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Grand Theft Auto Released For Free

Posted by Hemos on from the ka-blam-ka-blam dept.

Snover writes "It's already incredibly difficult to actually get to the site due to its extreme popularity, and can only get worse after the inevitable slashdotting, but Rockstar Games has updated their original hit, Grand Theft Auto, to run on 'modern' computers and released it for free to the public. It'd be nice if more gaming companies did this! Unfortunately, it (of course) is Windows-only and utilises the propietary DirectX API, but hey, free game for anyone that's paid the Microsoft tax! (The download speed, once you actually manage to connect to the site, is quite excellent -- it's maxing out my 2Mbps connection.)" Ah, what a classic game.

17 of 423 comments (clear)

  1. Its already freely available by chrisseaton · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here, along with GTA London and GTA 2.

    1. Re:Its already freely available by rich_r · · Score: 2, Informative

      However the site does require a subscription to download. Any other mirrors kicking about? (I'm on google now, but I'm sure some have beaten me to it!)

    2. Re:Its already freely available by Idolminds · · Score: 2, Informative

      Outside of needing a subscription, which you can't sign up for at the moment (and has been like that for several months), theres a few problems with the Freeloader GTA games.

      I was able to get all the GTA games from there last year. All the games are missing the music, and multiplayer support has also been removed from what I can tell.

      If that doesnt bother you, go nuts (if you can).

  2. already been done... by dj_paulgibbs · · Score: 5, Informative
    See Freeloader.

    When I last looked at the site (a year ago, admittidly), it had GTA1 up for download then.

    Quick look shows it has GTA2, Hidden & Dangerous, and many others available for free download. All you have to do is watch some ads on your screen whilst the files download.

  3. Re:GTA Music by user+no.+590291 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The download is 328MB, so I imagine it includes the sound.

  4. More places to download from by Necroman · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=2398
    I'm guessing there are many other places also to download it from. But if you are willing to wait in line for it at fileshack, its another option.

    --
    Its not what it is, its something else.
    1. Re:More places to download from by Oopsz · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://www.fileplanet.com/download.aspx?f=120963

      Might as well spread the waiting around a little.

  5. The email rockstar sent me about this yesterday by rmohr02 · · Score: 4, Informative
    (Emphasis mine)
    It's like Masterpiece Theater, Rockstar style. Curl up in your library, warm a nice snifter of brandy, and prepare your palette for a decadent trip back in time. That's right - we've gone ahead and decided to take the original PC version of Grand Theft Auto (1997) and give it away to the world, free of charge.

    In keeping with the moral of the game itself, we encourage you all to visit www.rockstargames.com/classics post-haste, fill out the form and follow instructions to download this progenitor of the Rockstar lineage at a five finger discount.

    The catch? Well, you have to sign up on our mailing list first. But if you're reading this, then that's hardly an issue, eh? And at a hefty 336 MB downloadable zip, of course faster connections and processors will prevail. Visit the Rockstar Classics page for much more detailed information.

    Stay tuned for future volumes of Rockstar Classics as we continue to pillage the archives in the months to come...

    www.rockstargames.com/classics

    The rumblings were true. After all, you didn't really think we'd leave our PC loyalists empty handed, did you?

    The street date is May 13, 2002 (May 16th for Europe) - and you should know what to expect. The universally acclaimed, lush, epic splendor of Vice City, enhanced for play on the latest and greatest Personal Computers. Further information, screenshots, and more to come in a short spell...

    www.rockstargames.com/vicecity

    Sorry, mates - this window of opportunity is now firmly sealed shut. Give us some time to pore through the record-breaking number of entries, and we'll be back to report the lucky winners in time for the next Rockstar Broadcast.

    Fingers crossed.

    www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/contest
  6. WineX by BHearsum · · Score: 5, Informative

    GTA1 runs great with WineX.

  7. Re:"Microsoft Tax." by dabadab · · Score: 2, Informative

    It seems like that you do not understand the "Microsoft Tax" term.

    It is called so because you pay it EVEN if you do NOT want Windows (or DOS in the old days).

    Your Linux/Windows comparsion clearly falls into the "Troll" category.

    --
    Real life is overrated.
  8. don't bother trying for a while by webperf · · Score: 5, Informative

    this is what you get after you put your details in

    We have received your information; unfortunately, we cannot provide you with this download at this time.

    they should put this BEFORE you register.

  9. Original Wolf 3D by geeber · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, it is not completely free, but if you by Return to Wolfenstein, it does come with a copy of the original Wolf 3D. At no extra charge even!

    --
    Download my free songs!
  10. Say no to Kazaa File Corruption! by greydmiyu · · Score: 2, Informative

    Already done:
    http://www.intimidated.f2s.com/sharelive/vi ew.php? pid=3517

    --
    -- Grey d'Miyu, not just another pretty color.
  11. Gamer's Hell has got mirrors up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Gamer's Hell has got mirrors up. Feel free to slashdot FileHell!

  12. Some old games won't run on new machines by guardian-ct · · Score: 2, Informative

    Many of the older games have timing loops, which expect to take a certain time, but newer CPUs basically optimize those loops out, so they seem to take 0 time. I know that the old Origin game Strike Commander wouldn't run on a Pentium 100 without rebooting into the BIOS, and turning off the CPU cache.

    So, to go along with the "never assume the input length is less than a constant", we have "never assume that there's a minimum time to complete an operation."

  13. Re:Why such the big file? by theperplepigg · · Score: 2, Informative
    I haven't gotten it yet, but as previous posts speculated, the extra data is probably sound and movie files, which i believe are stripped from the freeloader version (that, and pirate groups often cut extraneous stuff for a smaller release).

    --paul

    --
    -- Every time you kill a kitten, God masturbates.
  14. Install Problems On XP by Cam+Wheeler · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you are having problems launching setup.exe in WindowsXP, rename the install folder from GTAINSTALLER to something like GTA and it'll run succesfully.