Slightly over-enthusiastic target lock-on'
'The occasional pop-up'
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Seawolf
Ultra nForced
Joined: 23 Jun 2002
Posts: 14877
Location: In circles
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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I just bought the GTA Collection as I'd never actually owned a GTA game before.
Not really into the criminal stuff overall but GTA4 sounds quality. |
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powerarmour
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Mod Squad
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 11158
Location: Surrey, UK 'In Dead Space'
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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The game does sound amazing, I'm genuinely excited about it now.
It definitely has the potential to be 'The Best Game Ever™' |
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Seawolf
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Joined: 23 Jun 2002
Posts: 14877
Location: In circles
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| Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry it'll never take that title from Crackdown 
But it might just come close. |
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