Search Results

Aside from World of Warcraft, the biggest MMO of 2007 and so far this year isn’t one you would name off the top of your head. According to the author of an article up on Eurogamer; it’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. The piece goes on to defend the position that although CoD4 isn’t an MMO in the strictest sense of the definition, it does share many of the same gameplay elements that typify an MMO.

Call of Duty 4 proves that it’s possible to take some of the things that MMOs do right and distil them for a game that wouldn’t traditionally be seen as an MMO. The potency of the idea, even in this form, is obvious; the drive to play just a little bit more, because there’s a reward waiting just up ahead, is an incredibly powerful and addictive force for players

I can actually agree with the author on most of his points, and the idea isn’t one that hasn’t been presented before. The success of MMOs is changing the way traditional video games are being designed. One of the latest examples of this trend is the multi-player mode in RockStar’s Grand Theft Auto IV. I think we’re going to see the games industry moving ever closer to this formula as gamers demand more of a social element to their gaming experience.

via Eurogamer

If you found this story interesting, why not subscribe to our RSS feed to get your daily fix of gaming news?

For the most part, executives from Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo don’t usually have too harsh of words for one another; they’ll talk up their respective consoles quite a bit, but that’s usually the extent of it. But that’s not always the case, as we learned from a new Destructoid interview with Aaron Greenberg, the director of product management for Xbox 360 and Live.

The interview focused on the success of Grand Theft Auto IV, and while Greenberg took a veiled shot at Sony for the problems that have been reported with the online play on PS3, he didn’t say much until he was asked about the PS3’s 2008 prospects. Destructoid asked if Greenberg thought that the 360 had enough to fend off the PS3 and its growing momentum with MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2, and Home.

[D]idn’t Sony promise all of this last year including Home as well? We have been fighting Sony’s promises from the day we entered the market and if you remember at that time it was all about PS2 being an online cybercity with partner announcements from the likes of RealNetworks and AOL. Then three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door. Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that has appears to have little to no buzz. Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Where are all the other products using and networking with their CELL chip? How come Blu-ray did not result in better games? What happened with Sixaxis and rumble? Where is the complete 1080p game library we were promised? If Blu-ray as they said would be such a catalyst to PS3 console sales, then why have PS3 sales over the past couple months not seen any lift since the format victory?

There are indeed inaccuracies in there; it’s only been a little over a year since Home was unveiled, and the PS3 has outsold the 360 most months this year, even in the US. He does raise some good points as well, but I mean, jeeze — do you really peg this as something you’d hear an executive say publicly?

Both Microsoft and Game|Life have each compiled interesting lists focused on numbers surrounding the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. So if either numbers or GTA isn’t your thing, you should probably just move on.

According to Microsoft’s US team:

• Actual MS sales data from last week shows Xbox 360 console sales at retail went up 54% week-over-week as a result of GTA’s success
• According to retailers more than 60% of all GTA games sold in the first week were the Xbox 360 version
• Retailers are telling us that the game is attaching strongly to new console sales, with roughly 40% of new consoles selling with a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV

As for Xbox Live:

• In the first week, more than 2.3 million people played Grand Theft Auto IV on Xbox Live
• GTA IV is now the number one played game on Xbox Live
• Over the weekend, we saw the Xbox Live service reach 1 million concurrent users
• Gamers have unlocked more than 12 million achievements worth over 100 million gamerscore points in GTA
• Grand Theft Auto IV set a new record for time played, with the average gamer spending more than four hours playing the game on Live in the first week alone

And some of the random facts Game|Life has compiled:

• Damages sought by Take-Two after GTA IV ads were pulled from Chicago buses: $300,000
• Steps included in official fix for PlayStation 3 issues: 12
• Current Metacritic rating: 99
• Restraining orders filed against the game: 1

The numbers don’t really lie, so it’s fun to take a look at them and try to crunch some of these numbers. And to think, the game’s only been out for a little over a week.

I didn’t read into Realtime Worlds’ decision to buy back the rights to All Points Bulletin; it simply sounded like they wanted to have full control over the game, which I imagine is something many developers would like. But a tasty rumor has surfaced that seems too good to be true — Eurogamer has been told by what they refer to as a “credible industry source” that the reason Realtime Worlds bought back the rights to APB was so they could try to sell it to Rockstar as GTA Online.

Realtime Worlds, the developer of Crackdown, has pretty strong ties to Rockstar. It was founded by David Jones, who was formerly the founder of DMA Design, which you might recognize as the former name of the developer now known as Rockstar North, which of course developed Grand Theft Auto. Funny the way things work out, isn’t it?

When contacted, Realtime Worlds claimed they had never heard of this rumor and claimed that they reacquired the rights to APB only to “give themselves some options.” The spokesperson explained, “One of which is to launch it and support it themselves, and the other one is to look for another partner; someone else who may well be interested and have the infrastructure [to support it].”

Rockstar has yet to issue any comment on the rumor, but it’s unlikely they’ll give anything more than a classy “no comment.” We do know Rockstar is interested in a GTA MMO, so the pieces certainly seem to fit together. APB looks pretty awesome, so if that turned into GTA Online, you wouldn’t hear a complaint out of me.

Rockstar has the new Grand Theft Auto IV patch 1.0.1 up. There’s no official patch notes to go by at this time. However, word out is that it will most effect multiplayer. Some gamers are happy to now be able to get online with their PS3. However, there still some complaints with type 2 freeze. It seems there are a lot of mixed results being reported, but really if you want to play online with your PS3, you have no choice but to patch.

via US Playstation Boards - GTA 4 Patch 

Take-Two said today that Grand Theft Auto IV has surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value. Released just a week and one day ago, GTA IV has sold approximately 6 million units globally with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million in the first week. The game sold approximately 3.6 million units on its opening day with a retail value of approximately $310 million globally.Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick sounds practically beaming when he states the following:

“We knew Grand Theft Auto IV would break new ground in terms of the player’s experience, with its compelling story line, extraordinary gameplay and action that ranges over a broad urban canvas. Now, it has broken sales and rating records as well. Grand Theft Auto IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date. We congratulate the entire Rockstar team on creating a must-have experience that takes the legendary Grand Theft Auto franchise to a new level.”

Ben Feder, Take-Two’s Executive Officer went on to say:

“Rockstar’s goal is to make each new title in the Grand Theft Auto franchise even better than those that preceded it, and Grand Theft Auto IV is a smashing success on that score. Grand Theft Auto IV makes full use of the power of next generation technology, and offers players an experience unique in the interactive entertainment medium. This game sets a new standard in the industry, with critics hailing it as both an artistic and technological masterpiece.”

We all knew it would sell well, so this news just basically stated the obvious, but $500 million dollars is pretty darn awesome nonetheless. Plus, thanks to this wonderful bit of cash, stock in Take-Two was up $0.29 (cents) to $26.35 as of Tuesday.

Via: Press Release

We know that Electronic Arts was likely trying to take advantage of the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV with the timing of its acquisition attempts. We know that Take-Two was holding off so that they could take advantage of the higher stock values that would undoubtedly come when GTA IV launched. Now that Take-Two’s stock has risen to $26.63, which is slightly higher than the $26 offer EA had made, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said in a statement that the increase “vindicates our strategy of waiting until the launch with regard to EA’s offer.”

On the other hand, EA’s Jeff Brown doesn’t believe the change is unexpected and doesn’t really make a difference in his company’s offer to acquire Take-Two. He explained, “We’ve seen a share price above and below our offer and it doesn’t change anything. All of that was factored into our offer of $2 billion.”

A New York Times story infers the two different effects that the increase could have on negotiations between the two companies. Both of them seem quite realistic, so it’s difficult to make an accurate prediction about which way things will turn out.

On one hand, the relatively modest increase in Take-Two’s shares could prompt Electronic Arts and Take-Two to act quickly. Take-Two would theoretically do so because it’s not sure how much more it can expect shares to rise in the short term, and would do so because Electronic Arts can justify to its own shareholders a price increase, given that its current offer is below market.

On the other hand, the increase in Take-Two’s stock could serve to greatly prolong talk of an acquisition. Take-Two might feel the market is just beginning to validate its business and that the stock is only just starting to rise. But Electronic Arts could be intent on sticking with its price and feel that the longer it waits, the more the enthusiasm spawned by GTA IV’s introduction will wear off.

I remain hopeful that Take-Two withstands EA’s attempts, if only to save the NBA 2K series. EA murdered my favorite football franchise, and I’m not going to be pleased if they do the same to my favorite basketball franchise.

via Game|Life

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that achievements would be a big hit in the 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV; to me, it’s even one of the selling points right behind the exclusive DLC. But it’s interesting to now try and wrap your head around a figure that Major Nelson revealed in his most recent podcast — in just 24 hours, two million achievements worth 15 million Gamerpoints were unlocked in Grand Theft Auto IV alone.

Wow.

Major Nelson has promised more numbers like this in the future, which would be much more interesting to look at if he would also reveal the numbers behind some other big games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 so that we can compare. Even without it, it’s incredible to think that little pop-up came up two million times because of a single game in a single day. Incredible.via 1UP / image via Media Inside

While I plan on writing a long feature to disagree with Ron’s assessment that GTA IV isn’t the type of game that deserves a 10/10 score, I’ve yet to see anyone criticize the game’s soundtrack. And how could they? With 214 songs and some brilliant writing, it’s perhaps the most flawless aspect of the game. MTV’s Stephen Totilo seems to agree, and he recently spoke with Rockstar’s Ivan Pavlovich, who was in charge of the game’s soundtrack.

Pavlovich explained the difficulties with licensing hip-hop music – there are so many people involved, which make the songs much more difficult to get the rights to. Just check out the last few pages of the game’s manual for an idea of the hurdles involved with assembling the game’s soundtrack.

Design breakthroughs presented some new opportunities. “This is the first GTA where you can actually find out what song you’re listening to while you’re playing the game,” Pavlovich explained, noting that all a player needs to do is send a text message from GTA IV protagonist Niko Bellic’s in-game cell phone to get a text back with the info. A Rockstar-run Web site called the Rockstar Social Club can even track players’ favorite songs and direct them to a custom Amazon.com playlist where they can buy the music. (The developers had considered letting Niko go to an in-game music store but scrapped that.) Also new: The songs in the soundtrack don’t always play in a set order anymore. Many of the stations randomize the playing order. There are even multiple DJ intros to songs, just to mix things up.

One thing Pavlovich wasn’t aware of was the exact design decision that ruled out an in-game MP3 player. It’s really too bad, as it would’ve been great to listen to the radio even on foot, but it’s not like it’s all that difficult to jack a vehicle.

It is called Grand Theft Auto, after all.

As things stand, there are no plans to bring the co-op friendly zombie shooter Left 4 Dead to any platform aside from PCs and Xbox 360. If you’re wondering why that is, Valve’s Doug Lombardi put it quite simply: they’re “not PS3 developers.”

Lombardi explained, “EA came to us and said ‘Wow, Orange Box was an incredible project, can we do a PS3 version?’”  But while games like Half-Life and Team Fortress already have an established name, Left 4 Dead is a completely new IP, so it’s not guaranteed to sell like a new Half-Life game. “Left 4 Dead doesn’t have that guaranteed appeal yet - it’s a new IP,” Lombardi told CVG.

“If you mention a new Half-Life, people want to make as many versions of it as possible. If Left 4 Dead is big, then we may see a PS3 version later, or if and when we do a sequel, people may be more interested in that.

“We’re only 150 people, so there’s only so many things we can do. But it’s one of those things with partners, wanting to take on that investment and risk. I think until L4D is proven, you’ll probably just see what we make in that franchise.”

If Left 4 Dead proves to be a success EA seems like a potential suitor to port the game to PS3. As for the game being successful, let’s be realistic – a co-op zombie game on 360/a shooter developed by Valve on PC is about as much of a formula for success as you can have without naming your game Halo or Grand Theft Auto.

Should EA handle the port, though, let’s hope it’s less shoddy than that Orange Box port.

An annoyed female has thrown down on men and the lengths they go to get and play video games. Apparently the release of Grand Theft Auto IV has La’Juanda Knight up in arms with “grown ass men” indulging in this particular form of entertainment. I had to share this with all of you men out there, because I find it sad, offensive and hilarious all at the same time.

It seems that her main problem with video games is that men choose games over time spent doing something else. Her diatribe includes waiting in long lines, scheduling time to play, taking days off work to play and ignoring family members during game time. She’s infuriated with coming home to a gathering of guys watching someone play a game and is absolutely incensed with being asked to spend time with “her man ” (gotta love the possessive nature of that statement) watching him play. She also complains about men staying up late playing instead of doing something “constructive.” Like what? Drinking, scoring drugs, trolling for hookers or stepping out with a mistress? I can think of many past times that are worse than video games.

Read the full article

GameCritics has a piece up on Grand Theft Auto IV commenting on the role of parenting in enforcing Mature rated Videogames. The article doesn’t spare any feelings or give a political correct treatment to the subject, which is why I feel it’s worth reading.

To all the ignorant adults, pandering politicians and neglectful parents who rail against the ‘evil’ games industry for turning America’s naïve offspring into Columbine clones and sexual deviants, the answer is simple—

Don’t let your kids play this game.

As a parent of a miniature clone army myself and an owner of GTA4, I agree whole heartedly. It’s every parent’s right to choose what their kids can and can’t consume; whether your talking food, drugs, books, tv, movies or videogames. I personally keep the game away from my kids and will not play it while they’re in the room. Is it convenient? No. But it’s conscientious parenting.

Adults have the right to adult entertainment. Those parents too lazy, busy or what ever their excuse is to pay enough attention to their kids to guide them as they mature have no one to blame, especially not the gaming industry, if their little darlings turn into criminals.

Unfortunately I fear this article will only be read by the educated, like minded individuals and miss the ignorant masses it’s aimed at.

via GameCritics.com 

We’ve all been watching the hoopla surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV this week. Heck, you can’t avoid watching it. It’s everywhere.

Like most of you, I made my way over to a local retailer Tuesday and picked up my copy. I brought it home, sat through the 4GB install on my PS3, and then leapt in. Judging from the perfect scores that have been thrown at this game like panties at a Wayne Newton concert, I expected to be completely blown away.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t. In fact, I was amazed how much like the previous editions of GTA it was. Now, I’m not one for messing up a good thing. The truth is that I like GTA IV, just as I’ve enjoyed previous iterations of the series. The problem is that it’s receiving perfect scores for a less than perfect game.

Grand Theft Auto IV is basically GTA III with a new character, a lot more voice acting, and an admittedly stunning graphics makeover. It really does little to nothing new, and leaves me wondering if perhaps the preview copies came with some sort of awesome swag we should know about.

This is why I distrust rating systems for games. Games like GTA IV (and Halo 3, etc…) are hyped into the stratosphere, given perfect scores, and then at release are found to be good, but not the shining gem of perfection we were all led to expect. Why can’t people just be content to say something like, “Wow, this game is pretty good, and it’s fun, but it’s really just the same old GTA again. I’d give it a nine.”

No, they have to spout off about how glorious it is, and wax eloquent about its majesty, only to leave us who didn’t play it prior to release feeling somehow slighted by the actual game we receive. Therein lies the tragedy: A good game leaves the gamer feeling somehow cheated because he isn’t experiencing the rapture the previewer obviously did.

Let me reassure you that GTA IV is a good game, even an excellent one. It’s just not perfect, and therefore, not a ten.

At a recent campaign stop in Indiana, presidential candidate Barack Obama mentioned the media fervor surrounding GTA IV’s release. Naturally he used the subject to awkwardly segue into the issue of children spending more time on entertainment than education:

I was just catching the news this morning about Grand Theft Auto, this video game, which is gonna break all records and make goo-gobs of money for whoever designed it. Now, this isn’t intended for kids, although I promise you there are kids who are playing it, but these video games are raising our kids…Across the board, middle-class, upper-class, working-class kids, they’re spending a huge amount of their time not on their studies, but on entertainment. And so part of our job is going to have to be to inspire the entire country to say, ‘How are we giving our kids a thirst for knowledge?’ And turning off the TV set, and getting them to be engaged and interested, like their future really does matter on how well they do in school.”

So, as usual, his problem is more with people concentrating on video games as opposed to their education. Frankly, he’s kind of got a point. Just try having any sort of educated conversation on Xbox Live.

Via GamePolitics

The last time I heard from the “Etch-a-Sketchist” it was when he crafted an image of Master Chief on the iconic toy around the time of the Halo 3 launch. So it’s only natural that he would create a GTA IV-related picture to mark this year’s biggest video game release so far. As you can see, he chose to recreate the game’s cover art using his favorite medium. It’s pretty impressive, and I seriously do not have the patience or motor skills to make anything like this.

Via Etch-a-Sketchist Blog

As Jonathan reported yesterday, no new Xbox Live Arcade games were released today, thanks to Grand Theft Auto IV’s release yesterday. The day after Halo 3 was released we also saw an XBLA release of Jack Squat, so today’s lack of any releases doesn’t come as much of a surprise. After a rocky start to the whole Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday campaign, we’ve had just four weeks (not including today) since August that didn’t bring any new games – and that was due to new games becoming Arcade Hits, Undertow being temporarily released for free, or Halo 3’s release. So I won’t go too hard on Microsoft.

What you can find new on the Xbox Live Marketplace today is a totally free Dr. Pepper theme! Please, hold your applause, because there’s more. A bunch of Turok themes have also been released (although they’ll run you the ridiculous standard price of 150 Microsoft Points each), a free F-16C -PJ Emblem- download for Ace Combat 6 owners, an Alone in the Dark trailer, and some sort of Raving Rabbids invasion of Chessmaster Live that will run you 150 points. I have no idea what it’s all about, but I’m jealous that Chessmaster gets it and not Spyglass Board Games.

You may now resume your regularly scheduled GTA session.

These always seem to kick up plenty of dust. But for all the fanboy arguments they cause, they’re interesting to watch so you can get an idea of what the same game looks like on the two different systems.

While there’s clearly a difference between the 360 and PS3 versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, I can’t really say that there’s a better version (in terms of visuals) between the two. It all comes down to a matter of color palettes and what your personal preference is.

The important thing, though, is that you’re getting a really sweet game that’s up to the visual par no matter what system you get it on.

via 1UP

I imagine most people are going to be busy with Grand Theft Auto today, but that didn’t stop Harmonix from doing their weekly Rock Band DLC thing. Three new songs are now available, each for 160 Microsoft Points.

• “Zero” - Smashing Pumpkins
• “Red Tandy” - The Mother Hips
• “Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear” - The Mother Hips

Is anyone going to be tearing themselves away from GTA IV to download any of these? Personally, it would have taken the very top of my wishlist to manage that task, and it’s not often that there’s even so much as a single song released that I’m all that excited about, and this week is no different.

While I’m working behind-the-scenes at FileFront & Gaming Today, I use twitter on a daily basis since I find it’s a great way to get to know people from the gaming community without actually chatting with them. During my day, I get twitters from hundreds of people. The things I read vary from simple daily going-ons, to more specific comments or ideas about gaming. One discussion in particular got me thinking. Should GTA IV be a rental or a purchase?

I personally have been a member of GameFly and other services similar to it, and I enjoyed the service until they cancelled my subscription due to too many games gone missing. That isn’t the issue here though. The reason why I decided to write this article to address a very popular trend among people who rent games: Renting GTA IV or triple-A titles altogether.

Read the full article

It might seem like a strange concept, but in a post on Level Up, Keith Boesky provided some interesting insight into the public’s perception of gaming, and how we’re all to blame.

It could be the misconception that games are only for kids, combined with the sophisticated and sometimes violent content contained in games aimed at the average player–who happens to be 33 years old. Looking at trailers from Grand Theft Auto IV will provide no greater understanding of the feel of playing the game, or its contextual violence, than looking at a medley of death scenes from “The Sopranos” communicates the familial bond portrayed on the show. “The Sopranos” was not for kids and was not written as if it were. But if the public thought it was available on the Disney channel, they would be upset.

I think I am on to something. The majority of the public does not know what is in a game, or what goes into making one, but they still think we sell mature content to kids.

He draws some interesting parallels between the two subjects that certainly make it worth a read if you’re interested in seeing this industry make any sort of move in the general direction of respect. He’s by no means equating the games industry to the porn industry, but by all outward appearances, how is the general public NOT supposed to look at the two in the same light?

If nothing else, it’s some interesting food for thought.