A patch has been released for PlayStation 3 users of Grand Theft Auto IV. You will be prompted to download the update the next time you load GTA IV whilst being signed into the PlayStation Network. While download and installation is required to continue playing the game; totaling 18 MB, it shouldn't keep you away for too long.
As for content, the patch addresses certain online issues related to GameSpy's servers being overloaded. Not surprising, considering the sheer number of those playing the game.
Rockstar Games has released a GTA IV patch for Playstation 3 today that prevents GameSpy’s servers from being overloaded and therefore reduces the impact on those servers that were causing the game to stutter and lock up. We continue to monitor the performance of the game both on and offline and will provide further updates as necessary. We want to assure everyone that, together with our hardware partners, we continue to strive to give our fans the best possible interactive entertainment experiences possible. This update will ensure that everyone will experience Grand Theft Auto IV the way it was intended. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.
Results so far appear to be mixed, if discussion on our forums is anything to go by.
PS3 GTA IV Update Data 1.01 Released
GTA4 dot net Lives!
Welcome to the newest version of GTA4.NET - we hope you like the new design, which was long overdue to say the least. There are still a few issues relating to Internet Explorer 6 that we hope to resolve over the next few days, but meanwhile check out some of the new content we have added:
Random Character Encounters.
GTA IV Friends & Girlfriends
High-End Assassination Missions.
Stevie's Text Message Car Thefts
Desktop Wallpapers.
We will continue to add new content over the coming weeks, and most of that content (including the present content) will be integrated with an interactive map at some point. Remember to register at our forum if you haven't already.
Social Club Update - Social Club Update - The Millionaires Club Launch
Rockstar Games today launched the Millionaires Club - "recognizing and celebrating all of the wealthy seven–figure Grand Theft Auto IV players at the Rockstar Games Social Club." Millionaire status is determined by totaling all of the money you've ever earned in single–player–mode from completing missions, winning races, doing vigilante side–jobs, and fortuitously picking up ‘dropped’ money in the street.
If you would like to see just how rich your fellow Millionaires are, you can mouse over each for a quick glimpse of their lifetime single–player money earned. With three leaderboards ranked by who’s become a Millionaire first, who’s done it quickest, and who is the richest in the City.
And also coming soon to Social Club... the Viral Infection "zombie feature." Sounds interesting, more info coming soon we're told.
Brian - Third (and final) Encounter
The third (and final) encounter with Brian becomes available one week after the previous encounter. Meet him on the corner of Montauk Avenue and Dillon Street during the morning. In the cutscene, Brian reveals that he has entered a rehabilitation program, and "step nine" of the program involves making amends with those he has harmed. Take Brian to the dealers on Asparagus Avenue so he can pay his debts. The dealers aren't satisfied, however, and they turn on Brian with a baseball bat. Take out the dealers and protect Brian, and then drive him back to his apartment to finish the mission. Brian pays you $500 for your assistance.
Grand Theft Auto 4 -GTA4
I wouldn’t mind a little more detail as well. I started a thread over at PC Gamer magazine’s forums about just this very topic–why hadn’t anyone ever pressed Rockstar about the PC version of GTA IV:
http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38965
I’m not familiar with your site but this looks to me like the first time anybody has gotten this much detail in a quote from Rockstar before. Can you lend us a little more specificity as to the quality of your source?
When I emailed Rockstar about this issue, this was all I got:
Thanks for the email. Unfortunately, since we haven’t announced plans for any possible PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV, I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for you. Stay tuned to the Rockstar Games official website for details on all of our upcoming game announcements.
Cheers,
Rockstar Games
GTA IV For PC Very Doubtful
Okay, who here isn’t crazy for GTA IV? Seriously. 360 fans running a muck about it and their DLC with PS3 fans going crazy over finally playing one of the most anticipated titles to date. Even the PC crowd is joining in on the action and asking about when it’s likely GTA will come for the PC (e.g. 12 months+).
We hate to ruin the party for all the PC hopefuls out there, but Rockstar’s Nick Hersh, one of the associate producers, has something to say and you might want to sit down for this:
As for GTA IV coming out on the PC, that’s very doubtful as we currently have no plans to develop for the PC. We could only focus our efforts extensively on so many consoles at once, and PC might not see the light of day.
And the music stops. The DJ’s headphones pop out at the PC party crowd as the record warps a bit back. It’s dead silent. Nobody move.
Game Details
Stepping off a boat in the shoes of illegal immigrant Niko Bellic as he arrives in Liberty City at the start of Grand Theft Auto IV, you can tell immediately that Rockstar North's latest offering is something quite special. Yes, this is another GTA game in which you'll likely spend the bulk of your time stealing cars and gunning down cops and criminals, but it's also much more than that. GTAIV is a game with a compelling and nonlinear storyline, a game with a great protagonist who you can't help but like, and a game that boasts a plethora of online multiplayer features in addition to its lengthy story mode. It's not without some flaws, but GTAIV is undoubtedly the best Grand Theft Auto yet.
One of the many things that set GTAIV apart from its predecessors is Liberty City, which is more convincing as a living, breathing urban environment than anything that you've seen in a game before, and bears little resemblance to its namesake in 2001's GTAIII. Liberty's diverse population believably attempts to go about its daily business, seemingly unaware that several criminal factions are at war in the city. Niko has no such luck. He's compelled to start working for one of the factions shortly after arriving, when he learns that his cousin Roman has some potentially fatal gambling debts. Niko's military experience makes him a useful freelancer for employers in the business of killing each other, and though his reluctance to carry out their orders is often apparent, he does whatever is asked of him in the hope that completing missions for other people will ultimately give him the means to complete his own.
Actually, Niko doesn't have to do everything that is asked of him. On several occasions as you play through his story, you'll be presented with decisions that afford you the option of doing what you think is right rather than blindly following instructions. You don't necessarily have to kill a target if he or she promises to disappear, but you have to weigh the risk of your employer finding out against the possibility that the person whose life you spare might prove useful later in the game, or even have work for you in the form of bonus missions. To say anything more specific on this subject would be to risk spoiling one of GTAIV's most interesting new features, but suffice it to say that every decision you make has consequences, and you'll likely want to play through the game at least twice to see how the alternatives unfold.
Grand Theft Auto IV's story mode can be beaten in less than 30 hours, and there are so many optional activities and side missions to take part in along the way that you can comfortably double that number if you're in no hurry. The majority of the story missions task you with making deliveries and/or killing people, and play out in much the same way as those in previous games. With that said, most of the missions are a lot easier this time around, partly because Niko is a more agile and efficient killer than any of his predecessors, and partly because the LCPD seemingly has better things to do than hunt down an illegal immigrant who's gunning down undesirables all over the city. Some of the more imaginative missions sprinkled throughout the story include a kidnapping, a bank heist, and a job interview. The cinematic cutscenes associated with story missions are superbly presented and are the sequences in which the game's characters really shine. Without exception, the characters you encounter benefit from great animation, great voice work, and superbly expressive faces. They're not always so impressive when they join you on a mission and refuse to do what they're supposed to (for example, not following you on an escort mission, or failing to negotiate a doorway). Nevertheless, these problems are few and far between, and they're made less painful by the new "replay mission" option that you're presented with whenever you fail.
New abilities in Niko's arsenal include scaling fences and walls anywhere he can get a foothold, shimmying along ledges, and, most importantly, taking cover behind objects. The ability to stick close to walls, parked cars, and the like at the touch of a button makes GTAIV's gunplay a huge improvement over that in previous games, and, in tandem with the new targeting system, it also makes it a lot easier. Enemies are rarely smart enough to get to you while you're in cover, and given that you can lock your targeting reticle on to them even when they're hidden, all you have to do is wait for them to poke their heads out and then pick them off with a minimum of effort. Locking on to enemies targets their torso by default, but you can use the right analog stick to fine-tune your aim and kill them more quickly with a headshot or two. Playing without using the lock-on feature make things more difficult, but you’ll need to master the technique so that you can shoot blindly at enemies from positions of cover when you dare not poke your own head out to line up the shot.
Given the amount of trouble that you get into as you play through the story mode, it's inevitable that the police are going to get involved from time to time, even when their presence isn't a scripted feature of your mission. Liberty City's boys in blue are quick to respond when you get flagged with a wanted level of between one and six stars, but they're not nearly as tough to deal with as their counterparts in previous GTA games. They don't drive as quickly when pursuing you, they rarely bother to set up roadblocks, and you'll need to blow up practically an entire city block before the FIB (that's not a typo) show up. Furthermore, you're given an unfair advantage in the form of your GPS system; when you're not using it to plot a valid route to any waypoint of your choosing, it doubles as a kind of police scanner. Any time you have a brush with the law, the GPS shows you the exact locations of patrol cars and cops on foot in your area, and highlights the circular area (centered on your last known whereabouts) where they're concentrating their search. To escape, all you need to do is move outside the circle and then avoid being seen for 10 seconds or so, which is often best achieved by finding a safe spot and just sitting there. It's not a bad system in theory, but in practice it makes dodging the law a little too easy, especially when your wanted level is low and the search area is small.
When you're not running missions for criminals, taking part in street races, stealing cars to order, or randomly causing trouble, you'll find that there are plenty of opportunities to unwind in Liberty City. Some of these optional activities offer tangible rewards that can prove useful in missions later on, whereas others are just a fun way to kill time and take in more of GTAIV's superb humor. For example, you can watch television, listen to numerous different radio stations, check out some genuinely funny shows (including some big-name acts) at cabaret and comedy clubs, and use a computer to surf the in-game Internet.
GTAIV's Internet is filled with spoofs of all the kinds of Web sites that you'd only ever look at accidentally or when you know there's no danger of getting caught. Some of them can be found only by clicking on links in spam e-mails, whereas others are advertised prominently on the search page. There's plenty of amusing stuff to find if you spend some time in one of the "TW@" Internet cafes, but the most interesting site by far is an online dating agency through which you can meet women who, if they like your profile, will agree to go on dates with you. Dating and socializing with friends is something you can spend as much or as little of your time doing as you like, and though the people you meet can occasionally be demanding to the point that they become irritating, keeping them happy invariably benefits you in some way.
Give Me Liberty
New York, New York! Economic powerhouse, beacon of hope to optimistic immigrants, home to tens of millions of citizens, rife with crime and seedy underworld riffraff; New York City is the epitome of everything that is American. It's really no wonder that Liberty City, Rockstar's exaggerated and cynical portrayal of New York, has called itself home to more than half of the Grand Theft Auto titles in existence.
Times Square, New York City. 'Star Junction' is the GTA IV equivalent.Liberty City first appeared alongside Vice City and San Andreas as one of three major levels (cities) in the original Grand Theft Auto. Due to the game being produced by a British development team, much of Liberty City - along with Vice City and San Andreas - was based on stereotypes and twisted to suit British humour. Since then, it has resurfaced as the city of choice for Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Advance, and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. In every incarnation, Rockstar North consistently embraced the sensationalist, cynical sense of humour that was put forth in the first game.
Even when Liberty was not openly accessible to gamers in other titles, it played a prominent role in establishing the necessary storylines. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the protagonist (Tommy Vercetti) and the mafia family in which he indebted to both hailed from Liberty City. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the protagonist (Carl Johnson) returned to San Andreas after residing in Liberty City for an extended period of time.
Past incarnations of Liberty City, however, have failed to truly resemble New York. Whereas Vice City was hailed as an achievement in Rockstar's ability to duplicate the overall feel of Miami, the winding streets and communities of Liberty City seemed cold and lifeless by comparison.
Main Features - GAMEPLAY
Niko can use a mobile phone to recieve calls and phone his contacts in order to arrange missions. He can also use it to call taxis and purchase weapons. The options presented on the phone's LCD are Phonebook, Messages, Organizer, and Camera. The phone can also be used to access multiplayer.
Pedestrians perform realistic actions. They smoke cigarettes, read books and newspapers, drop litter, talk on mobile phones, walk in and out of buildings, and generally act like any normal pedestrian in a real city would.
Mobile phones are a big part of Grand Theft Auto IV's gameplay. GTA IV features fifteen multiplayer modes, which can be accessed through the mobile phone. Multiplayer supports up to sixteen players, and the game modes include Deathmatch, Mafiya Work, Cops n' Crooks and Free Mode.
It is possible to surf the internet in GTA4 via internet cafés. It is available from any computer in the game, and provides a hub for all sorts of interactivity within Liberty City. There are over 100 in-game internet websites.
In GTA IV, you will gain a police wanted level for any crime that you commit, providing there are witnesses present. The police can only chase you if they know where you are, and they need to see you to know where you are. If you escape the search area marked on the radar without being spotted, your wanted level will disappear.
In terms of scale, GTA IV is about the same size as GTA: San Andreas, but the map size is considerably smaller. This is mainly due to the fact there is no desert or countryside in Liberty City. Liberty City in GTA4 is the biggest single city that R* have ever created.
GTA4 contains fifteen multiplayer modes, supporting up to 16 players. In GTA IV, the line between on- and off-mission has been blurred, and the story is less linear. It is also possible to do more than one mission at a time. For example, some missions take place over several days and may involve waiting for phonecalls or attending interviews, and you are free to carry out other business during the waiting period.
The story can be told in a number of different ways. Rockstar are trying to give people greater freedom and sense of control over their destiny. You now have a lot more choice in what you want to do.
Niko has the ability to climb and descend telephone poles, and exterior fire escapes.
Every street in Liberty City contains a street sign with a name on it.
Cars feature GPS navigation systems, which identify the best routes to take during missions, and highlight them on the radar.
Developing relationships with characters is an important aspect of the gameplay. Maintaining good relationships will provide different rewards to Niko. Niko can socialise with other characters in order to maintain a good relationship, for example they can go bowling together, they can go to the cabaret, go to comedy clubs, and go drinking together.
More Reviews
Kotaku, EuroGamer, TeamXbox, CVG and 1UP have all posted reviews of Grand Theft Auto IV. Each review was extremely positive, with very few bad things to say about the game.
There's also a bunch of new screenshots and videos over at IGN for you to check out, which appear to have been captured by themselves rather than R*.
UPDATE: Game Informer's verdict has just come in: another perfect score for Grand Theft Auto IV.
