The Gamer's Quarter

[Mr. Mechanical]

Don't be such a negative nancy, dess.

Also, finally got my internets back! Turns out my network card got fried to hell and back, but my brother-in-law had a few to spare so I'm good to go again.
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Mr. Mechanical

[Cycle]

Welcome back!!! The internet hasn't been the same without you.

Did your brother in law also give you a new microphone?!
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[dessgeega]

i'm not being negative!

just sort of baffled.
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[Mr. Mechanical]

[dhex]

i like their fonts.

i look forward to seeing a demo movie of this on gametrailers.
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[Mr. Mechanical]

Some new details from the Italian OPM!

[kirkjerk]

Well, technically that's not carjacking, that's hotwiring.

I always have reservations when GTA tries to get "more realistic", since such a big part of the appeal is the ability to do mayhem in an environment fake enough to not hassle you for certain crap (say, running red lights) but realistic enough to feel like some kind of real world.

I'm not sure how delicate that balance is. I know I started to get annoyed by the RPG-ish "character building" in GTA:SA. Everyone just wants to max out everything and get on with the interesting bits.
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==/\/ >_ kirkjerk.com

[Scratchmonkey]

if they can pull in more Parkour-esque urban adventuring, which was the best thing about that Mark Ecko game, this could be something really special.

I mean, I'm pretty nervous about this because they're pretty much hitting everything that I've wanted GTA to do, aside from persistence and consequences, which is admittedly pretty large.

[Cycle]

I'm also a bit worried about how realistic they are trying to make the world. That's one of the things that ruined Mafia, the world was a little bit too real and became a pain in the ass. Plus you'd get cops after you for running a red light, who will ignore the fact that there is another car speeding behind you with guns blaring out the windows.

It should be interesting to see how the pull it off, though. Sounds like they've grown some... more mature balls.

Speaking of parkour games, I was at the movie rental store and saw a new game called Free Running which is all about that jumping around buildings and all that jazz. I've wanted a game to actually pull it off well (American Wasteland didn't do a very good job of it and it was clearly an after-thought) so I'm going to hire it and see if it's actually any good. Probably not.
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[Mr. Mechanical]

Few more details, this time from Australian OPM.

[dhex]

so is that caption joking about "ny's near arctic climate" or do Australians live in some kinda microwave oven?
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[Mr. Mechanical]

I'm thinking it was really late and nearly everyone had already left the office, leaving behind a single copy editor and a newbie intern to put the finishing touches on stuff.
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Mr. Mechanical

[Cycle]

[Mr. Mechanical]

Man, I don't know how I missed this other preview. From Official Xbox Magazine UK.

[dhex]

[Mr. Mechanical]

First digital screenshot.

http://files.gtanet.com/images/3285.jpg

Not as big as I'd like but it's clearer and sharper than the magazine scans. It's also a different view of the same area of skyline that we've seen a lot of so far. Froth, etc.

The source of the screen is of course the New York Times website. Because Rockstar is classy like that and all, I guess.
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Mr. Mechanical

[dhex]

ok there's no way to adequately describe via text someone bitching about staten island being left out of the game.

is "LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL" a word?
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[Mr. Mechanical]

http://www.gta4.net/news/3875/new-gta-iv-screens--info-from-games-radar-ign-and-gamespot/

Few new previews from the usual suspects, IGN, Gamesradar, etc. Haven't read any to see if there's any real new info yet but there are four new screenshots, plus all the screens that have shown up in magazines. Nice!
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Mr. Mechanical

[Mr Mustache]

Are the models in these new screens significantly shinier than they were before?
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Straight up

[JamesE]

[Scratchmonkey]

You can't really go back though, or at least I had large difficulties doing so, having heard so many good things about them. The view distance is just ridiculously short, making it hard to plan what you're going to do next beyond the immediate.

[JamesE]

It's kinda like a threesome between Micro Machines, Gauntlet Zelda and Robotron, though. That shit is hot.
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[dessgeega]

there are plenty of problems with the fixed-perspective gtas, but i was never able to really get into a gta title after they added cutscenes and elaborate scripting. it's hard to play gta2 well - because of the draw distance and the controls - but it's easy to play it as a whimsical celebration of badly-guided chaos. i can still turn it on, play to the second stage, and giggle a lot.
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[JamesE]

I really gotta disagree with the idea that GTA3-on suffers from a lack of chaos - it's when the emergent shit rubs up against the scrit that some of the most hysterical gameplay occurs. Trying to finish a goal while three swat teams barrel after you is just awesome.
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[Mr. Mechanical]

So, according to this transcript of a coference call on Take-Two's financial earnings for the second quarter of 2007, Microsoft secured exclusivity with the two episodic downloadable content packs for GTA IV by ponying up $50 million.

Wow. I don't really know what more can be said on that. That's five times more than was spent on Gears of War, and that's just for downloadable content over Live.

There was also a neat little detail in a UK games magazine on the thefting of autos and the degree of realism present in GTA IV:

[Mr. Mechanical]

Man, it just occured to me: What if during the supposed co-op mode the only way to talk to your buddy playing with you is through the cell phone in the game? Like, if you're both at different ends of the city and one you wants to talk you have pull out the cell phone and call them? Or if you're both close enough to each other in the game you can just speak and hear each other via the proximity voice system like you see in the Halo games. I mean, I doubt Rockstar will really go that far with the realism or whatever but it'd be neat. Though just being able to chat with someone in Crackdown while you're both off doing different things is pretty nice too and having to call your friend up in the game would be kind of a hassle if neither of you were really that deep into playing out your respective "roles".

Also, if there really is co-op like most are assuming will both players have their own wanted status? Like, say you've got a wanted level and your buddy doesn't, how would that work. Would the cops just chase you and would their wanted level go up if they jumped into the car with you while you were on the run? Man, just thinking about co-op in general with GTA is really making me froth for some more details on all this.
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Mr. Mechanical

[fish]

i think after playing SO MUCH crackdown, i will miss the verticality.

jumping around on rooftops to get around > car
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you cant spell selfish without fish

[Mr. Mechanical]

Yeah, and Rockstar is already saying that "a big part of the game will take place on the rooftops as well as the streets" and such. They seem to have a feel for the competition so here's hoping, eh. Plus your character will be able to climb on and over anything so who knows, IV might have its own little slice of vertical heaven going on. Doubt it'll be as awesome as Crackdown, though.
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Mr. Mechanical

[fish]

steal a jetpack again?
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you cant spell selfish without fish

[Mr. Mechanical]

[Mr. Mechanical]

From Xbox 360 UK again:

[Mr. Mechanical]

[Quick Shot II Turbo]

[Ethoscapade]

i wonder if the eventual PC port will work on SM 2 =/

[kirkjerk]

I'm excited about this game, but I don't know if I'm 100% in favor of the realism.

GTA (which for me started with GTA:VC, then back to GTA 3 and forward to GTA:SA) has, for me, always been an interesting balance of faux realism and over-the-top psychopathness. The physics are real enough to be vsicerally grabbing, but still loose enough to make for fewer constraints. The city has laws to the point where you can get cops to chase you, but not so much where there's any compulsion to follow any traffic laws. At all.

So I dunno. I want enough reality that it feels more visceral, but not so much that I start to get constrained in the same ways I am in real life...
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[Mr. Mechanical]

[kirkjerk]

[Mr. Mechanical]

[dhex]

if a pc port presents i will probably peep it, pardners.
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[kirkjerk]

[Mr. Mechanical]

[Mr. Mechanical]

Some new details emerge from Yahoo! Games...

[D-A-I-S]

[Mr. Mechanical]

[Mr. Mechanical]

So if you want to drop $90 on the Limited Edition here's what you can expect to receive.

The art book might be neat, I don't care much about the selected soundtrack cd, and the deposit box is a nice idea if a bit silly. The duffel bag might prove useful someday but not $90 useful. I will most likely just get the game and save myself the $30.
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Mr. Mechanical

[Harveyjames]

It's a shame they're keeping the 'GTA Sense of Humour' though (boob and 69 jokes, and lumpen-handed satire)

[Six]

Yeah, I kind of winced when I read that, especially since they seem to be taking the game in a more serious direction otherwise.

Oh look, a jewellery store called Secretions. Ha ha ha ha!

[dhex]

that's actually pretty funny.
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[Mr. Mechanical]

So the Yahoo Dan Houser interview didn't exactly have a lot of new information either, how surprising. A couple tidbits popped up though that are worth repeating here.

[Mr. Mechanical]

There's a crappy low res version of the trailer at Yahoo: http://grandtheftauto.yahoo.com/

I just watched it, it's a minute six seconds long. Lots of talking, a car chase, a badass helicopter, and an explosion, among other things. The song was good too, reminded me of the lesser known tracks from GTA III and how they sort of gave the ambiance of the game a life of it's own. I'm going to watch it some more and see if I can't find a higher res version.

Even at low res though the little details stand out. There's a part where Niko is grabbing onto the back of a truck that's speeding off around a corner. His body flails realistically and stuff, as it does in another shot where he's hanging from the skids of a helicopter. During the chase sequence you can briefly see a cop car hit a curb at just the right angle and flip. This is going to be pretty awesome.

Looks like gametrailers.com will have it in about a half hour, hopefully in HD.

HD version! http://rapidshare.com/files/39874985/1280x720.wmv
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Mr. Mechanical