GTA IV

[Sairon]

Also, anyone know if they're doing the stat "grind" again, like you have to go to school to drive better and such?

From what I've read they nixed the RPGish grinding, but you can still play dress up.  Of course, as an inveterate junkie regarding watching numbers rise and bars go up I'll miss the RPGish stuff.

Dang, I will surely miss it too. I'm a real sucker for the dreaded spreed sheet games :/

This has always been one of the drives for me, especialy in sandbox games.

[Miasma]

Apparently the New York Times even did a review of the game.  It's glowing.

[Bunk]

I've had my preorder for a couple months now. According to the most recent reviews I watched, apparently they really listened when everyone told them they wanted multiplayer. Supposedly includes a free reign mode where people can just get together and do whatever they want - which is exactly what people wanted.

Time for everyone to update the XBL gamer tag thread.

[Sky]

My games radar for the rest of the year is: Mass Effect, Spore, GTA4.

I no longer mind the wait for pc ports, as long as they comes and don't suck. VC had some control issues on the pc, SA was really good. The only thing to knock on SA was the shitty models and textures, but at least they got rid of VC's pop-in and disappearing traffic. Hopefully with the new gen of consoles, things will translate better over to the pc without looking like ass. Should be a good generation to have a 720p monitor for the pc. 

[NiX]

From what I've read they nixed the RPGish grinding, but you can still play dress up.  Of course, as an inveterate junkie regarding watching numbers rise and bars go up I'll miss the RPGish stuff.

It is gone and has been replaced with micro-managing friendships. Certain friends give you certain benefits, but only if you maintain a good relationship with them. You can take them out bowling, pool, darts, drinking, strip club, cabaret..etc. Each person has a like/dislike, so they may reject your idea for a place to go out. Girlfriends also have benefits outside of the "hot coffee" humor. Some girls like you dressing a certain way and won't react nicely to your style decisions. At one point my buddy had his guy dressed up in a nice suit and the girl outright said it was ugly.

[bhodi]

Grand Theft UPS: copies of GTA stolen en route to retailers

After reporting on the hype and controversy surrounding the Tuesday release of Grand Theft Auto IV, I can't believe I'm going to write a "this game causes crime!" story, but here we go. I spoke to an employee of UPS over the weekend, and he told me that a surprising amount of workers were getting busted stealing the game from the shipment boxes. In one 24-hour period, three workers were fired, and more interviews were scheduled for today that would likely end in termination.

I asked if this was common when big-name games were released, and he told me no; the situation was novel, or he wouldn't have brought it up at all. The game was enticing enough for many workers to risk losing their job and, in typical fashion for low-level crimes like this, it has been easy to identify the workers stealing the games.
"When we have a [big name release], we communicate it to operations and security teams. We have security in place at the facilities, and we make sure they understand to keep an eye out for things to exit the building," he explained. How did they find where games were stolen? "We had tips from people inside, and some of them were discovered at intermediate hubs... it's easy to spot: flaps torn, some boxes are re-taped." In most cases, the bust is as easy as finding the last person who scanned the box as full and interviewing them.

"They're not selling them, these people are stealing one copy," he told me—all of the thefts seem to be for personal use. It seems many people think stealing a game a few days before release is worth it, and this is far from the perfect crime.

"As long as the people loading the packages are doing their jobs, it's easy to track down," our source told Ars. "It's kind of funny, isn't it? It's a game about theft, and people are stealing it." His eyes began to shine as he said, "and I get to terminate them."

[Mrbloodworth]

Got my pre-order.

[Mazakiel]

Pay day can't come soon enough.......

[murdoc]

I got my new 360 Elite on Friday (yeah, I cratered my old one.. thank you product replacement plan!) just in time for this. I can't remember if I had pre-ordered it though.

[TripleDES]

My games radar for the rest of the year is: Mass Effect, Spore, GTA4.

Where did the notion of an october release for GTA4/PC come from to begin with?

[RUiN 427]

I'm stoked to see the euphoria AI engine in action

[WayAbvPar]

Ok, I am officially excited about this. The Mariners are making their annual slide into mediocrity especially early this year, so I should have some extra time on my hands.

[Falconeer]

I am weak. I bought it.

[Falconeer]

From Gamespy's review:

[liberty City] while it's not as massive as the game world in San Andreas...

Really? Is it smaller than San Andreas? Is it noticeable?

[MrHat]

Denser.  More stuff to do.  Just last travel time.

[LK]

San Andreas was fucking huge but maybe not for the right reasons.  I will appreciate denser.

I won't get to play until tomorrow.  Gamertag: Lorekeep.  If you want to do Multiplayer I think I'll be game.

[Sky]

Where did the notion of an october release for GTA4/PC come from to begin with?

PS2 GTA3 US release: 10/22/2001
PC GTA3 US release: 5/20/2002

PS2 Vice City release: 10/29/2002
PC Vice City release: 5/12/2003

PS2 San Andreas release: 10/25/2004
PC San Andreas release: 6/7/2005

I was calling October a while ago, going off an old release date. With this release, it looks like November.

[Falconeer]

What are you on Lorekeep? 360 or PS3? (ps3 here - Falconeer over PSN)

[Mrbloodworth]

Username: Trucegore on the ps3 if you are so inclined.

[LK]

360.  I'll be hopefully playing the game tonight.  If not...well, I'm going to take a day off work tomorrow.

[Lum]

Preordered from ebgames.com - let's see when it comes in! (I'm hoping tomorrow but suspect it will be Wednesday).

I'd give you my gamertag for multiplayer but honestly, I just plan to drive around with a fast motorcycle listening to Vladivostok FM. Oh, and occasionally shooting people in the face.

[stray]

multiplayer GTA?

Sounds lame and pointless.

[Velorath]

multiplayer GTA?

Sounds lame and pointless.

Uh... yeah.  None of that sounds at all fun.

[stray]

Sounds about as useless to me as THPS online.

Maybe I just don't care to mix sandboxes and mp gameplay, I don't know. Still doesn't interest me. It's never been the type of game that had me thinking "Y'know, if only I could battle people in this, then it'd be better.." I just like wandering around, experimenting with the sandbox, finding amusement in the storyline and all the hired talent that goes with it, etc.. The only features that I keep wishing there were more and more of are sandbox related. More depth to the landscape and city. More buildings to walk in. More ways to personalize. Shit like that. And they keep delivering on that in each iteration. I'm not asking for much more.

Besides that, if earlier games are any indication, then the whole idea sounds a bit too chaotic and frustrating for my personal taste in multiplayer anyways.

[Velorath]

Sounds about as useless to me as THPS online.

Maybe I just don't care to mix sandboxes and mp gameplay, I don't know. Still doesn't interest me. It's never been the type of game that had me thinking "Y'know, if only I could battle people in this, then it'd be better.." I just like wandering around, experimenting with the sandbox, finding amusement in the storyline and all the hired talent that goes with it, etc.. The only features that I keep wishing there were more and more of are sandbox related. More depth to the landscape and city. More buildings to walk in. More ways to personalize. Shit like that. And they keep delivering on that in each iteration. I'm not asking for much more.

Besides that, if earlier games are any indication, then the whole idea sounds a bit too chaotic and frustrating for my personal taste in multiplayer anyways.

Out of curiosity, have you actually read the details of all the competitive and co-op modes?

[stray]

I just read the link you showed me. So yes.

Still don't care.

Don't care about co-op. Or rather, I can't care about it. I have a PS3. Who am I going to play with?

Seriously though. I don't care about co-op anywhere really. It usually turns out to be one long ordeal where I'm waiting upon a slow ass friend. So... fuck it. Also, one of the co-op baddies you gotta take down is named Kenny. Don't like that either. 

Competition: The deathmatching sounds like shit. The racing sounds like shit. Read above about my opinions on chaos. It's a fun game to make a mess in, but multiplayer? I would not like it one bit -- and the simple answer would be that I would just flat out suck at it.

[edit] Even simpler answer is that it's just a game that I like to explore in and get a few laughs. I'd get none of that with other people involved.

[Velorath]

[edit] Even simpler answer is that it's just a game that I like to explore in and get a few laughs. I'd get none of that with other people involved.

It's a supplement to the single player stuff, not a replacement.  Different strokes and all that, but to just completely dismiss multiplayer like that just makes it sound like you hate fun.  What kind of multiplayer games do you play generally?

[stray]

Well, I'm only speaking for myself. I don't care what anyone else does.

What kind of mp games do I play? Racing, fighting, sports games, card games, the social/economical aspects of mmo's like swg and shadowbane, solo/stealth pking. I'd get off on a flight/dog fighting game if I had one.

Anything that's a little more drawn out, lets me plan my attack, and breath for longer than 3 seconds.

I don't really enjoy how most shooters play out these days. Too hyperactive for my tastes. Even the last shooter I got into for awhile... BF2 -- I didn't play it much like a shooter. I enjoyed artillery the most. And I had the stats to prove it (and I say that because time and time again people bitch about knocking out planes... but I happened to enjoy that more than anything else. I'd just sit around, round after round, waiting in the quiet for jets to fly by).

Probably too much info for a simple question, but there you have it. I have fun in my own way.

[Velorath]

Probably too much info for a simple question, but there you have it.

Not too much at all.

[schild]

The multiplayer is not near as elegant as MGO. You lose connection to one player in the lobby and the whole game drops and you have to wait for it to load like a motherfucker afterwards. Mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I want to play some turf wars but the goddamn game won't let me.

[Velorath]

The multiplayer is not near as elegant as MGO.

That must be pretty bad then.

[schild]

The multiplayer is not near as elegant as MGO.

That must be pretty bad then.

I'm referring directly to the technical aspects. In MGO if you lose or have a bad connection, you attempt automatically to reconnect a few times before a full disconnection is made. Even in lobbies you'll get a little icon. It's been goddamn rock solid over a half-ass wireless connection since day 1. GTA's multiplayer is a big connection issue horror story, at least on the PS3. But maybe the servers are getting fucking slammed, who knows.

I'm not sure what your snarky comment was referring to though, MGO has been great.

[Velorath]

I'm not sure what your snarky comment was referring to though, MGO has been great.

Mostly the horror stories I heard about registering and creating accounts for the MGO beta and the number of logins/passwords associated with it.  Not really relevant to exactly what you were talking about, but I had to throw in the snarky comment anyway.

Haven't picked up GTA IV yet, since I'm not real big on midnight launches (there's a Gamestop right next to the Safeway I go to near my house, an there was a long line outside of it when I went to pick up some groceries around 10:00), so I don't know about the online stability for the 360.  Like you said, there's probably a good chance the servers are getting pretty hammered right now (GTA IV launch > beta for MGO by a good margin I'd imagine as far as numbers go).

[Falconeer]

GTA race sounds great.
It would be heavenly if you could form 2-player teams to reach the goalline while one drive and the other shoots. Can you imagine dropping from an exploding vehicle to steal the next one while your partner is being pinned down, or cover him while he jacks up a faster ride?

[schild]

The Ricky Gervais comedy act is pretty great.