GTA San Andreas Gets Release Date, Screenshots

An anonymous reader writes "Rockstar Games has been deliberately coy about Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - it 'was announced as a Playstation 2 exclusive title' in today's Sony press conference, but 'that was the extent to which the game was discussed.' However, Rockstar just put up an official GTA: San Andreas webpage, confirming a release date of October 2004, and featuring the first three screenshots of the game, leading GameSpot to conclude that the game 'will be set in modern times (not the 1970s-set game some had said) and will have a heavy West-Coast gangsta flava' - they also say the site's splash screen 'changes each time the site is loaded'."

Comments

"West coast gangstas"

[MachDelta]

I hope its not ALL "west coast gangstas" style. One of the things I loved about San Andreas in the original game was working with the Triads. Now THOSE were some mean fuckers. I'd love to be out "bringing honour to my family" with RC bombs again! Muahahaha!!

(Next week on Slashdot: Young teen male in California builds bomb out of remote control toy: Take Two Entertainment sued over deaths. Again.)

Re:"West coast gangstas"

[iMMersE]

That's exactly right. I mean, if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, eating magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music ...

Re:"West coast gangstas"

[mahdi13]

I was hoping that they would do something simular to how they did the radio stations in Vice City. One of the best parts of GTA:VC is just grabbing a bike and cruise listening to the radio (and driving like a mad man!) I found the radio in GTA3 to be somewhat boring and not nearly as entertaining. From the sounds of it though, GTA:SA is going to probably have a sound track that sucks like in True Crime (I couldn't play that for more the 10 minutes before all the damn 'Gangsta Rap' got on my nerves!)

Re:"West coast gangstas"

[mahdi13]

I was hopeing that they would do the early '90s grunge thing for this =)

I though GTA:VC had a very good variety of stations which was excellent, GTA3 radio didn't seem quite the same...but of course in GTA3 it was all 'fake' stuff and GTA:VC used licensed music which I thought was great.

I think what REALLY made GTA:VC so great was it had a solid story and the main character you played had a personality (I hated in GTA3 how the guy just walked around and people offered him jobs without him ever saying a single word)
If GTA:SA has a good story and well developed charaters, I might be able to overlook an over abundance of rap =)

What should they improve on?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got some issues with gta3/gta:vc. Here are a few features I hope they have implemented in gta:sa.

1. Better traffic generation algorithms. Sometimes when a car leaves your field of vision only for a few fractions of a second it disappears. This might have something to do with the limited amount of RAM the PS2 has, but it can still be quite annoying. The amount of vehicles on the streets seems to be quite constant. It would be cool if there were some really bad traffic jams from time to time.
2. Better weapon selection. It can be frustrating to scroll through ten weapons before you get the one you want, especially if you're in combat.
3. Multiplayer. I don't think they're going to implement it, but mta-vc on the PC can be very entertaining, even though it's buggy as hell and rather pointless.

Of course a game like this can never be "perfect", but it would be nice if some of these issues were fixed.

Re:What should they improve on?

[obeythefist]

1) Yes, the game's poor traffic/vision/camera depth is caused by the poor capabilities of the console. It has everything to do with the limits of the consoles.

2) Scrolling is implemented because consoles don't have keyboards that allow you to quick-select particular weapons. GTA is an excellent example of converting the "right way" because the PC version is invariably better in all aspects than the console version of the game, and usually contains added functionality not available on a console. Maybe the keys will be more customisable on PC this time around.

3) Serious multiplayer hasn't been viable on consoles until very recently with X-Box live and so on. Even so, there's more work involved with online play than single play for games like this, so again we find that because the game is being developed for console, it isn't "all that it could be".

I'm personally apalled at the graphics. This is the third iteration of the GTA3 engine. Because of the console generation, game developers don't have any room to create the almost photorealistic environments you can see in a game like Far Cry. I'm not sure if this game will do well on PC when being matched up with DooM3 and Half-Life2 (both currently slated for summer).

Re:What should they improve on?

[fr0dicus]

1) The Xbox version improves the traffic situation somewhat, but I think it's all about relevance. The random cars you see are exactly that, just a bit of flotsam to spice up the gameplay with chases and races. Probably not worth wasting effort and CPU tracking every individual one.

2) GTA is still preferable on a joypad, it has too many instantly required moves at fingertips to make keyboard/mouse play fully worthwhile. The time taken to find the correct key outweighs any advantage in having unique keys. I find even on PC games I usually just scroll through weapons using the mouse wheel, as it's quicker.

3) Only because it hasn't been relevant. Console games are still very much single player or group oriented, cheap and cheerful throwaway fun that requires no significant investment on behalf of the consumer, so it naturally follows that console owners would be less likely to have broadband, which is an absolute requirement for proper multiplayer.

Console game manufacturers are in the business of providing good medium term fun for the single or group together, whereas PC game production is more focused on creating communities to maintain long-term interest in the titles of the company. Internet access is a given for the average PC gamer, but not so for the console player. Given the general dearth of exclusive quality titles on PC's, and the long long timespans between releases, this ability to maintain interest through expansion and online capabilities is far more important than providing decent single player action. This can easily be seen in id software titles for example.

Because of the royalties involved console games are written to tighter margins and it's unlikely that producers would allow time and money to be spent on an online multiplayer option that is not required to sell that game. This is of course now changing as Sony and Microsoft have determined that it's a promotable feature now that broadband penetration is high enough. The fact that Nintendo are sitting on the fence only proves the point.

I'm personally apalled at the graphics. This is the third iteration of the GTA3 engine. Because of the console generation, game developers don't have any room to create the almost photorealistic environments you can see in a game like Far Cry.

In my opinion, GTA is not even a particularly good example of a console being pushed to its limits graphically, so the relevance of comparing it to Far Cry (nice example of the only decent PC exclusive for months), Doom 3 and Half Life 2 is questionable. The latter two look impressive enough on the Xbox for me anyway. GTA is more about the quality of the environment, and the gameplay. Sure nicer graphics would top it off, but if they had to cut out any of the content to accomodate it (in terms of development time and deadlines) then I'll pass, thanks.

Re:screenies

[fr0dicus]

Maybe that bit of the map isn't done yet? That was my thought, seeing as it's the same engine and it never used to have draw distance problems.

exclusive

[Dreadlord]

So the PC version will be released several months after the PS2 like GTA3 and GTA:VC, can anyone confirm this?

I really like the series, but I'm not going to buy a PS2 just to play the game.

Re:exclusive

[xalres]

Heh, I love how people rib on PC gamers for not getting to play stuff like GTA or Halo until months or years after release. They mercilessly rub it in our face. Then when we try telling them how much better the PC version is with cleaner textures, higher resolution, better draw distance, MP3 playlists, etc. they tell us to shut the hell up.

Re:Hmm! :)

[acd294]

splashArray = new Array("SA_splash1.swf","SA_splash2.swf","SA_splash 3.swf","SA_splash4.swf");

Yep, un huh, 39, Suuurrre.

PS2 exclusivity contract with GTA?

[Golgafrinchan]

Hmm... I thought the PS2 exclusivity contract ran out after VC, and that's why Rockstar was able to release GTA3 and VC for Xbox. Did they sign a new contract with Sony, or are they leaving out the Xbox for other reasons this time?

Re:Flash only site

[gabec]

the flash loads for me in firefox but the links don't work for me. I was able to see the screenshots in IE but since I don't have Outlook installed I couldn't click the 'join the gta mailing list' link :P anyone care to post the email address they're trying to open outlook with??

Re:Not BMX...

[nicky_d]

Well, I defer to your bike knowledge. Either way, it's got to be promising, and I can't see Rockstar making the bikes all that fragile... I'm envisaging and uzi-enhanced game of Paperboy, stunt courses with great controls (the bike control in VC is wonderful) and insane back-yard / alley getaways, venturing where cars can't follow.

Plus the gentle art of bikejacking from 13-year-olds...

Localization...

[gumpish]

It turned my stomach in GTA3 each time I heard a mafioso refer to a garbage truck as a "dust cart", or a parking garage as a "car park".

And let's not forget the level in Manhunt where DMA remids us to "please bin your rubbish".

Complaints

[Lord_Dweomer]

Alright, first off, their website is Flash...and if the only reason is so they can have that stupid changing main page, well...that's dumb.

Next...am I the ONLY one who's completely fed up with all this rap/hiphop 'gangsta shiznit'? I'm 21 and I am so fucking sick of this stuff its ridiculous. Is this how old people feel about young kids music today? Am I getting old? I mean, yeah, there's a couple of decent songs, any genre has that, but the lifestyle they sell is just as fabricated if not more so than the teenybopper pop lifestyle, but it just SEEMS more genuine 'cuz its from da streets'.

I can see why a game set in modern times might have this theme, but it most certainly should not have the entire game revolve around it. Ugh, way to ruin the game Rockstar.

It's 90's - The Story so Far

[obb]

The setup for the game's been released as well: "Five years ago Carl Johnson escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos, San Andreas...a city tearing itself apart with gang trouble, drugs and corruption. Where filmstars and millionaires do their best to avoid the dealers and gangbangers. Now, it's the early 90s. Carl's got to go home. His mother has been murdered, his family has fallen apart and his childhood friends are all heading towards disaster. On his return to the neighborhood, a couple of corrupt cops frame him for homicide. CJ is forced on a journey that takes him across the entire state of San Andreas, to save his family and to take control of the streets." This is interesting in that A) You're not a criminal at the beginning of the game. This could mean you might be able to stay that way... or not. B) It mentions the STATE of San Andreas, not city. This means more than just what we can see in 3 screenies C) It's early 90's so it's not the current gansta rap scene. 1And there's lots of good 90's music. I was worried it would be like True Crime radio wise, but Rockstar knows what they're doing and I'm confident that they'll have good tracks.