GTA IV Information Leaked From Game Informer

The next issue of Game Informer magazine has been scanned and submitted to the legions of eager GTA fans out there. Right there on the cover is the mook from the GTA IV trailer, and the British Gaming Blog has a synopsis of the information passed around in the scans. "The game will only take place in a single city, so Rockstar has taken out aircraft to give the city a more realistic feel. Motorbikes however, are firmly engraved in the Grand Theft Auto formula, and will be present in IV. With the 2007, present day time scale, the radio station will have a lot in common with GTA 3 or Saints Row; not so much bands and songs you know well, but with modern music conventions that give an air of authenticity. Also like THQ's Saints Row, the game will load when you power up the game, and then never again; even breaks from internal to external locations are gone." Though I'm sure it's less interesting to you than the Game Informer information, GameDaily has comments from Take-Two as the company tries to shake off its recent problems. The money phrase from new chairman Strauss Zelnick: 'GTA is Our James Bond'.

Comments

The thing about NYC

[fistfullast33l]

is the scale - so many people don't realize how huge NYC really is when you include all 5 boroughs. If the idea of other cities is dropped for Staten Island (difficult because you can't really get there directly from Manhattan by car) and even outer Brooklyn/Queens and the Bronx, you'll have a ton of real estate to cover. Almost to the point where I doubt they'll be able to do even close to 1:1 scale. I would venture that the game would have to be about the size of Oblivion (possibly a little smaller) to achieve that. The thing that gives Oblivion a truly large feel is the fact that you don't have a fast car, you have a moderately fast horse or slow walking, so it seems bigger than it really is.

Re:The thing about NYC

[Kelbear]

True Crime: Streets of NYC may have tried to mimic NYC's streets like True Crime: Streets of LA.

However, GTAIV is not set in NYC, it's set in Liberty City, an imaginary city that's just taking thematic inspirations from existing cities.

Jack Thompson wins

[User 956]

Rockstar has taken out aircraft to give the city a more realistic feel.

and not at all because they're worried some press wanker will call it a "terrorism simulator".

If you remember, aircraft were cut from GTAIII (also set in "new york") for a similar reason, since the game came out pretty soon after 9/11.

Re:Jack Thompson wins

[User 956]

Except, of course, that GTAIII had aircraft. Actually taking off and flying the Dodo was somewhat impractical, but possible.

Yeah, it was possible, but difficult to fly the airplane with no wings. They clipped the wings for the aforementioned reason (9/11 paranoia), and removed the mission(s) that were slated to have used the plane in its full form.

That's completely different from the range of civilian/military aircraft available in later games, especially San Andreas. There's no reason they couldn't include similar aircraft GTA4, even just as a fun easter-egg, unless, of course, they're bending to pressure from outside forces (like Thompson, Lieberman, and so on).

Missing the open environments

[drinkypoo]

I think that the lack of the open environments is going to get tired quickly. Driving around at high speeds is one of my favorite things to do. The other is fly around cities in the helicopters, which is also going away. I guess I don't need to run out and buy an Xbox 360, I can wait for this one to hit PC.

Re:Missing the open environments

[ShawnMcCool42]

And of course you're ignoring anything else new that this game may offer.

Re:Missing the open environments

[Lightwarrior]

You're acting like a troll and you got what you deserve.

Original quote:
"The game will only take place in a single city, so Rockstar has taken out aircraft to give the city a more realistic feel."

The uber-parent said (paraphrased):
"One of my favorite things to do in GTA games is to fly around cities in the helicopters, which is going away."

I asked him where it said they were removing helicopters - which I thought was quite reasonable - and you embarked on this literal crusade. Helicopters have been in the GTA series since at least GTA3, regardless of whether you could fly them. The article makes it sound like all aircraft has been removed, including police helicopters. You stated that your copy "had no helicopters", which is blatantly wrong, and you threw in an ad hominem to boot.

So let's recap:
The article says there are no aircraft because the game's play area has been reduced in size from San Andreas.
drinkypoo lamented that one of his favorite things to do in GTA games is fly around in helicopters.
I ask where it's explicitly stated that helicopters are removed, since even the smallest GTA game has had them.
You incorrectly state that GTA3 had no helicopters, and begin acting like an ass.
I point out how you're wrong.
You flame in response, and are modded accordingly.

Regardless of how you interpret the article, and spin "there were no helicopters in GTA3", there *were* vehicles capable of flight in the smallest of the GTA games. Toss in that helicopters have played a major role in GTAs since the third, *and* that they were flyable in the smaller-than-SA VC... doesn't it seem a little more likely that "Rockstar has taken out aircraft" means "no player-flyable planes" than "no literal-definition-of-aircraft in the game, regardless of how the player can interact with them"?

I found a new music genre...

[LanMan04]

GTA3's "K-Jah" radio station introduced me to both Dub and Scientist, and I have been a huge fan of both the artist and the genre ever since. Heck, I would sit around just listening to that station on the game while not even playing it. Then I figured out who Scientist is and started getting real albums...

On a related note, WipeOut XL (Wipeout 2097 for you non-Americans) introduced me to and got me hooked on techno (more specifically Big Beat) back in 1996, which eventually turned into a love-affair with all kinds of electronic music.

I love it when games change my life.

And all this time I was figuring...

[pushing-robot]

GTA: Baghdad.

I mean, think about it.