Have you ever witnessed a whacked-out base jumper from the street level and thought to yourself “if only I had a rocket launcher!” Well, the team at Rockstar knows exactly how you feel. Hit the jump for a video preview of the Liberty City exclusive Free Mode multiplayer base jumping challenges found in Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Kotaku reports that the next DLC for Grand Theft Auto IV, ‘The Ballard of Gay Tony”, will be releasing on October 29 this year. The DLC will be available for download, or it will come in a retail box entitled ‘Episodes from Liberty City’ which contains both sets of DLC. The download will set you back 1600 MS funbux, and the retail disc will cost you $39.99.

Before I go, here’s a silly blurb made up by the PR man: “players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.”

Giant Bomb reports that the next GTA expansion for Xbox 360 has been announced, under the name “The Ballard of Gay Tony”. The source reports that you will play as Luiz Lopez, a “part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant” to Gay Tony. The DLC will hit in the Autumn (or “Fall”) for 1600 points. both this and “The Lost and the Damned” will be available as a retail box for $40 under that moniker “Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City.” One more thing: Jon Zungre floppy penis.

Earlier today, Rockstar confirmed that the much-talked-about downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto IV would be released on February 17, 2009, exclusively for the Xbox 360. The DLC will be titled ‘The Lost and Damned’, and it won’t star Niko Bellic. Details follow.

The DLC will feature a new character named Johnny Klebitz, a member of the gang you’ll likely recognize called ‘The Lost’. Rockstar’s vice president of creative development, Dan Houser, had the following to say:

“Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can’t go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City.”

“The story is not directly impacted by decisions you took in the main game, but tons of details and mysteries from the main story get explained, so it will add a lot of color to the main story. We feel like we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of the depth and detail.”

As previously stated, the DLC is expected to hit Live on February 17th of next year. Analysts predict it will end up in the $15-$20 price range. I personally predict that I won’t buy it.

Source: USA Today

On October 30, 2008, the land of the rising sun will be treated to a fictional Bosnian with a blazing gun. In other words, the localized version of Rockstar’s GTA 4 will be released in Japan just before Halloween, or as the Japanese call it, “Bad American Cosplay Day”.

Full press release after the jump.

Rockstar Games Announces Release Date for Japanese Version of Grand Theft Auto IV

New York, NY – August 15, 2008 – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today an October 30, 2008 release date for the localized Japanese version of Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

Developed by series creator Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV was released in North America and Europe on April 29, 2008, selling 3.6 million units on the first day of release, and 6 million units in the first week. Critics from across the globe have showered the game in unanimous praise for its immersive storytelling; culturally eclectic soundtrack; an unparalleled level of detail in Liberty City; and sixteen player multiplayer with more than a dozen online modes for endless replayability.

Milton, Ga. – Three teenagers arrested in connection to a string of car bombings professed to have learned to make Molotov cocktails playing Grand Theft Auto.

The teens, one 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds are to be charged with 57 felony counts that include possession of an explosive device, arson, and criminal damage to property.

Video surveillance shows the teenagers buying the materials for the Molotov cocktails which consisted of glass soda bottles, Coleman lantern fuel and some rags. A video that later led to their identification by high-school police officers.

After their apprehension by the Milton Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, the teenagers told authorities that they learned “how to do it” by playing Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto.

Police Chief Chris Lagerbloom told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the teens committed the crimes for fun. “They did it for the entertainment value,” he said.

Due to the nature of the crimes the teens would face federal prosecution – however, their age prevents them from being tried in federal court. None of the teens have any records of prior arrests before the fire bombings.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Milton Police Department classified GTA as ‘a computer game series that has been blamed for inciting juvenile crime sprees in the United States and globally, including murder and carjacking.’

“This case is another strong example of the serious ramifications that can come from letting impressionable teens play violent video games like this one,” Lagerbloom said to Doug Nurse of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We urge parents to pay particular attention to their children’s extracurricular activities and to intervene before it’s too late.”

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Here we go again. An 18 year old in Thailand confessed to the robbery and murder of a 54 year old taxi cab driver, claiming he was trying to recreate a scene from the Grand Theft Auto video game.

Distributors of the game in Thailand are now being instructed to remove the game from their shelves indefinitely it would seem. Sales and Marketing Director for New Era Interactive Media, Sakchai Chotikachinda, was quoted saying:

“We are sending out requests today to outlets and shops to pull the games off their shelves and we will replace them with other games … We are also urging video game arcades to pull the games from service …”

Police explained that the teen exhibited no signs of mental illness and openly took admitted to the crime citing the game as his motive. According to authorities, the boy stated that:

“He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game …”

He then added that it was not his intent to kill the man however he proceeded to do so once he started to fight back. Currently detained until his trial, if found guilty, the teenager faces death by lethal injection.

A Thailand Culture Ministry senior official stated that this latest act of violence should serve as a “wake-up-call”, urging that authorities crack down on video game violence.

Personally, I think that when the time comes, whoever injects him should whisper in his ear right before doing so — saying something like “I saw this in a movie once and I’ve been dying to try it out!”

Afterthought: What do you think? Is this just another case of a deranged teenager, or are games like GTA to blame?

Source: news.yahoo.com

Remember the end of Reservoir Dogs when everyone is suspicious of the next guy and they all shoot each other?  Remember the scene in American History X where Edward Norton caps a bunch of dudes with his nazi wrath?  Wouldn’t it be neat to see those scenes remade in Grand Theft Auto 4?  Well, it doesn’t matter what you think because it’s been done anyways.

Some people by the names of Mentok/Burnt Toastt and Ultimate Chance/chance reborn (don’t ask ’cause I don’t know) used the in-game multiplayer to record the video while overdubbing the original movie audio.  The result is akin to any other machinima, really.  That’s why there’s a word for this type of thing.  So anyways, here it is:

Update to source: We have been contacted by the original creators of the video, who explained that Joblo lifted the piece from their YouTube page, and then watermarked it as their own. Apparently Joblo’s media player isn’t the only thing that blows. To rectify the situation, we have decided to link to the original YouTube video instead.

Source:UltimateChance (via: JoBlo.com)

Australian graphic artist Patrick Brown has created some truly awesome Grand Theft Auto-inspired fan art. Check out the gallery for the GTA goodness, as well as some other videogame/comic book/movie-related masterpieces.

Patrick’s work is currently posted on his deviantART page, aptly named “Grand Theft Awesome.”  No, I wasn’t the innovative one that thought up the creative title — it was all him and I totally ripped it off.  He has a lot of stuff in his gallery that we didn’t post here, so show the man some love and check it out.

Grand Theft Awesome

16 Photos

 

Rockstar has released a patch for both the PS3 and 360 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV today, addressing specific issues on each platform and in the game’s multiplayer modes. The full list of changes is as follows.

1. Fixed an issue where players were unable to enter or exit vehicles in GTA Race.
2. Fixed an issue where scripted vehicles were causing games to unexpectedly crash.
3. Improved reliability and frequency of PS3 online leaderboard updates.
4. Fixed a rare hang some players encountered when moving from a Race or GTA Race lobby into gameplay.
5. Fixed a hang that would occur when players were switching teams during the countdown in the lobby.
6. Fixed an issue where players were able to get ridiculously high scores from Cops ‘n Crooks matches.
7. Changed GTA Race and Race so that the last player remaining always receives a reward of $250.
8. Fixed an issue where spectating players would prevent the game from finishing.
9. Fixed an issue where players were unable to spectate in Round 2 of Cops ‘n Crooks games.
10. Changed countdown timer in lobby so that it no longer resets when new players join a game.
11. Changed the kick option so that kicked players are no longer brought back to single player.

Some of these issues sound fairly significant, glad to hear Rockstar has taken care of them. Given the success of GTAIV and this being its first entry into the multiplayer realm, it’ll be interesting to watch how the experience continues to grow. While these are merely fixes, hopefully the future will bring other additions.

For all you out there in the wilds of Liberty City online, let us know how the experience is treating you.

Source: Rockstar

As seems to be the norm this console generation, not all games can hit that elusive 720p HD resolution.  First Halo 3, then GTA4 (PS3) and now the PS3 exclusive Haze.

As previously reported, a demo of Haze can be found on the Playstation Store, supporting 4 player co-op.  Graphically it’s solid, but what’s most impressive is that it runs silky smooth.  It runs at a locked 30fps, and even with a host of foliage and enemies on screen – it never dips.

Though there are more impressive looking games on the PS3, it’s with Haze’s gameplay and story that show off its true colours.  (More on this in our upcoming preview of both the four player co-op and multiplayer modes.)  Nonetheless, for Free Radical to achieve a solid PS3 engine with no loading throughout the game, they’ve had to make some concessions.

Qua51 of Beyond3d now confirms Haze’s resolution to be 1024by576 with no anti-aliasing.  That is, going by the demo, and there’s yet to be a difference in resolution from a game’s demo to its final release. At the end of the day, this is something we’re going to have to get used to.  If developers find they can put the saved power into a solid framerate, or better graphics – then should we really be complaining?

When we visited Free Radical at Sony’s 3 Rooms earlier this year, script writer Rob Yescombe had this to say about the game’s graphics::

We’ve got a 12 hour streaming experience and for someone to put that next to a game where they can spend 2 minutes loading a level every half an hour. Well good for them, but it’s a totally different game.  Just because it might be first person, just because it might be on the same platform, they’re totally different games, totally different things that we’ll be able to do.

So we want to give people variety of gameplay, and if that means you’ve got a texture that doesn’t look photo realistic, well guess what, you’re going to enjoy the game more than you would looking at a photo realistic texture.

And it’s hard to disagree with that.  Let us know what you think about the HAZE demo in the comments section and in our forums.

*Update* - Quaz51 of Beyond3d Forums has now confirmed that Haze uses 2xAA as opposed to the original 0xAA.

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Debra McGrath of EB Games Australia, the largest games retailer in the country, has recently announced that the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto 4 is just ahead of the Xbox 360 version in terms of pre-sales.

Following that statement the National Marketing Manager of Gametraders, Chad Polley went on to say “According to the figures we have at the moment, we’re [pre-]selling two PS3 versions for every one 360 unit.”

If this trend is replicated around the globe, surely Microsoft isn’t going to be happy about the 50 million dollar DLC deal with Take-Two as an incentive for people to choose the Xbox version. However, Microsoft could have the last laugh if they manage to sell significant quantities of downloadable content at a later date.

The latest reports from the UK suggest the trend doesn’t seem to be confined to just Australia. Speaking to MCV.UK, Asda’s Duncan Cross said,

Both titles have generated great interest on the Asda website, with strong pre-orders, and the PS3 version is selling three times that of 360, which is surprising and not in line with what we’d expect.

Then again, online retailers tell a different story. If you take a look at the bestsellers on Amazon.co.uk GTAIV on Xbox 360 is first and the PS3 version is second.

The game is expected to spur sales of both consoles accross the globe, but Patcher tells Reuters that the game could result in 2 million more PS3 sales in comparison to only 1 million Xbox 360s. “I think PS3 ‘wins’ this battle,” Pachter said.

However, this needn’t be reflective of game sales, mainly due to the Xbox 360’s already larger install base. Jesse Divinch predicts that US sales of the game will be 2:1 in favour of the Xbox 360:

If there is a correlation between the GamerMetrics data and the U.S. NPD data (and there somewhat is), I estimate that we are going to see a GTA IV sales ratio of anywhere between 2.2 to 2.7 in favor of the Xbox 360 – which is also in the same ballpark of the current Xbox 360 to PS3 lifetime-to-date hardware sales ratio of 2.4.

Only time will tell.

Source: Gamespot, MCV.UK, Reuters and Gamasutra

Rockstar’s golden hooker, Grand Theft Auto, was supposed to return last October in the much anticipated fourth installment… wait, sixth installment? Eighth? Okay, let’s just say Grand Theft Auto IV and move on.

October came and went, and obviously the game was not released — if it were, you’d be playing it right now instead of just reading about it. All that’s about to change very soon.

Take Two, publisher of the game, has GTA4 nestled firmly in their second quarter release calendar, which runs from February to April. Rockstar Games Vice President of Product Development, Jeronimo Barrera, confirmed that it’s still on track to meet that goal.

As far as the progress of the game goes, Rockstar seems to have addressed most of the things GTA fans have bitched about, such as having to drive all the way back to the starting point if you fail a mission, just to re-initialize it — now it’s a quick button press. Mission repeats will also have some varied dialog so “players won’t get bored”.

Your wanted level is now only affected if your crimes are actually witnessed by the police. Once the fuzz shows up, the mini-map flashes to indicate your danger zone. While you’re in the zone, the police will continue to give chase, so the goal is to escape and hide. Fighting back or causing any other kind of mayhem while in the zone will increase the radius and just make it that much more difficult to shake them.

Cars now have GPS systems in them to help guide you to your destination. The route will be drawn out on your mini-map, and expensive cars will even have talking GPS systems. Additionally, random events will occur while driving, such as barrels falling off of a truck, bums lying in the road, or other car chases completely unrelated to you or your actions.

Finally, probably the biggest gripe about the GTA series, is the targeting system. This has been completely overhauled and is now quite similar to The Godfather. Pulling the left trigger aims down the sights of your weapon and allows free-aiming. Holding the left trigger while aiming at an enemy locks onto that target. Once locked, you can move the right analog stick up or down to target the head or legs, respectively, and flicking the stick left or right changes targets altogether.

All of this works in tandem with the cover system, which is very much like that in Gears of War. Run into a wall or obstacle, hit the cover button, and you’re stuck to it. You can then peer out and aim with left trigger, or you can blind-fire.

Basically, Rockstar implemented all of the good things about Saints Row, added the targeting of The Godfather, and sprinkled with a pinch of Gears of War. Even if this wasn’t the next Grand Theft Auto game, I’d still say that’s a recipe for a delicious “I-will-buy-this-game” sandwich.

MTV News had a 90-minute exclusive preview of the game and claims it’s looking great. The build was running on an Xbox 360 development kit, and “appears to be shining with polish” — they see no reason why it wouldn’t make the target window of February – April. You can read MTV News’ full impressions here.

Update: Take Two just announced that the official release date for GTA4 is April 29, 2008. Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, had this to say:

We’ve pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment.

I’m sure your game will do just fine, Sam.

Keep your eyes glued to the Marketplace, because the new GTAIV trailer hinted at during last week’s box art reveal will be available on Xbox Live around 3 PM EST. That’s a scant few hours from now!

We still don’t know much about the trailer, itself, except that it’s entitled “Move up, ladies!” In a world filled with old ladies to run over and pimp operations to simply run, that could mean just about anything. Let’s just hope it’s actually exciting and demonstrates that the game’s made some progress since the last time we saw it in motion.

The recently released screen shots remain impressive, but what they don’t show us are potential frame-rate problems, screen tearing, draw-in, or any of those other nasty graphical glitches native to a game in progress. Not that we’d expect to see a whole lot of that anyway from one of Rockstar’s slickly-produced teasers, regardless of all the internal development problems.

Microsoft claims no exclusivity, so we may also see the trailer on Playstation Network today, and you can bet your last dollar that it’ll be all over the internet proper.