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Grand Theft Auto IV Unveiled On 360

Despite expectations that this would be the least eventful of the E3 pre-conferences, Microsoft's Peter Moore drops the news that Grand Theft Auto IV will be on Xbox 360. Rockstar and Microsoft have teamed up to do exclusive episodic content in the GTA gameworld for the 360. Slated to release October 16, 2007 in North America, October 19 in Europe. Other details include lots of support for Live Arcade titles (Sonic, Galaga, Street Fighter II), the official unveiling of Shadowrun for the 360 and PC, the airing of the Halo 3 Teaser Trailer (which is already on Xbox Live), and much discussion of 'Live Anywhere'. This last is an expansion of Xbox Live to PC and cell platforms in addition to the Xbox arena.

393 comments

  1. Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Hmm.

    XBox 360 with 20GB hard drive ($400) + HD-DVD drive addon ($100?) + 1 year XBox Live ($50) = $550.

    Playstation 3 with 20GB hard drive ($500) + Bluray drive (included) + 5 years online (included) = $500.

    Sony are the arrogant ones here, though, right? OK, just checking. I'm finding it increasingly hard to keep track.

    By the way, Zonk, GTA4 isn't an XBox exclusive.
    12:54: I get the official Rockstar Games announcement of Grand Theft Auto IV in my e-mail--it says that the game will be release simultaneously on Xbox 360 and PS3. Moore said it was coming to 360 first. What the...?
    1. Re:Gamespot says no. by edflyerssn007 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      The game will be released for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on October 16th, 2007. HOwever since you won't be able to play it on PS3 until late november when its released then it can be said that the 360 will have it first.

      --
      So you see what had happened was....
    2. Re:Gamespot says no. by koweja · · Score: 2, Funny

      Are you really expecting Moore to have a clue. He's probably still convinced that there is no PS3 and the 360 is competing with the PS2. No GTAIV on PS2 = XBOX 360 exclusive.

    3. Re:Gamespot says no. by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Yeah, sounds like the core game is for both but..

      "Microsoft and Rockstar have entered into an exclusive deal to privide episodic content via Xbox Live Marketplace."

      so additional content will be only available on the 360 if I understand this correctly.

      --
      "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
    4. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      No one is going to buy the $500, stripped down, 360 core model-ish version of the PS3.

      Or at least, no one in their right mind.

    5. Re:Gamespot says no. by SLiDERPiMP · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      HAHAHA!

      wow...talk about fanboy.

      It's ok....the PS3 will dominate all...keep hope alive.

      -C

    6. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "The Basic PS3 is crippled."

      Hardly the Base PS3 has pretty much the same feature set as the top of the line 360. Does the 360 have an external HDMI port? Nope. Both machines can do HDMI with a break out cable via their multi-out connectors. The base PS3 is lacking the ability to do dual HDTV, but is that really an issue for most people, I doubt it.

      Let us see what else the base PS3 is lacking.
      -WiFi built in, you can add that the same way you can add WiFi to the 360.

      -The card reader, humm the 360 doesn't have one at all. If the PS3 is as multimedia based as Sony claims you probavbly will be able to connect a standard USB card reader to it, if you want to transfer photos and the like that way.

      So the ONLY things you will give up with the base PS3 are a built in card reader and WiFi (both of which can be added later), and an external HDMI port for dual HDTV support. Guess what these are exactly the same features missing from the 360.

      There are enough good reasons to think Sony has made an error with the PS3, that you don't need to go making up reasons.

    7. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PS3 Base = Crippled PS3 that CANNOT be upgraded to support all of the upper end PS3 features.

      What the fuck are you talking about? Did you miss that whole "USB" thing?

    8. Re:Gamespot says no. by freshman_a · · Score: 3, Informative

      Uh, ok...

      Let's compare features of the high-end packages:

      HDMI support
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - N/A

      802.11
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - Add-on available for $100

      60gb HD
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - N/A, only 20GB HD available

      Motion-sensitive controllers
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - N/A

      Blu-ray
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - N/A, HD-DVD available (someday) for additional cost

      etc... Hell, the Wii is going to include motion-sensitve controllers and wifi. I'd rather drop $600 up front to have those features included, instead of $400 then piecing the damn thing together when/if components come together. Say you spend $400 for an Xbox360, then add wifi. That makes it $500. Now add HD-DVD which will be at least $100, now you're up to $600. That's the cost of a high-end PS3 and you still don't have all the features it includes. But hey, to each his own.


      Sony is messing up big time in the gaming world, the PS3 is just the latest bastard creation where they didn't listen to the market or the players.

      As for games, they can't even hold developers to the PS3 platform because of the lack of developer support and CRAP development tools for it.

      They have a great Cell processor technology and even Sony doesn't seem to understand the best ways to get the most out of it, let alone provide developers with tools to do so.

      Can you give ANY proof to back up those claims?

    9. Re:Gamespot says no. by Traiklin · · Score: 1

      actually if you do that then what you should of done was this,

      XBox 360 with 20GB hard drive ($400) + HD-DVD drive addon ($100?) + 5 years XBox Live ($250) = $750.

      Playstation 3 with 20GB hard drive ($500) + Bluray drive (included) + 5 years online (included) = $500.


      even though the PS3 with the 60gb hdd is the better buy (just as the 360 with HDD is the better buy).

    10. Re:Gamespot says no. by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The Basic PS3 is crippled, it has almost no peripheral support, not even memory stick. And these items CANNOT be upgrade or added on later, so you HAVE TO BUY the upper end PS3 to get the full use of it and things like HDMI.

      Untrue. The PSP didn't ship with a camera or a GPS, and yet, here they come. I direct your attention to the USB ports - they work pretty much like the ones on your PC. Unless of course, Sony has suddenly decided that it doesn't like to make add-on peripherals for their toys, like they have forever.

      WiFi can be added, cardreaders can be added, HD is removable. HDMI can NOT be added, but you don't get HDMI at all with X360/Wii so I consider that moot.

      So which company is actually trying to make the unit affordable and yet not lock the user into a model they have to trade in or pitch when they decide they want the upper end unit?

      Answer is all three. MS wants you to buy crap on Live, Sony wants you to buy crap on whatever their Live is as well as more hardware (PSP connectivity), Nintendo wants you to buy add-on parts for the Wii remote and old skool games online. Don't be naive.

      Sony has so lost their minds, and not only with the PS3. The whole Blu-Ray catastrophy,

      Stop right there. The BluRay camp has 4 of the 5 big studios on board, and Sony is about to flood the market by trojaning BluRay into what will certainly be (at least initially) a big console release - and they will do it for less than the $1k that either a HD-DVD or BluRay standalone player goes for today. There is no catastrophe other than your fricking ignorant post.

      As for games, they can't even hold developers to the PS3 platform because of the lack of developer support and CRAP development tools for it.

      Really. Cite something.

      In comparison to XBox360, developers can use OpenGL and DirectX (XNA) technologies and still get the most out of the multiprocessor system without being specialists in multi-cpu game design. Let alone the fact that one development process can produce a PC and XBox title without having to port the title or develop textures and meshes at lower levels between the platforms to get the games to work.

      Ahhh, now I see where you are coming from. Please elucidate for us why this advantage does not translate to the Wii and PS3 as well, since they also employ OpenGL?

      You can have your PS3, just make sure you buy the more expensive one, so you don't have to chuck the 'basic' model later on when you find you want to watch HD movies...

      I will have to chuck my X360 if I want to watch HD movies since it has no HDMI port.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    11. Re:Gamespot says no. by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      "Microsoft and Rockstar have entered into an exclusive deal to privide episodic content via Xbox Live Marketplace."

      so additional content will be only available on the 360 if I understand this correctly.

      It certainly reads that way, but I'd be shocked if it wasn't for both consoles. It probably just means the deal is inked with MS already, because Sony is still shaking out whatever their Live service is. Rockstar wants that money from the biggest pool of players.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    12. Re:Gamespot says no. by joshsisk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      XBox 360 with 20GB hard drive ($400) + HD-DVD drive addon ($100?) + 1 year XBox Live ($50) = $550.

      Playstation 3 with 20GB hard drive ($500) + Bluray drive (included) + 5 years online many (included) = $500.


      Your numbers are a bit flawed, since the $500 PS3 doesn't have HDMI, which some people require to watch HD content on their TVs, also some Blu-Ray discs are planned to be released as only playable via HDMI (to prevent copying or some such nonsense), so the non-HDMI PS3 can't really be considered a full-featured movie player like the $600 one.

      Not adding HDMI on both seems like a bad move, unless they also offer an accessory that can let people get the HDMI later... I would be pissed if I decided to upgrade to HD and realized my PS3 didn't have the right connectors.

      Also, if one ignores the movie playing aspect (whch will be much less a big deal this time, since the difference between VHS and DVD was much greater than the difference between DVD and HD/Blu Ray), there is still that $100 price difference, which may well widen by the time of the PS3 launch or, perhaps more likely, soon after. I could see MS leaving the current price til after Christmas, then dropping the price in January. A $350 Core Xbox vs a $500 Core PS3? That's a much bigger gap, and the PS3 can't really drop it's price so soon after release.

    13. Re:Gamespot says no. by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      duhhh i meant 350 vs 500 PREMIUM, not core. d'oh!

    14. Re:Gamespot says no. by EmperorKagato · · Score: 1

      Motion-sensitive controllers
      PS3 - included
      Xbox360 - N/A

      This is a feature that is going to be overlooked by game developers for the PS3. Oh wait... it's going to be used for House of the Dead IV.

      "That makes it $500. Now add HD-DVD which will be at least $100, now you're up to $600. That's the cost of a high-end PS3 and you still don't have all the features it includes. But hey, to each his own.
      "

      What if you had to equip your house with a Wireless Access Point(since you didn't own one in the beginning)

      I've already bought my Xbox 360 games before christmas of this year. A $100 upgrade? No problem.

      (note: I do not own an Xbox)

      --
      ----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
    15. Re:Gamespot says no. by EmperorKagato · · Score: 1

      Features, Features, Features.

      Where the hell is SONY'S SYSTEM!?

      Ra, demands an answer to this bull crap!

      --
      ----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
    16. Re:Gamespot says no. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 0

      HDMI can NOT be added, but you don't get HDMI at all with X360/Wii so I consider that moot.


      I don't think people understand fully what HDMI is...

      It 'can' be added to the 360 because the chipsets in the 360 support it, but have no 'current' need for it. Watch with the HD-DVD addon that would NEED the HDMI interface for this to be included as well in the addon. (Remember 360 is just a PC with modified PC chipsets, and the ones in the 360 have Video HDMI compliance.)

      HDMI is a signialling technology for encryption. If Sony leaves this OUT of the Basic PS3 that already has blu-ray, there is no way to add this on.

      I will have to chuck my X360 if I want to watch HD movies since it has no HDMI port.

      Well no... You can ALREADY watch HD movies on a 360, it is called WMV-HD, and is the same codec used in HD-DVD and Blu-ray. This compression is at the level that it allows for a HD movie to fit on a single DVD. Go look up T2 Extreme Edition for an example...

      ----

      Final note though, with any luck HDMI will be killed off, if we can keep Movie publishers from implementing it. It is not necessary for HD content playback, it is up to the MOVIE title to specifify whether it requires it or not.

      The reason I made this an 'issue' on the PS3 basic is that PEOPLE will buy these expecting to watch HD Blu-Ray movies and if the movies do have HDMI requirements, the Basic PS3 is screwed...

    17. Re:Gamespot says no. by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 1

      But the 20 gig PS3 won't have a memory card slot or HDMI.

      --
      Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
    18. Re:Gamespot says no. by TommydCat · · Score: 1
      But there is no PS3 yet... though it can be argued the same for the 360 if you can't actually buy it anywhere...

      Nowarez on Nowhere > Nowarez on Vaporware

      --
      This comment does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author.
    19. Re:Gamespot says no. by MHolmesIV · · Score: 1

      Ok, so what you're saying is that the base PS3 has the same features as the 360, at $100 more?

    20. Re:Gamespot says no. by MHolmesIV · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You forgot:

      Rumble controllers:
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      Being able to play a game for less than $500
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      XNA Framework:
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      You can say anything you want by carefully tailoring what you claim to be "Features"

    21. Re:Gamespot says no. by The-Bus · · Score: 1

      The PS3 is not supporting dual HDTVs. It supports one single HDTV. Otherwise, your argument is correct, except by fall, the PS3 will still cost $150-200 more, depending on how MS handles price drops.

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    22. Re:Gamespot says no. by MHolmesIV · · Score: 1
      Stop right there. The BluRay camp has 4 of the 5 big studios on board, and Sony is about to flood the market by trojaning BluRay into what will certainly be (at least initially) a big console release - and they will do it for less than the $1k that either a HD-DVD or BluRay standalone player goes for today. There is no catastrophe other than your fricking ignorant post.

      Actually, no. The Toshiba HD-A1 is available today for normal retail of $499 (and it includes a HDMI port). Less ($420) if you look around a little.

      The PS3 will not be the cheapest HD movie player available. (Even if you don't count the supposed 360 price drop)
    23. Re:Gamespot says no. by smilinggoat · · Score: 1

      Not adding HDMI on both seems like a bad move, unless they also offer an accessory that can let people get the HDMI later... I would be pissed if I decided to upgrade to HD and realized my PS3 didn't have the right connectors.

      If there were an HDMI upgrade, what would it cost? Let's say $100 for speculation, or a little under. Suppose no HDMI accessory upgrade becomes available for your $500 PS3. Sell the first unit on eBay and get the $600 unit. $100 upgrade right there. Plus you get a bigger harddrive and WiFi.

      What's wrong with that as an upgrade path?

    24. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not sure if you know what HDMI is yourself.

      HDMI is just a superset of DVI with inherent HDCP support instead of being tacked on. Supports YCbCr as well as RGB over digital. Serial based so you can stretch that HDMI cable a lot further than DVI. Also supports control signals.

      I don't see how getting rid of HDMI will help anyone. Analogue video should be long dead, especially at higher resolutions, the distortion is terrible.

      I know HDCP is a pain but it really isn't that intrusive.

    25. Re:Gamespot says no. by Twisted64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's the cost of a high-end PS3 and you still don't have all the features it includes.


      Where is this high-end PS3? I think you mean ...will include.
      --
      Consciousness is a myth. Trust me.
    26. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hahaha, Fanboy faggot. Like so many others. "My system will be the best! NO FAULTS, ALL GREAT"

      Go eat an Xbox controller.

    27. Re:Gamespot says no. by MKalus · · Score: 1

      $1K for a HD-DVD Player? I saw one yesterday at Futureshop from Toshiba for $699 (Canadian that is).

      Not that it overly impressed me with the Video, but it's far from $1K.

      --
      If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
    28. Re:Gamespot says no. by MaverickUW · · Score: 1

      I see one reason and one reason only to complain about no HDMI on the base PS3. Sony has spent how long bragging about the ability of the PS3 to do stuff in 1080P, and you're now gonna have to pay how much more to do it? Basically, the lower version of the console you're not paying for the connector that allows the system to use the feature which is making it cost so much. I mean, it'd be like only being given the ability to use an RF adaptor for the PS2 or Xbox. What's the point of all the graphics hyping if you have to pay even more money above the base cost to get it?

    29. Re:Gamespot says no. by muyuubyou · · Score: 1
      Ok, so what you're saying is that the base PS3 has the same features as the 360, at $100 more?


      Not especially interested in defending Sony, but I'll bite:

      + Bluray
      + access to the dominant game base (PS2)
      + supposedly, a lot more horsepower
    30. Re:Gamespot says no. by Loonacy · · Score: 1

      I sent my Xbox controller to Africa. They said it fed a family of 4 for over a year.

    31. Re:Gamespot says no. by RzUpAnmsCwrds · · Score: 1

      Your numbers are flawed for one serious reason: you're assuming that the 360 will still be $400 when the PS3 launches. It won't - it will probably be $300.

      And what if I don't want an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive? What if I don't want online service? The 360 can be purchased today for $300, and with a memory card you can play any 360 game.

    32. Re:Gamespot says no. by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, I'd say calling the PS3 "vaporware" is a little harsh. Sure, it isn't out yet, but I'm 100% sure that it will exist in some actual, purchasable, playable form, some time in the next 9 months.

    33. Re:Gamespot says no. by iainl · · Score: 1

      I fully expect there to be DIFFERENT exclusive content available for purchase through the PS3 equivalent of the Live Marketplace.

      That doesn't make the stuff on the XBox one any less exclusive, mind you.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    34. Re:Gamespot says no. by iainl · · Score: 1

      Moore didn't even say that GTA4 is an XBox 360 exclusive, though.

      1) GTA4 will come out on 360 straight away, without the 6-9 month delay we experience the last two times.

      2) There will be additional content (that is exclusive) available through the Live marketplace.

      that's what he announced, and I have no reason to doubt him.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    35. Re:Gamespot says no. by Kuj0317 · · Score: 1

      We got us a flamer. so, you are factoring in the cost of a non-existant, non-announced HD-DVD addon? Do you not see a slight flaw with that logic? If you are a huge SONY fan, fine. Just admit that and keep your ill-conceived points to yourself. You make all the other SONY zealots look stupider by posting this crap. Did you also pull that 5 years online quite from out of your ass aswell? I searched for it and found no reports or even speculation of such an inclusion.

    36. Re:Gamespot says no. by Kuj0317 · · Score: 1

      Before anybody else points it out, i realize that the HD-DVD addon has been announced. Sorry about that one.

    37. Re:Gamespot says no. by fistynuts · · Score: 1

      I think you're getting confused between HDMI and HDCP. HDMI is a handy digital interconnect. HDCP is evil copy-protection.

      --
      "You heard the man, Tubbs.. get undressed."
    38. Re:Gamespot says no. by SalaciousPucker · · Score: 1

      Sony has never really come close to matching the service XBOX Live provides, that's why it is 'free' now. They plan to do it with the PS3 and it most definitely will cost money...a monthly or annual fee...for what is likely to be substandard and half ass supported service. XBOX Live is what it is, with features, developer support, etc, because it is established. This whole thread reads like another anti-MS Slashdot tear cause based on everything I've read....MS is going to dominate gaming soon. Sony is coming in with a product that offers no added benefit to anyone outside of brand and costs 50% more.

    39. Re:Gamespot says no. by dafoomie · · Score: 1

      Your analysis is flawed for several reasons.

      You assume the customer wants Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. You also assume that the customer that wants Blu-Ray would buy the cheaper version with no HDMI. Why would someone who wants Blu-Ray, buy the non-HDMI version and be subject to the Image Constraint Token? Yes, Sony won't be using it, but other studios such as Paramount and Warner are. Knock $100 off the 360 or add $100 to the PS3. If you've heard of some add-on HDMI cable for the cheaper PS3, I haven't seen it. Have you?

      You assume that the customer wants XBL gold. You also assume Sony will have a service of equal quality, something they've yet to demonstrate to anyone.

      Theres no need to go into which one is better. As of today, PS3 costs $200 more, and no amount of fuzzy logic will change that. Lets save the cost analysis with all features and optional add-ons included, until both consoles actually exist.

    40. Re:Gamespot says no. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop right there. The BluRay camp has 4 of the 5 big studios on board, and Sony is about to flood the market by trojaning BluRay into what will certainly be (at least initially) a big console release - and they will do it for less than the $1k that either a HD-DVD or BluRay standalone player goes for today. There is no catastrophe other than your fricking ignorant post.

      Speaking of ignorance, the first HD-DVD standalone to market is $500 and BluRay still hasn't made a showing, so I don't know where you're getting that $1000 as of now pricetag.

    41. Re:Gamespot says no. by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      That assumes I can sell it on ebay for what I paid for it... which I could do, certainly, within the first few months, but not if I wait a year or two until I buy an HDTV. Of course, in 2 years I'd hope these won't be $500/600 anymore.

    42. Re:Gamespot says no. by amliebsch · · Score: 1
      Sony are the arrogant ones here, though, right? OK, just checking. I'm finding it increasingly hard to keep track.

      Yes, they are. If I don't need a HD video player, and don't want an HD video player, it's only Sony that's forcing me to buy one (by "bundling" it) if I want their console.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
    43. Re:Gamespot says no. by aesiamun · · Score: 1

      What do people get with the Sony 5 year free Live service?

      Can you point me to anywhere that says what they will get compared to XBL Silver and Gold memberships?

      5 years free for the equivilent of XBL Silver isn't a good deal in my mind. But if it's equivilent to XBL Gold or better, then it's a great deal.

    44. Re:Gamespot says no. by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      blu-ray uses h.264 for movie compression, not wmv-hd.

      the compression used on the discs is a moot point. they both support the very same security and managed copy protection measures. blu-ray adopted said measures to win over the majority of the film studios.

      facts about t2 extreme edition: it uses wmv-hd, and therefore only plays on the latest windows machines. can you foresee the problem there if it becomes accepted as a standard? and is only 1080i [in theory half the frames needed for a 1080p version of the same quality]. it is "remastered" from a 1080p version of the original, and clocks in at ~8gigs. the master obviously is larger than that and would need more than a 9 gig media.

      -- personally, i like hdmi. its a good solution for A/V. what needs to be killed off is HDCP and ICT, the content protection that could in theory cripple video output and the image constraint token that studios can decide to set; thereby crippling non hdmi output.

      and finally, i assume you [netavenger] already know this, but for those that are confused let me clarify another thing. we will not need to worry about HDCP, HDMI, ICT or any of the other DRM alphabet soup for another few years now. at least until hdmi tvs are more widespread. and most of all, non of the above matter when it comes to gaming. 1080p gaming on the ps3 will be enabled via any form of connecting to your tv, provided it can support 1080p signals. hdcp has no effect on the gaming properties of the ps3.

    45. Re:Gamespot says no. by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      you can still play games in 1080p. you can still play most movies in 1080p. the only movies you will not be able to play are those that the studio decides to set the ICT flag to true on. thats what enables the HDCP monster DRM.

      to date we only have verbal promises that the studios will not use the flag for many years to come. [yeah, right!] and gaming will not be affected by HDCP.

    46. Re:Gamespot says no. by freshman_a · · Score: 1


      Rumble controllers:
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      Being able to play a game for less than $500
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      First, I can play games for less than $500 w/ rumble controllers on my PS2. Don't need a Xbox360 for that.


      XNA Framework:
      PS3: N/A
      XBox 360: Included

      Second, do you know that the XNA Framework is? Besides being another buzzword, it's simply the .NET Framework tailored for game development. Oh no, Sony and Nintendo won't be able to use XNA, I'm sure all their games will suck now...

    47. Re:Gamespot says no. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      blu-ray uses h.264 for movie compression, not wmv-hd.


      Actually GO LOOK THIS UP for more information, but here is a short explaination from wikipedia.

      The BD-ROM format specifies at least three video codecs: MPEG-2, the standard used for DVDs; MPEG-4's H.264/AVC codec; and VC-1, a codec based on Microsoft's Windows Media 9. The first of these only allows for about two hours of high-definition content on a single-layer BD-ROM, but the addition of the two more advanced codecs allows up to four hours per layer.

      Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use MPEG-4 and VC-1 as well as MPEG-2. (Hint: VC-1 and WMV9 and WMV-HD are ALL the same format.)

      It is easy to see that you are not a stupid or uniformed person, but things like this amaze me, because you are like most tech savy people I encounter that have somehow missed this information about HD formats. I have literally seen people gasp when I explain WMV9 is VC-1 and a standard now that is supported by all the HD Content/Media providers.

      There are even Cable companies that are using VC-1 for HD broadcast content.

      Take Care.

    48. Re:Gamespot says no. by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure if you know what HDMI is yourself.

      HDMI is just a superset of DVI with inherent HDCP support instead of being tacked on. Supports YCbCr as well as RGB over digital. Serial based so you can stretch that HDMI cable a lot further than DVI. Also supports control signals.

      I don't see how getting rid of HDMI will help anyone. Analogue video should be long dead, especially at higher resolutions, the distortion is terrible.

      I know HDCP is a pain but it really isn't that intrusive.


      Ok, I don't consider myself to be the brightest person, but this was really bad even for me.

      I read what I posted this morning and even shocked myself at how screwed up I was...

      Thank you for pointing this out, much to my chagrin.

      The sad part is this is the second time this week I have jumbled HDMI and HDCP, and the really sad part, is I wrote a technical article of the ramifications of HDCP about six months ago, so you would think I wouldn't have read HDMI and thought HDCP. Geesh...

      (With Humility I crawl back to my corner and call this a bad week, my entire post was crap with regard to HDMI.)

    49. Re:Gamespot says no. by MaverickUW · · Score: 1

      Save for all the comments that confirm that HDMI outputs are the only type of physical output with the bandwidth to carry 1080p. So yes, you could play in it, you just couldn't see it.

    50. Re:Gamespot says no. by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      sorry. i was just going by this interview.

      http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pag econtent?lp=ja_en&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fplusd.itmedia .co.jp%2Flifestyle%2Farticles%2F0601%2F13%2Fnews00 4.html

      ~ when asked about codec use, a sony rep stated they will use MPEG2 early on, after that gradually shift to H.264/avc.

      sony is initially planning to use mpeg2 to encode their movies, and is "asking" for other studios to do the same for the time being. im assuming they dont wish to alienate consumers who buy Blu ray drives and find that their computer cant handle decoding the heavy data streams if they use higher compression this early. eventually they will move over to h.264. there is speculation that most studios do wish to move forward and use vc-1, but pressure from sony will most likely push them to h.264 for for no other reason besides politics. obviously sony doesnt want to support the codec of the company that supports rival tech.

    51. Re:Gamespot says no. by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      let me clarify. depending on your setup, almost anything is possible.

      depending on your equipment, component is capable of handling 1080p video. however dvi/hdmi give better output quality. also, forget trying to run 1080p over a cheap 50' cable. if you spring for good shorter cabling you can get 1080p via component, just not faithfully or nearly as high quality as the newer digital alternative dvi/hdmi cables.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video
      fifth paragraph. have a nice day... =)

  2. WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by dividedsky319 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The game will be released for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on October 16th, 2007.

    The Xbox version will have "episodic releases" via Xbox Live.

    1. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Parent is correct. The game is not exclusive to the 360, just the episodic content.

    2. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      correct-o-mundo, i crapped when, as a GTA fan, i read it was exclusive to MS in the summary while the story advises it is episodic content is the exlcusive bit.....seeing as how that MS live thing already puts 1 - 5 buck dents in the wallets of gamers for crap like "new horse armour" in Oblivion or a new house, i'm picturing the same for GTA - go to a new bar for only $4.99.

      AND, due to the PS3 not having the same extra content I feel relatively safe in assuming this won't affect the rest of the game, it will be like having a billy stick instead of a baseball bat, little things, nice touches if your so rich you toss cash at games, but (like Oblivion) even if I have a 360 I'll probably ignore the extra content. but it won't be able to effect how to finish the game if the same game on other consoles doesn't have the option to add extra content.

      so to me this doesn't look good and i hope the industry isn't going to follow suit all around, cause than we will be paying constantly to have games that used to update for free. boo, hiss, boo!

    3. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Jordan+Catalano · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Xbox version will have "episodic releases" via Xbox Live.

      Oh goodie. I'm glad companies are finally listening to me, the consumer. I'm sick of buying a game and then having it. I'd much rather be nickle-and-dimed for additional content as it's made available to me at their discretion.

    4. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Meagermanx · · Score: 1

      Yeah! Damn hippies.

    5. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by kisrael · · Score: 1

      AND, due to the PS3 not having the same extra content I feel relatively safe in assuming this won't affect the rest of the game, it will be like having a billy stick instead of a baseball bat

      I'm thinking additional missions, and maybe more vehicles. Possibly but not likely more areas, and a few other minor things like guns.

      But just the thought if missions alone... Liberty City Stories wasn't enough to get me to shell out for a PSP, but I'll plunk down the discount cost for it for PS2 in a month...

      --
      SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
    6. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Babbster · · Score: 1

      If they'd just cut their hair and wear ties, they could all afford Xbox Live!

    7. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be a neat trick to release this on both platforms in October. The PS3 doesn't get released until November 17th http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/09/ 0149215&from=rssPS3 Launch Details. /sigh

    8. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why don't you just not buy it if you don't like it instead of whining about it on Slashdot? And guess what, if a lot of people agree with you and also don't buy it, then it won't be successful and publishers will go back to the old model! Amazing!

    9. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by RexRhino · · Score: 1

      You are assuming that the episodic content has zero cost to develop, and would be availabe in the origional game if it wasn't being sold. While that COULD be the case, if the content was "Unlock a new car" or something like that, it also could be the case that this is real, significant content beyond the game... much like PC games often sell extra mission expansions as a seperate package.

      If they sold a pack of say 20 missions, for $20... then it would be worth it.

    10. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by seshat · · Score: 2, Informative
    11. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Tim+Browse · · Score: 1

      ...and he likes to be known as the Angry Young Man.

    12. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So why are you whining about the whining because it makes you just as much a whiner as the original guy whining... oh ... wait...

    13. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by rebelcan · · Score: 1

      Holy line break Batman!

      --
      God is dead -- Nietzsche
      Nietzsche is dead -- God
      Zombie Nietzsche lives! -- Zombie Nietzsche
    14. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by rainman_bc · · Score: 1

      So to understand you correctly... Bob and Andy built your country? All by themselves??

      I'm so confused...

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    15. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by OurCompliments · · Score: 0

      Holy wall of text batman! Geez that hurts to read.

    16. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Read back over your own story - Andy makes stupid decisions. Looks like staying poor is his own damn fault.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    17. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by buswolley · · Score: 1

      cool sig

      --

      A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

    18. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Too many words to read. I'm not in the mood for stories. Your summary indicates a reversal of fortune. Doesn't that negate your original point?

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    19. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by agent_no.82 · · Score: 1

      "...but sir, the marketing model isn't bad, it's those DAMN PIRATES!"

    20. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Turn off all bluetooth. Turn off wireless if you can. I think my RAZR phone was killing it, and it's been stable since I did this. Prior, I saw it crash 4 times in a weekend. this is *NOT RIGHT* for OS X. It will not crash unless something is very wrong.

    21. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Turning off bluetooth will make it very hard to use my bluetooth mouse and keyboard. Wireless is already off.

      I was actually thinking there was something with the bluetooth, because it refuses to keep a connection with my mouse. Maybe it's time for a trip to the genius bar, get some use from my warranty.

      Thanks for the suggestion.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    22. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I haven't bought anything from McDonald's or Wal-Mart in nearly a decade, but that hasn't stopped them from opening a gazillion new stores each. The concept of "not buying" something only works if a critical mass of consumers actually do it. The lone dissenter's opinion is ignored by GenericMegaCorp because they still got the rest of the sheep to buy. They can afford to not give a shit about a few people.

    23. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by patternjuggler · · Score: 1

      Why don't you just not buy it if you don't like it instead of whining about it on Slashdot? And guess what, if a lot of people agree with you and also don't buy it, then it won't be successful and publishers will go back to the old model! Amazing!

      Dear Troll Sir,

      In order to get lot of people to agree with each other they have to announce their positions in a public forum such as found on slashdot. History has shown this to be much more effective than psychic methods.

      Thank you and good luck with future trolling,

      patternjuggler

    24. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my goodness, imagine someone ACTUALLY speaking up against something they dislike. Why won't they be good little consumers and speak only with their wallets? Why should someone NOT speak up on a, you know, discussion page? Kids these days...

    25. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Andy's girlfriend didn't "get" pregnant. He got her pregnant. If you're too stupid, ignorant or... stupid to use birth control when you can't afford a child, you get what you deserve.

    26. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Mr. Lee you have committed obstruction of justice, and can face several years of prison. You informed Mr. Canter, by your own admission that the F.B.I. were looking for him. Your actions were irresponsible and illegal and could have aided his escape."

      Serves you right. You're a narc. The absolute scum of the Earth. You gave up a friend - someone who innately trusted you, who grew up with you - to an agency you probably claim to despise in your spare time. You're disgusting. Your moral character? Nil. I'm not even going to get into your inability to use a comma. Guantanamo would be too good for the likes of you.

    27. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by 1iar_parad0x · · Score: 1

      I hate to sound like a troll, but what is he supposed to do on Slashdot? Engage in deep and scholarly debate?

      --
      What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
    28. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The PS3 version will not be released on October 16th. The PS3 will not be in stores until November.

    29. Re:WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive by apoc06 · · Score: 1

      but the article doesnt mention whether the ps3 version will have episodic content as well. just that the x360 version will be unique to the x360.

      the ps3 version hasnt even been officially "announced" yet.

  3. You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It means you can update your "xbox has two good games (if you buy two copies of halo)" jokes to "xbox360 has two good games (if you buy two copies of GTA4)"

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  4. no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Rockstar Games announces Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360(TM) and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

  5. Bad day for Sony.. by bigredlemon · · Score: 0

    If the GTA franchise is indeed going to become a Xbox360 exclusive, I foresee Sony going the way of the Sega

  6. I'm confused by PFI_Optix · · Score: 1

    Where was anything bad said about Sony?

    Just curious.

    --
    120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    1. Re:I'm confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Where was anything bad said about Sony?

      Oh, I am sorry. I was not trying to imply Microsoft had said anything bad about Sony, if that is what you are asking.

      I just found Microsoft's HD-DVD announcement today quite amusing, given the uproar yesterday. Sony charges $500-600 for their console, and everyone (rightly) interprets this as an act of supreme arrogance, just plain assuming that they can charge anything they want and people will buy it anyway. But Microsoft meanwhile seems to have just packed the XBox 360 with hidden costs to the point where it's if anything costlier than the PS3, and nobody seems to even noticed. Yeah, okay, technically Microsoft's wider options mean you can get the XBox 360 experience for "only" $300 if you really want it-- but not if you want to be able to save your game.

      To directly answer your question though: if you want to know where something bad was said about Sony, look at absolutely any response anywhere to Sony's press conference yesterday, when Sony announced the price of the PS3 and the price was the biggest mistake in video game business history since the Nintendo 64 shipped without a disc drive. Most of these responses to yesterday's press conference, especially the ones from Slashdot and Microsoft (though MS's response was yesterday, not during today's press conference) were quite nasty.

    2. Re:I'm confused by wmacgyver · · Score: 1
      Yeah, okay, technically Microsoft's wider options mean you can get the XBox 360 experience for "only" $300 if you really want it-- but not if you want to be able to save your game.

      That's not true. I believe so far all the games that have been released will work just fine with memory card.

    3. Re:I'm confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's right.

      A memory card which, unlike with the PS3 and Nintendo Wii, you have to pay extra for.

    4. Re:I'm confused by The-Bus · · Score: 1

      Memory cards aren't $200. Sony is still coming in at a much higher price. Time will tell how this will work out.

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    5. Re:I'm confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Memory cards aren't $200.

      No, they aren't. But when the memory card is $40, the hard drive is $100, and the upgrade to the entire other console is $200... if you choose anything other than the Nintendo Wii in the next generation, the question isn't anymore whether you're going to overpay. The question is by how much you are willing to put up with overpaying.

    6. Re:I'm confused by ojustgiveitup · · Score: 1

      This is definitely off topic, but I have always wondered about it when I heard it and maybe this is where someone can tell me. Why was the Nintendo 64 shipping without a disc drive "the biggest mistake in video game business history?" I have seen many people say this and it seems to be common knowledge but it does not make any sense to me. What are the advantages of CD/DVD again? At least in those days when you could fit an entire game on a ROM, tell me again why it was a bad idea? Because it didn't require ridiculous loading screens? Because it made life harder for piraters? I don't get it. Cartridges were faster and took up less room than CD's, why should anyone have switched until the very last moment when games became too large? I'm not trying to troll, I'm really interested.

    7. Re:I'm confused by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      I really don't get the "overpriced" thing. Sure, the MS and Sony consoles are expensive, but there's a lot of cutting-edge kit in there, especially the Sonly Blu-Ray drive. I'd expect a first-generation Blu-Ray player on its own to be about $500, let alone one with (the/one of the two) most powerful games consoles in with it.

    8. Re:I'm confused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've always heard that cartridges are very expensive and cut into the profit margins of 3rd parties too much. Therefor it was more economically viable to produce for the playstation.

    9. Re:I'm confused by The-Bus · · Score: 1

      And here you're right. The first-generation Blue-Ray players are rumored to go on sale for $999. This makes the PS3 a very valuable option compared to a stand-alone player, with the exception that the PS3 is not going to have the same performance when playing Blu-Ray discs that a stand-alone player has. Witness, for example, the horrid DVD performance (in a home theatre setting) that the PS2 has.

      So, a BR player that also happens to be a PlayStation for $599 is a fantastic option if you're not extremely particular about your playback. The problem is, if you're seriously considering buying a next-gen disc player you're on the bleeding edge and probably want something very good, not something merely adequate. After all, when the differences between DVD and HD-DVD/BR are so hard for an average person to notice, you want every advantage you can get.

      DVDs were different, as they were a major quality upgrade over the default VHS format and they were a major convenience upgrade as well, plus, besides a player, you didn't need any specific hardware to be able to tell the difference.

      In the past 30 years, the big breakthroughs in music and movie media for consumers were VHS, CD (CD-R), DVD, and MP3/AAC/etc. At most, two of those were a technically superior format. The thing that tied all of them together was convenience.

      I really do want one of the new formats to win and do well because it will make high-def content more accessible to everyone. I just don't see a clear road to victory for the format so I downplay the importance of the disc player.

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    10. Re:I'm confused by default+luser · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why was the Nintendo 64 shipping without a disc drive "the biggest mistake in video game business history?"

      Because the market was demanding more storage capacity than ROMs could offer (16-32MB early in the N64's lifetime, 64MB later). Nintendo lost Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest to PlayStation because of this.

      What are the advantages of CD/DVD again?

      10x the capacity of the largest N64 cards ever manufacturered. CD soundtracks, pre-rendered video, streamed textures - you name it.

      At least in those days when you could fit an entire game on a ROM, tell me again why it was a bad idea?

      As stated above, the industry wanted more space. It was sort of like a "gaming cold war". One game company moves to CD-ROM, and produces a fantastic work. Next thing you know, companies feel they have to move to CD-ROM for certain genres or perish.

      Because it didn't require ridiculous loading screens?

      The Nintendo 64 was released 2 years after the PlayStation. Had Nintendo approached the system with an optical drive instead of cartridge, they could have easily put in a 4x or 6x CD-ROM drive, beating the pants off Sony's (2x drive) loading times.

      N64 games could have had more varied textures, voice acting, pre-rendered movies, CD audio, the works. Instead, they had the same old thing with 3D graphics.

      By the time the N64 was released, game makers had already figured out streaming techniques that made PS games MUCH larger and more varied in their textures than previously thought possible. If Nintendo had paid attention to the market, they would have known developers would catch on.

      Because it made life harder for piraters?

      It made life harder for the game makers as well. They had to eat the extra cost of building a cartridge, and it meant higher game prices. A 32 / 64MB cart required MULTIPLE ROM chips, plus a PCB with an edge connector. This was non-trivial to manufacture, and made the N64 games more expensive.

      Nintendo proved THEMSELVES that you can make an optical format that is all but pirate-proof...they just did it one generation too late, and it hurt them in marketshare.

      --

      Man is the animal that laughs.
      And occasionally whores for Karma.

  7. Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by Alzheimers · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    FYI, Halo3 Info and trailer is up at http://www.bungie.net/

    1. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by MrHeartbreak · · Score: 0

      I'm a little pissed off at the prospect of having to buy a 360 if I want to follow the Halo series...

      --
      Don't drag me into your petty squabbles.
    2. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah...I feel the same way about the Zelda series. I mean I bought an NES, I played Zelda, and now I have to buy like six different consoles to follow the series!

    3. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 2, Interesting

      OK I really thought I was over the whole Halo thing and was MUCH more looking forward to info about Too Human, but DAMN! For a teaser trailer all real-time generated in the actual game, that was pretty cool! OK so maybe I am still a Halo junkie and have just been in denial 'cause I REALLY cannot wait for that game!

      --
      "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
    4. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by IorDMUX · · Score: 2, Funny

      The magic of E3... transforming "Offtopic -1"'s to "Insightful +1"'s everywhere!

      --
      >> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
    5. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by grazzy · · Score: 1

      Dude, does your email end in bungie.com? It wasnt _that_ good.

    6. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 1

      Actually, it's the first bit of next-gen visual content that's impressed me at all - although this has a lot to do with the artistic design, not just the technology behind it.

      I'm of the opinion that as rendering (and audio) technology improves, it really helps distinguish between good and bad art. And dear me, Bungie know how to make good trailers. But can they still remember the 'games' thing of yesteryear? ;-)

      --
      Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
    7. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 1

      No it doesn't ;-) Like I said, I guess I really am a Halo junkie ;-) I've always loved the story of Halo and REALLY enjoyed the first two games. 1st I liked a lot better because 2 was just to short, even though I'm apparently one of the few who LOVED the dual story lines playing as both Master Chief and the Arbitor (and I really hope they keep that). This teaser didn't show much but what they did show I thought was great in that it immediately took me back to my enjoyment of the first ones (even though I thought I was over it) and left me aching for more. Did I just say "aching"? Sounds like I have a sexual relationship with my gaming (don't tell my wife) ;-)

      Anyway, I thought GRAW was kind of the first next-gen graphics I'd seen, but this seems to even be better. Of course have to wait and see how it all turns out, but it certianly worked in getting my excited about Halo again.

      --
      "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
    8. Re:Halo3 trailer at Bungie.net by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And dear me, Bungie know how to make good trailers. But can they still remember the 'games' thing of yesteryear? ;-)

      Obviously not - consider the shift in quality of gameplay between Marathon and Halo, let alone Halo 2.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. GTA on 360 and PS3 by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Sounds like the new GTA will actually be for both the 360 and PS3, but extra GTA episodes will be availiable exclusivly through XBox Live. So the original game will be for both but there will be extra content exclusive to the 360. Stay tuned for more details folks, but the MS conferance.... well all I can say is .... WOW!

    --
    "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
    1. Re:GTA on 360 and PS3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but there will be extra content exclusive to the 360

      At only $2 per Hooker Model or 10 minute quest ...

      Micropayments are a cool idea, they just suck on the XBox 360

    2. Re:GTA on 360 and PS3 by DrXym · · Score: 1
      Who knows how it's going to work. The XBox 360 may need extra content because the disk capacity is smaller. Perhaps this extra content consists of a few boiler plate missions. Perhaps Sony will have it's own exclusive content such as extra stations or music tracks. You just don't know.

      Either way, extra content for one game is hardly a compelling reason to choose one platform over another. It might be extra content for this title on one platform this time but the opposite the next.

  9. GTAIV this holiday. by Anamanaman · · Score: 0

    Bombshell. Hoooooly crap!

    this is the E3 knockout blow. MS wins in the first round!

    1. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by Zed2K · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uhhh...no. October of 2007...thats 2007 not 2006

      http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060509/20060509006185.html ?.v=1

      NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2006--Rockstar Games, the universally-renowned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO - News), 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(TM) and is currently planned to be in stores in North America on October 16, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007.

    2. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by nb+caffeine · · Score: 1

      October, 2007 is not this holiday, AFAIK

      --

      "Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
    3. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by Anamanaman · · Score: 1

      Oops, my mistake

      Still pretty awesome though

    4. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by Hamton · · Score: 1

      It's not this holiday. It's October 2007. Quite a long wait.

    5. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "this is the E3 knockout blow. MS wins in the first round!"

      Not exactly. Sony and Microsoft are getting the game the same day. Okay, not as exciting, but anybody who didn't want to play San Andreas on the PS2 had to wait something like six months. GTA was actually one of the games that made me consider a PS3, but it's nice to know I have more of a choice now.

      I'm still a little saddened, though. I really really want this game on the Wii. I loved San Andreas, but the PS2 controls were exactly the reason I jumped on-board the Nintendo-hype-parade.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    6. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone mod the parent down. Completely wrong info and fanboyism modded as "informative", my ass.

    7. Re:GTAIV this holiday. by glitch23 · · Score: 0

      In addition to the fact that someone already corrected you on the fact that the release of the game will be next year and not this year, I have to ask exactly what holiday do you consider the game to be available for, Halloween? Considering the release is October 16 I don't see any other (major) holiday that you could be referring to that is close to October 16.

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
  10. It is NOT a 360 exclusive. by GodBlessTexas · · Score: 1, Informative

    The gaming press is wrong.

    Rockster press release

    Rockstar Games Announces Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360(TM) and PlayStation(R)3 Computer Entertainment System Tuesday May 9, 3:15 pm ET

    It will be on the 360 first, but it will be on the PS3 as well.

    --
    Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...
    1. Re:It is NOT a 360 exclusive. by nb+caffeine · · Score: 3, Informative

      way to read the press release you linked to :p

      "Grand Theft Auto IV will be simultaneously available for the PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360(TM)"

      I think that settles it.

      --

      "Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
    2. Re:It is NOT a 360 exclusive. by HAKdragon · · Score: 1

      GTA4 is planned to be out in October. The PS3 is being released in November. It's kind of hard to have a simultaneous release for multiple platforms if one of them isn't out yet.

      --
      "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
    3. Re:It is NOT a 360 exclusive. by toddhunter · · Score: 2, Informative

      You'll notice it is 2007 we are talking about here...

  11. This article is false. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Better get rid of this Zonk. It's not true. Coming simultaneously to PS3 and 360.

  12. 2007...2007!!! by JonnyCalcutta · · Score: 1

    That's 2007...the PS3 is 2006

  13. errrr. Check the year by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its currently 2006. Next year..

    1. Re:errrr. Check the year by edflyerssn007 · · Score: 1

      My bad............sorry, I was looking at the months, not the dates.

      --
      So you see what had happened was....
    2. Re:errrr. Check the year by AoT · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that shit always confuses me, too ;)

  14. The other news... by Robotron23 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bill Gates' entrance!

    "What is that in Bill's hands? He's holding a tiny white object and can't stop fiddling with it."

    Finally! News that Bill truly is one of us - except hes probably more compulsive about the whole thing. :-D

    1. Re:The other news... by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

      "What is that in Bill's hands? He's holding a tiny white object and can't stop fiddling with it."

      There's a reason he named his company micro soft...

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  15. halo3 by minus_273 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    in other news, halo 3 is up on bungie.net but i guess that is not surprising.

    --
    The war with islam is a war on the beast
    The war on terror is a war for peace
  16. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by abscissa · · Score: 1

    Given the poor quality of some of these games when they are not platform-specific, I almost hope that they will stick to one platform.

    Some of these games are ported so poorly that attention is barely paid to the controls specific to the platform (e.g. Keyboard + Mouse = PC).

    Is it just me, or did games that were written for PCs and then ported to the console seem to be much better than games apparantly written the other way around?

    Soon they will be writing these things in java.

  17. From the Article by Orrin+Bloquy · · Score: 3, Funny

    "While the game will be available for both the PS3 and 360, only XBox Live will have access to the 'Throwing Chairs Monkeyboy' mod. Rockstar CTO Paul Walker was quick to go on record that the game will *not* become a single-platformer: 'We would never marginalize our most successful demographic, overweight white suburban kids who wish they were dangerous Negroes.'"

    --
    "Made up/misattributed quote that makes me look smart. I am on /. and I must look smart."
  18. I roll with Mario by asusag · · Score: 1, Funny

    You know what? Super Mario (fill in the blank) is coming out exclusively for the Nintendo (fill in the blank) and that is all I need. I'll probably not buy either the PS3 or the 360.

    1. Re:I roll with Mario by Golias · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      You know what? Super Mario (fill in the blank) is coming out exclusively for the Nintendo (fill in the blank) and that is all I need. I'll probably not buy either the PS3 or the 360.

      Gosh that sounds great. If you rake all the leaves this summer, maybe your mom will buy you the Nintendo. Good luck!

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    2. Re:I roll with Mario by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be an asshat. You know you'll end up buying a Nintendo once the sony/MS freaks give up on the overhyped POS that they are and you finally rediscover that games are supposed to be fun... Maybe it'll even give your tubby ass a workout if you get a Wii? Imagine that: Nintendo Wii - Start Playing, Lose weight, get friends, move out of parents basement Wii know you want it

    3. Re:I roll with Mario by Babbster · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's too bad that Nintendo generally (and Miyamoto specifically) hate GTA. A Nintendo-style sendup of GTA starring Mario would be pretty cool. He could go into business selling mushrooms on the street, aggressively taking territory from Bowzer's gang [of Haitians].

    4. Re:I roll with Mario by Rydia · · Score: 1

      That, good sir, is the funniest thing I've read in a long time. I wish I had mod points.

    5. Re:I roll with Mario by metamatic · · Score: 1
      --
      GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    6. Re:I roll with Mario by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm tired of this game, it seems they change the scenerio a little give it one or two new features and re-release it as a new title where as if it were a PC game it would most likely be an expansion. This title has run its life and needs to be put out to pasture. GTA was great, GTA 2 was crap, GTA 3 was cool. All the rest could have easily been expansions. But that doesn't work when only the xbox had a hard drive built in though :(.

    7. Re:I roll with Mario by Rayonic · · Score: 1
      It's too bad that Nintendo generally (and Miyamoto specifically) hate GTA.

      Where the heck did you get that idea?! Check out this interview from E3 2003.

      Allow me to quote:
      GameSpy: What do you think of the Grand Theft Auto series?

      Miyamoto: I have looked at Grand Theft Auto. The basic concept was very well done. Regardless of what the content of the game was, the level of freedom that you had in that one big city was a very good idea. Obviously it has gotten a lot of press because of the moral issues; but even aside from that, the game was done in such a way that gives it great gameplay. I think that is the reason that Grand Theft Auto is selling.
    8. Re:I roll with Mario by Babbster · · Score: 1

      a) I've seen and read Miyamoto taking shots at GTA's content - I'm well aware that he has expressed appreciation for overall design.
      b) It was a joke.

    9. Re:I roll with Mario by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, yeah, Nintendo is for kids. Grownups like you only play games were you kill and rob prostitutes.

    10. Re:I roll with Mario by Ninjaesque+One · · Score: 1

      We have evergreens, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Ninjas and pirates. How piquant.
    11. Re:I roll with Mario by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, and the Princess Toadstool Hot Coffee mod would be spectacular.

    12. Re:I roll with Mario by Allison+Geode · · Score: 1

      don't you think it would be better with Wario? imagine a GTA game with wario doing his shoulder charge into a funky mushroom kingdom car, knocking toads out of the top, and then hopping in and toodling off. I think that would be a workable gameplay mechanic given the right context.

    13. Re:I roll with Mario by Golias · · Score: 1

      Thanks for being the only person on all of goddamned slashdot to take my lighthearted post in the spirit in which it was intended.

      Holy Giant Robots With Guns, some people seriously need to work on getting a sense of humor!

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    14. Re:I roll with Mario by miro+f · · Score: 1

      I hope someone at nintendo is reading slashdot right about now...

      --
      being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
  19. Wow by ch-chuck · · Score: 1

    I can't wait to see what easter egg porn is in this one.

    You know someday Bill Gates is going to turn into an eccentric billionair that'll make Howard Hughes look like Mr Normalperson.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:Wow by geobeck · · Score: 1
      I can't wait to see what easter egg porn is in this one.

      According to the following quote from another post...

      "While the game will be available for both the PS3 and 360, only XBox Live will have access to the 'Throwing Chairs Monkeyboy' mod. (Post #15296263)

      ...the ho will refuse to put out when the John reveals that he's a big-shot tech-geek gangsta, and he'll react in his trademark way.

      --
      Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
    2. Re:Wow by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1

      It's a variation of the Sony Defense. GTA is a *huge* seller, and many people have been on the fence on whether to buy the 360 or wait for the PS3. By publicizing the fact that GTA will appear on both consoles simultaneously, Microsoft in effect says that it's not necessary to own a Playstation to play GTA4 in the first months after its release.

    3. Re:Wow by iainl · · Score: 1

      The GTA series is _HUGE_. I bought my PS2 to play GTA 3, back before all this 'wait six months and port it to PC' thing was announced. Given that a 360 is so much cheaper than a PS3 (and I have no interest in buying into BluRay, so the extra features don't sway me), I'll be passing Sony by this time.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
  20. Unified Live!! by Vesuvias · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is actually pretty cool. It means that the acheivements and gamerscore are coming to Vista. Xbox live support for multiplayer (good bye gamespy) and its cross platform. I know PC gamers will dispise the concept of playing with console kiddies but given the chance I think this will be huge. Friends lists, video and voice chat, gamerscore, acheivements this is all big and welcome news for Vista. The additional connectivity to the windows community will only help the 360. Leave it to microsoft to once agian figure out how to leverage its OS monopoly to help in other markets.

    Ves

    1. Re:Unified Live!! by taskforce · · Score: 1

      I don't like the idea of anything unified under Microsoft... It means MS has a monopoly of games. Personally, I like the current PC approach where games have seperate servers, and they're not linked by anything. No centralised account server to slow down your login, just get on there and play.

      --
      My 3D Texturing Skinning work (under construction)
    2. Re:Unified Live!! by MoriaOrc · · Score: 3, Funny

      acheivements and gamerscore are coming to Vista.

      I can picture it now:
      Microsoft Office Vista:
      * Formated a document using Bold [10 Points]
      * Narrowed the margins to make your report seem longer then it is [50 Points]
      * Printed more then 10 copies of a document [25 Points]
      * Saved the same document more then 20 times [10 Points]
      * Created a new document [5 Points]
      * Created 100 new documents [100 Points]

      Oh boy! I sure know I can't wait!

    3. Re:Unified Live!! by hurfy · · Score: 1

      Sounds great we can finally get some work done around here..... ;)

    4. Re:Unified Live!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't know about you, but as a PC FPS gamer I'm itching to prove to my disbelieving console fanboy friends that the keyboard+mouse combination owns their little controller.

    5. Re:Unified Live!! by Aqua+OS+X · · Score: 1

      Console kiddies? Someone would have to run the numbers, I but I would bet the console market has more older gamers the pc market.

      Most of the "older" gamers I know are people that have grown up on console gaming. They're also generally tired of maintaining a gaming machine or playing games on something they're forced to work at 8 hours a day.

      --
      "Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
    6. Re:Unified Live!! by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing Clippy is the final boss in that game.

    7. Re:Unified Live!! by magicchex · · Score: 1
      * Narrowed the margins to make your report seem longer then it is [50 Points]
      I've read about your new geometry and would like to sign up for your newsletter.
      --
      How many fulltime jobs can one man have?
  21. Controls by phorm · · Score: 1

    Well, a keyboard and mouse don't really compare to a good gamepad device, though the opposite can also often be true (I'll forever be a fan of mouse-aiming vs with joystick). Flight games and many others are quite centric to the input device, but then a decent PC joystick or gamepad will make a big difference as well (I have one that was all of $15 and is quite similar to a Playstation 2 gamepad, works great). Of course, if you can't find a PC gamepad that suits you, one could always get the playstation-USB or Xbox-USB adaptors for PC.

    1. Re:Controls by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I finally got one of these converter devices, and it's so lame, it needs a driver. Why can't it just define two sets of crossing axes, and a bunch of buttons? Still, it works very nicely once you install the driver... but you shouldn't need a driver. Anyway, having a Dual Shock controller on my PC is truly something to treasure.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Controls by generic-man · · Score: 1

      The PlayStation and Xbox allow left and right to be pressed simultaneously for DDR games. If you just defined two axes, you wouldn't be able to use a DDR pad to play games like StepMania on a PC.

      --
      For more information, click here.
    3. Re:Controls by buswolley · · Score: 1

      BUt on the Xbox you can't rape the prostitutes with you Wii.

      --

      A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

    4. Re:Controls by PFI_Optix · · Score: 1

      I've long said that consoles and PCs are completely different animals in the gaming scene because of their controls. Try as you might, you won't find a gaming interface among the new consoles that can compare to the keyboard and mouse in two genres: first-person shooters, and real-time strategy games.

      I hope that some day soon we'll see onlines services and games that allow PC and console gamers to go head-to-head without artificially handicapping controls. I've spent quite a bit of time on both, and I believe without a doubt that console players would demand handicapping after a few months of gaming against people who enjoy the superior control of a mouse.

      Of course, PC gamers would have to rush out and buy game pads to compete in a lot of other genres.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
    5. Re:Controls by Rydia · · Score: 1

      Uh, Wii controller with analog attachment. You have the same basic mouselook with the remote and the WASD interface with the attachment. Might even be better, since you can twitch. And FPSs are all about twitching.

    6. Re:Controls by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you come up with a way to push an analog thumbstick in two ways at once, I will be amazingly impressed.

      Please take the time to read my comments before you comment - it may be at the bottom, but I explicitly mention my Dual Shock controller.

      Since you don't seem to know, dual shock controllers have two analog thumbsticks which can also be pressed down for a button press in addition to the D-Pad, four top buttons, four shoulder buttons, and the other three buttons on the controller (analog, start, select.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:Controls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is it a peripheral's fault that it needs a driver? It's Windows that doesn't have the support, not the peripheral. Why MS doesn't do something smart like a repository for drivers I have no idea.

    8. Re:Controls by generic-man · · Score: 1

      That's too many buttons.

      --
      For more information, click here.
    9. Re:Controls by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      No one is forcing me (or you for that matter) to use them all. I pretty much never use the thumbstick presses, and the rest of the world agrees with me, because seldom are they the default for anything. Having four shoulder buttons makes great sense though, because you can use two of them for actions, and two of them to scroll through a list. Having dual analog is also mandatory for racing games on controllers without analog triggers. I know dual shock 2 has analog shoulder buttons but that's not nearly the same thing.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    10. Re:Controls by PFI_Optix · · Score: 1

      I've heard that, and I've watched the demos. I doubt it will be as comfortable as a mouse, and certainly not as ergonomic for longer playing session.

      In a tactical FPS, I can take up a strong defensive position, look down on an area, and take a moment to stretch my fingers and relax my wrist while things are quiet without my view changing. All I have to do is turn the mouse loose.

      Also, I'm hearing some semi-negative things about the Wii's controller concerning FPS. Basically what's being said by a few people is that while the controls are more natural than the thumbsticks of current consoles, it is still speed limited on turning, a la Halo 2 (a reaction to people experimenting with mice on the XBOX). That may just be a "feature" of the first generation of games, or it might be something of a policy that comes from years of catering to console gamers.

      And it's still nowhere near as intuitive as a mouse for RTS.

      --
      120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
  22. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by Alban · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if the game is only exclusive on 360 for a few months and then comes out on other platforms (as is currently the case with ps2 GTA), the majority of the sales happen during the exclusivity period. After that, the hype pretty much dies. I was amazed to see how low the sales numbers were for the GTA games on xbox.

    So, whatever is the case with this GTA exclusivity for 360, it's a huge blow against sony. In north america at least.

  23. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    X-Box 360:

    DOA4 is here
    DOAX2 is coming
    HALO 3 is coming
    GTA 4 is coming
    Madden for the 360 sucks.

    It's finally reaching a point that I might think it's worth getting one.

    PS3:

    Nothing is here.
    The console itself if coming... eventually.
    Madden for the 360 sucks.

    Wii:
    Nothing is here.
    The console is coming, but won't take advantage of my HDTV anyway.
    Madden for the 360 sucks.

    Amid the 360 hype (from haters and fanboys alike), I've mostly been sitting on the side-lines to see what Sony and Nintendo would be offering before chosing which new-gen console (if any) I would buy. With this announcement, Rockstar has just made the decision a little bit easier for me.

    In spite of Madden sucking, I'm leaning more and more towards the 360.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  24. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1

    I can't remember where it came out first, but GTA III was great on the PC. The "save point" thing was the only console-based annoyance, but the graphics were great, and the game was fantastic.

  25. How exclusive is the episodic content? by Silent+sound · · Score: 1

    I wonder a little bit whether the episodic content will be "really exclusive", or whether it will be "exclusive" the way GTA3, GTA:VC and GTA:SA were.

    I mean, what are the chances that a few months after the last of the XBox 360 "episodes" is released on XBox Live, we'll see a compilation disc with all of the GTA4 "added content" ported to PS3?

    I'm thinking back here to when GTA: Liberty Stories was supposed to be the great and powerful savior of the PSP, and once it came out it got really good review scores; but once it was actually released it didn't really make that big a splash, and now a year or so later it's just coming out on the PS2 where the actual customers are.

    Well, at least Microsoft's finally figured out how to make XBox Live Arcade good now. $5 horse costumes and games that were on the $20 Midway Arcade Treasures collection 3 years ago = no. Mods and cheap mini-expansion packs = yes!

  26. Re:You know what that means? by Miraba · · Score: 1

    Read the actual news and you'll see that the PS3 will also have GTA4. Microsoft was able to get exclusive downloadable content, not exclusive rights to the game.

  27. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by CaymanIslandCarpedie · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah, seems to be a misunderstanding. GTA4 will be released to both platforms, but RockStar and MS have an exclusive agreement where additional espisodes will be released exclusivly via Xbox Live if I understood the conferences correctly.

    --
    "reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
  28. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    Oh c'mon. If you want to buy a 360 now, more power to you - but surely we should wait for all the boxes to come out before we pass judgement as to the best console?

    (and yes, the GP was a joke).

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  29. Re:Really? by mgabrys_sf · · Score: 1

    re: who cares" guys who are driving lousy cars and getting no pussy - which is just about 90% of Slashdot readers. That's a MARKET BABY!

  30. Investment of sorts by everphilski · · Score: 1

    Some people have that single game or two that they love, and would rather spend more money to improve the experiance of that one game than purchase more games. Similar to MMO's where users pay money each month for continued / interactive content. It is optional, you don't have to buy it, you aren't missing anything if you don't get it ... just an option for those who would rather get more of the game instead of buying a different game.

    1. Re:Investment of sorts by Jordan+Catalano · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is optional, you don't have to buy it, you aren't missing anything if you don't get it

      ... ... The optional content is exactly what you miss.

    2. Re:Investment of sorts by everphilski · · Score: 1

      .. The optional content is exactly what you miss.

      and it is optional. You purchased a complete, working game. They later release additional, optional content that you can choose to play with. It doesn't degrade your current experiance. You have the same experiance you had when you purchased the game. I don't see the problem. You don't lose value, and the people who see the value in the new content can choose to purchase it...

    3. Re:Investment of sorts by powerlord · · Score: 1

      "Additional optional Content"

      Is that another way of saying "Patch"? :)

      --
      This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
    4. Re:Investment of sorts by Ghostx13 · · Score: 1

      Want some cheese with that whine?

      Developers and publishers are under no obligation to GIVE you NEW content for a game that you've purchased. If you have a 360, in addition to the FULL, REGULAR game you'll have the OPTION to purchase ADDITIONAL content.

      I've put some of the words above in all caps. You should pay special attention to those, because you have obviously missed the point.

    5. Re:Investment of sorts by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 1
      Is that another way of saying "Patch"? :)

      Yep. It provides additional functionality and control of undocumented features;-)

      --
      If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
    6. Re:Investment of sorts by nugneant · · Score: 1

      I've put some of the words above in all caps. You should pay special attention to those, because you have obviously missed the point.

      GIVE... NEW... FULL, REGULAR... OPTION... ADDITIONAL.

      ...no, still don't get it. Oh, wait, I know--

      G...N...F...R... O... A...

      Well, I get the first bit, but honestly, let's wait until Chinese Democracy comes out.



      Assuming that's all you have to say... it's very wonderful that $5 can get you a set of horse armor. You can ride around with your horse, and I'll just keep buying games with fan-mods. Something comes out for 360 and the PC, and there's micro-upgrades for both? Well, I think I'll choose the platform with a history of free fan-hacks. Oh my gosh, hacking, illegal!!1! what would ayn rand think??? Well, whatever keeps us nearly broke college students from rioting in the streets, or demonstrating like our French cousins, I say.

      We'll see how the marketplace goes. =)

    7. Re:Investment of sorts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No its a free expansion pack. ;)

      --Microsoft

  31. Live Anywhere & Cost? by rsmith-mac · · Score: 0

    Microsoft didn't give complete details on Live Anywhere, but if I understand Live right, don't many of the most useful features require a subscription? I'm really not understanding what Microsoft is ultimately trying to do in the first place, but why would PC gamers pay to play on Live when they can play on free servers elsewhere? It doesn't seem like they would shell out $50/year just to play with their console friends.

    1. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by Niobium-41 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I would easily pay $4.16 a month for the kind of service that Microsoft is going to offer, cross platform, via Xbox Live..

      But, I guess I understand that some people just can't give up that extra Quarter Pounder w/Cheese Meal once a month..

    2. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by Vesuvias · · Score: 1

      Not exactly. The silver account (which is free) gives you voice chat (single person not while playing the same game), friends list, MSN type messanger, and Live marketplace integration. It also sounded as if live arcade (download and play those old arcade games) is coming to Vista out of the box. While yes you have to pay for actual online gaming (which on Vista seems silly) however the connectivity is better (argueably) and thier is ladder, matchmaking and ranking support is damm good. Yes you are getting more for your fee, is it worth what they are charging?? Hard to say. There was talk of making the service advertiser supported, with a big enough base that might be possible.

      Ves

    3. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by scolby · · Score: 1

      Why not? It would finally settle the age old feud between keyboard/mouse and console controllers when it comes to FPS.

    4. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by RexRhino · · Score: 3, Interesting

      but why would PC gamers pay to play on Live when they can play on free servers elsewhere?

      Nearly every single Live Player has a voice communication mike. You don't have to deal with cheaters on live (I have never encountered a cheater on live, and I am not aware of any cheating software - the only kind of cheating I am aware of is sometimes player intentionaly lower their bandwidth to cause themselves to lag... but there is no software they lets people see through walls or aimbots or whatever like on the PC)... every player has an ID tied to their credit card, so people are less likely to engage in racist/stupid behavior, and when they do I can permanently ban them from my games. I can maintain an integrated list of all the players I like, send them an invitation to play directly from the game, I can see what games they are playing directly from the game.

      It is definitly worth the $60 a year for the service they offer.

    5. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by cornface · · Score: 1

      Why not? It would finally settle the age old feud between keyboard/mouse and console controllers when it comes to FPS.

      Do you remember when Quake III came out on the Dreamcast and you could play against the Dreamcast players from your PC? (It seems like you had to download the maps from somewhere...it's hazy.)

      It was settled then. Gamepad lost. Every time. It was a sad day in Dreamcast land.

    6. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by 0racle · · Score: 1

      Same reason you plop down money for Live Gold membership. Eventually you will have to as just about any online PC game will use Live.

      Yes, that is what will happen.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    7. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 0

      I they put in some of wave net stuff in the live arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Mortal_Komba t_3_Wave_Net

    8. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I did not RTFA but if the PC version of Live doesn't require Vista and DRM then you can kiss your cheat-free environment goodbye. Of course, it probably will/does.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    9. Re:Live Anywhere & Cost? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are plenty of ways to cheat on Live without software. Just one example: communicating player positions via telephone to an opposing player. There are plenty of players out there with more time and money than integrity.

      Unless you're gaming with only people you know and trust, you're being had to some degree.

  32. Lost my business... by NIN1385 · · Score: 0
    I won't be buying this game no matter if it comes out on pc or any other console just because of this news. The game should be released on all platforms simultaneously or not at all. I never agreed with them releasing it on PS2 before any others either so don't think that is the only reason why I am boycotting it.

    This really is a sad day in the world of video games, I thought this franchise was the absolute best one ever but now I am changing my mind. They are deserting a lot of loyal fans with this move and I hope they figure that out quickly. I refuse to pay that much for a video game console when I can build a computer much smarter and much faster for less.

    My Tuesday is now ruined, thank you assholes.

    --

    If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
    1. Re:Lost my business... by harryk · · Score: 1

      so quick to jump... as you'll see ... it WILL be released on all platforms (available) at the same time, only episodic content will be available through the Live system.

      No worries mate, you'll still get to kill people on your PS3...

      --
      think before you write, it'll save me moderator points.
    2. Re:Lost my business... by David+Horn · · Score: 1

      Could you really? I doubt it.

      --
      PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
    3. Re:Lost my business... by NIN1385 · · Score: 1

      Wow, I should have read the article. If they are released on more than just Xbox on release then I will stay loyal to them, but god help them if they dont.

      --

      If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
    4. Re:Lost my business... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if xbox had the game exclusively, you would write it off forever? Well it was exclusive on the ps2 for years, so by that philosophy, your already done with GTA.

    5. Re:Lost my business... by daern · · Score: 1

      Classy.

      Have you considered that it might also take quite a lot of resource to do simultaneous releases? I'm not saying that is the *only* reason why games get released on one platform before another, but don't be too quick to blame...

      GTA has always (well, since the more recent versions) been released first on consoles and then on PCs. I suspect that this is largely because a) the console market is much bigger - get it out there first and b) it's the same developers that work on both.

  33. Re:fuck you Zonk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    if anyone wonders, here the original Summary:
    Grand Theft Auto IV Unveiled As 360 Exclusive
    Posted by Zonk on Tuesday May 09, @04:03PM
    from the didn't-expect-that dept.
    E3 Microsoft XBox (Games)
    Despite expectations that this would be the least eventful of the E3 pre-conferences, Microsoft's Peter
    Moore drops the news that Grand Theft Auto IV will be an Xbox 360 exclusive.

  34. Re:fuck you Zonk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What the hell are you talking about?

  35. Shadowrun looks weak... by otis+wildflower · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ... I mean a FPS?? WTF?

    SR really needed to be a 3rd person RPG, like KOTOR or WoW...

    (TLA overload! 601!! 601!!!!)

    1. Re:Shadowrun looks weak... by Ingolfke · · Score: 1

      Is it the sequal to Shadowgate?

    2. Re:Shadowrun looks weak... by dosboot · · Score: 1

      Shadowrun isn't the sequel to Shadowgate. Shadowrun refers to the line of cyberpunk games (especially tabletop games) of the same name made by FASA. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun, or http://www.shadowrunrpg.com/resources/faq.shtml). I'm suprised that they are even making a next gen shadowrun game, much less have it featured in the E3 conference because I've always thought shadowrun had only cult popularity.

    3. Re:Shadowrun looks weak... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      There's already several sequels to Shadowgate. And you call yourself a nerd!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  36. It is by everphilski · · Score: 1

    Zonk just f*ed up. The other game is an exclusive, GTA is being simultaneously released (you should really RTFA)

  37. thank you Mr. AC - please mod up by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thank you Mr. AC! Folks, please mod the AC up so people can see what a fucking douchebag Zonk is.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:thank you Mr. AC - please mod up by miro+f · · Score: 1

      wow... this is the first time I've seen a mod parent up post get modded up.

      --
      being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
  38. Next you'll tell me it has FPSes and sports games by glindsey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whoa, an "urban simulator" on the XBox?

    How innovative!

  39. Re:Traitorous bastards... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yea all of us PC owners screamed that when started having to wait 6+ months for ports of the last few sequals. Eventially when consumers make a game popular, the companies have to screw us over in order to get a promise of big money from some hot new system.

  40. Most likely by The_Shadows · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As others have commented, it will be released for both PS3 and 360 at the same time.

    What no one is mentioning is the PC release. Rockstar tends to wait for a few months after console release before releasing the PC version. They're not being jerks. They're retooling it for the purpose of bringing it over to PC. That's why the GTA series hasn't suffered from consolitis, by and large. I'll be looking forward to GTA IV on the PC, even if I have to wait half a year.

    1. Re:Most likely by Smitty825 · · Score: 0

      I doubt it's going to be released for the PS3 and XBox360 at the same time...isn't the PS3's ship date like Nov. 17? I imagine most people wouldn't buy the game for a console that isn't for sale yet...

      --

      Doh!
    2. Re:Most likely by Smitty825 · · Score: 1

      Whoops...wrong year. 2007. I can read well...

      --

      Doh!
    3. Re:Most likely by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Uhh... if anything, GTA3+ was a prominent example of "consolitis". Controls, graphics, and gamplay in general...

      /me remembers savegames and shudders.

    4. Re:Most likely by patternjuggler · · Score: 1

      That's why the GTA series hasn't suffered from consolitis, by and large

      If by consolitis you don't mean having to buy a fucking ps2 style gamepad in order to fly a fucking plane or helicopter, then yes you are correct.

    5. Re:Most likely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GTA III wasnt too bad in this regard and Vice City was very playable on the PC. But San Andreas is a fucking nightmare as far as pc gameplay is concerned. The only way to get it even close to playable is to unplug my force-feedback joystick & buy a carbon-copy of a PS2 controller & give up every advantage PC gaming ever had.

      And im STILL waiting for a patch to fix the sound problems. I dont suppose i will ever see one.

      Rockstar has turned me off, they can have their console gamers, this PC gamer wont be wasting his money on GTA IV

      By the way console gamers, "force-feedback" USED to mean that the controls actually pulled back against you, not just a cheesy little vibration when you hit a curb... That is until the console makers fucked it all up.

    6. Re:Most likely by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      I got 100% at SA on the PC with KB and mouse, and that includes flying that ridiculous stunt plane all round the map. And that was on a laptop, with no nuneric pad!

  41. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The expectation of GTA lock-out was the one barrier which has kept me from seriously considering the 360.

    The X-Box exclusive DOA series is *almost* enough on its own to make me want a 360, and hopes for more HALO games also has me rather jazzed over it. My "wait and see" attitude has mostly been based on a fondness for GTA:III & GTA:VC, which were exclusive to the PS2 for about a year.

    If Sony does not have the GTA series locked up in their stable, what is there left to wait and see? BluRay? The Wii controller?

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  42. Re:You know what that means? by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

    That is if GTA-4 is a good game.
    Not every sequal is great or even good.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  43. that's a crapload of dosh! by Thud457 · · Score: 2, Funny
    XBox 360 with 20GB hard drive ($400) + HD-DVD drive addon ($100?) + 1 year XBox Live ($50) = $550. Playstation 3 with 20GB hard drive ($500) + Bluray drive (included) + 5 years online (included) = $500.


    $500? FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ?!!
    And that's without even a game!

    I can give a starving village in Africa a herd of four goats that would make them self-sufficient for that kind of money! (Hah, I bet you thought I was gonna say I could buy blowjobs for a year!...)

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:that's a crapload of dosh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A crack whore wouldn't give you a years worth...

    2. Re:that's a crapload of dosh! by Literaphile · · Score: 1
      Hah, I bet you thought I was gonna say I could buy blowjobs for a year!...

      Blowjobs for a year for only $500? I've gotta go to your hooker.

    3. Re:that's a crapload of dosh! by geekoid · · Score: 1

      PS3 500-600 Dollars.
      So much for consoles being the cheap alternative.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:that's a crapload of dosh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A year of blow jobs costs a bit more than $500 (just got back from vegas.)

    5. Re:that's a crapload of dosh! by lazyl · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or maybe not..

      --
      Aw crap, ninjas!
  44. Why the uproar? by Thrymm · · Score: 2, Informative

    If I remember correctly, GTA 4 (IV) is Vice City...
    San Andreas is really 5 (V).

    Any NEW GTA whatever the name would technically be 6 or 7 (if you count Liberty City Stories).

    1. Re:Why the uproar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ssssh! They're trying to hide the fact that all they've got are generic sequels and rehashes.

    2. Re:Why the uproar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually the original plan for GTA3 was to include all three cities (Liberty, Vice, and Andreas), thus they are more 'subsequals'.

    3. Re:Why the uproar? by ivonic · · Score: 1

      Actually their numbering system is still inline. GTA3, Vice City and San Andreas were all part of the GTA3 trilogy, kept the same game engine, design and features (just added onto it). Liberty City Stories was a prequel to GTA3, but still using the same engine, just a little extra thing they did.

      GTA, GTA London
      GTA2
      GTA3, VC, SA, LCS
      GTAIV

    4. Re:Why the uproar? by Donniedarkness · · Score: 1

      Vice City and San Andreas were technically part of the GTA 3 franchise-- they used the same engine. I've not really been a fan of GTA since I got burned out on GTA 3 (The origional), but I'm excited about this-- this means it'll be a whole new game, unlike San Andreas and Vice City, which were basically the same with different storylines and some new features.

      --
      Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
    5. Re:Why the uproar? by Jozer99 · · Score: 1

      Nope, there was a GTA3 trilogy, GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas. Our Rockstar overlords have informed us that Liberty Stories somehow don't count. If you look at them, they are basically the same game. Same game engine, same plot, but a new city every time.

    6. Re:Why the uproar? by The-Bus · · Score: 3, Informative

      Rockstar has said that the current GTA Series are all part of the "GTA3" universe. That is, Grand Theft Auto: 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Electric Boogaloo are all "GTA3" in a sense. Rockstar has said that after San Andreas they want to take a long hard look at the series, and retool it so that GTA4 is going to be a leap like the one you saw from the second to the third.

      I don't know if this is still the case but I remember them making a big deal about it between the release of Vice City and San Andreas.

      --

      Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

    7. Re:Why the uproar? by Trejkaz · · Score: 1

      "kept the same game engine, design and features (just added onto it)."

      In this sense, Quake 2 kept the same game engine as Quake 1, just added features onto it. There was a marked difference between the quality of GTA3 and San Andreas, which is very noticeable if you play one and then the other, but don't play Vice City in-between.

      Anyone who played the PS2 version though, probably wouldn't notice the difference, because the hardware capabilities of that particular pile of dog crap maxed out before GTA3.

      --
      Karma: It's all a bunch of tree-huggin' hippy crap!
    8. Re:Why the uproar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you really want to get technical, GTA:VC, GTA:SA and GTA:LCS were prequels to GTA3, so wouldn't that make GTA:VC=GTA 2.25, GTA:SA=GTA 2.5 and GTA:LCS=GTA 2.75???

      Just playing devil's advocate!

    9. Re:Why the uproar? by ivonic · · Score: 1

      True, there is a difference between them, but they do look and feel similar. Yes in San Andreas you can swim, fly helicopters, choose clothing, hairstyles, tattoos, get fit, go more places and it does have a better-quality graphics system, but it still feels similar to GTA3.

      Don't forget that GTAIII and San Andreas were built for the same console - the Playstation 2. If they're running off the same hardware, then they can only optimize code and rewrite things to make them work swifter. The PS3 and the Xbox 360 are totally new pieces of kit, with a load more power than their predecessors. This is the change that warrants a totally new type of gameplay.

      In GTAIV, the way the game works will probably be different. GTA1 had purely driving missions, run over crates for pickups, get your car repainted, and drive into people, other cars, and the rivers. In GTA3 you could get into some buildings, there was a wider range of missions, and (try to) fly the dodo. In Vice City, helicopters came in, and more interiors. San Andreas brought all the above 'fashion' features (gimmiks) and loads more things to do (stealing, jetpack, jumpjet) and a massive city.

      What's gonna be different about GTAIV? Well we may have a different style of missions altogether, instead of visiting random people and them sending you on missions you may have to go make business contacts and use your brain a bit more.

      I'm not sure, but I can assure you the numbering system matches up to the BIG changes.

    10. Re:Why the uproar? by magicchex · · Score: 1

      San Andreas on the PC was a vast improvement visually to the previous ones, at least as far as I remember it.

      --
      How many fulltime jobs can one man have?
  45. Retard. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only difference between the priced models is hard drive size. Go troll elsewhere, diggboy.

    1. Re:Retard. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the PS3 core system is missing WiFi and HDMI. From everything we've been told, HDMI is required for the Blu-Ray DRM, which means if you buy a core PS3, you can't watch movies (or perhaps you can only watch them in stadard def, i'm not quite sure). The nice thing about the 360 is that you can upgrade it to the premium one, chances are this isn't the case with the PS3.

  46. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    Read the actual news and you'll see that the PS3 will also have GTA4. Microsoft was able to get exclusive downloadable content, not exclusive rights to the game.

    The big news here is not that the exclusive content for the 360.

    The big news is that it's coming out on the 360 at all. The last three GTA games were each PS2 exclusives for many months.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  47. Re:fuck you Zonk by Babbster · · Score: 1

    I'd blame microsoft for making such a big deal out of having GTA4 on their console.

    I don't blame them at all. Since the Xbox 360 hit, or dropped softly onto, the street, Interweb rumor after Interweb rumor has had GTA being either exclusive to the PS3 or at least coming out way ahead of an Xbox 360 version (said rumors being driven mostly by the franchise history). Given the extreme popularity of the franchise, and the fact that the Xbox 360 will be much cheaper than the PS3, this is indeed a very big deal for Microsoft. While Halo 3 will have the legions of fans of the previous two games, those legions are expected to get 360s anyway. With GTA hitting simultaneous on both boxes, they're going to be able to steal a lot of people who look at the two games, see that whatever differences (the additional episodic content) there are between the two versions play to the benefit of the 360, and decide that paying $100+ extra isn't a great deal.

  48. Numbering scheme? by The_Shadows · · Score: 1

    I thought that Rockstar had given up numbering the GTA series.

    GTA I, II and III were normal. Then we got Vice City and San Andreas, which would be IV and V respectively.

    They're now suddenly going back to using normal numerical systems? What are VC and SA then? III.III and III.VII?

    1. Re:Numbering scheme? by Jarlsberg · · Score: 5, Informative

      AFAIK, VC and SA is based on the GTA3 engine. GTA4 is a new engine, hence the new name.

    2. Re:Numbering scheme? by Aidski · · Score: 2, Informative

      Assumably, Vice City and San Andreas don't count as 4 since they were just modifications of 3, with some improvements. Perhaps 4 is going to be completely redone?

    3. Re:Numbering scheme? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What did you expect from a publisher named rockstar that
      produces products based on rap or "urban" situations?

    4. Re:Numbering scheme? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, GTA2 was hardly different from the original GTA (different cities, weapons). Why did they make it #2?

    5. Re:Numbering scheme? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because numbers are cheap

  49. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by jchenx · · Score: 1

    Well, it turns out its not exclusive after all. I think the messaging from the conference was definately confusing. At first I thought maybe the game was coming out in October of this year, meaning it would be exclusive to the 360 until the PS3 ships, but it's actually 2007.

    Still, this is a major coup for MS since no longer are they getting the "scraps" from Rockstar. I know there were millions of folks who bought a PS2 soley for GTA3, and Xbox owners had to wait a very long couple of months before it finally came to their console. Now it's on an equal playing field, that's only good news for MS.

    Although yeah, having it be truly 360 exclusive would have essentially sealed it for Sony. :)

    --
    -- jchenx
  50. They can stick their 'episodic content' up their.. by ivan256 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Episodic content is just a way for them to raise the price of the game without raising the price on the pricetag in the stores.

    I'm sick of this crap where game companies think they can get $1.00 out of us for what would have been $0.10 of content had it been in an expansion pack, or included in the game to begin with. I'm also pissed at all the stupid moron gamers that buy this crap that 'costs less than a cup of coffee' because they don't understand that they're paying way more money in the long run; thus letting the micropayment mind-games continue.

    I wish one of the next-gen consoles didn't have an online component, so they wouldn't be able to pull this crap. I'd buy that console instead of the other ones.

  51. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    If Sony does not have the GTA series locked up in their stable, what is there left to wait and see? BluRay? The
    Wii controller?


    You answered your own question.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  52. Good news for the 360 by Jarlsberg · · Score: 1

    Being a 360 owner, this comes as really good news. The GTA series was the clincher that made me buy a PS2, but since GTA4 will be out on Xbox360 the same day as the PS3 version, there's no need to get a PS3 at all. ;)

    (Though I'll probably get one when it comes down in price.)

    1. Re:Good news for the 360 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, anyone who loves GTA as much as you must be a huge loser.
      I hope I don't know you.

      Are you a nigger?

    2. Re:Good news for the 360 by octopus72 · · Score: 1

      Big question: How much did MS play to get GTA on xbox360?
      I'd say much because it is a key game to the success of the 360.

  53. Why did you change the title and text? by maynard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Changing material after the fact destroys any context for comments written to rebut the claims published on slashdot. May I suggest a retraction next time? It's the honest thing to do.

  54. Re:You know what that means? by Miraba · · Score: 1

    True, but you didn't mention it under your PS3 column ("Nothing is here), which makes me think that you saw Zonk's original update.

  55. making shit up? by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 3, Insightful
    How do you know the PS3 cannot be upgraded? It still has Bluetooth and USB support, I'm pretty sure it can handle peripherals. It also has very flexible AV In/Out support. Whether memory card and wifi peripherals, and HDMI output can be added is not something I'd be speculating about just yet.

    And your comments about CPU utilization are wrong. The multiple cores on the 360 don't do much without being programmed for. IIRC, Microsoft has said that none of the current crop of games take much, if any, advantage of the extra cores.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:making shit up? by jchenx · · Score: 2, Interesting

      How do you know the PS3 cannot be upgraded? It still has Bluetooth and USB support, I'm pretty sure it can handle peripherals. It also has very flexible AV In/Out support. Whether memory card and wifi peripherals, and HDMI output can be added is not something I'd be speculating about just yet.

      I'm not too concerned about the memory card or WiFi, since those are all things I imagine can be easily added. It's the HDMI output that's a bit odd. Yeah, there's USB support, so is that how it's going to be done?

      I do think the whole Sony presentation regarding the two SKUs was highly misleading. It seemed like the only difference between the two were the difference in HD size, but the press release later showed otherwise. Now it's the "upgrade story" which everyone is interested.

      Anyway, back to the HDMI output, I thought HD-DVD and Blu-ray had to have either DVI or HDMI output? Does that mean the core PS3 won't be able to play Blu-ray discs unless you upgrade? Sounds a lot like the Xbox DVD fiasco, where you had to buy the dongle/remote to enable playing DVDs, whereas it worked right out of the box for the PS2.

      --
      -- jchenx
    2. Re:making shit up? by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Anyway, back to the HDMI output, I thought HD-DVD and Blu-ray had to have either DVI or HDMI output? Does that mean the core PS3 won't be able to play Blu-ray discs unless you upgrade? Sounds a lot like the Xbox DVD fiasco, where you had to buy the dongle/remote to enable playing DVDs, whereas it worked right out of the box for the PS2.

      Not even DVI, just HDMI. Technically, you are correct. This is the deal: currently the hardware manufacturers are agreeing in principle to only send the highest-resolution signal over a so-called protected wire, which is HDMI (which is a DVI cable wrapped in an optical audio cable, and smothered with secret sauce). Any analog connection, including the more-than-capable component connection, would theoretically be downsampled to a lower resolution, in order for the content companies to achieve High Asshole status.

      However... what we can read between the lines here is that perhaps Sony, in light of having to drop an HDMI port on the base model, will not be so stingy with the signals and allow full resolution to travel via component inputs. Thats a hell of a big Perhaps, but their hand is somewhat constrained by market realities in televisions - HDMI ports are simply not very widely used yet.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    3. Re:making shit up? by EmperorKagato · · Score: 1

      "It's a little airborne, it's still good, it's still good!"

      --
      ----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
    4. Re:making shit up? by maynard · · Score: 1

      It's easy enough to convert protected HDMI to monitors with DVI/HDCP. The only other addition to an HDMI cable is audio, which many monitors don't even support.

    5. Re:making shit up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not even DVI, just HDMI. Technically, you are correct. This is the deal: currently the hardware manufacturers are agreeing in principle to only send the highest-resolution signal over a so-called protected wire, which is HDMI (which is a DVI cable wrapped in an optical audio cable, and smothered with secret sauce). Any analog connection, including the more-than-capable component connection, would theoretically be downsampled to a lower resolution, in order for the content companies to achieve High Asshole status.

      Here's a question: could it be possible that both the base and the premium PS3 have the same output connector for video, but the use of a different cable allows for HDMI or not? I'd say it's safe to assume that the connector on the PS3 itself will be proprietary, so would it not be possible to just have a bunch of pins on it that are only used when the HDMI cable is hooked up?

    6. Re:making shit up? by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
      How does this shit get modded up? It's not even remotely correct.

      Jesus fuckin' Christ. And my GP post, which is 100% accurate, has dropped to +3 with 2 overrated mods. Fuckin' stupid-ass morons here...

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    7. Re:making shit up? by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      Jesus fuckin' Christ. And my GP post, which is 100% accurate, has dropped to +3 with 2 overrated mods. Fuckin' stupid-ass morons here...

      Defensive much? You wanna tell me what the issue is, or are you just going to cry?

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    8. Re:making shit up? by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
      I'm just going to cry... :) No, I was responding to the wrong post. I posted a correction, but it seems to have disappeared? Maybe Zonk deleted it to make even more of an ass out of me :)

      That's ok. I'm an ass anyway. OTOH, I at least have a modicum of integrity...

      Cheers. Sorry for the mistake.

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    9. Re:making shit up? by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      That's ok. I'm an ass anyway. OTOH, I at least have a modicum of integrity...

      Hah, I wondered... no worries, cheers. That *is* odd about the disappearing post. Shenanigans.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
  56. OT: regarding your sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    perhaps you meant windows 2000 instead of 3000?

    and I would disagree, a properly configured 2000 box is plenty stable. if you said 95,98, or ME I'd agree with you, but 2000 or XP can be perfectly stable.

    1. Re:OT: regarding your sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's from Futurama.

  57. Re:fuck you Zonk by nb+caffeine · · Score: 1

    OK, I'll concede. Being on the 360 is quite the steal for Microsoft. For me, this is one of the few franchises that was sony "exclusive" that I missed by having a broken ps2.

    --

    "Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
  58. Cell platforms? by rholliday · · Score: 1

    This last is an expansion of Xbox Live to PC and cell platforms in addition to the Xbox arena.

    Okay, am I completely misreading this or does that open the door to PS3 vs XBox 360 over XBox Live?

    Probably not, but it's an interesting possibility.

    --
    Xbox reviews.. We think they're funny.
    1. Re:Cell platforms? by Assassin_for_Atari · · Score: 1
      Sony said a while back they plan to make a XB Live type system for PS3.

      No major details have been released yet from what I can tell. So I think they just say "cell based platforms" because currently its all on paper...

      thats a guess :D

    2. Re:Cell platforms? by ryanjensen · · Score: 1

      Cell phones, not cell processors.

    3. Re:Cell platforms? by rholliday · · Score: 1

      Okay, that makes tons more sense. That was probably in the article or something, too. And they also didn't capitalize it.

      Though in fairness, when it comes to video games they should probably just bite the bullet and add the extra "phones" to distinguish, since we can't always rely on accurate spelling or grammar. :)

      --
      Xbox reviews.. We think they're funny.
    4. Re:Cell platforms? by iainl · · Score: 1

      Watching the actual press conference, Gates walked on stage carrying the phone he was showing it off with, before Major Nelson sent him a Forza 2 car template to customize on the phone and send back, so it was abundantly clear at the time.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
  59. GTA 4? eh? by thomthom · · Score: 0, Redundant

    hang on... you got GTA1 the original 2.5D version then you got GTA London which what more of a mod of GTA1 then GTA2 came. GTA Liberty City was number 3 GTA Vice City was number 4 GTA San Andreas was number 5 This next one should be numbered 6 ...oh, wait there's more, GTA Liberty Stories comes after GTA SA...

    1. Re:GTA 4? eh? by irwtdvoys · · Score: 2, Informative

      The way I look at it is the changes in the game engine.

      GTA1 (London being 1.5) - Top Down
      GTA2 - 3D accelerated Top Town
      GTA3 (Vice City and San Andreas being 3.2 and about 3.6) - 3rd Person
      GTA4 - Top down?

    2. Re:GTA 4? eh? by irwtdvoys · · Score: 1

      Top down I wish ;)

    3. Re:GTA 4? eh? by thomthom · · Score: 1

      I wish for GTA London 3D.

  60. LOL Episodic content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The future of gaming is... paying for the same game over and over again. Not to mention the joy of downolading patches and paying extra for extra skins or weapons or any other tweaks they can wring a few bucks out of. Thanks Xbox live!

    OK, screw videogames. Guess I'll have to learn how to play softball or something... *grumble*

    Captcha: rebuffed LOL

    1. Re:LOL Episodic content by MHolmesIV · · Score: 1

      Well, you could, but every so often you'd have to buy a new ball, or bat. Then there's club fees, munchies costs, having to buy a new wardrobe because you lost all that gamer fat...

      Micropayments will be cheaper in the end.

  61. not quite by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
    I really don't think they'd want to push HDMI output through a USB periperhal, but I dunno. But, the main AV output of the PS3 is supposed to be extremely flexible, so, who can say right now whether or not HDMI output can be added?

    Regarding BD movie playback... BD has support for HDCP, so, any studio that wants can limit non HDCP playback to (IIRC) 480p, so you wouldn't get the full resolution. But, HDCP is coming under fire lately, and a number of movie studios are backing away from it. Currently, most of the installed base of HD sets do not even have HDMI inputs.

    FYI, the Xbox 360 does not include an HDMI output, and that will be an addon made available later. I see no reason the basic PS3 and the Xbox 360 aren't in the same boat.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:not quite by jchenx · · Score: 1

      FYI, the Xbox 360 does not include an HDMI output, and that will be an addon made available later. I see no reason the basic PS3 and the Xbox 360 aren't in the same boat.

      I wasn't trying to compare the 360 and PS3 feature-for-feature, since obliviously Sony is in a better position to beat MS in that sense, getting to ship their console a year later.

      My point is that the big deal with the PS3 is the ability to play Blu-ray movies. I presumed this would be "out-of-the-box" support. Undoubtedly I can do this with the $600 PS3, but will that functionality be available in the $500 one? Does it HAVE to go through HDMI, or can it go through the regular main AV output of the PS3 (as you suggested)?

      Lots of questions still yet to be answered. I would also like to know how much the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 will be, and how it's handling its output.

      --
      -- jchenx
  62. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What we've all been waiting for!!!

    HOT COFFEE 360 BABY!

  63. Whores! by mobby_6kl · · Score: 1

    Rockstar = whores.

    All was good when the top-down view games were on PC first, just as god intended. But then they sold out to Sony for GTA3-5. Now they sold themselves to MS for 360. Thankfully, being the whores they are, they'll release a PC version sooner or later, but I'll still be pissed off when I'm the only one not getting any...

    1. Re:Whores! by bacterial_pus · · Score: 1

      200 points for a tugjob. 400 points for a head. 600 points for full service. 1000 for greek.

    2. Re:Whores! by scapermoya · · Score: 1

      you really must not be a smart person. at all.

      --
      Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
    3. Re:Whores! by mobby_6kl · · Score: 1

      >you really must not be a smart person. at all.

      And you must have your sense of humor checked. And your shift key.

    4. Re:Whores! by scapermoya · · Score: 1

      Oh pardon me, sir. I wasn't aware that, here, on the Internet, not capitalizing the first letter of the first word in a sentence was a faux pas.
      My sense of humor is fine, you just aren't funny.

      --
      Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
    5. Re:Whores! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks like he Colbert'd you.

  64. What is sony doing? by aplusjimages · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't be a big deal. Remember when Sony lost Resident Evil to GameCube? Sony still got RE4, which has been the franchises best title yet. I wonder if the graphics will be better when they port GTA over to PS3, just like the graphics were better going from PS2 to xbox?

    --
    Can I bum a sig?
  65. Re:You know what that means? by EmperorKagato · · Score: 1

    mod parent down(sorry)

    27 playable games? nothing is coming?! ha!

    Red Steel
    Twighlight Princess
    H.A.M.M.E.R

    --
    ----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
  66. Halo 3 is all that matters by aplusjimages · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That's right. Halo 3 is enough said. Wrap up E3. It's done. No more news to give. You just can't top that.

    --
    Can I bum a sig?
    1. Re:Halo 3 is all that matters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that a sequel to a mediocre FPS on a console -- where FPSs don't even belong thanks to crappy controls -- is the high point of gaming for most people shows what a sad state gaming is in these days.

    2. Re:Halo 3 is all that matters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it means we get another great Alternate Reality Game, I'm all for it. :)

    3. Re:Halo 3 is all that matters by animejoe · · Score: 1

      Wow! A PC gaming elitist on Slashdot, imagine that!

  67. Re:fuck you Zonk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let me get this straight ... you have a 5 digit ID and you actually took a slashdot story on face value? Hah.

    And given that this incident caused you great embarassment, it's a safe assumption that you go to Junior High School. That means that you must have registered your slashdot ID when you were about 6 years old. I guess that makes you a child prodigy. (Or at least that's a better story than a sad pathetic man whining about video game news.)

  68. wrong, wrong, and wrong by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
    Your numbers are a bit flawed, since the $500 PS3 doesn't have HDMI, which some people require to watch HD content on their TVs, also some Blu-Ray discs are planned to be released as only playable via HDMI (to prevent copying or some such nonsense), so the non-HDMI PS3 can't really be considered a full-featured movie player like the $600 one.

    A.) The 360 doesn't have HDMI out, neither version.

    B.) You do not ever need HDMI out to watch HD (sorta)

    C.) All HD movies will play over non-HDCP outputs, just at a reduced resolution. These movies are encrypted when sent over HDCP compliant outputs, and decrypted by the television. Considering that most HD sets today do not have HDMI inputs, HDCP may be dead in the water. Several major movie studios are backing away from HDCP.

    And, just FYI, since the 360 does not include HDMI, it will have to be made available as an addon. I don't see why the same couldn't be done for the base-model PS3. If there IS a reason, someone, please do tell.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:wrong, wrong, and wrong by ad0gg · · Score: 2, Informative
      a) xbox 360 has HDMI cables

      b)Depends on the publisher. Sony movies says for their initial blu-ray movie release they'll turn off the secured output requirement. Other publishers may not be as nice. Also all upscaling dvd players require HDCP out.

      c) All depends if ps3 has unified video/sound port like the 360. My guess they'll probably have one but you never know its sony were talking about. They've been acting pretty irrational lately.

      Any way I could careless what sony does, i'm getting a wii in november. I sure as hell not blowing $500 on a console. HD optical disks isn't on my plate till someone wins format war or a combo hddvd/bluray player is released at a reasonable price.

      --

      Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

    2. Re:wrong, wrong, and wrong by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      My point is that if the PS3 is more expensive because it's a blu ray player, and since so many people say it's a good deal BECAUSE it's a blu ray player (though i personally don't want blur ray for awhile), why is the base model not a decent blu ray player?

      they should have either made the base model cheaper, without blu ray, or had it be able to watch blu ray at full res.

      either way, i won't be getting any blu ray movies for awhile, because my current TV still works great and is not that old.

  69. Mod parent troll by Hitto · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Constant anti-nintendo troll might fly off freely, but don't be stupid enough to do it twice in the same thread. This is not /v/.

  70. How is this different from an expansion pack? by edremy · · Score: 1
    Lots of games have them. I can buy Morrowind, or I can buy MW+Tribunal, or MW+Bloodmoon or both. Doesn't stop Morrowind from being a good game, even if it doesn't have all the content of the Gold collectors edition.

    Oblivion is going the way of smaller expansions and lower prices. (No new land+dozens of quests for $20-40, but rather one or two new quest arcs for $2.) I personally don't like this, but it's a valid market choice- if it works for Oblivion why not GTA3?

    --
    "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
    1. Re:How is this different from an expansion pack? by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

      Because they'll charge a lot more, that's why. Instead of charging $30 for a mission pack, they'll split it up into smaller epsides and charge twice as much.

  71. Wow by sehryan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Wow...GTA on the 360...IN 17 MONTHS!!! Why is this exciting news exactly? I am sure there are a lot of great games coming out on all the consoles in late 2007. The reason we haven't heard about them - because they are saving them for E3 2007.

    What is MS going to talk about at next year's E3, Halo 8, arriving at your local game store October 7, 2059.

    --
    The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe.
  72. GTAIV? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shouldn't that be GTA4.

    GTA3
    GTA:VC (vice city)
    GTA:SA (san andreas)
    GTA:LCS (liberty city stories)

    GTA:IV (? ?)

  73. Re:fuck you Zonk by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
    All very good points :)

    Embarassment isn't the correct word, however. I'm hardly embarassed by being made an ass of. It was actually a good laugh.

    What I actually am, though, is one of those sad pathetic men who whine about how much /. sucks these days, and the lack of editing skill of the editors(indeed, the lack of reading skill... *sigh*). Most likely I am jealous of Zonk's job. I would certainly love to get paid to do what he does, or pretends to do, whatever your interpretation of his doings is. I mean... is he actually getting paid to be a fucking jackass, or is he getting paid to be an editor, and is really, actually that bad of an editor?

    In reality, we all know with relative certainty that he's paid to produce ad impressions, hence, the jackass option fits pretty well. A paid jackass. That's cozy. I could fucking do that shit, man.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
  74. Rockstar arent that stupid by ThePengwin · · Score: 1

    Its like it always will be, out first to the most popular console.
    There is no chance it will be exclusively for one console. Rockstar are not that stupid.

    Less Consoles = Less money

    And GTA is always horrible on aby console. It really kicks into gear when it hits the almighty PC :)

  75. Re:Really? by mmalove · · Score: 1

    I'd actually bet more slashdot readers get laid than you give credit for. Most people don't play the GTA auto series for cheap porn, they do it because they can steal a wide variety of vehicles and not go to jail for it. Personally, I love to see how long I can evade the police in a camper.

    --
    You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.
  76. Re:Extra panel on the Wii? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not the GameCube controller or memory card slots (since those are on the top), so I'm going to assume that it covers up the "2 Front-loading SD memory card slots" (since they're supposedly optional).

  77. Jack Thompson by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In other news, Jack Thompson drops dead due to a combination of "fear" for the children who are going to be corrupted by GTA4, and glee at the TV appearances in his near future.

  78. No More GTA games! by fm6 · · Score: 1

    I mean damnit, I'm still trying to rescue Maria from Catalina and her henchmen. Give me a chance to catch up!

  79. Re:Extra panel on the Wii? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By "memory card slots", I meant "GameCube memory card slots".

    Sigh.

  80. Re:You know what that means? by deinol · · Score: 1

    The X-Box exclusive DOA series is *almost* enough on its own to make me want a 360, and hopes for more HALO games also has me rather jazzed over it. My "wait and see" attitude has mostly been based on a fondness for GTA:III & GTA:VC, which were exclusive to the PS2 for about a year.

    If Sony does not have the GTA series locked up in their stable, what is there left to wait and see?


    To each his own. For me, DOA is fun, but for fighting I prefer Tekken. My roommate prefers all the 2D fighters. I'm looking forward to the new Zelda game. I've played all the GTA games so far, but I'm getting bored with them. I never even finished San Andreas. There's only so much killing people and taking there cars I need to do. I like RPGs, and Fable was one of the few games that tempted me toward the original Xbox.

    So I'm not excitied about the PS3. I'm less excited about the 360. I'm somewhat excited by the revolution. I'm perfectly happy with all the great games for PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox so far. The next generation just doesn't matter to me yet. Gameplay is far more important than graphics (I liked Dragon Warrior VII,) and the current consoles are 'good enough' for me. Give me great games, and I'll spend $500+ on a console. Meanwhile, I'll be busy playing all the good games I still haven't had the time to finish.

    I'm glad you enjoy GTA and Halo enough to make you want to buy a 360. But just because those are your favorite games doesn't mean that's the end of the console wars for the rest of us. The super great game that I'm looking for is the one that we won't be expected. It won't be a re-make of an existing franchise. It'll be something like Katamari or Shadow of the Colossus that comes out of nowhere and is different. Maybe it'll be on the 360, maybe it'll be Sony's baby. Maybe it'll be for my cell phone. I don't know. But I'll still wait and see. More of the same just isn't worth $500 to me. I know I will own all three eventually. But Nintendo is likely to win this one just because they'll be in the $200-300, which is more reasonable for non-essential purchase like a game console. Especially when I have 6 different ones in my living room already that are still fun.

    --
    Got Apathy?
  81. Re:fuck you Zonk by geekoid · · Score: 1

    "... is one of those sad pathetic men who whine about how much /. sucks these days,"

    it is sad when you consider slashdot has not changed much at all.

    So if you think Slashdot has gone down hill, you are incorrect. You have gone up hill.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  82. Re:Extra panel on the Wii? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually you're technically right, since there was supposed to be an SD-card adapter for the GC.

  83. Re:Traitorous bastards... by scapermoya · · Score: 1

    economics (n.) The social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services and with the theory and management of economies or economic systems.

    --
    Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun the frumious Bandersnatch.
  84. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by rblum · · Score: 1

    You know, it's not like you're getting forced to buy the content. As for the cost of content - you have obviously *no* clue what it costs to generate and test new content. Of course we're making some money on it - the point is that we actually would like to live off making games. If you don't like that, just make your own and release them as open source. Nobody's stopping you.

  85. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by The-Bus · · Score: 1

    I think it's pretty clear that the market is still in control of these transactions. Witness, for example, the uproar over the horse armor for Oblivion. I'm about as big an Oblivion fan as you can find and I did not buy any of the add-ons that Bethesda offered. I simply thought they weren't that great of a value and they came out by the time I beat the game and had gotten sick of playing it so much.

    If you remember, the uproar over the horse armor pack led them to offer the next content at a much better price.

    If two missions for GTA4 cost $15.00, then people are going to balk and not get it, which prevents further releases at that price.

    At this point my concern would be elevated if I was a retailer. How does Gamestop get a cut of this? One thought is offeting kiosks with this stuff to download and Gamestop getting a certain cut. For those without an internet connection or who don't want to sit and wait 6 hours for a 400MB map pack to download, they can go to their local Gamestop and get it there locally. Retailers are also currenty selling the points you use to get this content in the first place. For many people, the way they get points is to go into the store, plunk down $25, and walk out with a card.

    --

    Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.

  86. CORRECT: Game will be an XBox360 exclusive ... by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 0

    WRONG... episodic releases are exclusive. The game will be released for both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on October 16th, 2007. The Xbox version will have "episodic releases" via Xbox Live.

    CORRECT: Game will be an XBox360 exclusive, at least until the PS3 ships.

    Note October above and November below:

    "The full version of the PlayStation 3 will be priced at US$600 in North America and 600 (US$763) in Europe. It will first go on sale in Japan on Nov. 11, followed by North America, Europe and Australasia on Nov. 17."
    http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/09/playstatio n/index.php

    1. Re:CORRECT: Game will be an XBox360 exclusive ... by Babbster · · Score: 1

      Look at the dates again. GTA is apparently set to ship in 2007, thus it will never be an "exclusive."

    2. Re:CORRECT: Game will be an XBox360 exclusive ... by kubrick · · Score: 1

      Assuming Sony don't pull a Vista with the PS3 ship date, of course.

      --
      deus does not exist but if he does
  87. It Still Is by Nazmun · · Score: 1

    A top of the line graphics card costs $500-600. A top of the line mobo for $120-$180 and a top of the line process for $400-$1000. Add in memory and the rest of the computer and you get the picture.

    --
    Hmmm... Pie...
    1. Re:It Still Is by LordVader717 · · Score: 1

      But unless you're obsessed on setting every graphics option on highest, and using every damn shader anyone ever conceived, you can get away very decently for considerably less.
      You can build a gaming-class PC for 500 Dollars that can play the newest games in decent quality.
      People who don't want to give out too much money can do exactly that, knowing they won't be playing the greatest of the latest.
      But anybody intersted in the PS3 won't have a choice.

    2. Re:It Still Is by default+luser · · Score: 1

      Consider this: the kind of person (A) who already has an HDTV and (B) is a hardcore enough gamer to spend $600 for a gaming system and (C) quotes PC component prices when justifying the high cost of the PS3 is most likely (D) the kind of person who has the know-how to shop around and build their own gaming machine.

      So let's revisit your prices.

      A top of the line graphics card costs $500-600.

      The "top-of-the-line" graphics card in the PS3 is a cross between a 7900 GT (similar pixel fillrate) and a 7600 GT (same memory bandwidth). You can purchase a 7600 GT and get a similar quality experience for $180, or blow away the PS3 for $300 with a 7900 GT.

      A top of the line mobo for $120-$180

      The motherboard doesn't cost much either, if you know what to look for. I picked up an ASUS A8N5X for $80, and it has everything an enthusiast needs. When you pay $150 + for a motherboard, all you're gettings is things like SLI, FireWire, extra RAID controllers, and orange neon accents that most midrage users don't care about.

      top of the line process for $400-$1000.

      You can pick up a decent midrange processor for $200, and since most games aren't heavily multi-threaded, this is not such a bad solution. You know they alweays charge a premium on the high-end processors for very little improvement.

      Throw in 1GB ($60) or 2GB ($150), and you have a gaming machine that does much more, and doesn't require a $600-8000 HDTV to get the most out of the system.

      Midrange gamer's upgrade:

      So, that's $520 for a very nice midrange upgrade, or $700 for a high-end upgrade. Even if you throw in a case and monitor, you can still finish the build for under $1000. With the full-featured PS3 at $600, the PS3 is only competitive if you already own an HDTV.

      --

      Man is the animal that laughs.
      And occasionally whores for Karma.

  88. What's with this episodic stuff? by Godji · · Score: 1

    Rockstar and Microsoft have teamed up to do exclusive episodic content in the GTA gameworld for the 360.

    Could somebody please explain to me why so many developpers (think Valve) have lately become obsessed with episodic games? What is the point in that, besides the obvious money milking argument?

    1. Re:What's with this episodic stuff? by Hootenanny · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reason episodic content is attractive, from the perspective of a game developer, derives from both increased revenue and decreased costs. The increased revenue is what you term the "money milking" argument - it is true that gamers who like a certain franchise will be willing to spend $10 a pop on 6-8 hour episodes, and they might end up spending $100 over a year or so on episodes for a favorite game. The cost of producing a short episode is relatively small, compared to the cost of producing an entire game. Not to mention consumer expectations - when gamers buy a new game, they expect something innovative. When they buy a new episode, they expect a new twist on the same old thing. Again, it's easier for gaming companies to do it this way.

  89. XBox Live in action by Silent+sound · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't think of it as changing the story... think of it as a "patch".

    Similarly, you can think of CmdrTaco's dupe of this story tomorrow morning as "episodic content".

    See? Now XBox Live really is everywhere!!!

    1. Re:XBox Live in action by maynard · · Score: 1

      lol! The sad thing is that I didn't want or expect this comment to get notice, whereas this and this really do deserve it. Moderation is so freak'n broken here I often don't know whether to throw my hands up and sigh, or simply go back to K5 where the men are trolls and the S/N still high (if you consider trolling signal).

      Feh. /. is really losing its appeal for me. Perhaps I'm just five years behind the times.

  90. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by ivan256 · · Score: 1

    You're right, I'm not getting forced.

    As for having no clue...

    Let's say they have a team of twelve guys working on some episodic content. I pick that number because I know for a fact that there are developers who create the content with less, and because it makes the math obvious. Let's say it takes a month to create and test a $1 add-on. I pick that time period and price because the price is representitive and the time period is demostrably conservative. Let's say all ten of those people make a quarter million dollars a year. Which, quite frankly, isn't likely. I know plenty of people in the industry, and I can tell you that the average salary is signifigantly less than that. I personally don't work in the industry because they don't pay nearly that well.

    That's a quarter million dollars to develop the mod. There are some notable recent examples of $2 mods that have sold 400,000 copies in the first two days. What's the profit margin there? And that's if you assume there are no further sales after the first few days.

    In reality, the teams are smaller, the salaries are smaller, and you're totally full of shit if you try and tell anybody that the content has to cost $1/hour of play time to be profitable.

    the point is that we actually would like to live off making games. If you don't like that, just make your own and release them as open source.

    My point wasn't that people shouldn't be able to charge whatever they want. My point was twofold. First, that I'm not going to pay that much for mere minutes of content, and second, that I don't think other people should either. You can think I'm wrong all you want, but I have just as much a right and reason to try and convince people not to fund this crap as the developers do to pull it.

  91. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by ivan256 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If you remember, the uproar over the horse armor pack led them to offer the next content at a much better price.


    No it didn't. It prompted them to offer the later content at a slightly reduced price. ($0.10 less? Give me a break.) I have the game. I love the game. I have the Orrery add-on... If taken as a fraction of a $35 expansion pack, there is about $0.25 worth of content in it.

    I'd buy the "expensive to create next-gen content" argument if the game weren't 10% content and 90% cut and paste copies of that content, or perhaps if there were more that 10 minutes of gameplay in there for $1.89. Episodic content is just a marketing ruse to get people to pay 10x more for expansion content than they used to. Next gen content isn't 10x more expensive to create, and it's not worth 10x more to buy. End of story.

  92. Soylent Green is people! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I have no clue what the guy who modded you up was smoking, but that's the most retarded troll I've ever seen. People have every right to complain about it AND not buy it. If people don't buy the extra content it doesn't show up in their statistics other than as someone who didn't buy it. If people however complain loudly in various forums and get others informed so they in turn complain loudly, it shows up in a completely different way.

    Thus I'm proud to say: This "extra content" has convinced me not to buy either an Xbox360 or a PS3, I'll just go with the Nintendo Wii now. I've been a Sony fanboi since PSX was released, and I bought an Xbox for excellent games like Halo, Fable and Jade Empire. However, as of their new "feature enhancements" to the next generation, I'm switching camps. There's more innovation in Shigeru Miyamoto's left testicle than in all parts of of Sony and Microsoft combined.

    See? It's my right as a consumer to express my dissatisfaction, the more vehemently the better, just as it's your right to be a dick on /.

  93. Another explanation, with data by Hootenanny · · Score: 1

    Do you know how much revenue Blizzard is anticipating from World of Warcraft next year?

    A billion dollars.

    A freaking BILLION.

    Six million subscribers, $15 per month, 12 months - do the math, those micropayments add up spectacularly. A hit console game may sell a few million copies, and that revenue is divided between the retailer, the console maker, the publisher, and the developer. *This* is why they are obsessed with episodic content - the lure of having a healthy revenue stream, most of which they get to keep.

  94. Re:What kind of 'exclusive'? by nugneant · · Score: 1

    I was amazed to see how low the sales numbers were for the GTA games on xbox.

    Apples and oranges, I'd say. Have you ever seen the numbers for PS2 vs. X-Box? I'm not about to go wiki it up, but let's just postulate that it's something like 30 billion million PS2s for every X-Box (note: slight exaggeration).

    Now, for every 30 billion million PS2s, at least five of them still work. So that's 5 working PS2s for every 1 working X-Box (note: source for final PS2 vs X-Box numbers: this thread).

    Now, what percentage of X-Box users also own a PS2? Again, too lazy to Wiki it, but it's soemthing like 75%, if my memory serves me correctly.

    So basically, the largest installed base gets an exclusive... and so then even when it does come out for both platforms, most of Platform B's users already have it on their Platform A. Gee, I wonder which platform will sell more copies?

    Now, compare that to this generation, where, even if the X-Box (Circle) drops in price, only your Neo-Geo kiddies will have the monies for both consoles - and a lot of people have saved for an X-Box (Circle) without being able to purchase one, so they're prime Sony-bait - and I think you'll find that the split will be closer to 60-40 or thereabouts.

    In conclusion, it's not the exclusivity period itself that determines final results. Rather, the install-base, and the "whatever-the-fancy-word-is-for people-who-own-both-consoles", play the biggest role in determining which console's version ends up selling more. Any doubts? Look at one of the GameCube "exclusives" that later came to the PS2.

    Given the way the market seems to be shaping up, I'm betting sales figures will be roughly the same - assuming a relatively uneventful launch (neither good nor a disaster) for Sony.



    --
    My MOMMY knows I'm not a fanboy!

  95. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by clontzman · · Score: 1

    There are some notable recent examples of $2 mods that have sold 400,000 copies in the first two days. What's the profit margin there? And that's if you assume there are no further sales after the first few days.

    The situation you describe is, though, a best-case scenario for the publisher. In your example, they've sunk a quarter-million dollars in the thing before they have any idea who'll buy it or how many copies they'll sell. I'm sure that the two dollar mod that sells 400,000 copies is a highly atypical example.

  96. You do not represent most consumers by spideyct · · Score: 1

    You are a minority consumer. Most consumers enjoy and accept expansion packs, aftermarket mods, sequels etc. When they invest their time in a game, they like that they can continue the relationship with more content in the future.
    You, the consumer that wants a distinct beginning and end, with nothing beyond what is in the shrinkwrap box, are a minority. (Based on my completely unscientific estimation, of course)

  97. All it takes is one by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 1

    The MPAA knows that there can't be any deviations from the protected cables at high quality, because all it takes is one guy to get an unprotected copy to put online and the whole world has it. So even one model out there that can play protected content on unprotected line totally screws their whole strategy.

    1. Re:All it takes is one by ZorinLynx · · Score: 1

      But pirates don't generally capture from the video outputs anyway. This would be dumb; it's better to just get the original compressed MPEG2 stream and work from that.

      Capturing video from a DVI or component output is akin to copying a CD by using analog RCA cables. Not the best way to do it and very inconvenient.

      That's why I always thought it was silly that upscaling DVD players require HDCP. Hello, DVD pirates don't copy from there. they just copy the data directly off the DVD. Stop being morons, MPAA!

    2. Re:All it takes is one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Capturing video from a DVI or component output is akin to copying a CD by using analog RCA cables. Not the best way to do it and very inconvenient.

      How is copying video from a digital source the same as copying audio from an analog source?

    3. Re:All it takes is one by ZorinLynx · · Score: 1

      It's not the same, but you still have to recompress the content to get it to a reasonable size.

      The content on the disc is compressed. When it comes out of a DVI cable, it is uncompressed. The bits are there, but at a ludicruosly high data rate. You have to recompress, losing quality, to get it down to a reasonable size again.

      Better to get the data straight off the disc than to go through that.

  98. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by ivan256 · · Score: 1

    That was an extreme example in every way. In reality it doesn't cost them nearly that much, even if they don't sell very many. The difficult to create assets are re-used in these add-ons. None of the "next-gen" aspects are new.

    In reality you're talking a couple of artists and a script writer/programmer for a week, and then a QA person and maybe a few play testers for a week. The artists and script writer will be lucky to be making $75k, the QA person slightly less, and depending on the company there's a good chance the play testers aren't even payed at all. So now you're down to $5500 of people time in the most likely case to make one of these "episodic" add ons.

    Now, let's look at these game's marketing budgets. How much do you think that TV time costs? Are they charging the customers to watch the ads? Was the business development department asleep the day Captian Obvious handed out the memo that taught how cheap add ons could be used as marketing to lower advertising costs and increase sales? There is a good chance that the $2 add on that sold 400,000 copies actually cost the company more in the long run than if they had given it away in lieu of TV time.

    I'm sure that the two dollar mod that sells 400,000 copies is a highly atypical example.

    I hope the $2 mod that sells any copies will be an atypical example. When people start learning how little they're getting from their money, hopefully they will stop buying. I hope, but I have very little hope.

  99. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by j-turkey · · Score: 1
    Let's say they have a team of twelve guys working on some episodic content. I pick that number because I know for a fact that there are developers who create the content with less, and because it makes the math obvious. Let's say it takes a month to create and test a $1 add-on. I pick that time period and price because the price is representitive and the time period is demostrably conservative. Let's say all ten of those people make a quarter million dollars a year. Which, quite frankly, isn't likely. I know plenty of people in the industry, and I can tell you that the average salary is signifigantly less than that. I personally don't work in the industry because they don't pay nearly that well.

    So...because other shops pay a dozen coders to churn out a mod, it makes this one just the same? What about the hollywood talent that they hire, does that come cheap? What about the major label music that they license, how much does that cost them? What about the other costs associated with a project like this (testers, project management, voice actors, graphics, etc)? What about their legal fees incurred in order to fight off the jokers who blame video games for violence? What about all of the other costs associated with running a business (these are far too numerous to list)?

    Your cost estimates make absolutely no sense, which doesn't say much for your profit margin numbers. In any case, you can see their margins any time as they are public record -- if you're interested. I don't think that they're really relevant anyway. Even if RS could churn an hour of gameplay out at no cost to them, $1/hr of entertainment still sounds pretty sweet to me. I loved the last game and would gladly pay that for add-ons to something even better, especially if I don't have to go to a store (or wait for the mail to arrive) to get it.

    Think about how much you pay for a movie. $7 if you live out in the sticks, and $10+ in the city for a 90-120 minute feature. Best case scenario, you're still paying $3.50 for that same hour of entertainment. What about a DVD? How much does a roller coaster ride cost? I think that episodic gameplay still beats these in terms of value for entertainment. You might do better with a good album, since it may have some solid replayability -- but I can't think of much else that isn't free.

    My point wasn't that people shouldn't be able to charge whatever they want. My point was twofold. First, that I'm not going to pay that much for mere minutes of content, and second, that I don't think other people should either. You can think I'm wrong all you want, but I have just as much a right and reason to try and convince people not to fund this crap as the developers do to pull it.

    People do pay that much for mere minutes of content, and they don't have a problem with it. You probably pay more for less minutes of content right now. This sounds like sour grapes to me.

    --

    -Turkey

  100. wow, great, I'll have to pay M$ to play anything! by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 1

    Not just on 360, but on PCs too!

    I can see why it is M$ wet dream, but I don't like it.

    Sony lets developers run their own service, so you can play against people on the PC without having to pay anyone to do it. That sounds a lot better to me.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  101. Re:You know what that means? by zippthorne · · Score: 1

    No. They'll just ruin it.

    Why does Microsoft have to keep buying the games I enjoy (or think I'm going to enjoy), delay their development, and kill every innovative feature, proprietise and homogenize until I have no interest whatsoever.

    I remember playing tribes and drooling over the graphics and physics that were supposedly going to be in halo. Then Tribes 2 came out, and suddenly I didn't care. Finally Halo came out on a platform I didn't have anyway, looking very little like it had years before, and vastly less.. errr. vast than promised. I mean seriosly.. goldeneye-like controls, linear play? I shudder to think what they're going to do with rockstar's gem. Well at least there will be plenty of photoshoppy lens flare.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  102. haha you're a nigger! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a big fat amerinigger!

  103. deja vu by Ryunosuke · · Score: 1

    personally, i feel the reactions from slashdot users about a game a year+ in the future is better entertainment than news of *another* xbox-only game that will only be xbox only for a few months. I'll happily buy it after it's out on ps3, once the ps3's price isn't stupidly retarded. So, in 2008 when I'm buying GTA 4, I doubt any of us will even remember this thread. We'll be too busy bitching about the Wii 2 and the Xbox 360^2 and Halo 5.

  104. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Yeah, because that's what gets people excited about a new console. A controller.

    I don't care if the Wii operates by wireless brain-wave scanning. It's still mainly going to be used to throw pastel mushrooms at cartoon dinosaurs. I'll pass, thanks.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  105. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    I'm glad you enjoy GTA and Halo enough to make you want to buy a 360. But just because those are your favorite games doesn't mean that's the end of the console wars for the rest of us

    I must have missed the part where I said I was speaking for the universe.

    I'm just throwing in my $0.02 worth.

    I'm a (very) casual gamer, and the 360 has finally sparked my interest, when it had utterly failed to do so back on Launch Day.

    One person is hardly a statistically valid sample of general sentiment, but if my view of the 360 has changed, I might not be the only one who feels the same way.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  106. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    True, but you didn't mention it under your PS3 column ("Nothing is here)

    But nothing is here where the PS3 is concerned. There is no PS3 on the market yet. I wasn't making a point-by-point comparison of each console, so much as looking at the overall motivation for buying one at the moment.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  107. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    Yeah, because that's what gets people excited about a new console. A controller.

    But it's the only new thing in any of the consoles. All the others are the same as their last offering, with slightly better graphics - Nintendo is the only company offering something new.

    It's still mainly going to be used to throw pastel mushrooms at cartoon dinosaurs.

    Whatever dude - if you think that's all nintendo offers, then you really shouldn't be participating in a console discussion.

    --
    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  108. Missing the point as always by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's not about how much hardware you get per dollar. Speed/capability per dollar, PS3/360/Wii are all about the same because that's the reality of components and manufacturing.

    The point is, most of us don't have 1080p TV's with a massive sound system. Most of us don't have a need to watch bluray/HD-DVD movies, and won't want it until netflix start distributing it. And even then, we need 1080p to enjoy it.

    I don't want to spend an extra $200/$250 for hardware I don't need or want. I want to play games. Nintendo and, to a lesser degree, Microsoft get this.

    MS will be the real winner here. They get to keep the bad-ass hardware image with a close-to-Wii price. That's going to sell huge, especially with 720p sets hitting the sweet spot price point in the next 3-5 years. Look for a $50 price cut in November followed by some high quality 2nd gen games to compete with Wii and gut PS3.

    1. Re:Missing the point as always by awshux · · Score: 1

      Actually the point most people are missing is that Sony won't have GTA as an exclusive anymore to drive console sales. GTA3 was, without question, the title that drove more PS2 sales than any other. Thought MS was able to obtain the title later, the lack of GTA was a factor that tipped the mainstream balance of opinion. Remember the PS2 launch library was weak, and part of the reason GTA sold as well as it did was a lack of other titles to choose from. Console features aside, from a business perspective, MS just took away a tentpole from Sony.

      --
      It may look infected, but how does it feel?
  109. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by magicchex · · Score: 1
    At this point my concern would be elevated if I was a retailer. How does Gamestop get a cut of this? One thought is offeting kiosks with this stuff to download and Gamestop getting a certain cut. For those without an internet connection or who don't want to sit and wait 6 hours for a 400MB map pack to download, they can go to their local Gamestop and get it there locally.
    Last time I was in Gamestop, I noticed they had some sort of Nintendo DS "download station." I don't own a DS so I didn't really pay much attention but I wonder if this is something similar?
    --
    How many fulltime jobs can one man have?
  110. Grand Theft Auto by Holmesey · · Score: 1

    Well I feel that as Rockstar make more GTA's they get worse. I think that Vice City was good on X-Box but San Andreas is just a bit different. It didn't have a "great" storey line either. The GTA LCS on PSP was an excellent game. I felt that it was interesting, wasn't to much of a take off of GTA III (even though it was based on it) and had an excellent storey line. I hope that rockstar make a better game than GTA SA on the 360. Let me know what you think.....

    --
    Talk later, Holmesey For free Domain names, PSP's & I-Pod's click
    1. Re:Grand Theft Auto by ajdlinux · · Score: 1

      GTA has always been crap IMO. There are much better games out there that are clean with a better storyline.

  111. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by iainl · · Score: 1

    "Episodic content" for a game is just a fancy way of saying "Expansion pack", though. I really enjoyed GTA London, so I'm perfectly prepared to believe that such a thing will be worthwhile with this GTA as well.

    After all, it's hardly like San Andreas was a small game to start with.

    --
    "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
  112. Re:fuck you Zonk by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 1
    Hahaha, I've gone uphill eh? I'd love to just take that and run with it, but, sadly, I feel that's probably not true, or at least not the whole truth. I'm pretty sure Slashdot has gone downhill at least somewhat.

    In any case... in the end it's all good for a laugh. I'm sure it's pretty pathetic for us to still visit this site on a regular basis, nevermind posting on a regular basis. Pathetic I can handle though. At least I can admit when I'm wrong, and my opinions aren't set in stone in the face of overwhelming evidence against them. And even more important, IMO, is I don't make shit up because of some fuckin' insane need to have everyone agree with me.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
  113. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    But it's the only new thing in any of the consoles. All the others are the same as their last offering, with slightly better graphics - Nintendo is the only company offering something new.

    Yeah, and the only new thing about the PS2 & X-Box was the addition of a DVD player, while the Nintendo of that generation was the same as their previous offering, with slightly better graphics. So what?

    The purpose of a console generation update is to provide more raw horsepower for the next generation of games. The games are what make consoles worth owning, not gimmicks.

    if you think that's all nintendo offers, then you really shouldn't be participating in a console discussion.

    Lighten up, Francis. For somebody who spends most of his time trolling on the Mac threads, you really don't have much of a sense of humor about it when it's your ox being gored.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  114. Praise the Blue-Ray by WolfZombie · · Score: 1

    Allright, everyone get all hyped up that the PS3 has a Blue-Ray drive. Go ahead and make your decision about what format you want to win the format war, before the war begins. Last time I checked, I didn't see any HD-DVD or Blue-Ray discs for sale at my local Best Buy. Nor did I see any Blue-Ray or HD-DVD players. If you are buying the latest GAME CONSOLE for anything other than GAMES, you are not buying a GAME CONSOLE, you are looking for a MULTIMEDIA CONSOLE. From what I see, XBOX 360 will play all of my current movies, meaning I don't have to rebuy a single one. Factor that cost into the Blue-Ray on the PS3 and the cost just skyrocketed.
    I'm no Microsoft fan by any means, nor am I a Sony fan, but a little common sense in price battles never hurts.
    Besides, they are both too expensive for a console system anyway. Current generation consoles shouldn't go for more than $300 and should focus on GAMES. If I want all that other crap, I can buy additional devices at bargain prices when I need them. It's kind of like packaging milk with cookies at the grocery store, and not offering just cookies. Not everyone likes milk with their cookies.

  115. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "My point wasn't that people shouldn't be able to charge whatever they want."

    That's the stupidest statement ever. People should be able to charge whatever they want to. Of course if the price is too high no one buys, too low and there's no profits, so it's not to anyones benefit to have the wrong price...but it's their content they can sell it for whatever they want to.

  116. yes he does by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

    ...if they stop to think about it. He's not against expansion packs, he's against expansion packs that get broken up into "episodes" and sold for 10x the price of the same content in an expansion pack. If you've played San Andreas, imagine if it cost $5 to unlock each city and 50 cents for every mission...it'd be about a hundred bucks for the whole game.

    1. Re:yes he does by spideyct · · Score: 1

      What are you basing that conspiracy theory on? Where did you get pricing information?

      Consider that the game will be released for both XBOX and PlayStation. Are you suggesting that the shrinkwrap copy of the XBOX version will have features missing that the Sony version has? Or are you suggesting that Sony will only get half of the game (ever), and only XBOX users can get the complete game (by buying the episodic content)? Both scenarios sound farfetched to me.
      I think it is more likely that both the XBox and Sony shrinkwrap version will be complete games - with nothing "cut out" for the purpose of nickle and diming you later. However, after the game is complete and shipped, additional content will be developed, and only available on the XBox. The game as shipped, on both platforms, will stand on its own. Xbox owners will have the additional OPTION to get more content at a later date.

      I don't know any more than you do, but I strongly believe that is a much more likely scenario.
      If they ship a partial game on either platform, there will be a major (deserved) backlash. Is that really what you are suggesting they will do?

    2. Re:yes he does by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

      What are you basing that conspiracy theory on? Where did you get pricing information?

      For the same reason a can of pop costs you 65 cents from a pop machine but 25 cents apiece if you buy a case. It's basic economics, plus the well-known greed of big software publishers (I'm looking at you, EA).

      Are you suggesting that the shrinkwrap copy of the XBOX version will have features missing that the Sony version has?

      I was using San Andreas as a hypothetical example, Captain Obvious Guy. As for GTA 4, it looks to be a multiplatform release, but they've only talked about downloadable expansions for the 360.

  117. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by ivan256 · · Score: 1

    So...because other shops pay a dozen coders to churn out a mod, it makes this one just the same? What about the hollywood talent that they hire, does that come cheap? What about the major label music that they license, how much does that cost them? What about the other costs associated with a project like this (testers, project management, voice actors, graphics, etc)? What about their legal fees incurred in order to fight off the jokers who blame video games for violence? What about all of the other costs associated with running a business (these are far too numerous to list)?

    Your cost estimates make absolutely no sense, which doesn't say much for your profit margin numbers.


    Ok, you bought into their crap and you actually believe that they're creating suffcient 'new' stuff here to inflate the costs. You're wrong because they don't actually generate any of the new expensive in any of these types of add-ons that I've seen so far, but OK, you believe it.

    That still doesn't make it a good value. When I said $1/hr I was being generous. That's the *best case scenario*. Would you still consider $2 for 10 minutes a good value? Those types of these things exist too.

    Everything else I would say to you I've already said in another post.

    Also, I could care less what it costs to go see a movie, because that has exceeded my cost tolerance years ago, and I don't go anymore. And Hollywood talent and pop music in video games is a stupid waste of money in most cases. You can make a case for the music in some games, but there are plenty of talented voice actors who would kill for a job that there is no need to pay a name premium. You can't name a single game that would have suffered for lack of hollywood star level voice talent (If you think you can, you'd be wrong), and I could name a dozen - two from the last year - that suffered because they cast a name over an appropriate voice.

  118. XBOX 360 still an eBay exclusive by Fatal+Darkness · · Score: 1

    I still won't be buying an XBOX 360. Until I have the convenience of being able to go to the store and grab one off of the shelf, and there is at least more than one game I'm interesting in playing available for it, I'm not interested.

    For that matter, the $500 price on the PS3 is the price to eBay sellers who will be camping out and buying every unit available (all 10 or so) during the first few months of its release. The general public can expect to pay much more per unit.

  119. Further Clarification by LionMage · · Score: 1
    From everything we've been told, HDMI is required for the Blu-Ray DRM, which means if you buy a core PS3, you can't watch movies (or perhaps you can only watch them in stadard def, i'm not quite sure).

    My understanding is that Blu-Ray (and for that matter, HD-DVD) will only downgrade analog outputs to standard def if the disc contains ICT, or Image Constraint Token. Because a lot of early adopters of HDTV don't even have HDMI inputs, only component video inputs, many early Blu-Ray movies will not have ICT; this is a concession the movie studios are making to early HD adopters. (HD-DVD movies in the first generation will also be missing ICT, for the same reason.) I believe Sony Pictures made an announcement along these lines for the Blu-Ray movies they'll be releasing in the first batch.
  120. Blu-Ray is for more than movies by LionMage · · Score: 1
    why is the base model not a decent blu ray player?

    That's assuming the lack of HDMI is a big deal, which it might not be since many movie studios aren't including ICT on their discs. But regardless, this isn't the only reason to put a Blu-Ray drive in the PS3.

    Sony fully intends to leverage the storage capacity of BD-ROM, the Blu-Ray disc storage format, for PS3 games. This means more in-game content and more high-res textures.
    1. Re:Blu-Ray is for more than movies by joshsisk · · Score: 1

      True - but unless a game is just HD cinematics, I think HD-DVD has more than enough space for plenty of in-game content and textures... especially if that means the console is $100 or more cheaper.

      We'll see what happens, but I can't imagine the PS3 will have as quick an adoption as the PS2 at twice the price for the full version.

  121. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by j-turkey · · Score: 1
    Ok, you bought into their crap and you actually believe that they're creating suffcient 'new' stuff here to inflate the costs. You're wrong because they don't actually generate any of the new expensive in any of these types of add-ons that I've seen so far, but OK, you believe it.

    I haven't seen any reason to disbelieve Rockstar. Maybe others have bungled the job, but why should anyone else's performance reflect on Rockstar? I'm not sure why you keep jumping to these "you're wrong" conclusions. How can either of us possibly be right or wrong when neither of us have seen any episodic content for this game/series?

    I read the other post that you linked me to, and your cost estimates are still wildly speculative. They do not hold any ground in the real world. If you want to read about their P&L (and gobs of other information), check out Edgar for their SEC filings. They're also available by searching on Yahoo finance. Stop with the BS speculation on what you think talent costs and what you think it costs to run a company and instead, do some real research and read up on what it did cost.

    Also, I could care less what it costs to go see a movie, because that has exceeded my cost tolerance years ago, and I don't go anymore.

    But enough people still go to the movies that it's highly profitable. It's not important until you're part of a larger group that makes movies less profitable. You're not there yet.

    And Hollywood talent and pop music in video games is a stupid waste of money in most cases. You can make a case for the music in some games, but there are plenty of talented voice actors who would kill for a job that there is no need to pay a name premium. You can't name a single game that would have suffered for lack of hollywood star level voice talent (If you think you can, you'd be wrong)

    Again with the right and wrong based merely upon speculation -- it's nonsensical. In any case, I thought that using Samuel jackson and Chris Penn as the first two voice actors in GTA:SA was a really nice touch. I recgonized them right away, and liked it -- I didn't mind paying for that. The fact that you don't care is only a matter of opinion, and I have a feeling that the market disagrees with you. Similarly, RS chose to use major label music. I also miss the days of cheap music in games, but RS took a different angle, and I also felt that it was a nice touch. Again, given the number of people who bought the game, the market seems to disagree with you. What other games have had a major label music selection as wide as the GTA series? You suggest that it's old news and it's been done over and over.

    You are consistently confusing fact with opinion. You're coming off as neither credible nor mature with the I'm-right-you're-wrong stuff. It's difficult to have a discussion (not an argument) when someone is trying so hard to be right or wrong. If you want to discuss this further, I'd be glad to. However, if you want to continue to be confrontational and rude, I'll wish you the best and politely be on my way.

    --

    -Turkey

  122. Sorry. you suck at the internet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've put some of the words above in all caps. You should pay special attention to those, because you have obviously missed the point.

    I thought the reason you did that is because you presented an ineffective argument. Why make a GOOD point when you can EMPHASIZE your SLOPPY ONE?

    1. Re:Sorry. you suck at the internet. by Ghostx13 · · Score: 1

      And why post under a username when you can hide behind AC?

  123. Re:You know what that means? by deinol · · Score: 1

    One person is hardly a statistically valid sample of general sentiment, but if my view of the 360 has changed, I might not be the only one who feels the same way.

    You are right. And I didn't particularly meant to rant really at you specifically. It's just so often I see posts where someone has decided that Console A is the best because it has X, Y, and Z on it, and they forget that there is a wide variety in taste out there. I like that there is such a variety of games for all platforms, even if many don't catch my interest for too long.

    My own $0.02.

    --
    Got Apathy?
  124. Re:They can stick their 'episodic content' up thei by ivan256 · · Score: 1

    Again with the right and wrong based merely upon speculation -- it's nonsensical. In any case, I thought that using Samuel jackson and Chris Penn as the first two voice actors in GTA:SA was a really nice touch. I recgonized them right away, and liked it -- I didn't mind paying for that. The fact that you don't care is only a matter of opinion, and I have a feeling that the market disagrees with you. Similarly, RS chose to use major label music. I also miss the days of cheap music in games, but RS took a different angle, and I also felt that it was a nice touch.

    GTA:SA was one of those games where the music was justified. They were trying to portray a real-world time period. It was necessary. You'll get no disagreement from me for that game regarding music. Would changing the music to something cheaper have made it a lesser game that would have actually sold less copies? Probably.

    Would having used talented, but not recognisable voice actors that wouldn't have cost percentage points of the games development budget have made it a lesser game? To the point where you wouldn't have gotten that two second twang of recognition, perhaps, but on the whole, no. Would it have made it such that it actually sold less copies? I'd bet a big pile of cash that difference in sales would have been statistically insignifigant. The only games where the celebrity voice talent is a driving force for sales are typically the ones that aren't worth playing. If they were, they'd have sold regardless.

    Am I speculating as to what episodic content from Rockstar is going to look like? Hell, yes, but considering what platform they're targeting the content at, and what all the other such content so far on Microsoft's platform has been, they don't get the benefit of the doubt. My default position is that it's going to be like all the rest of it, and I'll be surprised (pleasently) if it's otherwise. I'm not sure why you think Rockstar is deserving of any different treatment than other developers though. If anything I'd be *more* skeptical of them. Look at their history as a development company. The only games they have put out that have a high standard of quality come from thrid parties that they purchased. The games that come from/came from what was originally Rockstar have a notoriously low quality level (ever play Midnight Club? Summoner? Whatever the name of that dune buggy game was...?), and even with the stuff they bought like DMA Design's GTA3 series, they've shown they're not above rehashing it haphazardly and slapping a full pricetag on it (witness Liberty City Stories for the PSP). No, I'm not convinced that when Rockstar says 'episodic content' they don't mean the same thing that every other Xbox publisher has meant when they said it: Expansion content in little pieces for too much money.

    You are consistently confusing fact with opinion.

    You're confusing speculative analysis with opinion. You'll be hard pressed to find things in my previous posts in this thread that aren't at the very least educated guesses. You say I guessed at what talent costs/did cost, but I didn't pull most of those numbers out of my ass, and the ones I did were generously conservative. I'm not some kid off the street. I have first hand knowledge of the economics of the game industry.

    You, like most people I try to discuss this with, take the developers perspective and assume that the only argument that can be made is from their profitability standpoint. I won't argue that this content isn't a profitable business practice for developers (though I may argue that other practices might be more profitable even if they don't have as high a price tag), or that developers are unjustified in trying to wring out every last cent they can from their potential customers. My argument is merely that it is a marketing gimmick to get a lot more money for the same amount of stuff, that they've exceeded my price threshold, and that it makes me mad because it doesn't decrease my desire for the product but only my w

  125. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    Yeah, and the only new thing about the PS2 & X-Box was the addition of a DVD player, while the Nintendo of that generation was the same as their previous offering, with slightly better graphics. So what?

    No, the PS2's graphics were an enormous improvement over the PS1, the xbox was ms's first offering, so can't be compared to its predecessor.

    The N64 wasn't particularly special, but I think the graphics improvements over the snes were far larger then the gap for this generation of consoles.

    The purpose of a console generation update is to provide more raw horsepower for the next generation of games. The games are what make consoles worth owning, not gimmicks.

    I absolutely agree with you the games are what make consoles worth owning, not gimmicks - I don't agree with you however that raw horsepower makes a good game.

    Additionally, (as I said), I don't think (certainly for the xbox, probably for the wii, I'll reserve judgement on the ps3) that this generation of consoles offer much of a graphical improvement over the last.

    That's why I'm interested in the wii - it's the only console offering something that really distinguishes from the previous generation.

    Lighten up, Francis. For somebody who spends most of his time trolling on the Mac threads, you really don't have much of a sense of humor about it when it's your ox being gored.

    Is Francis an insult or someone you think I am? But you're quite right - I shouldn't have attacked you like that. It's your right to think all nintendo produces is hello kitty games or whatever.

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    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  126. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    The N64 wasn't particularly special, but I think the graphics improvements over the snes

    Whoops, substitue gamecube for n64 & n64 for snes.

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    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
  127. Re:You know what that means? by Golias · · Score: 1

    Is Francis an insult or someone you think I am?

    If the quote "lighten up, Francis" is too obscure of a pop-culture reference for you, then I'm guessing you're either very young or else you simply don't get out much.

    It's your right to think all nintendo produces is hello kitty games or whatever.

    I never said that. And furthermore, if that was what I thought, I'd probably want one.

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    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

  128. Re:You know what that means? by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 1

    If the quote "lighten up, Francis" is too obscure of a pop-culture reference for you, then I'm guessing you're either very young or else you simply don't get out much.

    Oh right. Sorry for not immediately picking up the reference to that Ivan Reitman classic 'Stripes'. Truly - an amazing work, I'm amazed that people don't reference it more often.

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    There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.