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gtaiv

Microsoft On PS3 Getting Grand Theft Auto IV DLC

The Xbox 360 is getting exclusive Grand Theft Auto IV DLC. Sony's been playing coy, and there are rumors that the PS3 will see GTAIV DLC as well. How would that work with that US $50 million deal Microsoft and Rockstar struck? Is that even possible? Says Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg: More »

video game soundtrack

DJ Green Lantern Releasing "Liberty City Invasion" GTA IV Album

Rockstar Games and Future Green Entertainment announced a new album from The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern, titled "Liberty City Invasion: Music from and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV".

The eight GTA-exclusive tracks DJ Green Lantern wrote for Liberty City's "The Beat" radio show, which he hosts, will be on the album, along with eight new songs inspired by the game. He's joined by some major hip-hop, reggae and R&B artists, including Busta Rhymes, Wyclef, Fat Joe, Styles P and Fabolous, and several other new artists and talent from DJ Green Lantern's label will feature on the album as well.

The Rockstar team has somewhat of a reputation for its particularity when it comes to musical selections for the game, and executive producer Sam Houser said he's excited about this album and its "true New York flavor." "Liberty City Invasion: Music from and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV" will be available digitally on May 20th, to be followed by a physical disc launch at an unspecified date.

Full release follows the jump.

More »

zero punctuation

Zero Punctuation On Grand Theft Auto IV

Well that was relatively fast, now wasn't it? Yahtzee seems to have jumped on Grand Theft Auto IV just as quickly as the rest of the world,and for the most part he loves it, going as far as to inform us that he plans on playing it some more after the review is finished, which, as he says, is fucking unprecedented. He also seems to share my penchant for turning the cars in happy little circles whenever the handbrake is evoked, which eventually saw me resorting to the time-honored bouncing off of things method of turning the car. I am beginning to find I enjoy Yahtzee's reviews more the more I enjoy the game he is reviewing, whether he is positive or negative. Having said that, one of the best so far.

Zero Punctuation [The Escapist]


clips

This Guy Is GTAIV's Roman, Rent Him

Just because you appear in a gajillion dollar making video game doesn't mean you get a gajillion dollars! Beer swinging Jason Zumwait was Roman Bellic in GTA IV and he hasn't made a gajillion dollars. No wonder he's offering to let folks "Rent Roman", tongue planting firmly in cheek. "For a nominal fee, I'll come over to your house," says Zumwait, "sitdown on your goddamn couch and play that video game with you."
Rent Roman [Sand & Cotton via Dtoid]

ea talks take-two

EA's Riccitiello Talks "Holographic" Madden Interface, No Need For Take-Two

On Electronic Arts' call to investors, CEO John Riccitiello promised "a great year" to come for EA Sports — and referred to a "new holographic interface" for Madden's 20th anniversary incarnation.

Holographic... interface?

Riccitiello also promised that the next NBA Live would take "a huge step up," with new features set to be unveiled at E3.

EA seems enthusiastic about its sports franchises, and Riccitiello says he expects EA Sports will help drive the company to an additional $1 billion in revenue and an 100 percent increase in operating income. Riccitiello was optimistic about the company's studio structure in general, also listing big things ahead for the Sims Studio: Two sequels for MySims, a new SimAnimals title, and the launch of The Sims 3.

"Our fiscal 09 operating plan keeps us on track to achieve our fiscal year target - even without Take Two," Riccitiello said.

More »

rumor

GTA IV's PS3 Problems To Be Fixed Via Firmware Update?

GTA IV has some problems. Some are pretty great, but most have resulted in freezes and lock-ups, which aren't great. And while a recent patch has fixed some of those problems, it hasn't fixed all of them, leaving a lot of GTA IV players still in the lurch. If that's you and you own a 60GB PS3, help may be on the way, as a poster over on the official PS3 forums has received an email from Take-Two support, who apparently told him Sony are working on a quick firmware update for the console, which will hopefully fix the issues 60GB users (who were the first to report problems with the game) have been having. Take with salt, yada yada.

Re: Phone SOny and R* Give them Your info!!! [ intimidtr3 @ PlayStation.com, thanks everyone!]


sam houser talks ea

EA Once Turned Houser Away

Many analysts have theorized that Electronic Arts' ongoing bid for Take-Two has quite a lot to do with the talent in the Rockstar stable. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Rockstar's Sam Houser reveals he actually wanted to work for EA in the 1990s - and was rejected for a job.

Now, though, Houser tells the WSJ that in the event of an acquisition by EA, Houser wouldn't mind being "a much smaller fish in a much bigger pond."

More »

gta iv

GTA IV And The Breakdancing Tugboat


GTA IV has some problems. Some of them are yet be fixed, and are peeving a lot of people off. Not good. Then again, some of them are yet to be fixed, and are so broken they're bringing people nothing but joy.


grand theft auto iv

Niko and Vlad on Saturday Night Live

GTA on SNL? Well, if a movie did a $500 million opening week, bet your ass there'd be a skit on it the very next show. Here Niko Bellic and Vlad Glebov appear on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" to complain about the negative image the game gives to Liberty City.

Most of the gag appears to be the permanent karate-chop pose of motion-capped hands, overly expressive gesturing and out-of-place dialogue during non-cutscene encounters. The writers leave it up to the viewer to get it. So if that's mainstream enough to get laughs, holy hell, games have really come a long way.

[Thanks to Gawker's Richard Blakeley for the video.]

Update: Commenter Rotmm added this 360/PS3 comparison shot of SNL. I wonder if Gametrailers might be working on a video too.


gta iv

Niko Bellic's San An Flight Priced By Airways

So Niko's got a ticket to San Andreas, does he? No wonder, at these crazy prices. Reader Timmy spotted this billboard while cruising around Bohan, advertising cheap flights to Los Santos for only $299. Now, this is most likely just some cute inter-series referencing, but hey, if any of you want to keep on speculating that San An will be the setting for the next instalment in this generation's series (I seem to remember Vice City travel ads in GTA III, for example), go right ahead. More »

journalism

Even Game-Hating Daily Mail Likes GTA IV

British tabloid Daily Mail isn't know for it's love of video games. In fact, most think that the paper totally hates them! So reviewing Grand Theft Auto IV is a primo opportunity to vilify gaming. Sure, it gets its digs in and calls the game a "sickening glorification of gangland savagery" and falsely says someone was stabbed at the midnight launch. Then the tone of the piece totally changes! Giving the game a five out of five, Daily Mail writes:


In fairness, though, the makers have for the first time utilised something that resembles a moral compass.

Killing is occasionally optional, dialogue and cut scenes are devoted to Nikos's inner turmoil and while criminality and violence are certainly glorified, its perpetrators are somehow not.


This doesn't mean that everyone at Daily Mail doesn't think GTA IV is a killing trainer, just this one review. But, still.
So Slick [Daily Mail via CVG]

rumor

Niko Bellic Going to San Andreas?

So, SOME DUDE over at the GTA Forums noticed that the Rockstar Social Club site have the above image. It depicts a plane ticket for a "Mr Niko Bellic", bound for "San Andreas" from "Liberty City." Let the speculation begin!
Spoiler? [GTA Forums via videogaming247]

gta online?

Crackdown Creators Bought Their MMO Back Just To Sell It To Rockstar?

Put these pieces together. Realtime Worlds made Crackdown. Realtime Worlds are now at work on an MMO called APB, which is not entirely dissimilar to Grand Theft Auto. Realtime Worlds were founded by David Jones, who created Lemmings. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto. Last month, Realtime Worlds bought back the rights to APB from Korean company Webzen, who were originally scheduled to publish the game. Why the buyback? Eurogamer are reporting that, according to "a credible industry source", it was so they could turn around and sell the game to Rockstar, who could then rebadge it as a GTA MMO. Realtime are keeping quiet on the rumours, saying only that they bought back the rights to their game to "give themselves some options".

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]


rockstar

Why There's No GTA IV In India

April 29th. Remember that? Some game called Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale (wha?) pretty much in planned regions save for India. According to Indian game distributors E-xpress interactive, the game has been delayed for Xbox 360 and PS3. The reason? There are global shortages. You know, we hear a lot of game shortages, which is something I often have a hard time believing, but looking at the staggering number of copies sold in the game's first week, I believe it. No word when the game will finally drop in India, but imported PS3 versions are available. At a price!
GTA IV Delayed [GameGuru]

sony

David Reeves Utters Snide Things About Microsoft

It's last year all over again! Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe honcho David "Dirty Nail" Reeves is fueling the console war. Ungh. Here are the sound-bytes:

• Well I think you probably will see it, it's just that a deal obviously was struck between Microsoft and Take 2 to do that, and if that's what they want to do, I think that's the last shot they have.
• All I'm saying is that I think that when we look ahead I think we honestly have a better line-up on PS3 than they probably do on Xbox. They've had two or three Christmases now, I can't remember how many, you know, but I think we've got a really good one coming up. Not just Christmas but in the summer as well.
• It's [GTA IV] obviously the biggest title that PS3 has ever seen. It's spiked sales and we're very happy with the way the bundle has sold and we're very happy with the way that software has gone as well.

So there you go! Today's corporate smack talk.
Sales Spike, Better Line-Up and Last Shot [Videogamer.com]

gta iv

Kaz Says GTA Fans "Come Home" To PS3

More Kaz! Can you handle it? While hanging out at the SCEE event yesterday, Sony's Kaz Hirai spoke on the importance of GTA IV to the PS3, and whether or not he felt the game had been a factor in driving hardware sales. He didn't take the bait entirely, but couldn't resist having a nibble, telling VG247 that when it comes to Grand Theft Auto, a lot of people call the PlayStation home:

I think Grand Theft Auto, the franchise, has always been associated with the PlayStation platform first and foremost, and so I think consumers are coming back again.

They had previous versions of Grand Theft Auto on previous [PlayStation] platforms, so it's always good to come home to PlayStation 3 as well, I think.

He goes on to say that "based on the numbers" he's seen thus far, the PS3 version of the game's done quite well for itself. How well? No idea. They're Kaz's numbers, and as such, are top secret.
SCEE PlayStation Day: Kaz Hirai interview [VG247]


gta iv

How Many GTA IV Achievements Did You Unlock In A Single Day?

And by "you", I don't mean "you". I mean you, the collective owners of the game. According to Microsoft's Larry Hryb, the answer was a lot, as he claims (and really, I've no reason to doubt this) that during the first 24 hours of GTA IV being on sale, over two million achievements were unlocked. That's over 15 million Gamerpoints. I know, the first 2-3 achievements are picked up pretty quickly, and the game sold fairly well, but if anything, it shows that a frighteningly high proportion of you failed to turn up to work/school last Tuesday.
Show #277 GTA IV and umm...more GTA IV [Microsoft, via Eurogamer]

rumor

Sony Planning GTA IV PS3 Multiplayer Patch

Sony and Rockstar sure have been mum about that PS3 GTA IV problems. The game's been locking up during play, making it, well, unplayable for some players, but not all. And hey, with six million copies sold in the first week, there's bound to be issues with some copies! Bad issues. Today, a Sony source confirmed that a multiplayer patch was being planned. Apparently it will reduce the load times and hangs some have been seen! No word on a single player GTA IV for PS3 patch or even for the Xbox 360 version which has been experiencing similar issues. This probably means one thing: Users who are fucked are still fucked.
GTA IV Patch [Eurogamer]