It's really too bad our illegal street racing skills weren't up to the challenge. Sprinting through Sunset Boulevard in a Mazda RX8, then through the Hollywood hills in a late '60s Ford Mustang Boss 302 showed that, while we were thrown a couple of "REP" points here and there, we have a long way to go before actually having a respectable racing reputation.

Fortunately, we looked pretty good, even when finishing fourth.

That's largely due to the game's deep car customization system, not our (or our in-game driver's) physical beauty. In Midnight Club: Los Angeles' garages, you can spend your hard-earned dollars on new performance enhancements for your ride. Using real world name brand aftermarket parts, you can upgrade your acceleration, handling and speed via the purchase of new electronics, air intakes, nitrous tanks and more.

You'll also be able to tap into your vanity's performance, decking out your car with new paintjobs, new headlights, new doors, even new interior components. Tired of that dull stock steering wheel? Throw a MOMO on it! Those interior changes can be gawked at via the cockpit view camera choice.

I turned a rather attractive stock Aston-Martin V8 Vantage Roadster into a hideous purple and orange glowing beast, complete with vertical doors and every garish accoutrement I had access to. (I had access to everything, via unlimited God-mode funds.)

There's also a rather substantial "vinyl editor", one that let's players create a look unlike any other. It looks to be on par with custom exterior editors found in titles like Forza Motorsport 2, with default stickers and customizable primitives at your editorial disposal.

In the Midnight Club: Los Angeles' garage, you'll also be able to choose your driver's "special moves." These special moves, as described by Rockstar themselves, are as follows.

* Zone allows you to slow down time in order to take sharp turns or weave in-and-out of traffic like a champ!
* Agro will give your car added strength and the ability to damage opponents faster, or sometimes knock them completely out of the race.
* Roar sends a shockwave that clears your path by pushing cars off to the side of the road.
* EMP is an electromagnetic pulse that shuts down the engines of the cars around you, bringing them to a complete stop.

We tried out the EMP, the latest addition to the line-up of super moves. Fortunately, the electronics shorting blast radius doesn't affect your ride, so, after creeping up on a cluster of opponents, we fired it off. After seeing the tail end of opponent's rides for a good portion of our races, we took great satisfaction in watching them spin out — perhaps a bit too much, as we went hood first into a building right after.

It might've been the sightseeing that distracted us, actually. Midnight Club: LA's edited down versions of Hollywood, Santa Monica and downtown LA look almost exactly like the real thing, minus the rage-inducing traffic the city is known for.

There are dozens of recognizable landmarks, with stylized versions of the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills and the Santa Monica Pier chockablock with detail, including billboards of licensed products like iPods and T-Mobile Sidekicks, as well as landmarks like The Comedy Store and even the hotel we were in during our demo.

The city looks so startlingly realistic that I tried to find my way to my neighborhood — not quite the stuff of street racing — but was unsuccessful. While the feel of LA is certainly intact, the roads have been carefully redesigned for a more fantastic driving experience.

Oh yeah. The driving. We took part in a quartet of races, some initiated by simply finding competition on the streets and flashing our headlights. We then sprinted off to a the starting line, having the option to actually race to the starting line. This pre-race race will net you more REP points, used to gain access to higher level races, but is totally optional. The sprint to the starting line can be skipped if you so desire, but we found the spontaneous thrill of beating our competition to the meeting point was worth it not just for the extra points. At the very least, it's a nice warm up.

We tooled all around town through our four races. Our first formal race, Sand and Surf, took us from the beaches to the freeway. Mulholland and Beverly saw us driving through the winding hills of Hollywood before heading down to the Valley. Macarthur Cut took us from downtown to the LA River, a misnomer of a racing venue that might be familiar to fans of Terminator 2's more epic chase scenes.

Each felt unique and frenzied. Midnight Club: LA's dynamic camera, which switches to an over-the-shoulder style view when hopped up on nitrous or coming off a slipstream drafting high, combined with tire-spinning peel outs makes for a white-knuckled rush. It's somewhat difficult to see what you're actually racing toward, it's so fast. Our decked out cars may have had something to do with the feeling of untamed car control, and we'll blame our many crashes and last place finishes on that.

What we didn't get to tackle were Midnight Club: LA's motorcycles or the LAPD, both back in the newest iteration. We'll just have to wait until the game is released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year to do that. The game hits October 7th in North America and October 10th in Europe.

"The PC version of GTA IV has not even been announced for release and is still in development so is not about to be released on a website."

The entire conversation is very long and almost takes on the scope of a 419 baiter thread. But they do provide screenshots (granted, those can be faked too.)

Basically, these two guys concoct a detailed tech support problem with a free demo of Grand Theft Auto IV, and see if Take 2 will bite. Of course, they do, but only to a point. After getting that little nugget above — which they're convinced was copypasted from some higher-up's response to befuddled tech support — they get another tech who is less fun and a little more circumspect about their claims.

While the last message does say, "We are unsure when the PC version of the game will be released," that does not mean, "We are sure it will be coming out, just not when." I am likewise unsure of when I'll win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes.

ComputerandVideoGames.net reported rumors back in April that a PC GTA IV was due out in October, citing European retailers. That didn't bring a denial from Rockstar UK, just "no comment." So unless and until Rockstar wants to lay the rumor smash, this remains rumor only. I wouldn't get my hopes up, but you never know.
How We Pranked Rockstar [Blog, thanks reader Matt]

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]

The press release doesn't explain the reason for the delay, or for that matter even call it a delay. In happy PR land this is just a new release date, possibly even better than the last! I'm assuming it's the usual last-minute bug-stomping, extra polish sort of thing. That or they just really like October more.

Rockstar Games announces new release date for Midnight Club: Los Angeles on the Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 and Midnight Club: LA Remix for the PSP® system

Open-world street racing series debuts on October 7th and 10th in North America and Europe, respectively

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) today announced a new release date for the fourth installment of its critically-acclaimed and genre-defining Midnight Club franchise, Midnight Club: Los Angeles. Set for release on October 7th in North America and October 10th in Europe and developed by series creator Rockstar San Diego, Midnight Club: Los Angeles will give gamers the unprecedented freedom to race through a hyper-realistic LA.

Rockstar San Diego has created a beautiful rendition of Los Angeles to race through at break neck speeds and explore at your own pace. With no tracks and no load times, Midnight Club: Los Angeles offers the ultimate freedom to play however you choose.

Also scheduled for release simultaneously, Midnight Club: LA Remix for the PSP® system will provide another incredible portable racing experience. Developed by Rockstar London, the game will take full advantage of the hardware to deliver the unrivaled sense of speed and style that the best-selling Midnight Club series is known for.

You know, I actually live in a sketchy neighborhood, Rockstar bat-givers. If I'm assaulted by a local vagrant, you'll have my blood on your hands. Just a thought.

GTA IV Baseball Bat Moves Gaming Violence From Couch to the Streets [Popular Mechanics]

Knights of the Sandbox City [Develop]

Other than that, a few quick fixes to address hangs and such. Hit the link for the full skinny on the newly polished GTA IV experience.

GRAND THEFT AUTO IV PATCH [Rockstar Games Social Club]

LA Weekly's Nikkie FInke reports on her blog that a settlement prohibits Rockstar from making a movie based on Grand Theft Auto, which is the same name as a 1977 film whose rights are owned by Fox. The settlement also prohibits Fox from making any video game based on that movie. I've never seen it, but considering all the crappy adaptations done out there, obviously this settlement was more about protecting Fox's copyrights than Rockstar's.

Interestingly, the Grand Theft Auto film in question got an updated box right around the time the original GTA craze hit (above), and you can see the similarities in the typefaces. Not sure if this was part [or provocation] of the settlement or not.

All About the Grand Theft Auto Movie [Nikkie FInke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, via Shacknews]

“Some people on the team didn’t like the music/mobile phone idea for various reasons, but they went back and forth on the idea until the very end,” Rockstar spokesperson Darlan Monterisi explained in an e-mail on Tuesday. “This is VERY common. We do it in every game we make. We still prefer the balance of music in car and the ambient world’s noise on foot, but we are constantly reviewing this stuff.”

I wonder how much having a mini-stereo with you at all times would have changed the experience? It must have been something that the Rockstar folks thought would have had quite an impact to remove it. Why else would they cut the thing entirely instead of allowing gamers to go out and buy a phone with the feature in game?

Actually, I'm still surprised at the limit of phone tech in the game. I was expecting that the phone, because it plays such an important role in the game's interface, would come in a lot more flavors and that at least one of the was going to support video capture. Maybe next time.

GTA IV Cutting Room Floor [MTV Multiplayer]

Time to go interactive. That's right, me the movie critic is actually telling you to switch to video games until Hollywood makes more exciting movies... [Grand Theft Auto IV is] a hell of a game (maybe not the Citizen Kane of the form, like many game reviews claim), and in terms of action, thrills, imagination and innovation, GTA IV has it all over the pablum currently passing for ingenuity at the multiplex... And let's keep my game skills out of this as well. This is a review of Grand Theft Auto IV the M-O-V-I-E. And I have to say, it's better than anything I've seen at the multiplex so far this summer, except maybe Iron Man. There's plot development, character depth and moral ambiguity, stuff you don't find in Speed Racer... It's a rare video game that enters territory marked by Scorsese and Tarantino. But writers Dan Houser and Rupert Humphries have created the vid version of film noir with dialogue that crackles even in the film's darkest shadows. And they take every shot they can at social satire.

That's some big time movie critic praise! Nice to see that Travers is open to other (more interactive) forms of story telling.

Is Grand Theft Auto IV Actually the Best Popcorn Movie of the Summer? [Rolling Stone via The Chaos Fold]

But BBB got hold of the video's poster and subsequent confirmation that PheroseSoft, a seven-person team made up of former devs for EA Canada Burnaby and Rockstar North, is developing something called "WiiMove." It should be available by WiiWare sometime after October this year, Balance Board Blog reports.

A representative of PheroseSoft told BBB that "the game looks to put an unexpected slant on the Wii Balance Board." Ya don't say. The video's after the jump.

Wii Move confirmed - developed by ex EA, Rockstar staff [BalanceBoardBlog, via ComputerandVideoGames.com]

Today, Ernst upped his estimate to 15 million on word from Take-Two that the publisher had already sold through 8.5 million copies of GTA IV, with 11 million shipped to retailers. Ernst noted that "We expect GTA IV sales to re-accelerate in the latter part of year in conjunction with the seasonal holiday period."

As for Final Fantasy XIII shipping 7 million in 2008?

Ernst said that "Initially we had hoped it would make it in for the end of the year" but that FFXIII "definitely appears off the table" according to Square Enix guidance. Frankly, we'll be thrilled (and maybe even a bit flabbergasted) if it hits North America before 2010.

The Hudson Square Research analyst updated us on a handful of other key figures, noting that Gran Turismo 5 is also expected to be a "no show" this year and that next week's release of Metal Gear Solid 4 "won't be enough to materially accelerate the PS3 this year."

"For the PS3, that’s definitely a set back," Ernst told us about titles that the firm expects to hit next year, "And I think is why their 10M unit guidance for the [fiscal year] was lower than most had expected."

Welcome to Grand Stunt Auto Show IV [Topless Robot]

"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]

Full box art after the jump.

GTA San Andreas Has Mutants [Kotaku Australia]

Does she have six fingers (is thumb a finger?) or am I crazy? [zoukka @ NeoGAF]

This interview sounds like it's taken from the Big O & Dukes radio show on WJFK-FM in Washington. It's a long and in depth talk with Michael Hollick, the voice actor for Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto IV.

There's a little too much hero-worship from the hosts, but hey, Hollick is not a controversial guest, I suppose. He gives a really good look at the development of the game, and how the actors match their lines to the motion capture, which sounds almost impossibly hard to manage and remain in character. Newfound respect for this kind of work.

Other highlights: He auditioned originally for motion-capture; the game he was told he was auditioning for was called "Frozen." And he had days where he came in to work to find a script that was "50 pages of just screaming. In these you're jumping off of something, in these you're shooting someone, in these you're being burned alive."

GTA 4 Niko Voice Actor Interview [GameTrailers user Grave, thanks reader Raivis R.]

"It's about economics. We take market share and audience from other media - video game makers are challenging the Hollywood hegemony - so they're going to fight us. But I'm not going to fight them. I believe your Constitution protects us."

When interviewer Scott Alexander asked Houser about inequity in the way adult games are treated as compared with film and other media, Houser said:

"These are works of fiction. Playing a game that features violence is no different from choosing to see a violent movie. We're not trying to create a 'here's real life' sensation in a video game; it's "you're the star of a movie. We want to re-create the sensations you have watching movies. We're putting those in a video game."

When asked to isolate why Rockstar's games seem to provoke a swath of mainstream anger from certain circles, Houser said:

"We're trying to give gamers freedom. It boils down to critics not liking the fact that people can choose to do 'bad' things in a fantasy world - which to me is silly."

The full interview is print only, so to read the whole thing you'd have to look at a copy of June's Playboy. You know, for the article, of course.

“Obviously I’m incredibly thankful to Rockstar for the opportunity to be in this game when I was just a nobody, an unknown quantity,” Mr. Hollick, 35, said last week...“But it’s tough, when you see Grand Theft Auto IV out there as the biggest thing going right now, when they’re making hundreds of millions of dollars, and we don’t see any of it.

Unlike other forms of entertainment, the Screen Actor's Guild doesn't have policy in place for video games, so actors don't get royalties on each game sold, even if the game becomes one of the best selling titles of all time.

Games companies aren't exactly itching to hop on the royalties bandwagon either. While it would be easy enough to institute, they fear that soon designers, graphics artists, programmers...basically everyone involved in the production of a video game would be wanting similar agreements. Dogs and cats, living together, total anarchy.

The issue more than likely won't see a resolution anytime soon, but the more games like GTA IV that get released, the hotter the topic becomes, until eventually they start selling kitschy retro t-shirts with cartoon logos on them.

A Video Game Star and His Less-Than-Stellar Pay [The New York Times - Thanks Campion!]

2002 BMW M3 Coupe [AutoTrader, thanks dlindenb!]

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]

...I was in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I played a cracked-out rap star who had his lyrics stolen and the person that stole them became a star. So I went on crack and by the end of the game I get my reputation and my mansion back. You start off as a kid in South Central LA, you build up your rep and then you get a gang. It's definitely some crazy shit.

The Vice City games are the worst shit ever — in a good way. It's so intentionally wrong that you've got to get into it. You go, "Oh my God, if I'm out of money I just rob a liquor store." Inside this world, all the things that you think about, you can do. Does that make you want to do it in real life? No. To me it diffuses it. People say video games make kids violent. I don't think so. It can be an outlet for that aggression. It's a masculine thing. Human beings have some weird blood lust, it roots back to us being animals. It's ill, though.

Somebody knows what they are talking about and that somebody is Ice-T.
How Music Saved [Guardian]

So ... now what? Analysts quoted in a Friday San Francisco Chronicle story still think the deal will get done. Michael Pachter cited the Wall Street Journal story that places Rockstar's Dan Houser in the pivot, as his contract with Take-Two is up next year and he's open to EA ownership. Pachter's reasoning: Houser would broker the deal in hopes of being rewarded by his new employer. EA talks about how GTA IV's success was already built into its offer to Take-Two, so surely GTA IV's success is already built into Take-Two's relationship with Houser. A grateful EA might be willing to throw in a premium Houser couldn't negotiate otherwise.

Even though the deadline was not extended, as some suspected, that by itself doesn't preclude another offer. Weekend deadline negotiations are usually for labor unions and management. They certainly aren't covered by amateurs like yours truly, or the Agence France Presse writer who called the game "Grand Theft Auto IV: Liberty City Stories." We're not that well sourced. Once the regular writers and analysts get back in the office this week, someone will say something.

Deadline Passes in EA Bid to Buy Take-Two [AFP/Yahoo News, via Joystiq]

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]

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.

Today, Rockstar Games and Future Green Entertainment are proud to announce the release of an original production album from The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern featuring music from and inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV.

Containing eight brand new tracks crafted exclusively for DJ Green Lantern's "Liberty City Invasion" radio show on the in-game radio station "The Beat," as well as eight new songs directly inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV, The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern has created an epic urban soundtrack. This special album release features an incredible lineup of hip-hop, reggae and R&B superstars including heavyweights Busta Rhymes, Wyclef, Fat Joe, Styles P and Fabolous as well as up-and-coming artists Mavado, Uncle Murder and Future Green Entertainment's own Johnny Polygon, Qadir and more.

Singles include "Where's My Money" from Busta Rhymes and "Nickname" from the brand new artist Qadir. The perfect summer anthem "I'm So Fly," featuring Fat Joe and Fabolous is inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV and while included on the album is not in the game.

"The Grand Theft Auto games have always featured stunning soundtracks and the amount of eclectic music in Grand Theft Auto IV goes above and beyond anything we have been able to do before" said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, "DJ Green Lantern's contributions give the soundtrack a true New York flavor and we're excited to be releasing his full album to fans."

"From making mixtapes, to being on the radio, to touring with the biggest artists on the planet, and then for the biggest video game title to solicit me to create exclusive music is something most people could only dream about, it's like a graduation," said Green. "Rockstar Games understood what I bring to the table as far as not just presenting music, but creating music."

Green Lantern originally came to prominence in the mixtape scene by consistently featuring exclusive self-produced music with hip-hop superstars like Eminem, Jay-Z, The Beastie Boys, Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor, D-Block, Busta Rhymes, Mobb Deep and many more. This led to an acclaimed career as a proper music producer in his own right which has yielded such Billboard hits as "Number One Spot" by Ludacris and "In The Ghetto" by Busta Rhymes featuring Rick James as well as the street hits Akon "Ghetto" feat. Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac, Uncle Murda's "Bullet, Bullet," and many more. Green Lantern can be heard every week nationally on his Sirius Satellite Radio show.

The Evil Genius Green Lantern makes his official production album debut with the release of Liberty City Invasion: Music from and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV. It will be available at all major digital retailers on May 20th with a physical release coming soon.

Grand Theft Auto IV is currently available for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system and the PLAYSTATION® 3 computer entertainment system.

Zero Punctuation [The Escapist]

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.

During the same call, EA Games label president Frank Gibeau also expressed positive sentiments about EA's "city-state" label structure. "We have restructured... from a top-down and centralized model to a federation of highly creative teams, each with our own culture and vision," he said, noting a broad range of studios and properties from EA Mythic's Warhammer to Battlefield and Mirror's Edge at DICE.

Riccitiello was largely unable to comment on the specific state of the Take-Two acquisition, however. "We're obviously contained pretty clearly in what we're allowed to talk about," he said. "Our offer currently stands at $25.74 a share, or $2 billion dollars, and our valuation took fully into account the success of GTA... we'd anticipated a result much like what happened in the market."

"It's a spectacular game - I'm enjoying playing it - and offer enormous congratulations to the Rockstar team."

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

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."

The "talent" at Rockstar, as they're called internally, make star-caliber money and might find EA's more traditional pay structure jarring. In 2005, a particularly strong year, Take-Two paid royalties of $84 million, according to company filings. The bulk of funds, say people familiar with the matter, went to Mr. Houser and other Rockstar executives. If EA succeeds in acquiring Take-Two, some analysts believe EA's star developers might demand a bigger share of game proceeds.

Another possible kink: Rockstar's history of autonomy. If EA ends up with Take-Two, Mr. Houser says it's unlikely that he would go so far as to seek EA's approval for game content. Still, he calls Mr. Riccitiello "the real deal" and sees some appeal in an EA alliance, which he says would make Rockstar a "much smaller fish in much bigger pond."

"I'm not someone who has any kind of problem with that," says Mr. Houser, who says EA turned him down for a job in the late 1990s.

[Thanks Timmy!]

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.

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]

• 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.

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.