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Rockstar Releases Second GTA IV PC Patch

Zach Lott — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:29:27 -0600

After facing harsh criticism over the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV's bugginess at launch, Rockstar has put together a second patch that, among other things, offers graphical and crash fixes while correcting errors with the first patch.

You can grab the patch at Rockstar's website or by signing into Games for Windows Live. Follow the link to check out the patch notes.

GTA Chinatown to be "Far Bigger" than PSP GTA Titles

Zach Lott — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:47:52 -0600

The Grand Theft Auto games have been known for their massive worlds, and according to Rockstar Leeds president Gordon Hall, that isn't going to change with Chinatown Wars, the upcoming portable GTA title for the DS that is going to be even bigger than the PSP's Liberty City and Vice City Stories games.

Chinatown Wars is much bigger than anything we have ever done before [in terms of scope]: more odd jobs, deeper missions, and more moments of over-the-top action," Gordon said in a recent issue of Nintendo Power according to Nintendo Everything. "We have a huge interaction with the Rockstar Social Club, a massive [narcotics trafficking] game that would stand alone on its own. The list goes on and on; this thing is huge. We are very proud of all of the PSP games we have made, especially the two GTA games, but this game is far bigger.

It's also worth noting that the game's map is supposedly as large at that of GTA IV's, which could easily make this the largest handheld game yet. It'll be hitting retail shelves on March 17.

GB Review: Midnight Club LA Remix (PSP)

Ryan Fulton — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:48:26 -0600

Midnight Club LA Remix is a competent racer with few niggling issues and annoyances. The portable version holds up well to its fully featured console cousins and for an arcade style racing game on the go you're unlikely to come across a better example of the genre at the moment, but it's far from a must have title if you're not really in the market for a portable racing game. It's worth a buy if you're interested in a racer that's not tethered to a television.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Every once in a great while, in every field, in any genre, there is a title that exemplifies, redefines, and generally leaves everyone else involved in the business both gob-smacked and flabbergasted. Midnight Club LA Remix for the PlayStation Portable is not such a title, but it is a competent arcade racer spread across the cities of Los Angeles and Tokyo where you can pop parking brakes and bust nitrous boosts to your heart's desire. While it exhibits a few issues it ultimately proves itself to be a fun title.

Launch Gallery: Midnight Club LA Remix

(15 images)

As with any arcade style racer, realism takes a backseat to outlandish physics, over-the-top crashes, and general mayhem. The gameplay is flawed at times, but ultimately enjoyable. The game engages you by using the city as a glorified menu system allowing you to chose races and upgrade your car at your will once you unlock the features. While this is enjoyable to an extent, it feels like a chore after a while -- considering how you're forced to endure at least two healthy loading screens merely to accomplish any task. Once you arrive at your destination you can look forward to a one to five minute race followed by some more loading screens. Repetition of races is also a minor gripe that should be considered.

The racing itself is a blast, the sense of speed is very real, and the turning on most cars feels just right once you get a hang of how to handle each of your cars. The AI controlled races vary from laughably pathetic to fiendishly difficult. While this is not a bad thing it's difficult to find races where there is a definite sense of being in just the right spot for an exciting finish which is somewhat of a let down. On a related note, which explains the lack of exciting finishes to a degree, the AI does not resort of "rubber banding" their way back up to you when you're in the lead or vice-versa. The car modification system is exceptionally robust and the number of modifications available for each individual car is nothing short of astounding.

The game's sound is difficult to quantify. The racers and main character all feature voice acting that's subpar across to board, and the dialogue is beyond poorly written unless you consider 2 Fast 2 Furious to be the apex of screenwriting prowess. That being said, there is a certain campy value that the dialogue and voice acting adds that makes the game endearing or at least mildly amusing the first few times you hear the insults that are thrown about by the other racers. The music is a standard faire of rap, electronic, hip hop, and rock songs. Featuring nearly 100 musical tracks the selection is anything but constrained, and the long list of artists should almost guarantee that there is at least once act that you're interested in listening to. Unfortunately most of the races are shorter than the songs included in the game so the music is often cut short by the lack of a continuation feature.

The graphics are generally sharp with minimal pop up when moving. Upon closer inspection the textures are rather drab and lack much in the way of definition, but this is hardly a deal breaker since this is really only noticeable when you're stopped and looking directly at an object (which really isn't the point of a racing game, is it?) The cars themselves look as if they were recreated with care and the cities seem as if a great deal of forethought was put into their design. Each city has defined districts that differ in appearance from the rest of the city, and the streets seem to flow comfortably in such a manner that doesn't punish the player too badly for making a wrong turn. All things considered it's an attractive visual package for a portable racer.

Midnight Club LA Remix is a passable effort at an arcade racer that while falling short on a few points manages to create an enjoyable casual experience for a portable racing title. The loading screens sort of detract from the pickup-and-playability of the title, but if you've got an extra moment or two it may just be worth your while to put rubber to the streets of LA and Tokyo during your free time. Far from redefining the genre the game offers an experience that is generally pleasing and engaging.

They are in! GTA IV PC Specs Unveiled

Tim Grube — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:54:16 -0500

For those of you who have been waiting for the PC specs on Grand Theft Auto IV--well, they are now in!

Windows XP SP2
Dual core processor (Intel Pentium D or above)
2GB of RAM
18GB of hard drive space
512MB Direct 3D 10 compatible video card or Direct3D 9 card
DVD dual-layer drive

It appears the staff who handle the Games for Windows website jumped the gun today because they posted the PC specifications, but were removed soon after. No word from Rockstar Games regarding as to why it was taken down.

E3 2008: Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars Announced

Tim Grube — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:05:20 -0500

The folks over at Rockstar Games today announced the development of Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars for Nintendo DS.

"This is a game that will deliver a rich, fast-paced and intense 'Grand Theft Auto' experience that will be truly unique to Nintendo's handheld platform," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Rockstar Leeds, along with the team at Rockstar North, has built upon a decade of progressive design on Grand Theft Auto, and has created something fundamentally fresh and immersive."

The game is set to be released in Winter of this year.

Grand Theft Auto 4 Passes $500 Million

Tim Grube — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:25:21 -0500

Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games announced early this morning that Grand Theft Auto 4 has sold 6 million units of its criminal action game in its first week, with estimated retail sales exceeding $500 million.

Rockstar Games put $100 million dollars into the development process and quickly made all that money back and then some. Quite crazy how much game development is nowadays. It's pretty much the same amount of money to develop a hollywood movie.

The game is still selling at a whopping $60 a pop.

New Grand Theft Auto IV Screens: the writing's on the wall

Shiva Stella — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:40:00 -0600

Three new images of Grand Theft Auto IV surfaced yesterday, and if you're interested in giving this measly offering a glance you may do so at the link.

I must say, though: that's some mighty detailed graffiti, which is obviously an indicator of the fantastic graphical beauty the game's got in store for us.

Cross your fingers.

Grand Theft Auto IV Dated, Special Edition Offers Up

Shiva Stella — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:11:29 -0600

And the Grand Theft Auto IV updates just keep rolling in, headlined today by Rockstar's confirmation that the game is expected to release on April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Special Edition bundles are already being offered for $89.99 (shipping April 28) on both systems and include:

Safety deposit box
"Special" packaging
GTAIV art book, "featuring never-before-seen production artwork from GTA IV"
Selected soundtrack
Rockstar keychain (for the safety deposit box keys)
Rockstar duffel bag

The regular title's MSRP is the usual $59.99. You can take a peek at the special editions at the link.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles Box Art Unveiled

Tim Grube — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:04:58 -0600

Hot off the press this morning from Rockstar Games is the box art of Midnight Club: Los Angeles for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Enjoy!

Hit the read more for the larger images.

New Grand Theft Auto IV Screenshots, more previews

Shiva Stella — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:00:00 -0600

I bet it's a body.

Just in case you haven't had your fill of Grand Theft Auto IV today, here are some new screenshots now circulating the Wonderful Web. Take a gander at the link.

CVG has also posted a new preview of the game, if you're interested. Looks like the media is lining up at the trough (ourselves included).

60 Minute Impressions With GTA IV

Tim Grube — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:31:08 -0600

Unfortunately, GameBump has not yet been able to get our grubby little hands on a preview of Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar, we're waiting for our invite, just shoot me an email!), but our friends over at GameTrailers.com got a chance to go head on with this massive title. Below are a few excerpts from their preview.

The build on display seemed close to finished with the full world realized and missions in-place. Another big aspect of this franchise is traversing whichever city its set in. This time its a return to Rockstars homage to New York, Liberty City. Its an absolutely massive environmenta network of boroughs attached by a series of waterways.

Carjacking has been made a little more involved this time. If you try to take an empty ride Niko will put his elbow through the drivers side window and hop in. Once inside the car, you work the right trigger attempting to hotwire it.

We won't paste the entire preview, but head over to GameTrailers website to get the full thing.

No GTAIV for Wii, Exclusive DLC for 360 Version in 2009

Shiva Stella — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:37:48 -0600

This guy has scary big hands.

Rockstar has taken some time off from its Manhunt 2 rantings to grace us with some interesting screenshots for its Grand Theft Auto IV. All screens are viewable at the link.

In more pertinent GTAIV news, Gamasutra is reporting that there will be no GTAIV release for Nintendo's Wii console due to the game being "ill-suited" for it (yet Bully is apparently a go, explain that one to me).

In this same fourth-quarter results announcement, Rockstar also confirmed that it will be bringing fresh, exclusive downloadable content to the Xbox 360 version in 2009.

New GTA IV Trailer Doesn't Disappoint

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:39:25 -0600

A new trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV has arrived and is featured in full HD glory over at GameTrailers (linked). If you prefer an embedded version, simply hit the jump.

The video seems to be entirely cutscene footage (no gameplay), but reveals a lot about the tone and themes of the game's plot.

Grand Theft Auto IV Box Art Video, Next Trailer Dec 6

Shiva Stella — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:20:00 -0600

Move over all you traditional companies who fill up my in-box with .jpgs and .bmps showcasing your title's hot box art, as Rockstar has published a video of its Grand Theft Auto IV's box art in creation. Yeah, take that Mr.jpg.

The video is below and details the date and title of the next GTAIV trailer: "Move up, Ladies" for December 6. Someone has mastered the art of timely propaganda.

Rockstar Pissed Off at BBFC's Rejection of Manhunt 2

Shiva Stella — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:40:01 -0600

I suspect it must suck if you're a member of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) today, as Rockstar and the BBFC have engaged in a heated discussion regarding Manhunt 2 and the BBFC's refusal to certify the title - allowing it to release to gamers in the UK - at Rockstar's appeal of the decision.

Eurogamer has the full scoop and details Rockstar's defense of the BBFC's rejection of Manhunt 2 as delivered by Geoffrey Robertson, who suggested that the BBFC be renamed to the "British Board of Videogame Censors" (oh, snap).

Stated Robertson, "There's no evidence that playing interactive videogames leads to a propensity to act them out in real life. We wonder why Manhunt 2 has been singled out for special treatment."

He continued, addressing the Video Appeals Committee, "There you are, seven of you - not one of you has experienced, I'm told by the chairman, computer games, or are a gamer." In response one member of the panel did admit to having played computer games before and the panel did acknowledge that they had played Manhunt 2 (I'm curious as to if one of them has killed anybody yet).

Robertson concluded, "We [Rockstar] say [Manhunt 2] has been banned not because of any likelihood it will harm gamers, but because of the likelihood it will harm the reputation of the BBFC."

I must say, though, that Rockstar can't be surprised at the BBFC's rejection, as the ESRB had reacted to the material in almost similar fashion, at first rating the title Adults-Only until Rockstar made some "adjustments" for a Mature rating. You can read up on Manhunt 2 here.

So... Grand Theft Auto IV When?

Shiva Stella — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:06:22 -0600

Just in case you missed out on some interesting Grand Theft Auto IV news yesterday, Take Two's Strauss Zelnick, chairman, has commented that the company will not announce a firm (read: specific) release date for Rockstar's next GTA hit until it's "utterly convinced" that the title can make the date. However, as GameSpot and other sources have pointed out, this does not mean that the game will not make its Q2 2008 release (we just don't know the exact date to expect it in Q2).

That's a bonus for fans who want a completed, quality product, no doubt, but the main question the company is considering is whether missing out on holiday sales will prove a serious mistake.

Explained Zelnick, "I think there was a concern initially when we slipped (on the October 16 date) that we missed the boat in terms of Christmas but I think that concern has been alleviated... because this is a must-have title it's probably okay that we're not selling it in the Christmas season."

Sounds logical. You can hit the jump to view the full question and answer.

Excerpt:

Analyst: "You guys have talked about Grand Theft Auto IV being February 1 to April 30. Obviously, there's been rumors that it could be later, and then, recently, the gaming communities have said that it could be earlier. Just help us understand when we should expect a firm date on when that release could be..." [Emphasis added.]

Zelnick: "It's a fair question, I think, given that we weren't obviously able to stick our firm date the last time. We're gonna give the firm date when we're utterly convinced we have it. And that isn't right now. You know, we do feel that the way the title is being developed so that it's going to be fantastic, we know it's highly anticipated. I think there was a concern, initially, when we slipped, that we sort of missed the boat in terms of Christmas, and I think that concern has been alleviated. I think most people are--even though, obviously, it wasn't the intent--are saying, 'Hey, that's OK. You know, the hardware penetration is going to grow over Christmas, and this is gonna be a must-have title, it's probably ok you're not selling it during the Christmas season.' So I think right now, our view is to put out a really high-quality title. Obviously, we're not in the business of disappointing investors, and we're certainly in the business of doing what we say we're going to do, so we'll give a firm release date when we know we can stick to it." [Emphasis added.]

In happier news, Zelnick has also commented that any downloadable content for the game would not "play a very significant role in generating revenue for the company in 2008" (source: GamesIndustry.biz). I don't have a problem with companies releasing downloadable content to enhance the general gaming experience, but I'm not a fan of paying for content that should have been included in the full game at release, buy hey, that's just me.

Manhunt 2 Hack Not Rockstar's Fault, Says ESRB

Aaron Dunlap — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:26:52 -0500

As we mentioned earlier, some crafty hackers figured out how to unlock the edited content from the PSP version of Manhunt 2 using modded software. People began predicting this would be a repeat of the Hot Coffee... incident wherein the sex scene in GTA: San Andreas could be unlocked through equally devious means.

Maybe not. ESRB head Patricia Vance quickly stepped up and released a statement acquitting Rockstar of any wrongdoing in this Manhunt 2 hack.

"Once numerous changes to the game's code have been made and other unauthorized software programs have been downloaded to the hardware device which circumvent security controls that prevent unauthorized games from being played on that hardware, a player can view unobscured versions of certain violent acts in the game," Vance said. "Contrary to some reports, however, we do not believe these modifications fully restore the product to the version that originally received an AO rating, nor is this a matter of unlocking content."

Basically, she says, Rockstar never intended for people to unlock this content so they're in the clear.

One could infer from this that Rockstar also did nothing wrong with Hot Coffee, since it's virtually the exact same situation. For now, I'm going with that being the case.

You have to wonder how many times this can happen before it stops being not-Rockstar's-fault and starts becoming a trend.

Surprise! Protesting Video Games Only Makes Them Sell More

Aaron Dunlap — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:37:34 -0500

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt 2, Bully, all three of those games have three things in common: first, they're all made by Rockstar (which makes the motivations for the second point a little transparent); second, they all had considerable uproar and protest around their release due to their violent or offensive content; and third, they sold (or probably will sell) around three hundred and forty five trillion copies.

It seems rather obvious, that all the continual media coverage given to the outrage over a game is nothing more than free advertising. The people protesting the game are actually increasing its exposure, defeating their own purpose.

Wired has a great article about this, following the trend back to games like Mortal Kombat and beyond.

Sociologists and psychologists will tell you that boycotts rarely work because the phrase "Don't buy _____" includes the words "buy _____" -- but protesting a game because of titilating content worsens the situation because the titilation is what most people want.

Imagine if there was an unmarked store on a street and as you were walking past it somebody grabbed you and said, "Don't go inside there, they have low priced pornography!" If that protester hadn't said anything, you would never have known about the cheap porn in that store and would have walked right by it. In the same way, people complaining about all of the sex and violence in these games just lets more people know that, hey, here's a game with sex and violence they can buy.

The real debate is whether Rockstar makes their games so prone to protest on purpose, knowing it's a great business model. If that were the case, would that be cheap or brilliant?

Manhunt 2 Available in NA Market and Nowhere Else

Shiva Stella — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:12:08 -0500

Rockstar's Manhunt 2 for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP is now officially available at North American retailers.

The game is the successor to the incredibly gruesome Manhunt and is no doubt yet another expression of Rockstar's rebellious nature and its desire to test the social boundaries of the gaming industry. UK gamers, however, are going to be (legally) out of luck in getting their hands on this title as the BBFC has denied the game's release in that region, though a download version might be made available at a later date.

Hit the jump for more info.

Excerpt:

"Manhunt 2 has gone through much to reach this day," said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. "We are very excited that fans will finally get a chance to experience the magnificent horror experience we've crafted with Manhunt 2."

The sequel to the critically acclaimed, best-selling franchise, Manhunt 2 is a dark and disturbing psychological story revolving around the sinister events of a secretive research project called The Pickman Project.

Plunging into the depths of human psychosis, terror and paranoia, the twisted plot and brutal gameplay conspire to create the most atmospheric gaming experience ever, with GamesRadar.com stating, "Manhunt 2 looks to be a deeply, horrifyingly unsettling experience, and we mean that as the highest possible compliment."

The title is rated Mature by the ESRB, however that follows an initial Adults-Only (AO) rating that the ESRB and Rockstar worked together to adjust.