What have I got left to achieve? Everything. We are only scratching at the surface of games' potential as a creative medium.

Fantastic to hear this kinda stuff from a guy like Houser.

Rockstar boss: Games industry has ‘limitless’ potential [MCVUK via VG247]

"My son Peter was never really aggressive, but once he got into video games, 'GTA' being one of them, he started to push, hit, talk back, and just become a different person," said Stockton parent Greg Within, 46.

Stockton's Mark Wellis, 19, said he was involved in an altercation a week after he purchased "Grand Theft Auto IV." At the time he noticed that he had become less sensitive to violence.

Wellis doesn't completely blame the game for his violence, but it did affect him.

This is the stuff of Pulitzers.
GTAIV Criticized [Recordnet via GamePolitics]

I think it [Grand Theft Auto IV] is made extremely well and is a fun game... People always use that as an example of violence in games. But I don't think there's anyone who takes their job as seriously as the guys who make that game. You only have to look at all the detail in there.

That's a pretty high compliment right there, Rockstar!

Itagaki Talks GTAIV [CVG]

It's not possible as far as I'm aware, but that would be a good question to ask Rockstar. Rockstar and Xbox have only said there are exclusive episodes coming this fall to Xbox 360. I might put that up for a bit of wishful thinking on their [Sony's] end.

Sounds like a "sorta no" and a "go ask Rockstar."
Aaron Talks [Gamasutra]

One of the problems with the 360, and it affects games like Grand Theft Auto if you think about how much content we put in the actual machine, is the fact that they don't have a significantly larger storage medium than the previous systems. It's a slightly bigger DVD disc.

I think that the 360 is going to have to get 'round this issue we're talking about. I can think of various ways they can do it. Hopefully, they're going to adopt one of those in the next year or so, because it's going to become more of an issue. If we're filling up the disc right now, where are we going? It's not like our games are going to get any smaller. I think that issue's on the table with a bunch of games right now. I'm sure they'll come through with an intelligent solution.

kotaku.com/tag/not:gta-iv

....

Thanks. ShortList magazine has revealed that Ricky Gervais performs a three-minute stand-up routine in a GTA IV comedy club. The track wasn't just audio recorded but motion captured for 100% authenticity. Well...almost 100%. Gervais admits: "...I look slightly tougher." But other than that small quibble, it's Gervais. Looking deadly.

Thanks Chris!

Of course, to call games as vastly ambitious as Vice City or San Andreas mere 'expansion packs' seems childish, but nevertheless, the downloadable content (DLC) coming for the Xbox 360 version of IV has repositioned those games in just this way. DLC so far has meant the odd new car, jumper of bit of horse armour...

...but GTA IV is set to completely redefine the idea with expansions that are to GTA IV what Vice City or San Andreas were GTA III. Yes, Rockstar is clearly hinting at new downloadable cities; and the chances of them being London, Vice City or SA again are slim to none. So that's new as in brand new. GTA IV's Liberty City is the beginning. Think about that and be excited.

So while it's certainly not impossible for Rockstar to cook up more cities for GTA IV's expansion packs, it's a difficult enough proposition that this rumor comes off as a bit tough to swallow (though, hey, we sure do hope that it's true).

Rumour - GTA IV DLC Will Be New Cities?!?! [GamerVision] [image]

Okay guys, I have some news for you regarding what was edited from the AU release. I just gave Take2 a call (a friggin expensive 1902 number!) and this is exactly what I was told:

"Well in regards to what Rockstar have removed for the Australian release, as far as we're aware there was only one sexually violent cut-scene which Rockstar felt would cause the game to be Refused Classification. Unfortunately we're not able to go into specifics until after the game has been released but I can tell you that the scene involves a weapon being inserted into an enemies private area during a mission where Niko is taking revenge after one of his close friends was forced into sexual intercourse during his stay in prison."

Seriously I thought he was joking ....I was like LOL you're joking right? He says "No. This is what Rockstar felt needed to be removed from the game for it's Australian release. We were recently given permission to release this information because as we understand, Rockstar originally made a press release stating that the game would be released uncut world wide. We felt it would be misleading not to release the information".

A Swingers baseball cap
A Swingers baseball T
Two GTA IV stickers
A foam GTA IV four-finger
A mousepad from in-game cybercafe tw@
An I <8LC lapel pin
A N1KO license plate

Now I just need to figure out if I should give this stuff out on the site or keep it for this year's Funde Razor Child's Play party as a giveaway.

If you're jonseing for GTA content with about two weeks left till the game hits hop over to our round up of impressions and details.

Story
You play Niko Bellic, an Eastern European who has been lured to the US by his cousin Roman who claimed to be wildly successful here. Roman lied. He just runs a small taxi company and needs tough guy Niko to help him in his fight against debt collectors and people who he's generally rubbed the wrong way.

City
Liberty City, modeled after New York, is actually smaller than San Andreas from GTA III. Broken into 4 districts, players will enjoy pseudo-areas Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (Bronx) , Algonquin (Manhattan), and Alderney (New Jersey).

Single Player
You can change Niko's clothes, but you can't change Niko. GTA IV will not allow huge character customization in this mode. That's for multiplayer. But it isn't so bad playing Niko. He's a modern man who takes the occasional cab, uses the internet to read more about his targeted hits, and knows to hide in cover during firefights while shooting with far better (over the shoulder) mechanics than his predecessors.
Rockstar has claimed gameplay as long as 100 hours. A play-through by Xbox World 360 was completed in 25 hours without sidequests, and estimated to run an average player around 40 hours for the main campaign and another 25 for sidequests (that's 65 hours total). Every GTA IV day is 48 minutes of real time. That means a 40 hour game will take roughly 133 days of game time, or a little over 4 months.

Multiplayer

Here's all the multiplayer...that we know about. Pull out your trusty cellphone and dial up the fun (but keep that party to 16 people, m'kay?).

Race
•Players race from one point to another with cars, boats and helicopters
•In Free Race mode, it's a start to finish race. In Canonball Run mode, players must hit checkpoints along the way

GTA Race
• It's Race mode with weapons that spawn along the way. Plus you traverse on foot.
• A tutorial mode is included.

Team Deathmatch
• Two to eight teams battle. As opposing teams are taken out, the winning team takes their cash.

Hangman's NOOSE
• Four players attempt to escort crime boss while avoiding SWAT team attack. Online only.

Team Mafiya Work
• Two to eight teams take separate contracts like stealing cars and escorting wanted men. The team who completes the most contracts in a certain time wins. Teams can also attack other teams.

Team Car Jack City
• Two to eight teams steal marked cars that spawn on the map. Whichever team delivers the most to the chop shop (in the best condition, or containing drug bonuses) wins the most cash and wins the game.

Turf War
• Two teams capture control points (or "bases") in a game very similar to Team Fortress 2. Controlling points equals cash. Cash equals winning.

Cops 'n Crooks
• Two teams only. One team are crooks who need to escort their boss safely. One team are cops who must bust the boss.
• All for One mode works as described above. One for All mode ditches the boss, and the crooks must escape with no respawning.

Co-op Campaign
• Our own Brian Crecente described it only as a "short co-op campaign," not a full co-op game ala Crackdown.

Other Interesting Multiplayer Tidbits:
• Characters can level up, peaking at level 10.
• All games are played on same Liberty City map.
• Liberty City map is fully explorable in all game modes.

Rockstar Social Club
Rockstar has announced a website called the Rockstar Social Club, and the first game it supports will be GTA IV. Among plenty of other services, the club will track the first player to complete 100% of the game and the fastest single-player participants over time.

GTA IV Music and Amazon
If you like any of the 200 songs that play in the game and have signed up at the Rockstar Social Club, just text message a special code through your in-game cellphone. Over time, a playlist will be built from the selected tracks which can be purchased DRM-free through Amazon for about $2 a pop.

FAQ

What's the deal with downloadable content?
Extra "episodes" will be exclusive to the Xbox 360. Sony has said that PlayStation 3 owners will get some type of DLC.

What's better about GTA IV?
• No load screens, ever (UPDATE: Stephen Totilo reports that the game indeed has sporadic, brief loads. However, there are no actual loading screens. Word fun.)
• Autosaving
• Liberty City will remember the damage you've caused.
• Euphoria engine brings AI physics to falling, getting hit, etc.
• Every street is named
• GPS support
• Targeting no longer sucks.

What vehicles will the game feature?
Cars, motorcycles, boats and helicopters. No planes.

Will there be storyline co-op?
As we said above, yes, but it won't be nearly the complete game.

What's in GTA IV Special Edition?
As explained by Rockstar:
• A customized Grand Theft Auto IV metal safety deposit box with keys.
• The Art of Grand Theft Auto IV. This 68 page book contains never-before-seen production artwork from Grand Theft Auto IV.
• The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV. This CD features select new material from top artists that can only be found on this release.
• An exclusive Rockstar keychain for the safety deposit box keys.
• A limited edition Rockstar duffel bag with vibrant orange lining.

How much will Special Edition cost me?
$89.99

Well I'm not paying no $89.99.
Then you ain't getting no GTA IV Special Edition.

What was that reference from?
Caddyshack.

We'll try to keep this page updated with the latest news, so be sure to bookmark it and come back every now and again.

Be sure to also check out:
GTA4 Hands-On: The World is Yours
GTA IV: Reinventing a World

Sources other than Kotaku: [Official GTA Site] [MTV Multiplayer] [Wikipedia] [GTAIV.net]

Hit the jump for 3 quasi-games that will bring a few minutes of fun to a hardcore GTA fan. Oh, and the spastic theme music is coming from the third box. Click "beverage menu" to start and things get a lot quieter.

The new modes, all described in detail on the jump, include Team Mafiaya Work, Team Car Jack City, Turf War and Race.

Hit the jump for a run down of the ones we already have heard about as well.

Newly Detailed Modes
Team Mafiaya Work: (2 to 8 teams) You're a member of a crew doing contract work for the mafiya—including such plum gigs as escorting wanted men, picking up MacGuffins and stealing cars. Work as a team to complete contracts before the time period ends and get the rewards. You'll probably want to do your best to scupper the other crew's work as well. Each contract you complete gives your team cash, and the crew with the most cash at the end of the round wins.

Team Car Jack City: (2 - 8 teams) Cars spawn parked around the map and the teams must steal then and take them to a drop off point. Teh cash teams get for dropping of stolen vehicles depends on their condition—teams get less cash the more damaged they are. The exception to this are special bonus cars, stuffed with drugs, which five a set amount of cash on delivery no matter how damaged they are. Your crew has to get hold of whatever vehicles the boss wants. Whichever crew makes the most money wins. Simple.

Turf War: (2 teams only) A timed capture-the-base mode. There are a number of bases around the map that you have to take by stand on on them for a short period of time. The more players that are on a base, the faster it can be captures. The more bases that your team owns, the faster your team's cash score increases. If the rival gang is on or near a base, you won't be be able to take control of it—so do what you can to try and... displace them. The team with the most cash at the end of the round wins.

Race: Race to the finish through each checkpoint in order. If you take a wrong turn or mess up in some way, you can respawn your vehicle on the last checkpoint you passed. There is a large selection of races for cars, boats , and helicopters—you can choose laps and vehicle class/type. This mode has two sub-modes: Free Race and Cannonball Run.

Free race are point-to-point races. First one to reach the end point inws.

Cannonball Run are races where you have to reaverse several checkpoints any way you can.

Modes we knew about
GTA Race: Rockstar North's twist on the concept of a race. Host selects vehicle type (each racer selects his or her specific vehicle after that), race, number of laps, and time limit. Despite ordered checkpoints, players can go anywhere in the city at any time. Do you want a straightforward race from start to finish or do you want to create a roadblock and shoot rockets at your fellow racers? The choice is yours - each player does it slightly differently. 16 players max.

Cops N Crooks: 2 teams, 2 vastly different goals. The cops can see the crooks on their radar but the the crooks can only see the escape point making this the ultimate cat and mouse situation. For the first time, players can get a chance to be on the other side of the law in a Grand Theft Auto with Cops n' Crooks. A team of "crooks" need to get their boss to safety, as the team of "cops" pulls out every trick in the book to try and stop this from happening. Again, 16 players max.

Hangman's NOOSE: Co-op in Grand theft Auto IV is a 4 person affair. Each mode is a short, story-based mission you must complete with your friends. In Hangman's NOOSE you must get crime boss to an extraction point alive. First, several of Liberty City's finest need to be dealt with and then transport must be secured. Will you take Kenny to safety in an armored car? How about a motorcycle or attack chopper? The choice is all yours.

Team Deathmatch: Classic deathmatch done Grand Theft Auto style. Go anywhere, do anything: the whole city is yours. 16 players max, teams can be made in any configuration. Weapons on the ground can be configured by the host. Capitalism rules here: the team with the most money in the end is the winner.

If you are up for long reads check out all of our impressions of GTA IV so far:

Hands on With GTA Multiplayer: City of Chaos
GTA4 Hands-On: The World is Yours
Rockstar Experimenting with Episodic Content
GTA IV: Reinventing a World
Grand Theft Auto IV

Grand Theft Auto IV Multiplayer Fact Sheet

Supports up to 16 players in all adversarial modes except co-op, which is a maximum of 4

Players are ranked from 0-10, picking up money in multiplayer increases rank

Options in each mode are dictated by the host - among the options they can change are location of the matches (can be entire city, one borough at a time, or even small sections within the borough), types of weapons available, time of day, weather, use of auto-aim, police presence, NPC presence, and tons more.

GTA Race sees the host choosing the class of automobile, each player can choose a car within that class. Races can include helicopter and boat races as well.

Multiplayer Modes:
Team Deathmatch
Classic deathmatch done Grand Theft Auto style. Go anywhere, do anything: the whole city is yours. 16 players max, teams can be made in any configuration. Weapons on the ground can be configured by the host. Capitalism rules here: the team with the most money in the end is the winner.

GTA Race
Rockstar North's twist on the concept of a race. Host selects vehicle type (each racer selects his or her specific vehicle after that), race, number of laps, and time limit. Despite ordered checkpoints, players can go anywhere in the city at any time. Do you want a straightforward race from start to finish or do you want to create a roadblock and shoot rockets at your fellow racers? The choice is yours - each player does it slightly differently. 16 players max.

Cops N Crooks
2 teams, 2 vastly different goals. The cops can see the crooks on their radar but the the crooks can only see the escape point making this the ultimate cat and mouse situation. For the first time, players can get a chance to be on the other side of the law in a Grand Theft Auto with Cops n' Crooks. A team of "crooks" need to get their boss to safety, as the team of "cops" pulls out every trick in the book to try and stop this from happening. Again, 16 players max.

Hangman's NOOSE
Co-op in Grand theft Auto IV is a 4 person affair. Each mode is a short, story-based mission you must complete with your friends. In Hangman's NOOSE you must get crime boss to an extraction point alive. First, several of Liberty City's finest need to be dealt with and then transport must be secured. Will you take Kenny to safety in an armored car? How about a motorcycle or attack chopper? The choice is all yours.

Would this be the last GTA, I wondered. The insider was quick to say no, even after I pointed out that I had watched a chunk of the single-player campaign, which impressed me, but didn't seem to include any giant leaps forward for the franchise.

"Did you see multiplayer?"

"No."

"Just wait."

After spending a morning at Rockstar late last month, playing around with Grand Theft Auto IV's single player campaign, the guys walked me to the room next door to check out Grand Theft Auto's first real take on multiplayer.

Over the course of several hours I had a chance to check out five multiplayer modes, including a short co-op campaign, out of what is rumored to be the game's more than dozen multiplayer modes.

I was happy to find that Grand Theft Auto has most definitely not jumped the shark.

I was initially disappointed when I discovered that my expectations, no matter how unreasonable, that GTA IV would let you play through the entire campaign with a friend weren't to be met. But that was short lived.

The sheer level of customization in the game, the wild variety of play, and the unsurpassed size of the maps made the lack of a full co-op campaign seem like an afterthought.

To start playing a multiplayer game you bring up Niko's cell phone in the single player campaign and, using the in-phone menu, select multiplayer. So you can drop into one of these sessions whenever you want.

While you can't play as Nikko, the campaign's main character, you can customize your own character, creating someone by choosing male or female and then selecting among four different heads, four torsos, four legs and several types of glasses and hats.

All but one of the multiplayer modes supports up to 16 players. (The co-op missions only support up to four.) The host has an amazing array of options that they can control. While setting up a game, the host can choose to modify the routine, like re-spawn times, weapon selections and friendly fire, or the unusual, like the time of day, the weather, how heavy the traffic is or how many people are on the street. You can even control police presence in your matches.

While the game allows you to select parts of the map to play in, choosing specific boroughs, smaller neighborhoods, or areas like the airport, it doesn't prevent players from roaming the entire city during any given match. Instead the respawns and weapon drops only occur in those areas.

While the high level of customization adds a lot to the experience, I was just as wowed by some of the little things built into multiplayer, like the ability for players waiting in a lobby to turn on their radio and listen to GTA's soundtrack.

Deathmatch
My first experience with GTA 4 multiplayer was deathmatch and team deathmatch.

Instead of winning with kill counts, both of these modes look at your cash total to see who won the match. Cash is earned by killing members of the other team and you can get extra cash by darting out to collect the money they drop when they die.

The controls were solid, as I've mentioned before, but what made this deathmatch feel so different was that it felt like it was taking place in a living, breathing world. People were walking around, there were cars to be stolen. You can actually load up a car with your entire team and try to drive-by the other team mates. You could even, if you felt like it, take off to parts unknown, areas on the map nowhere near where the action was taking place.

Deathmatch was fun, and the added twist of an open world and a huge map, definitely upped the value, but it was still deathmatch.

Cops N Crooks
The next mode we played was Cops N Crooks, a variation on your typical deathmatch mode where you have to find and take out the bad guys.

The team playing as cops can see the crooks on their radar, but the the crooks can only see the escape point on the map and don't know where the cops are until it's almost too late. The mode has two derivations: In All for One you need to kill the boss, played by one of the crooks. In One for All everyone has just one life and once the crooks are dead the cops win.

There were some really nice touches to the game that made this stand out from some of the other modes I've played in shooters. For instance as the bad guys, you can give each other waypoints on the live map, allowing one player to drive and another to navigate.

We also played matches were the bad guys split up into two groups, doubling the chance for the boss to get away because we weren't sure which group he was with.

Lots of fun, plenty of potential, especially when you factor in that this all still takes place in GTA's open world.

GTA Race
This was the mode I least wanted to play, but came in as one of my favorites to mess around with. Imagine Mario Kart in a real world, with real cars. Now add machine guns, pistols, rocket launchers, Molotov cocktails, in fact every weapons in GTA. Now, let people get out of their cars and do whatever they want to win, or prevent other people from winning. Wow, just wow.

This mode lets the host choose vehicle types before a race, the race course, time limit and number of laps. Sure the game has checkpoints, and you need to hit them, or most of them, to complete a lap, but being the fastest doesn't get close to guaranteeing a win.

In our introduction to the mode, myself and Newsweek's N'gai Croal were burning around the course, which I believe took place near GTA's Central Park, when we came to a stone archway we absolutely had to go through to complete the lap. Problem was, there were cars, lots of cars blocking our way. By the time I had assessed the situation, one of the other players ran up to me and killed me at the wheel.

The race quickly devolved into a deathmatch until we realized that Croal had nosed his car through the wreckage and was burning through the laps. In another race, this one taking place at an airport complete with moving planes, I didn't bother trying to speed through the course and instead clamored on top of an airport gangway with a rocket launcher and just waited. When people came by I blew up their cars. Meanwhile Rockstar's Jeronimo Barrera was taking great pleasure trying to mow down Croal in what looked like a golf cart.

From what I played of it, GTA Race could easily be a standalone game, something that would occupy a gamer's attention for months.

Hangman's NOOSE

The final mode we played was probably the most impressive. Hangman's NOOSE is Rockstar's answer to a story-driven campaign mode. Instead of allowing players to complete chunks of the single player campaign with a friend, the developers decided to create side missions, featuring ancillary characters, that can be played as a group with a total of four people.

Rockstar declined to say how many of these co-op missions the game will ship with, but I'd think it would come with more than the one and I'd bet that the 360 DLC will be all about this mode.

The mission we played was Hangman's NOOSE. In it you're asked to rescue a crime boss from an army of police who are picking him up on the runway of the airport. The missions started out on the runway and as we shot it out with cops, two more armored SWAT trucks drove up, unloading more and more cops.

The first play through was pretty succinct, we grabbed the armored truck, got the boss in it and tore across the city to our extraction point while the city's entire police force mobilized to stop us.

The second play through didn't go nearly as well.

A Rockstar developer took the wheel of the armored car again, and another rode shotgun. Croal hopped into the back to shoot at pursuing cops. I opted to swipe a helicopter that was on the runway and followed the wagon as it entered the interstate, trying to gun down the stream of cop cars in pursuit.

Then it happened: Croal was shot. The hit didn't kill him, but it did knock him from the truck which continued to speed toward the drop off point. Soon Croal was surrounded by cops on the middle of an interstate. I turned my chopper around and told Croal I was coming for him. Landing the copter in a nearby clearing, I got out to try and find Croal, but he had snatched a car and was already out of the police infested area.

I ran back to my copter only to find its rotors had been snapped off during my crap landing next to a copse of trees. The whole thing ended with me being gunned down by a phalanx of cops as I ran down the interstate toward the distant extraction point, and the whole team losing.

The missions was actually very straight forward, lacking almost completely in narrative and pretty short, but that works in GTA IV. It works because the game, especially in the multiplayer modes, seems to be providing you a way to create your own experiences.

I could replay Hangman's NOOSE a dozen times and not get tired of it, mostly because each time through created a different experience. It's so open ended that they story you play, as with single player, often seems like your own.

I've certainly not played enough of Grand Theft Auto IV to being able to say whether the game will live up to mounting expectations, but I can certainly say that Rockstar hasn't been caught resting. This game, and it's unusual and varied take on multiplayer gaming isn't packed with obvious innovations, but it still manages to innovate where it counts most: In storytelling.

Hopefully, our brothers and sisters south of the equator will be able to import from regions far and wide to enjoy all of the original naughtiness. For a quick history lesson on the content edited history of Grand Theft Auto in Australia, hit up the source.

GTA IV edited for Australia [Sydney Morning Herald's Screen Play - thanks, Matt!]

"Yeah, just stay there, because you're not going anywhere and now I'm not fucking going anywhere. Park right there."

He lays on the horn.

A map pops up on the video screen showing our exact location, easy to pinpoint because now we're not moving at all.

Outside the passenger window people walk by, each, seemingly, in their own world. The level of detail is amazing, the buildings, piled almost on top of one another, are all alive with activity. Wind whips down the street tossing scraps of paper in the air, it almost looks like the real thing, like Grand Theft Auto IV.

But it's just Manhattan on a crisp weekday morning, me trapped in a cab, staring at the taxi's video screen built into the seat in front of me, headed to see and play around with Rockstar's latest.

Later, inside Rockstar's nondescript offices, located next to a Best Buy in Greenwich Village, I experience Manhattan again, though now it's called Algonquin.

There's no confusing the two, reality and game. Reality is boring and drab, Algonquin is shot from spectacular cinematic angles. I suspect there's a filter involved, something that gives the world a touch of artistry.

Later, over beers at a nearby pub, Rockstar's Jeronimo Barrera tells me that Rockstar loves its filters. It helps, he says, fool the eye, masks some of the imperfections that games, no matter how next-gen, will always have.

I ask about the game's camera angles, which fascinate me. The game makes extensive use of them—and not just during cut-scenes. They seem to pop up at times during play, making you feel like you're part of a cut-scene of your own creation.

Barrerra says one of their team members has a lot of film experience and brought that to the new game.

It works. Not because it makes the game feel like you're watching a movie, but because it makes the player feel like they're making one. There are times when playing Grand Theft Auto IV that it felt less like a video game and more like an engine for experiences. Like the game was, at times, transcending what I had always thought was important about video games, having fun, and opening my eye to a new way to enjoy gaming, by creating.

It helps that the controls have been, or at least feel like they've been, totally revamped for this latest GTA. To any adept of the franchise the controls will still feel very familiar, but gone is that mushy feeling that made me struggle with previous versions of the game.

Movement is tight, backed up by Rockstar's use of the Euphoria, a game animation engine that anatomically animates character movement by simulating not just the body, but the muscles, bones and, it is said, the central nervous system. The result, the thing that matters to gamers, is a layer of movement minutia that help brings the world to life with moments like accidentally tripping a side kick, or watching someone flail as they plummet from a high rise.

What's important though is that these things don't happen as much by accident or because of bad control mechanics. GTA IV's controls do what the best control designs are meant to do, not get in the way of the experience.

Driving, too, is much improved. The times you are behind the wheel feel almost like you are playing a racer, with tight turns and the ability to really maneuver in a city that's all about making split-second decisions. Designers even added a slow-mo mode which allows you to slow time down as the camera drifts up and away to top down perspective, making it much easier to cut between cars, slip past barricades and perform bootlegger 180s.

I found myself wasting inordinate amounts of time playing keep away from the cops, just because I enjoyed the driving so much.

The biggest change in the game's controls, though, come with shooting. I'm a huge first-person shooter fan and I absolutely hated the shooting controls for previous GTAs. The problem was I always wanted to play what was essentially an action game like a shooter.

The new system allows you to do just that. Aiming has been tightened up and now includes a reticule that shows your targets current health. There's also a two stage lock-on system, allowing you to lock-on to a target, but still aim at particular body parts to perform things like headshots. Instant kill headshots. A cover system lets you pop up and fire or fire blindly at targets.

I played through a few missions during my hands-on, but it was "Harboring A Grudge" that felt most like a classic shooter. In the mission, you make your way to a warehouse rooftop near the dock of Algonquin. Down below is a sea of bad guys talking over the finer points of a prescription drug deal.

I start by sniping a guy, marveling at how much it feels like sniping in some of my favorite shooters. I toss down a few Molotov cocktails, mostly missing because, as with grenades in just about every shooter I play, I throw like a grade schooler.

Deciding to take advantage of my ridiculously robust arsenal, I switch to a rocket launcher and send a couple of rockets toward the bad guys. The first glances off the sheet metal roof in front of me, sending the rocket spiraling out of control. The second skips off a container. Finally I manage to plant one in the cement next to a cluster of bad guys. I'm rewarded with a glorious explosion and a few less enemies.

Moving down the roof, not so gracefully, I scramble to some cover and switch over to an assault rifle. The game plays fast, letting you pop off shots quickly and precisely. I take out a couple of people with the simple lock-on. Emptying bullets into the bad guys until they drop, and then I slow down and take my time with the loose lock-on, shifting my aim to focus on headshots.

Taking out the last few guys, I realize that I've just played through an entire mission of Grand Theft Auto IV as if I was in Call of Duty and it felt nice.

And the game has a lot of nice touches an awful lot of nice touches that really have nothing to do with game play. When you snag a car, sometimes the door is left unlocked and you can just hop in. Other times you have to smash in the window with an elbow.

To shoot while driving you have to smash out your window. Once, while driving around a guy who was smoking pot, I smashed out the window and within seconds billowing clouds of smoke were pouring through the busted glass.

There's almost no HUD—instead your entire communication with the game and its many options is through your cell phone. You use it to get missions, find people, even do things like play (and buy) music or take pictures in game.

One of the more memorable moments for me was almost an accidental aside. Standing near the docks one in-game evening, I noticed little white lights lifting and drifting down. Nice touch, I thought, they've included distant airplanes. As we moved toward the lights, talking about some mission or maybe the mechanics of play, I looked up and saw that those lights were now fully formed airplanes. I could actually make them out in detail.

"Oh wow, those are actually airplanes?" I said, a little surprised.

My demo team seemed just as surprised.

There is an entire airport of them, they tell me, taxiing, landing, taking off. And it's all part of the game.

It's no wonder then that when a team of game guide writers descended on Rockstar to work through Grand Theft Auto IV and write their books, they were surprised at the level of depth they found both in game and story, likening it to a Final Fantasy.

GTA IV, I'm told, is a game measured not in hours of play, but weeks. But its greatest potential, I suspect, won't be found in the traditional measures of game—graphics, sound design, mechanic—but in how these things manage to stay transparent and elusive, allowing the gamer to be the center of an experience they create.

During gameplay the character can pick up prostitutes... What follows is an un-detailed portrayal of masturbation, fellatio and intercourse. The character can also visit lap dancing clubs and request a private dance.

Here's a sampling of personal favorites.

• Manhunt 15G - Complete the most wanted side missions from the police computer.
• Assassin's Greed 20G - Complete all 9 assassin missions.
• Warm Coffee 5G - Successfully date a girl to be invited into her house.
• Key To The City 100G - Achieve 100% in "Game progress" statistic.
• Let Sleeping Rockstars Lie 10G - Kill a Rockstar developer in a ranked multiplayer match.

Consider it all unconfirmed, as the list could be fabricated and we haven't received confirmation or denial from Rockstar themselves.

For the full list of rumored GTA IV Achievements, hit up the sources.

RUMOR: Complete Grand Theft Auto 4 Achievement List [Xbox 360 Achievements]
GTA IV achivements list. (Biggest spoiler warning ever) [GameSpot Forums]

But Scott goes on to pitch Sony's own exclusives, saying that "not only do you get Grand Theft Auto, but you'll get [Metal Gear Solid 4], you'll get Gran Turismo and these are also brands that have moved hardware units." Calling those three games "the elite of the elite products that actually enable hardware to be sold with software." Oh... snap?

We expect even more beef when the full interview hits.

Sony Downplays GTA IV Episodic Content [GameDaily]

Whenever you hear something from the 200-plus song soundtrack you dig, send a text message via your virtual mobile phone to a "ZiT" number. Amazon will build a custom playlist of the songs you like, if you're also registered via the Rockstar Social Club. Sure, it sounds a bit clunky, but also a bit cool. The MP3s are reported to be DRM-free, meaning the soundtrack from GTA IV can become the soundtrack for any other game that supports custom playlists. More details on the whole synergy shebang over at Yahoo Videogames.

GTA IV Unveils New Music Download Model [Yahoo]

Your final official cinematic look at Grand Theft Auto IV has been released, featuring little in the way of chit-chat and tons of gunfire, explosions and peel-outs. There's also a big ass booty. The trailer may be painfully brief, but it's enough to get demand frothing yet again.

Multiplayer info + new images, PSM magazine from Spain [GTAForum via GTA4.net]

Somebody within my camp said that they were interested in doing some stuff. We sat down and it ended up like a whole radio show. This particular show, there's a little bit of budget involved. It's not the normal licensed-out music. When you jump in the car, you're going to be able to hear a whole Green Lantern radio show filled with nothing but exclusive music I produced for the game. I think it's the first time that's ever been done.

UPDATE - OK, little confusion here. Mostly my bad. Rockstar have let us know that while Lantern's got his own show on the station - on which every song played is one he's produced - it's not the only show on the station. So there is more than one artist. Sorry for the confusion, but hey, good news is that makes it sound like these stations have a lot of content.

Sure, you may argue that gamers could just see the movie later and Iron Man will still make plenty of money. But studios get higher cuts of ticket sales near a movie's launch, making the loss of Hollywood profits from gaming entities potentially quite real. Will you stay in on Iron Man weekend to play GTAIV?

GTA IV May Carjack Iron Man Ticket Sales [Next Generation]