Total Grand Theft Auto

Yes, Rockstar Games has officially announced Grand Theft Auto 4 for the PC! Even better is that they've already given it a release date and it's set for November 18th!

Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18th and 21st in North America and Europe, respectively.

"We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it."

Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, the latest installment in the enormously successful Grand Theft Auto series features a painstakingly detailed and life-like city for players to explore; a rich, immersive narrative experience; an original soundtrack highlighting the cultural eclecticism of Liberty City; and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.

November 18th is the release date for North America. Europe will see GTA4 on the PC just three days later on the 21st.

Source

In a news story that's already making waves across the Internet, details were apparently leaked for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the Nintendo DS title currently in production.

Originally broke by news site UGO.com, the original story was apparently taken down at the request of Rockstar. Fortunately, other sites such as Destructoid and Wired managed to snag the information before it disappeared. Here it is in all its consolidated glory, the potential details for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

• OPEN WORLD: It takes place within an open, real world environment. You will have the freedom to navigate a massive map, explore a world with changing weather and traffic patterns, smart Police and pedestrian AI, and choose different missions to play at any given point in time.

• MATURE STORYLINE: This is the story of an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city. You play as a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang.

• AD HOC MULTIPLAYER: With wi-fi connectivity, players can play each other head to head in four different game modes, including a race (seven different race maps, can race with all the game vehicles), and play co-op modes.

• LENGTH OF GAMEPLAY: 70+ missions, 20+ hours of straight gameplay—with significant replayability on top of those 20+ hours.

• STYLUS BASED MINI GAMES: Missions include a wide variety of contextual mini-games, such as assembling a sniper rifle to complete an assassination mission, and smashing locks and hotwiring cars to steal them.

• REPLAYABLE MISSIONS: A feature that allows you to jump to any completed mission from a convenient menu and play them again.

Now, keep in mind that these are just the potential aspects of Chinatown Wars. These were taken from a consumer survey, and could theoretically apply to any number of future DS titles.

The original story broke at UGO.com with the information reprinted at Destructoid. The story behind what led up to the information being pulled at UGO can be read at Wired.

IGN has posted up a new article today about a GTA IV distributor in Far East calling for a ban following a murder incident. Take a look:

The distribution of Grand Theft Auto IV in Thailand could be halted following the confession of a teenager who claimed he robbed and murdered a taxi driver while trying to recreate a scene from the game. According to Reuters, Thai game distributor New Era Interactive Media has requested that shops pull the game from their shelves following the incident, with the company offering to replace it with other games should they co-operate.

An 18-year-old high school student is in custody after Thai police arrested him on Saturday night when he was found driving a taxi backwards down a Bangkok street with the wounded cab driver in the backseat. If the teenager is found guilty of robbing and murdering the 54-year-old cabbie he faces death by lethal injection.

The youth, who has been described as an obsessive player of Grand Theft Auto, apparently confessed to the crime as a result of playing the game, with chief police investigator Veeravit Pipattanasak adding: "He said he wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game." However, according to newspaper reports the suspect admitted he didn't mean to kill the driver, but stabbed him to death when he fought back.

Whether the ban of the game will be enforced across the whole of Thailand remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Rockstar declined to comment on either the ban or the murder.

View the original article source here.

Further confirmation is now coming out saying that Grand Theft Auto IV will indeed be coming out for PC. Take a look:

A recent ESRB ratings update lists both Grand Theft Auto IV and Bully: Scholarship Edition for the "Windows PC" platform, which constitutes the first solid confirmation the two titles are heading to the PC. Grand Theft Auto IV has long been assumed to make the jump from consoles, as most major releases of the franchise, from the first Grand Theft Auto through Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, have eventually shown up on the platform. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV were released this past April.

Bully, a third-person perspective action game set in a schoolyard, was originally released on Sony's PlayStation 2 back in October of 2006. The enhanced Scholarship Edition for the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii shipped in March 2008.

At this time we're still awaiting an official comment from Rockstar Games regarding the ratings update.

Update: Since this story was published, the ESRB removed the GTA IV listing for PC from its public online database. However, the ESRB has not sent out a retraction letter to subscribers of the ESRB update service.

Thanks to IGN for this news!

In the July issue of PC Gamer Malaysia the front cover reveals that now Grand Theft Auto IV will be coming to the PC after all. Take a look:

PCGamer - JUL

FEATURED: Grand Theft Auto: Now on console, soon on PC
EXPLORED: World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King

Mass Effect
Reviewed - and why it's better on PC

PLUS!
Battlefield Heroes

Race Driver: GRID

Left 4 Dead

Spore

As you can see in the image above this issue has already hit the shelves in Malaysia and we can guess that PC Gamer US will have something in its next issue. See the official PC Gamer Malaysia page here.

Nintendo of America's President Reggie Fils-Aime talks with MTV Multiplayer Blog about Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars coming to the DS and the lack of a GTA Wii title. Check it out:

How did Nintendo get a “Grand Theft Auto” slated for the DS? What’s the game going to be like? And what can Wii owners expect of “GTA” now that DS owners are getting one later this year?

That’s what I asked Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime in the following portion of the interview I conducted with him at E3…

Multiplayer: “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.” How’d that come about? When did that conversation begin?

Reggie Fils-Aime, President, Nintendo of America: You know, we have had a long-term relationship with ["GTA" publisher] Take Two. We’ve had many conversations with the folks at Rockstar. This is a project they wanted to make. We’re thrilled to have it on the platform.

Multiplayer: 2D? 3D? What’s it going to be like?

Fils-Aime: You know the folks at Rockstar. And so we think it’s best for them to tell the story of what that software’s going to be. They can certainly do a better job of bringing it to life and do a much better job explaining the backstory than I can.

Multiplayer: Given that just before you guys announced “Grand Theft Auto” for the DS — you guys were talking about how the gender ratio was balancing out and more and more women are playing DS. Women are not typically “GTA” players. Given that, do you expect “Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars” to sell as well as the PSP “GTA”s? Does the demographic of the DS give this game the potential to be the best-selling of the “GTA” portables?

Fils-Aime: Look at it this way, Stephen. Right now 20 million installed base in the U.S. for the DS. Fifty-two percent are male. That’s over a 10 million installed base to sell a “GTA” title into. We expect that title to sell phenomenally well on our platform. And that’s why we’re thrilled to have it come. Read More...

Read the rest of the interview here.

Game Politics has an interesting bit of news up on their site it would appear that a car in GTA IV is named after a game violence researcher. Check it out:

Last September game-hatin' attorney Jack Thompson claimed in a federal court filing that a corrupt attorney marked for assassination in Grand Theft Auto IV was him. But then, Thompson says a lot of things...

What seems more clear is that a hybrid car (below) available for jacking in GTA IV is named after a well-known game violence researcher, Dr. Karen Dill of North Carolina's Lenoir-Rhyne College.

As reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education:

Dill, who has testified on game violence issues before Congress, apparently took the parody good-naturedly. Reportedly, she was simply relieved to find that she was not portrayed as one of the game's hookers.

Read the whole article here.

The Total Gaming Network staff have been working hard all this & last week to get as much E3 related news up in our new systems sections as possible. Now, we are putting together a list of all the major stuff that has come out of the gaming world & E3 for the week. (July 14-17) We are happy to present the...

E3 2008 has come to an end. Last week there was many major announcements by the gaming publishers and developers that were featuring their products at this years E3 expo. While many company's have pulled out of the ESA, which is the group hosting E3, this years E3 still did not disappoint, just like E3 07, E3 08 continued the new format of a smaller more professional expo. Which as many of you have read meant that the invite list was more exclusive.

Here is a brief round up of the major announcements by the console developers at E3 08.

Microsoft

• 60GB Xbox 360 Coming In August
• ......


Sony

• $399 80GB Playstation 3 Revealed (with 40GB Features: One Being No PS2 Support)
• ......

Nintendo

• Nintendo Executives Have Some Fun
• ......

Along with those major announcements by the three console developers, many publishers and developers at this years E3 had some big announcements and showed of some pretty cool games. Here are a few of the announcements by the two major publishers at E3.

Electronic Arts

• Dead Space E3 Trailer Too Scary For The ESRB (PC, PS3, 360)
• ......

Ubisoft

• I Am Alive Revealed (PC, PS3, Wii, 360)
• ......

Activision was one of the company's to pull out of the ESA and E3 this year but that didn't stop them from showing what they had to offer as they hosted a non E3 press conference/expo at a nearby location in Los Angeles. Here are some of the major announcements by Activision this week.

Activison

• Kiefer Sutherland Stars In Call of Duty: World at War (PC, PS3, Wii, 360)
• ......

Click Here to Read the Full Article

So be sure to check out the full article here. What do you think was the biggest announcement? Feel free to post your thoughts about E3 and our article right here on the Total Gaming Network.

To further discuss this article, visit this thread.

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Today at Nintendo's E3 press conference the newest title in the Grand Theft Auto Series was announced: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Here is what was said:

Developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with series creators Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars will be available on the Nintendo DS™ in North America and Europe this winter.

"This is a game that will deliver a rich, fast-paced and intense 'Grand Theft Auto' experience that will be truly unique to Nintendo's handheld platform," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Rockstar Leeds, along with the team at Rockstar North, has built upon a decade of progressive design on Grand Theft Auto, and has created something fundamentally fresh and immersive."

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an entirely original entry into the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and brings a new level of interactivity to its sprawling open environments. With the use of the DS touch screen, players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the franchise.

You read right, probably the most interesting bit of all this is that it will be available exclusively on the Nintendo DS.