Old News - April 2003 Contents

04-25-03
04-23-03
04-17-03
04-16-03
04-10-03
04-03-03

Friday - April 25, 2003   <3:50 PM CST>

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IGN Goes Hands On With VC PC   <3:50 PM CST - schu>
IGN posted a nice one page "hands on" VC PC article which should give you a decent idea of what to expect from the final version.  Here are a few points I pulled out the article:

  • VC will run in just about any resolution, assuming you have the hardware to do it.  IGN reports that Rockstar had it running at 1920x1440 with a very high draw distance and no instability.
  • There are new 32 bit textures giving VC a cleaner, more believable look than the PS2 version
  • Replays are back and work in much the same manner as they did in GTA3.  This time around you can rotate the camera around your character during the replay.  You still can't save replays unless you want to jump out of the game and backup the replay file.
  • Rockstar has no plans to do multiplayer until they can "design a multiplayer experience that's as solid as the single player game."

Thanks to Richard.

New GTA Sites   <3:50 PM CST - schu>

  
Announcements   <3:50 PM CST - schu>

  • GTA Scraper's forums are back up and running, you can check them out at www.gtascraper.com/forums.
  • The state of Washington is close to passing a new bill that would fine any retailer "who sells a game that depicts violence against a police officer to a minor."  Thanks to Andrew for the link.  Hopefully protecting minors won't ever come in the form of government censorship.

  

Wednesday - April 23, 2003   <4:50 PM CST>

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Next GTA In 2004?   <4:50 PM CST - schu>
In a recent "Off the Record" entry at IGN they covered the future of GTA.  The IGN rumor mill is reporting that Rockstar North may take up to two years to turn out the next GTA game, meaning that we wouldn't see the next GTA: "Insert City Name Here" game until later in 2004.  Earlier rumors and the Take2 stock report seemed to indicate that the next game might be out as early at late 2003 / early 2004.

The IGN article goes on to say that Rockstar North has been split into two teams, one team is working on the next GTA city based game while the other team works on the true sequel to GTA3.  The sequel is rumored to be in the early planning stages for the PS3 so it obviously can't be released until the PS3 is launched, putting it squarely in 2005/2006 depending on how long Sony waits to release their next console.  IGN also said there is some talk that the sequel may be based in Los Angeles, "with a focus on the movie industry in Hollywood."

IGN does bring up a lot of good points so definitely read and re-read this one, just bear in mind that at this early stage these are all rumors and should not be taken as fact.  Hopefully Rockstar will shed some light on the future of the GTA series at E3.  Thanks to Taylor and Richard for the link.

New VC PC Previews   <4:50 PM CST - schu>
GameSpy has released a new set of Vice City PC previews covering a variety of topics, check them out below:

Most of this is repeated information, but the Graphical Enhancements article is definitely worth a read if you plan on buying the PC version and the Vehicles and Physics article has some nice wireframes and vehicle renders in it...

Computer and Video Games also has an extensive Vice City preview that clocks in at six pages, but once again there really isn't anything new.  If you're new to VC then they are all worth a read at least once, if not, then you might just want to go and enjoy the screenshots :) ...  Thanks to Rev Ted and Craig.

Vice City Exclusive Shots   <4:50 PM CST - schu>
I've gathered up a listing of fan sites that featured an exclusive VC shot.  If you posted one on your site and you're not mentioned here, please let me know:

Thanks to AoD.

Announcements   <4:50 PM CST - schu>

  • I have added 30 VC PC screenshots to the VC Media Index.  I think that is the majority of the shots that are available so far, not including the fansite exclusives and I haven't added the renders and wireframes on GameSpy which will end up in the Artwork section sooner or later.
  • Richard sent word that Vice City won the GameStar award in the UK for best action game of 2003.
  • I'm still catching up on email, so if you haven't heard from me yet, give it another day or so....  Just trying to get back on top of things.


Thursday - April 17, 2003   <11:50 PM CST>

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GOURANGA! Exclusive   <11:50 PM CST - schu>
I haven't got much time to update today, but I wanted to make sure I got this out there.  Rockstar was kind enough to send me an exclusive Vice City PC shot.  It's hard to do it justice because the original is 6MB zipped so I had to scale it back a bit.  If you'd like to see a larger version, let me know and I'll resize and repost it.  Thanks to Rockstar for the shot and be sure to check the other VC fan sites out there for more exclusives:

Click To View

If you have a site with an exclusive shot, please let me know and I'll be sure to plug it in my next update.

  

Wednesday - April 16, 2003   <2:00 PM CST>

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Official VC PC Site Launched   <2:00 PM CST - schu>
Rockstar has launched a slick new site for the PC version of Vice City.  So far the site features ten shots with more shots and movies on the way, system specs, system support, and more.  Check it out at www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/pc.  Thanks to Richard and Forelli_Boy.

Multiplayer GTA3   <2:00 PM CST - schu>
S3KT0R sent in some interesting news on a new multiplayer mod for GTA3 that supports both Windows and Linux servers.  Find out more at GOE GTA Multiplayer.  The other multiplayer mod that I mentioned previously is also still being developed, more information on that can be found on their site, GTA3:MTA.

New GTA Sites   <2:00 PM CST - schu>

  
Announcements   <2:00 PM CST - schu>

  • I've been very busy lately but I'm trying to get daily updates back on track so I keep on top of the new VC PC coverage.
  • IGN started a listing of titles being shown at E3.  So far the list doesn't have any entries for Take2 or Rockstar, but hopefully at the very least we'll get some new information on Manhunt and The Warriors.  I can't say I'm really expecting anything at E3 on the next GTA, but maybe we'll get lucky.  Thanks to Insane2757.
  • The XBox version of State of Emergency is now in stores now and at only $19.99 it's pretty hard to pass up.  I'll admit that I was never really into the regular story mode in SOE, but chaos mode more than makes up for that.
  • On the PS2 front, Midnight Club 2 is now in stores and the MC2 site now features a new trailer that automatically loads when you visit.
  • Johan has posted some new information on his GTA MisPak over on his site.
  • Lieberman is at it again, check out Gamers.com for details.  Thanks to Insane2757 for the link.
  • This one is a little outdated, but if you are keeping up on the development of Payback (a GTA clone) then you'll want to read the latest progress report.
  • Bob found a great cartoon about VC's release, take a look.

  

Thursday - April 10, 2003   <2:30 AM CST>

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New Vice City PC Previews   <2:30 AM CST - schu>
As many of you noticed, IGN and Gamespy have both released previews for the PC version of Vice City.  From what I can tell there are 10 new shots total.  IGN has some others but they are all PS2 repeats.  Both previews cover a lot of the same Vice City basics, so I'm going to skip ahead to a list of the new stuff we can expect for the PC version:

  • DirectX 9 support with resolutions as high as 1600x1200
  • EAX 3.0 audio support
  • New high-res textures which can suck up as much as a full gig of disk space depending on the video card.
  • Enhanced effects like floor reflections and widescreen support.
  • The "trail" effect option has been removed which should make a lot of people happy.
  • Custom MP3 support will return from GTA3 PC.  Simply tune into the 10th station and listen to your own music.
  • The "replay" feature also returns from GTA3 PC and works in much the same manner.
  • User made skins will also be supported once again.
  • Rockstar is putting more time into testing which should result in less bugs and fewer compatibility problems.
  • IGN reports that VC will not support pixel shading or bump-mapping.
  • No word yet on any multiplayer support.

If you've been living under a rock for the past year and you know absolutely nothing about Vice City then I'd suggest reading through the entire IGN article. Otherwise Gamespy's two-pager should suffice.  Thanks to Richard, Nick, Rev Ted, JCronic, Josh, oompalicius, IdeoPraxist, JL2001, and illspirit.

VC Requirements   <2:30 AM CST - schu>
Take2 has updated their VC page with the expected PC system requirements:

Minimum Hardware

  • 800 MHz Intel Pentium III or 800 MHz AMD Athlon or 1.2GHz Intel Celeron or 1.2 GHz AMD Duron processor
  • 128 MB of RAM
  • 8 speed CD / DVD drive
  • 915 MB of free hard disk space (+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression)
  • 32 MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers ("GeForce" or better)
  • Sound Card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers Keyboard & Mouse

Recommended Hardware

  • Intel Pentium IV or AMD Athlon XP processor 256(+) MB of RAM
  • 16 speed CD / DVD drive
  • 1.55 GB of free hard disk space (+ 635 MB if video card does NOT support DirectX Texture Compression)
  • 64(+) MB video card with DirectX 9.0 compatible drivers ("GeForce 3" / "Radeon 8500" or better with DirectX Texture Compression support)
  • DirectX 9.0 compatible sound card with surround sound
  • Gamepad (USB or Joystick Port)
  • Keyboard & Mouse

  

Thursday - April 3, 2003   <10:30 PM CST>

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First Vice City PC Preview   <10:30 PM CST - schu>
The latest issue of PC Gamer features a number of previews for new PC games and Vice City is among them.  I haven't read the preview personally but IRCool sent in the following on it:

"Just got my newest issue of PC Gamer in the mail today, and the cover story is on Vice City for the PC. Basically, the article describes Vice City as we already know it from the PS2 version. The PC-specific features are similar to those of GTA3 (better res than the ps2, your own radio station, replays, and keyboard/mouse stuff).  They did mention modability for the PC version, but they didn't go into specifics. I suspect that they are just basing this on the mods for GTA3 PC (as they mention a couple of them in the article)."

Thanks to IRCool for the update.

GTA On Chappelle's Show   <10:30 PM CST - schu>
Dave Chappelle recently did a GTA spoof.  I missed it, but luckily for both you and I, IdeoPraxist found it on the web.  I'm not entirely sure if I'm supposed to give out this link, so I'd suggest downloading it quick in case the file is removed.  Thanks to IdeoPraxist and solidglass.

April Fools   <10:30 PM CST - schu>
Just a quick notice that this update on GTA: Sin City is in fact an April fools joke.  Rockstar has not released any information the next GTA game.  The Sin City article was originally posted on ShackNews but has made its way around to other news sites as well.  Thanks to Richard at Rockstar and to Chris.

Tiffany Signs Off   <10:30 PM CST - schu>
Tiff, of Tiffany's GTA Shrine sent me the final update for her shrine.  As you may or may not know she has been active in the scene since the release of the original GTA but she no longer has time to run her site.  Here is her farewell message:

"I wish to thank everybody for submitting their cars, mugshots, graphics, cheats and everything else that has been sent to me since I opened my site almost 5 years ago. Sadly, however, I have made my final update. I know it is sudden, but I just won't have the time to commit to maintaining a web site anymore, as I have too many things going on in my life right now. I'm going to leave the site up for as long as I can anyways, seeing as there are just so many things to download, and it wouldn't be fair to the people who made this site this successful just to delete them. I had so much fun doing this, and I thank the entire GTA community for welcoming this hippie chick in the first place. If you wish to post any of the things sent in to my site on your own site, please be courteous enough to ask the person who created said things. So for the last time, and with tear filled eyes, thanx so much and c-ya 'round! =-) "

Sorry to see you go Tiff...

New GTA Sites   <10:30 PM CST - schu>

   
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