Grand Theft Auto 4 Announced

[jAkUp]

http://rockstargames.com/grandtheftauto4/

http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/ve3d/image/article/706/706236/gta4VE3DLogo_1147206325.jpg

Rockstar Games, the universally-renowned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., is proud to announce Grand Theft Auto IV, the next-generation console debut of the genre-defining Grand Theft Auto franchise. Developed by world-class designers Rockstar North, Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and is currently planned to be in stores in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007.

...

This time, Xbox Nation won't have to wait. Responding to the cries of millions of Xbox 360 owners, Microsoft Corp. and Rockstar Games, the universally renowned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., have struck a groundbreaking agreement that brings "Grand Theft Auto IV" to the Xbox 360 platform on day one of its global release.

"Grand Theft Auto IV," the next-generation console debut of the genre-defining "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, is expected to be in stores on Oct. 16, 2007, in North America and Oct. 19, 2007, in Europe.

"Few franchises have had the profound impact on our industry as 'Grand Theft Auto,'" said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "Gamers can't wait to play "Grand Theft Auto IV" in high definition on Xbox 360, and we couldn't be more excited to have the title on our platform from day one"

Separately, Microsoft and Rockstar Games are proud to announce a strategic alliance to provide exclusive episodic content for Xbox Live, giving the community ever-expanding gameplay experiences that simply aren't possible on other consoles.

"Through Xbox Live, we have a unique opportunity to reach out to our audience in new ways," said Sam Houser, executive producer and founder of Rockstar Games. "This strategic alliance allows us to craft experiences that fully leverage the on-demand distribution power and sheer size of Xbox Live."

The agreement to distribute exclusive Rockstar Games content via Xbox Live highlights the publishing community's growing desire to feed gamers' insatiable appetite for downloading new high-definition experiences and playing online. Since Xbox Live launched, fans have logged nearly 1.8 billion hours playing online and have downloaded more than 18 million pieces of content in just the past six months.

[evilchris]

Good that its not exclusive.

[|MaguS|]

Good that its not exclusive.

True but I did get a big laugh when Peter Moore announced that the game was releasing on the X360 first....

[jAkUp]

Not only that... Moore he has a GTA tattoo :D

[Mr_LoL]

Phew. I almost choked on my breakfast cornflakes when Moore said it was going to be a 360 exclusive. It would have been a massive blow for the PS3.

[sytaylor]

Yeah that was as likley as Bill Gates Volleyball being a PS3 exclusive... It's taken silly money to reach this deal, and Take Two are sat in the middle rubbing their hands.

[Mr_LoL]

The question now is can the next Gen GTA fit on 9GB hard disk on the 360 or will it have to span 2 or even 3 disks.

[|MaguS|]

The question now is can the next Gen GTA fit on 9GB hard disk on the 360 or will it have to span 2 or even 3 disks.

Don't think it filled a DVD9 on the original Xbox but then again we hopefully will have a ton of high res models and textures this time...

[nrdstrm]

Don't think it filled a DVD9 on the original Xbox but then again we hopefully will have a ton of high res models and textures this time...

Yeah, the new one will probably be on like 2-4DVD's for the 360...and ONE BR Disc for the PS3 :P LOL

[jAkUp]

Yeah, the new one will probably be on like 2-4DVD's for the 360...and ONE BR Disc for the PS3 :P LOL

Viva la BlueRay!!

[pkirby11]

This is sort of off topic but seeing as most of you are sort of trashing the 360 (don't own one by the way) I just thought I'd say that I was glad to see Microsoft trying to bring PC gaming more to the front as a serious gaming platform. Seeing them trying to get both 360 and PC games out at the same time is great. Also seeing crossplatform compatibiliaty was nice, playing against 360 owners on the PC will make for some fun gameplay.

Glad to see some of these big companies supporting something other than PS3, seeing as they mainly care about the console and nothing else. At lease Microsoft will maybe help out the PC game market. We shall see.

[agentkay]

I guess we can expect GTA4 for PC a few months later even when they don´t mention it in this announcement? The series must have sold quite a few copies on PC as well.

[GamerGuyX]

Viva la BlueRay!!

There is no e in Blu-Ray. ;)

[sytaylor]

Aren't all first and possibly second gen PS3 games going to be DVD to keep costs down?

[johnkeel105]

Hopefully graphics for this series will improve a bit. It would be nice to see some good use of shader model 2.0 and 3.0.

[sytaylor]

Maybe a bit less of the over the top basic lighting effects to hide the poor textures as well. I mean sure the game world is huge so the textures kinda had to be basic...but couldn't a library of high detail brick and road textures be re-used?

[evilchris]

There is no e in Blu-Ray. ;)

No ****. What people don't know is both HD-DVD and BR use blue lasers.