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.

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Strategy guide publisher BradyGames today announced that it has been working exclusively with Rockstar Games on the GTA IV Official Strategy Guide which promises to cover everything Liberty City has to offer. It will be released the same day as the game on April 29th.

The GTA IV Official Guide is vast and includes 288 pages along with a 10-page foldout and has been written by Tim Bogenn and Rick Barbain, in direct collaboration with Rockstar Games for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. Everything from game basics, tips and weapons to vehicle missions, new multiplayer options, secrets and a full walkthrough are covered.

Today also sees the launch of ‘Rockstar Social Club’– an online leaderboard and community hub where GTA players will be able to measure their gameplay against their peers and compare various awards. Rockstar will be giving away very limited supplies of awards to players who achieve certain milestones first. The Official Guide will also detail the complete list of how to attain all of the game’s Achievement Points and the associated bragging rights that go with knowing you’ve completed some of the game’s most gruelling tests before anyone else.

With games as large as the GTA ones are, sometimes it is good to have a guide so that you don’t miss out on anything.

Via: Press Release

As was alluded to in Stephany’s post this morning, Rockstar will be launching The Rockstar Social Club, a new website that will act as an online leaderboard tracking every action you can think of in compatible Rockstar games, starting of course with Grand Theft Auto IV. After registration opens on April 15, you’ll be able to sign up with your Xbox Live Gamertag and/or PlayStation Network ID, the site will track all sorts of data and present it in a number of ways.

LCPD Police Blotter — A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

The Story Gang — This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic’s main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it’s taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

The 100% Club — Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative ‘key to the city’ to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

The Hall of Fame — This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

The Liberty City Marathon — A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

The Rockstar Social Club doesn’t stop there. With special competitions, leaderboards and challenges rolling out regularly in the weeks and months following the game’s release, this is just the beginning of an on-going Liberty City experience and is a small taste of what’s to come from Rockstar Games for GTAIV and beyond…

This sounds really, really cool. I loved going in and checking out the various stats that previous GTA games would track, but now being able to share that information and compare it with others through a website is a major improvement. Sure, chances are that the top-tracked players for distance walked and things of that nature will be people will turn their systems on and leave the game running with the controller running Niko in circles for days on end, but at least you’ll be able to keep tabs on you and your friends’ activity.