An email hit our in-box a few hours ago tipping us on an interview with Bully composer Shawn Lee. In it, he slips and reveals that Rockstar has plans to release Bully 2. When asked if he any future plans or interest in creating additional video game soundtracks, Lee responded:

“Yes. It looks like I will be doing the soundtrack for Bully 2 in the not so distant future,”

Music to the ears of Bully fans? We’ll keep you posted as more news develops.

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.

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.

The ESRB has never been an impenetrable fortress of information, and the fact that they have a search function on their website doesn’t really help them keep things secret. Destructoid pointed our earlier today that the ESRB is now listing three Max Payne games, one being the poorly-recieved Max Payne Advance, and the other two being Max Payne 1 and 2, which are listed for the Xbox 360.

Since Rockstar announced Max Payne 3 a short time ago, they may be looking to release the previous games on Xbox Live in the same time frame as the third’s release in retail. Destructoid also pointed out that the games weren’t listed for the PS3, which could signal another exclusive for Microsoft. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what Rockstar says on the matter.

Source; ESRB (via Destructoid)

Rockstar have announced today that the third instalment of their bullet-time third-person action game series will be arriving during “Winter 2009″. The game “tells the story of a retired police detective embroiled in a world of corruption, turmoil and intense violence,” Rockstar says. Max Payne 3 will include “hyper-intense action” (”that fans have come to love”), and will move the story in a “new direction.”

Rockstar also notes that Max is “a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.” The game is set for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, and may or may not be a good game. You never know with Rockstar.

Via Dtoid.

PSU have posted up an intriguing rumour concerning Rockstar’s blockbuster GTA franchise. The site claims that the latest issue of Game Informer features news that a new full retail game, in a similar style to ‘GTA: San Andreas’ and the like (new game, but not full sequel), will release by the end of 2009. Choice quote from the magazine:

“We’re not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we’re talking about a full retail game. We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent at this time.”

Tokyo certainly sounds like a jolly good choice if you ask me. I’m sure Sean will agree with me on that. Just remember this is total fact completely a rumour at this point.

[Update]: Kotaku have recieved word from Rockstar that there’s “no truth” in this rumour. Never mind, eh?

Rockstar has announced today that Grand Theft Auto’s DS debut, Chinatown Wars, will be released on March 17 and 20, 2009, in America and Europe respectively. Take-Two had previously hoped that the game would make it out by the end of this year (currently the official website still seems to be holding out for this), but the game has been delayed. The reason? To “provide a better launch and marketing window”, according to the publisher. Anyone looking forward to this? Can’t say I am, but with the prestige the series holds I’m sure fans (and DS gamers who want to kill stuff) won’t be dissapointed.

The Internet age has lifted humanity up to a fast-paced, easily accessible society. When it comes to console videogames, online gaming has become an essential part of the overall experience.

Ten years ago when a gamer would complete a twelve-hour single player game, the experience was all but over, and the only way to enjoy the game further was to play it all over again, running through the same occurrences with little to no fresh experiences. Flash forward ten years later, and gamers can now rejoice as their short-lived single player experience may now be expanded through the infinite realms of online gaming and downloadable content.

While online play might be something that has been engraved into the videogame industry for over a decade now, downloadable content (DLC) is a newly introduced concept that allows developers to create fresh content such as maps, characters, and items so that a twelve-hour single game experience could be a whole new experience the second or third time through.

Downloadable content is available through the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live and PlayStation 3’s PlayStation Store ranging from prices of $5 to $10, which can be paid with a pre-paid card bought in stores such as Gamestop or with a debit/credit card. Downloadable content varies between games– for example, Rock Band’s DLC is typically a pack of 3 new songs, while Call of Duty 4’s DLC is a bundle of new multiplayer maps which provides the player with a variety of environments.

As a result, those small $5 or $10 investments may add just a few more months of fresh gameplay for that particular title. In 2008 alone, titles such as Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 were friendly to the DLC community. However, there are two titles that promised to appeal heavily to the DLC community, but as of today, they have failed to pursue that promise.

Grand Theft Auto IV

At the time Grand Theft Auto IV was initially announced at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), specifically for Xbox 360 owners, the hype machine was in full swing when it was declared that episodic content would be released exclusively for the 360. After a few delays and long periods of anticipation for new information, GTAIV finally released onto the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles in April 2008.

The game was met with critical accolades, boosting revenue higher for Take Two Interactive and ending a long, seven year wait for the new title. Gamers were finally satisfied, but the DLC announcement is something that Rockstar has been tight lipped on all year. By now, the initial buyers of GTAIV have probably completed the game at least one time, and have delved deep into the title’s stellar online realm. While GTA games in the past have withstood their lifespan without DLC and multiplayer, GTAIV is different in that respect. Microsoft in particular used downloadable episodic content in the title’s marketing.

The planned release for the DLC was set for sometime in early Fall. However, it seems that the wait for episodic content will go on into November or December 2008. Now that September is here and no official word on DLC has surfaced, uneasiness is beginning to settle in the minds of many owners.
We still don’t know when DLC for GTAIV will come about, and what it will contain. Could it be a new plot layered over the current story, or could it be a totally new location such as Vice City? The possibilities are endless, and let’s just hope that whatever comes out will truly live up to the high expectations and appease the masses.

Mass Effect

When Bioware, developers of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire, introduced Mass Effect during the 2005 X05 convention, RPG gamers were instantly taken in by what appeared to be the flagship RPG for the Xbox 360. After the game was released in November 2007, it was met with great praise across the board and brought home a large number of awards.

One of the key selling points was that between all three games (Mass Effect is a planned trilogy), DLC would bridge the games together plot-wise. At least, that was the idea, because ten months into the release, Bioware has only released just one DLC mission that does not bridge the story between Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, but rather branches off the main path into something trivial.

Bioware has also been secretive about future DLC, almost to the point where the Bring Down the Sky DLC for Mass Effect will be the first and only downloadable content that gamers see. I was visiting the Mass Effect forums on Bioware’s website and I ran into this statement made by the Community Communications Coordinator, Chris Priestly:

“There may be more DLCs in the future. Currently, we’re keeping our cards close to our chest, so you’ll have to wait and see what we come up with. Stay tuned.”

The choice of words “There may be more DLCs in the future” amuses me. From what we knew, it was a given that there would be multiple DLC packs for Mass Effect, so now it has been downgraded to an uncertain “may be”? Mass Effect is a great game, but it suffers a short playing time as the main storyline can be completed in less than 15 hours, which is short by RPG standards. So while it’s almost a given that DLC is in high demand for Mass Effect, but when will owners ever see more of it?

Each generation of videogames comes with a specific demand from its audience. The 90s was the graphics age and the new millennia brought online multiplayer. Now that online multiplayer has been established, downloadable content will be the next great demand in the next decade. Hopefully developers and publishers will key in on this model and make good use of it. As for Grand Theft Auto IV and Mass Effect, well, we continue to wait.

At ComicCon ’08 GameTrailers had the opportunity to catch up with the voice behind Niko Bellic, Michael Hollick. Geoff Keighly prefaced one of his questions by stating that Rockstar has been very tight-lipped about the upcoming DLC, adding that no one knows what to expect. Michael responded by saying “neither do I.”

In the interview, Hollick gave the impression that he had yet to be approached by either Rockstar or Take-Two for involvement in what has been speculated to be some sort of continuation to the overarching story of GTA IV.

Pressing for information, GT TV asked “If Niko was going to be in it, you haven’t done his voice for it yet — would it be fair to say that?” Hollick confirmed that he had yet to do any voicework for the DLC, stating “it’s fair to say that.” You can see the segment in the video below at the 9:30 mark.

The GTA IV DLC has been shrouded in ambiguity since its very announcement. It’s been 4 months since the release of the game, and we haven’t heard so much as a snippet of news regarding downloadable content. The trend continues, this time courtesy of Leipzig Games Convention where Microsoft said, “In autumn there will be news from Liberty City,” followed by a mouthful of marketing mumbo jumbo.

In essence, we continue to wait.

We can also take what Hollick said and extrapolate it into a conspiracy theory of sorts. In an interview with The New York Times, the voice actor stated that he was happy with the opportunity to have worked on the Rockstar title, but went on to discuss the amount paid to him and the lack of royalties stating:

“…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. I don’t blame Rockstar. I blame our union for not having the agreements in place to protect the creative people who drive the sales of these games.”

Could it be that his candid response upset the Rockstar Gods? If this had been virtually any other medium, be it acting or singing, Hollick would have found himself swimming in a pool of money. Instead, he was paid $100,000 for 15 months of work. Another possibility, is that the actor was approached by Rockstar to do additional voice work, asked for a higher rate of compensation or a cut of the action on the DLC, and was told to go pound sand.

Of course, Hollick’s response to GameTrailers could have just been “Niko speak” for “no comment”. It wouldn’t be the first time that a figure has fibbed a little to maintain the cover of a top secret project.

Source: Gametrailers, CVG, The New York Times

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.

Rockstar’s Sam Houser counts it an honor to be hated.

In an interview with Develop’s Michael French, Houser opens up and discusses the criticism of Grand Theft Auto and the company in general.

How much of what gets written about Rockstar in the likes of the tabloid press do you read?

I think we probably read most of it – if you turn on a computer this stuff reaches you, usually forwarded by an old friend laughing at you.

Do you pay any attention to it?

No – I think we are both depressed at how boring we really are and how unexciting even the worse fabrications and exaggerations are when you read about them. None of it seems very rock and roll, so we find it a little sad, when there are probably better stories that could be written about both us and the industry/medium. No sharks, groupies or pounds of coke or anything fun at all. We read like angry dorks, which might be true, but is certainly not very exciting.

But still, Rockstar has become an easy target for the press. Does it concern you that the negative and misleading coverage can overshadow the innovations and positive contribution GTA has made back to the videogaming business and medium?

Not really. Most of the people who hate us are people it is truly an honor to be hated by – reactionary creeps with strange agendas – and the Daily Mail. Most people who know about modern pop culture know about GTA and like or dislike it on its own merits.

Source: Developer Mag

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

Jesus wept.

The Christian Examiner Online has weighed in with a lengthy dissertation on videogames in general and – gasp! – Grand Theft Auto in particular, outlining the evils involved in the medium and their contribution to the social decay afflicting the United States, not the world.

“The game delivers the kinds of thrills teenage boys love, with plenty of high-speed chase scenes, noisy shoot-’em-ups and risqué sexuality,” writes Steve Rabey. “But questions about the game’s violence and the ability of some gamers to unlock explicit sex scenes in an earlier version of the game have led to complaints and a class action lawsuit against “GT4’s” manufacturer, Rockstar Games.”

Posted through the “Christian Newswire,” the article is being touted as an “in-depth report on the impact of video games on families and the culture.” However, there are no quotes or statements from any learned scholars on the topic of videogame violence, nor scientific data regarding their claims to addiction, violent behavior, or anti-social tendencies.

The article also includes the usual tempered rhetoric of the Christian right that goes on to play their greatest hits: financial irresponsibility for buying virtual goods, a deluded work ethic for playing more hours of World of Warcraft than your nine – to – five job, and an honest to God Columbine reference.

The mind recoils in horror. This is quite possibly the most nugatory story regarding the ills of gaming that I have ever read, replete with assertions so banal that even Jack Thompson would blanche.

Source: christianexaminer.com

Grand Theft Auto IV is coming to PC, Take-Two Interactive confirmed today. GTA IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18th in North America, and on the 21st in Europe.

The announcement isn’t much of a surprise, as we posted earlier.

Hit up rockstargames.com/IV for more info.

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

“The fact that so many middle income homes managed to find the money to buy the game (having already purchased the expensive hardware to drive it) indicates that the middle class is in no imminent danger of disappearance,” Medved wrote. “But the decision by so many consumers of every age and income group to invest countless hours of time in the dark world of Grand Theft Auto IV nonetheless demonstrates a threat to American values.”

Medved continues to relate the game to the decline of western civilization on GTA IV specifically, if not in general.

Townhall.com is the same conservative site that hosted Kevin McCullough’s similarly misinformed and poorly executed opinion on Mass Effect which garnered the attention of FOX News.

Let the rolling of the eyes begin.

Medved comes a tad late to the GTA IV auto de fe as the title has already been lambasted by the usual suspects. However, Medved’s insinuations border on the hallucinatory as he accuses GTA of America’s moral decline. In that vein GTA is also responsible for the African AIDS pandemic, global warming and the shrinking of the polar ice-caps, and political repression in China.

I can’t help but wonder where is vaunted conservatism was when he was staring at my girlfriend’s chest at the Seattle preview of Spider Man in 2002.

Source: Townhall.com

This story seems highly unlikely but worth knowing nonetheless. Two jokers emailed Rockstar technical support to tell them they were having trouble with the non-existent PC version of GTA IV. Support man emails back and tells that can’t possibly be right, because GTA IV for PC is still in development. What a helpful chap.

Following a complaint about surround sound in a free version of GTA IV for PC (which once again, doesn’t exist) helpful techie Anthony said, ” 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 we have no knowledge of.”

Whoops.

Helpful techie Anthony didn’t reply to their probing again – he was replaced by matter-of-fact techie Richard. Read into that what you will. The question really is, would tech support know anything about game release dates? After all, tech support for games which aren’t actually on the market isn’t going to be very high in demand, is it? That was certainly techie Richard’s take.

“We are unsure when the PC version of the game will be released as we are only technical support and do not receive information on the matter. I would suggest keeping an eye on www.rockstargames.com for any information.”

Still, notice it’s “when” rather than “if”. Stay put for the obligatory denial from Rockstar.

Source: Rockstar Scammer

Liberty City continues to be a unique setting in the world of games—a foul-mouthed, violent, and consistently cruel parody of American city life. In the latest iteration of Grand Theft Auto, we also learn that Liberty City’s geographic location is right in the middle of the Uncanny Valley.

GTA 4’s look, when it pulls everything together successfully, is an eerily realistic virtual world. Pedestrians hold entire conversations on their cellphones, which you can eavesdrop on. An interconnected media including radio, television, and internet will reflect the changes you create by committing crimes. And your friendly companions call you to take them out to location-specific minigames like bowling, pool, and darts.

The main problem with a game so sprawlingly complex, with dozens of choices available at every turn, is when the seams begin to show in the game’s execution. In this sense, GTA4 still feels like a work-in-progress. There are some issues with clipping, like the way you can peer through the character models if the camera swings too close, or strange AI quirks, like how none of your dates in the game will react too negatively to carjacking and vehicular manslaughter.

In a perfect virtual world, these hundreds of technical glitches and lapses in artificial intelligence should be invisible, but unfortunately they’re as much a part of Liberty City as the dynamically changing weather. Why should we forgive lame oversights, like a nearly impossible-to-read cellphone screen (which also serves as the game’s multiplayer menu), or the game’s less-than-ideal framerate?

Here’s why: Because it’s too damn fun, warts and all. I have hardly ever laughed as loudly as I did when playing GTA Race, one of the game’s multiplayer modes, sabotaging other racers when I had lost all chances of winning (call it the “Hillary Clinton strategy”). There’s nothing quite like blocking a racetrack with a city bus and causing a massive pileup, then blowing it all to hell with a rocket launcher, to feel like a true bastard.

The “dicking around” quotient in the game’s multiplayer, and to a lesser extent, in the non-story single player, is still GTA’s most entertaining quality. When you’re not specifically on a mission, or are just trying to just get from point A to point B, the environment is still a random element where you might speed on the freeway, smash into oncoming traffic, and flip your car onto a nearby roof. If the simple act of running errands around town was this volatile in real life, I’d never leave the house.

The driving mechanics are a type of genius reserved for racing games like Gran Turismo and Forza. Although I’m not usually a big racing fan, after playing dozens and dozens of white-knuckle matchups I have to say that I now understand the appeal of these racing games, but I can’t see myself playing any other game for that same kick. GTA4 has pedestrians, mailboxes, dumpsters, and of course other cars that will make any race through town a unique and endlessly enjoyable experience.

The destructive physics in this game apply to everything from your car’s handling to the velocity of a screaming body as it bounces off your hood. Lampposts and other debris respond appropriately to being knocked around by a vehicle, and your car’s windows, lights, and wheels will all break away if you treat your ride too rough. And this is all before you even introduce the game’s weapons.

GTA 4 doesn’t really take any risks with the arsenal—you’ve got melee weapons, pistols, shotguns, machine guns, assault rifles, and a few explosives. This is probably one of the departments where downloadable content could make a difference. New weapons like a grenade launcher or taser might have added a new dimension to the online deathmatch and story-mode shootouts in the game, so this really feels like the bare minimum when it comes to weapon selection.

Fortunately, the new cover system even makes pistol and machine gun combat great. I found the controls to be largely effective, with a great blind-fire system and the ability to aim at your target before popping out of cover. Sometimes the cover system doesn’t lock you onto the right place, or you’ll find some areas where cover should work but doesn’t, but we’ll just file those under G for glitches.

For all the random races, shootouts, and exploration in the game, the real thrust of GTA 4 is in the story. Niko Bellic is a charming European immigrant, who reveals himself to us, the player, at the same time he introduces himself to the game’s non-playable characters. Details of Niko’s past, like the way he survived a war and betrayal back home, pepper his dialogue with the seedy criminals who so often need Niko to drive them across town.

My only complaint here is that Niko is a blank slate to us until he opens his mouth. It would have been nice to reveal more about his character in more subtle ways. One example where this works is when Niko responds to others through email. His responses are often pithy, funny, and revealing. More instances of private characterization, like when Niko writes to his mother to tell her that he is doing well in America, would have helped strengthen the game’s emotional impact.

At times GTA 4 can feel like it is an artifact from the future, where every game we play will have utterly integrated physics, AI, visuals, sound design, and open-world freedom. If only every game could have four years of development time and tens of millions of dollars in production values.

A few regular bugs and gameplay conventions will require your suspension of disbelief, but that is part of the irrational fun that is the GTA universe. Of course it’s absurd, from a story point of view, that you can replay any mission without consequence. I must have killed the same cheating girlfriend about twenty times before completing the finale of one mission.

The cellphone text messages asking you if you want to replay a mission seem like something out of the films It’s A Wonderful Life or Bruce Almighty, a convention from any other impossible fantasy world. It slightly diminishes GTA 4’s claim to realism, but it’s no more unusual than extra lives or save points in any other game.

This is a great jumping-off point for the next generation of the GTA series. GTA 4, like its predecessors, is a fantastic, gritty crime drama with absurd flights of fancy. If the storyline, setting, and feature set keep expanding exponentially, you can be sure this is a series that isn’t going away any time soon.

It seems that Australia is all up in arms as of late over video game ratings and Rockstar has taken this as a reason to cut some mature material from the latest Grand Theft Auto title.

The folks at Rockstar have yet to reveal exactly what was cut; they’ve only confirmed that they have indeed cut content. What’s slightly bizarre about this is that GTAIV had already been reviewed and given an MA15+ rating, which means it’s A-Ok for store shelves, just not for young’uns. It would seem that the cuts weren’t necessary at all.

Back in December, our own Patrick Steen reported on this very rating, and remarked “So can we expect a tamer GTA experience? We don’t think so.”

As much as I would love to rub in his face how wrong he was, I would’ve agreed with him. Why did they make cuts?

Source: itwire

Bully: Scholarship Edition hits shelves in the US today (it’s out 7 March in the UK) on 360 and Wii, and (who would have thought?) someone’s pissed about it.

It’s a bit like Harry Potter– another school year starts and you know the shit is going to hit the fan. This year at Bullsworth Academy said “mud” is being flung by an international coalition of Teacher’s Unions spanning Canada, US, Britain, Australia and the Caribbean, according to the Globe and Mail newspaper. Canadian Teacher’s Association president Emma Noble told them:

“We’re asking retailers to be responsible. Yes, they can sell it [Bully] and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?”

“What it does is it encourages kids to target other kids, to be a bully with other kids. This doesn’t help us as teachers in the work that we’re doing at school. It also targets teachers at the school as well.”

Not that there’s a great deal that hasn’t been seen before, since Scholarship Edition is an updated version of PS2’s Canis Canem Edit – which Take-Two says has some new single-player missions, multiplayer games, as well as updated graphics, dialogue, and music.

I can’t imagine that a few new missions are going to fundamentally change the game, and as for the minigames – footage is already making the rounds. Non-violent is the polite way of looking at it.

Source: Globe and Mail

The much hyped and highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV will take the player around 100 hours to complete, excluding the Xbox 360’s exclusive content, according to the games developer Rockstar.

With a vast array of main missions and a host of side quests, the time it takes to fully complete the game is claimed to be on par with your average RPG. Talking to videogamer.com, a Rockstar spokesperson said that “if you’re not in a rush and you answer the phone when it rings it’ll take about 100 hours to complete.”

100 hours sounds like enough GTA IV for my liking, but don’t forget about the promised 360 episodic content and the multiplayer. Best clear your diaries for a couple of months after April 29th. Actually, just scrap your diary, your summer is over.

Source: videogamer

In a recent podcast featuring Major Nelson (Director of Programming for Xbox Live) and Don Mattrick (Microsofts external adviser), the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV release was brought up and possibly revealed a bit of information that may leave Playstation 3 owners in a fit of rage.

“… I’m really excited with its downloadable content and online multiplayer support. Again, that’s something that’s unique to 360.” said Don. He went on to say “we think consumers are going to love that and it’s going to create, what I would describe again as the premium experience on our platform.”

None of this has been confirmed yet, however the official GTA IV site, which we reviewed complete with screen captures upon its initial launch, features a link titled multiplayer which was not working at the time of the launch and is still unavailable. For the sake of the PS3 faithful, and gamers in general, we sure hope this rumor proves to be untrue.

Update: CVG states that they have received confirmation from Rockstar that “both versions of Grand Theft Auto IV will have an online multiplayer component”. [Thanks LC]

You may or may not recall a little debacle about the “Hot Coffee” mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It was a cute little mini-game that allowed virtual you to have virtual sex with your virtual girlfriend. Even though the content was locked away because of the ESRB, it was still on the retail disc.

This was somehow offensive to people, and Rockstar was sued. Now that the lawsuit is settled, all the hypocritical pussies out there can get their slice of the censorship pie with a cash settlement of up to $35. Sweet justice!

I just recently found out about the settlement through a legal notice in the March issue of OXM. It basically states that if you purchased GTA: San Andreas before July 20, 2005, you most likely have a “first edition” disc that has the “Hot Coffee” content on it. If so, you can get in on the class action settlement, with differing amounts of cash depending on your “proof of offense”.

The basic rundown is like so:

I have some major issues with this. First of all, who has kept a receipt for a game they bought in 2005? Basically, nobody is “entitled” to the max amount of “up to $35″. Secondly, just claiming you bought the game is worth up to $5. This whole thing seems like a ploy to get people to jump on the “videogames are bad” bandwagon. Third, these numbers represent the maximum you could receive. The actual amount will be prorated based on the number of people who file a claim.

So the people that were actually “offended” can get a replacement disc, given they still have the game. This I can understand, but at the same time, anyone interested in GTA in the first place should be able to handle some virtual sex (especially when it’s not even in the game unless you want it to be) to offset all the killing. By contrast, the lawyers, who were personally not affected by the game, have claimed a million-dollar fee. Seems a little backwards, doesn’t it?

On top of all that, why would they advertise this in a gaming magazine? I mean, obviously there’s a good chance that the people who played San Andreas are, you know, gamers. They obviously would read about games — that makes sense. The type of people that are that into games that they actually get magazines about them, however, are also the type of people that would see this settlement notice and flip off that page of their magazine.

This brings me to the thing that really fills me with homicidal rage — “Hot Coffee” is a mod. It it completely inaccessible unless you purposely want to see it. On top of that, you can’t see it on the PS2 or Xbox unless you mod your console, WHICH IS ILLEGAL YOU FUCKING IDIOTS! People need to go out of their way to install a mod chip, breaking the law, in order to view this content. Even the PC version required you to violate the software agreement.

This is basically the equivalent of buying a Mustang, pulling out the speed limiter (which is illegal), and then suing Ford because driving really fast was so scary. They had the tools in place to block that, and you purposely circumvented that in order to do whatever you wanted. How exactly was this their fault? Next thing you know there will be a class action lawsuit against Hotmail for allowing porn in my mailbox. The horror!

The bottom line is that we live in a fucked-up country where it is okay to kill people, but not to have sex with them. Blame those Puritan assholes and their crazy feelings for turkey. The U.S. needs to take a cue from Europe and put some more boobies on television. Make love, not war, right?

Anyways, if you are interested in this waste of carbon or want something to shake your fist at, visit the settlement website at www.gtasettlement.com. Part of your legal rights is the ability to say you are not happy with the settlement, in which case you can write to the court with your complaints or comments. An address for said court is conveniently not given.

One of the biggest players when it comes to videogame marketing launched a very simple yet effective flash website today to promote (like it needs promoting) their upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV release.

Get past the age verification, and you will be greeted by a night time New York City skyline laced with tiny white dots (hard to find if you don’t pay close attention during the loading animation) that act as alternative forms of navigation. In terms of primary navigation, the site is separated into two major areas.

The first form of navigation, located in the upper left hand corner of the site, breaks the content into three groupings: people & places, recreation & events, and goods & services. Clicking into one of these sections will display a black and white line art map with glowing dots that signify points of interest.

My personal favorite is “Love-Meet.net”, the service that boasts the promise to “make you whole again”. Love-Meet is complete with a personality test — which is great if you are a man-woman combo with an appetite for self destruction, whose idea of a perfect date involves a hole (to fornicate), dinner (to eat), a movie (to watch), and a throat (to slit).

The second primary form of navigation runs across the bottom of the site, and allows easy access to information, news, videos, screens, downloads. In addition, the bottom bar features links to mutliplayer and music pages, which are currently unavailable.

Whether you are a fan of Rockstar and their games or not, you have to appreciate the humorous approach and sheer marketing genius that fuels the GTA series.

Our Grand Theft Auto IV image gallery below contains 63 images of the game. A handful have been seen before, but the majority are brand spanking new. Enjoy.

Grand Theft Auto IV Images

63 Photos

 

Link: Grand Theft Auto IV Official Site

With the announcement earlier this week of a release date for GTA IV, the always accurate Miami lawyer Jack Thompson has begun his annual attempt to save the young and the innocent from the murder inducing evil that is video games.

In a letter sent to Take-Two on Thursday, Thompson has threatened that he will not only frown really hard at anybody he sees playing the game, but that he will also write lots of letters to people who don’t care.

Take-Two shares have jumped approximately 12% today on this news. What the market is not factoring in, however, is the downside risk coming Take-Two’s way with the sale of this “Mature” game to kids, which is a murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders…

Thompson will, in the days and weeks ahead, be contacting state and federal officials to stop the improper sales of Grand Theft Auto IV to anyone under seventeen years of age, as any such sales violate state and federal fraudulent and deceptive trade practices statutes.

Indeed, Thompson has today contacted Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has supported Thompson’s efforts in the past.

Going of his past record of great successes, I can’t see Take-Two being worried by any of this. If anything, I would expect them to be happy with Mr. Thompson’s interest. With the increase in controversy surrounding the game, they not only get free advertising, but also an increase in sales.

I could go on about how Mr Thompson should leave the house more often or maybe play some video games, but I’m far to busy violently running over hookers and babies in my stolen police car (which was taken from a blind policewoman collecting money to help abandoned puppies, kittens and unicorns).

Via GamePolitics

You may recall Jeronimo Barrera, Vice President of Product Development at Rockstar, saying:

“It’s really no surprise to anybody that the PS3 was definitely a contributing factor to [the delay].”

Although, with the extra development time granted between the October 2007 release date and the recently announced April 29th, 2008 ship date, it appears that they have really pulled it together, and now go as far as to say that both versions are identical (sans the 360 exclusive DLC).

“Now, we’re neck and neck. That’s not an issue anymore. But back then that was something we were taking into account.” said by Barrera.

He further clarified that PS3 owners out there, all 9.43 million, can rest easy knowing that you’re not going to be receiving a crippled version of their favorite game from last-gen.

Source: GameIndustry.biz

Previously, the British Board of Film Classification’s decision to ban the controversial game was successfully overturned by an appeal. However, the BBFC has continued the matter by taking it to the High Court, who has now ruled against the appeal that overturned the original banning. Manhunt 2 has been “re-banned”.

It was argued that the decision to have the game released, as decided after the appeal, would “undermine the BBFC’s authority,” and not just in the medium of video games.

Presently things look bad for Rockstar’s game, but something tells me this matter is far from over.

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.

Are you looking to aesthetically mod your Wii? Well don’t look here, because these designs are so good that they’ll surely discourage you from doing anything of the sort.

Tech Blog has posted five nifty Nintendo Wii custom cases. I’ve never even given any thought to modding the cases of any of my systems, but after taking a gander at these beauties, I’m giving it some serious thought. But I’m lazy, so it’s never going to happen.

I present to you – in some sort of loose order based on my prefences – the five cases.

Rockstar Wii

While this is my least favorite of the designs, it’s very impressive none the less. With all those sparkly lights, the Rockstar logo has never looked prettier.

Chrome Wii

While it doesn’t score very high in the originality department, this chrome Wii looks like the T-1000 just waiting for you to drop your guard and play some games, so that he can sneak in for the kill.

Samus Wii

You thought the morph ball transformation was impressive, wait until you get a load of Samus morphing into Nintendo’s latest console. Like the Rockstar case, this puppy sports a beautiful light up logo. Bonus points for the custom Wii Remote.

Zelda Wii

It may just be the rabid Zelda fanboy inside of me talking, but this is one of the best things that I’ve ever seen. The sword and shield look fantastic and that little triforce on the bottom of the front makes me squeal like a little girl.

Nes Wii

I’m stumped. I honestly can’t decide if I like this design or the Zelda design better. While it doesn’t have all the fancy attachments of the other ones, the creativity here is fantastic and the nostalgia factor is off the charts. I’m not sure why they put Revolution instead of Wii, but that’s a minor gripe that’s easily lost in all of the praise.

Very ironic, however I am not impressed as this pales in comparison to the bible I found in a hotel room, signed by none other than Satan himself.

If you are interested in the unique mix of pop culture and politics that this particular ink stained copy of GTA III offers up, you will need to dish out $4000 for the chance to make it yours — or you can just show up at Jack’s next debate hoping to get something signed like our boy Nick did.

The only positive thing here is that the seller promises to give all earnings from the sale to the Child’s Play foundation.

Buy it now on Ebay