Rumor Control: Grand Theft Auto 4
The “Hype”. It’s inescapable. Companies spend millions in advertising, building up positive reaction for a game before it hits stores. You see it everywhere. In TV, billboards, and flash animations more annoying than those insipid “You just won two free Ipod Nano” ads. With so much exposure, rumors inevitably follow. Trying to filter out the fact from the fiction is no easy task. So we set out to do just that, delving deep into the frightening worlds of fan-fiction forums and hype-fueled rantings to see what the truth really is. Check below to see what we discovered.
Is it fair to call the Grand Theft Auto series a pop icon? It has sparked numerous bills of legislation, boycotts, and constant media scrutiny. Of all the games being released for the next-gen, GTA 4 might be the most anticipated of all. Rockstar is slow in revealing any actual details about the game, but we have been able to decipher a few truths.
The game has been delayed. It will not be released until Q1 2008.
While Rockstar has been known to do this in the past, the chances of a delay happening is slim. Rockstar insists that the PS3 version and the Xbox 360 version will both be released on 10/16/07. The two versions at release are identical, with the Xbox 360 version receiving new missions and episodic content starting Q1 2008.
Grand Theft Auto 4 features more explorable land mass than any previous installment of the series.
Liberty City is modeled in greater detail after the city of New York than ever before. Nearly every area in New York City is represented. However, the processing power needed to maintain such vivid detail of the city comes at a price. As such, the navigable area in GTA4 will be considerably less than Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Grand Theft Auto 4 will feature the ability to play simultaneously with thousands of players all across the globe.
While multi-player has been announced, Rockstar insists that it will not be “massive”. Expect death-match style gameplay limited to the console average 16 players.
The game will feature an array of different vehicles. Including planes, jet packs, and everything seen in previous installments of the series.
Rockstar is trying to maintain a more “realistic” feel to Liberty City this time around, so expect no fanciful modes of transportation. Also, you will not be able to fly planes in GTA 4. Flying a plane into a New York landmark would be far too much of a relations nightmare for Rockstar to handle, so it has been removed.
Conclusion: So there you have it. Beyond all the outrage and political action that this game is sure to receive, I just hope Rockstar can maintain the excellent quality that the series is known for. We’ll let you know if anything changes.
Rumor, Control, Grand Theft Auto, 4
April 16th, 2007 at 11:37 am
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Rumor_Control_Grand_Theft_Auto_4
April 16th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Good job on the second Rumor Control article, it is nice to keep people from spreading information about games that have no clue about.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:53 am
I’m glad they’re sticking to one big city. San Andreas was fun, but there was just too much land to cover. I like the idea of one big city with a different feel depending on where you are in the city. That’s how life is.
April 16th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
People loved GTA San Andreas so much because of how big it was and how much you could do. They put a lot into the gameplay and didn’t focus too much on the graphics. Don’t tell me to go play the Wii if I’m not into graphics, I’m just saying millions of people loved San Andreas because it was so fun and there was a lot of different things to do in the game. Will we be able to roam in the country on motorcycles like in San Andreas? If it’s one city and it’s New York, I don’t think motorcycles in the country is going to happen. San Francisco, Vegas, the country, and LA, San Andreas had a lot going for it. It had variety of different sights. I hope the new game is great, I just wonder if the variety will be there with just one city. I wasn’t impressed by the GTA 4 trailer. It showed some buildings…wow. show some chase scenes. Show some action. Besides , it was a trailer. All trailers look better than the gameplay. Show us some gameplay. GTA is my favourite so I’m being critical. I want GTA 4 to be great. I’m just not impressed by what I’ve seen so far and I don’t understand why people are so impressed with the trailer. Let’s all just hope there’s more to this new GTA game than pretty buildings.
May 4th, 2007 at 7:00 am
I read somewhere that there aren’t going to be any planes, just helicopters. I hope there will be planes as this is one of my favorite things in the game. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
October 5th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
[…] latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, Sony has been able to lock up the rights to the next Grand Theft Auto title, which would be the seventh in the franchise. The quote being supplied to support this, from […]
December 9th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
i cant belive there arnt going to be planes that is so gay i loved flying jets and that its like the new gta is a downgrade from san andreas
January 5th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
if there arn’t any planes, then i think rockstar will have deffinately made up for it in some way. maybe this is going to be a more realistic GTA that could be even better. dont get me wrong i loved the “9 guns in your back pocket” and the ability to fly jets in and parachute, but im sure our expectations will be matched.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:16 pm
[…] The Xbox 360 has been rumoured to be due a price cut too, this time by an unnamed source. He/she/they claim that Microsoft plans to drop the price by $49 to coincide with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. […]
April 20th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
the no planes shit is garbage, big deal people will be flying fake planes into fake builings with fake people. whats the problem with that, its not like fucken iraqis are gonna start using it as a training system or something.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Too realistic more like. I feel that rockstar are straying too far from the formula, removing many arcadey features that made the series great. If planes and ‘fanciful’ tranports have been removed, then this is likely to include military vehicle, even tanks, from the game. If this is true, then I doubt that 4 will have the same fun factor as in the other game.