Grand Theft Auto IV -- It might feature crime and prostitutes.

The packaging is really nice - I even liked folding out and looking at the map. How does the subway work? Is it like skate where you enter the station than magically appear across town at the next station's exit or do you really ride across town in the train (like in III)?

Haven't tried the subway yet...

top tip for cops n crooks: navigation. If yer a crook, when you get in a car, set up a way point to yr destination asap. If yr a cop, and not driving, get up the mapscreen to tell yr driver the quickest way to get to the crooks.

The three shops on Sauchiehall street (Game, Gamestation and HMV) that I tried on my lunch hour today were all sold out. I am in a world of hurt.

Well not really, I just went out and ate a big steak so I'm feeling no bad.

I braved the unwashed masses of Fisherman's Wharf to go buy this, only to discover that the store I was looking had gone out of business. Goddamn you, Google Street View.

+for

If anybody new wants to add me to their ps3 friends list and try out some multiplayer perhaps, my tag is jefflev13

And mine is DenaSmith.

See you in LC, brah.

apparently g force on union street had plenty for 360, jim

probably sold out now tho...

places that will sell it: zavvi, hmv, gamestation, game, wh smith, argos, pc world, supermarkets... am I forgetting anywhere?

my xbox 360 gamertag is cozeny

Ah damnit, Cozen. Had a half hour lunch and was up Charing X way, could only get down Sauchiehall street before I had to turn back. Ah, well I'm going away this weekend so I'm only missing tomorrow night and Thursday gaming for the next few days. Hopefully I'll find it somewhere soonish. Might try a mad dash round after work tomorrow.

all of sudden i really want this game. Unfortunately all my money was spent on court costs this morning for traffic violations. ooooh, what a cathartic experience GTAIV would be right now.

You know what, these single player missions are dark. I'm almost holding back from progressing in the main game because it feels like things are just going to get worse and worse for Niko. And it feels like it's nighttime about 65% of the time, and I keep getting awful weather, fog and thunderstorms and stuff, so even when it's day it's not often light, and...wow. (I'm also starting to worry that some of the fun of beating on innocent bystanders etc is lessened by the new, more realistic aesthetic. I'm feeling more guilty about running over pedestrians etc that I usually do).

Hopefully Alonquin will be a nicer place to hang out.

I think i'm gonna cave and get an xbox 360 for this finally.

-- forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 29 April 2008 20:23 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

lol @ ps3 version being gay

EGM was also telling ppl to get the 360 version

i am sick and i just want to lay around playing this but i hav no xbox and no gta - someone bring them 2 me

I've played both versions, there's no difference ?

The subways are pretty cool, being able to move the camera about when your riding them. And the womans voice announcing the next station.

Major moment for me tonight was causing havoc in the airport. The graphics on the jumbo jets are fantastic. Riding around in one of those wierd airport trucks with the big wheels. All manor of cop activity on my tail as I just continued to loop around the huuuge runways. And then driving into all the baggage trailers with airport staff scattering for safety. and cool at Patriot police trucks.

and crikey your vehicles don't half get some damage done to them, at one point my front wheels were pointing in opposite directions after a rather fatal gas station explosion ripped the front out of my car.

I've already irked Michelle by cancelling dates, if all she plays in the game is taking me to bloody cafe's and wine bars then they can fuck right off.

http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2008/04/gta-iv-truth-will-out.html

LOLOL

Fuck, first HD-DVD dies and now this? Screw it, I'm going back to VHS and Atari.

Then again ...

http://kotaku.com/384422/which-version-of-gta-iv-should-you-buy-we-compare-the-ps3-and-360-versions
http://kotaku.com/385237/gta-iv-runs-at-630p-on-playstation-3-so-whats-that-mean

it seems fine to me!

antexit was over tonight and said he saw no diff from his xbox version, if anything it looked a little better. pixel-counting is for losers

anyway so far so fun. i like it.

Slocki - were you able to get the multiplayer features to work? Over here in California it wouldn't seem to connect to the network (many tries over the course of the night). I'm not surprised but I was really looking forward to trying it out online - hopefully they'll get that ironed out shortly (by the weekend?).

I played about three hours solo though - not much screwing around - just looking at stuff & doing ten or so missions. At first I was a little disappointed that the graphics weren't better - they don't seem to quite have the next gen sheen I was expecting - but then sometimes, you do see things that look really great. The city also seems really big - lots to see. It does look a little muddy at times, but maybe that's just Brooklyn? I was surprised you can't get out of there yet - for some reason I though the whole map was open from the get-go. Most of the characters walking down the streets look good - they're surprisingly well animated (compared to previous games). I think what impressed me the most so far is just the weird weight of the game - it feels much more grounded - less floaty.

crazed killer spin-offs starting again! will the video game nasties ever let us be?!!?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7373348.stm

Stab attack at Grand Theft queue

A man was stabbed in front of a queue of people waiting to buy the latest edition of a computer game.
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Page last updated at 13:28 GMT, Tuesday, 29 April 2008 14:28 UKE-mail this to a friend Printable version
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Up to 100 people witnessed the knife attack outside the Gamestation store in Croydon, ahead of Monday's midnight release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Police said the 23-year-old victim was walking past the queue when he was stabbed several times by a hooded man who appeared to be waiting in line.

The victim was treated in hospital and has since been allowed home.

After the attack at about 2300 BST in George Street the victim did not call the emergency services but police were informed by a member of the public.

He was found not far from the store and taken to hospital where he was treated for several stab wounds.

'Many' witnesses

Det Insp Liz Baker urged anyone who was in the queue to contact them.

She said: "We are looking at CCTV from the area and believe there were in the region of 50 to 100 people in the queue.

"We are sure many of them will have seen what happened."

The suspect is described as being a light skinned black man aged about 21, 6ft 5ins tall, of medium build wearing a light grey hooded top.

Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale at midnight at selected shops in the UK.

It was expected to break records for the fastest-selling game of all time .

And now word has it on Ars Technica of reports of UPS guys stealing the game out of shipments. Jack Thompson was RIGHT; this game does cause crime!;

I'm really excited for this game. I can't wait to eat the virtual world's best pizza.

okay I have Friday off, and its' bank holiday on monday. This weekend is going to be brutal.

There's also a great report about a guy assaulting a clerk in San Diego to steal the GTA IV "game cartridges". (note I'm not even going to try making fancy tags this time after the shambles upthread):
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9098579

lol at Little Jericho! I can't understand a fickin word he says lol

I think what impressed me the most so far is just the weird weight of the game - it feels much more grounded - less floaty.

Yes, it's the same feeling I got when I first played San Andreas, compared to the previous games it had become a lot more 'real'.

nice touch - hearing the radio from outside the car.

(which was my idea and I'm sure R* nicked it from my blog many years ago)

am struggling to get the hang of handbrake turns - massive oversteer every time.

i'm JUST getting the turns right now. Come all the way off the gas way before the turn, tap the brake as you steer into the turn, tap the handbrake about halfway through to fishtail around, and then give it the gas again.

I just unlocked Algonquin btw. Trying to decide whether to go for it or stay in Broker for awhile, getting used to it geographically before I totally get lost in the city.

Oh and how fucking dark is this game! You do some pretty fucked-up stuff in it! I almost wish you could opt out of some of the missions, like the Brucie internet dating mission.

How long do you think it took you?

Ten hours, about. With a good bit of fucking around.

I agree with the darkness. Last night, after finishing the early loan shark mission, I got a knife. I then got run over by a truck, and died (seems to happen a lot...the cars always stopped in earlier GTA games).

Once out of the hospital, I saw a nurse who said, and I quote "Time to clean the bedpans!"

I stabbed her to death outside of the hospital, and before I could realize how massively fucked up that was, I had added $250 to my bankroll.

From then, it was all stabbings and beatings for three hours.

Christ, I wish I had a long weekend.

I love the fact that I dinged up a potential GF's car on the way to the bowling alley, beat her in bowling, dropped her off, charmed her enough to get her to consider future dates, and got her car, too! Only in America!

i agree that the grafx aren't spectacular... but they are beautifully designed with lots of nice moments. it would be hard to create a world that big and detailed and keep up the level of graphical detail you see in something like uncharted. on the other hand, art direction trumps graphic power for me every time.

getting used to it geographically before I totally get lost in the city.

Kinda what I was doing all last night, but I'm still completely lost!

This map seems so much more condensed than previous games, and I'm loving that you can climb (most) fire escapes and things like ladders.

and WOW at motorbike helmet wearing, which seems totally optional depending on if you pause after mounting a bike. WOW

Everythings costing too much money at the moment, I came across a homeless chap on the beach. It said "press L1 to give him a few dollars", when I pressed it I'd gone and fucking given him TEN dollars!

yeah slocki otm. GTA games have never pushed machines graphically, it's all about their design rather than ooh how detailed can we get the textures.

And with all the other areas of gameplay that need attention in GTA games, it's now wonder anyway that a compromise has to be met.

'no wonder'

(i'm not a geordie)

Yeah about the helmets and have you noticed yet that the helmet makes a huge difference in whether or not you die from high-impact crashes on the bikes? I had a helmetless one this morning where I t-boned a cop car going like 100, flew off an overpass into the wall of the building below, and fell 40 feet onto a parked car. That probably would have killed me even with a helmet, though.

One thing this game really needed: saveable replays, and better still some kind of community hub for them like in Halo 3 or Skate.

oh I never noticed that. Time to experiment with bike crashes then.

and the colour changes to match weather and time of day are fucking delicious in this game!

would be good if you could take pics on your handi and upload them to the social club... so many times I've seen a dude and thought woah he looks funny

I had sex, but I don't think she was into it

loll

also I cannot understand a single word little jacob says

he's pretty cool though

(in a character creation sense, not in a 'oh you are really cool' way)