Sunday - December 29, 2002   <5:30 AM CST>

VC & GTA3 Rake In The Awards   <5:30 AM CST - schu>
Vice City brought not one, not two, but THREE awards in Gamespot's listing of the Best and Worst titles of 2002.  Vice City was named the 2002 PS2 Game of the Year, the Best Action Adventure Game of 2002, and it also received a Special Achievement Award for the Best Music on the PS2.

Gamespot wasn't the only site to give VC an award, Gamespy's Gamer's Choice Award for the 2002 PS2 Game of the Year also went to VC.  GameSpy also gave the PC version of GTA3 their 2002 PC Action Game of the Year award.  I'm sure we'll have more GTA3 PC and VC awards rolling as the results are compiled.  If you spot one, please let me know so I can mention it.  Thanks to Forelli_Boy and IdeoPraxist.

Vice City Greatest Hits   <5:30 AM CST - schu>
THAguyINgta3 spotted a new Vice City soundtrack cd featuring a selection of songs from each of the stations.  The new cd is the appropriately titled Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Greatest Hits.  Click here for a track listing and a shot of the cover art.

F = Fantastic?   <5:30 AM CST - schu>
FinleyDeb500 just sent me the BEST review for VC, too bad they gave it an F-.  Oh dear, they took the Lord's name in vain AND you kill people too!  But at least it doesn't feature any occult material... but isn't Auntie Poulet sort of an occult figure?  Guess I should write him and see if I can get the rating revised to an F--.  Some of my favorite quotes include:

• "It is very disturbing that you are able to blow off a rival's heads - again with a large amount of blood shooting out his or her neck. This is sick."
• "The sad thing is it is exciting and fun to become a professional murderer."
• "The Lord's name is also frequently taken in vain."
• "An example of improper sexual behavior, a man indicates to women what he wants sexually by the motion of his lower body."
• "There is also one point in the game where you see some female breasts that are projected on the side of a tall building."  [Did a three year old write this thing?]
• "Grand Theft Auto Vice City is one of the most popular games out today and also one of the vilest I have ever played [but I enjoyed every minute of it.]."  

After reading a few articles on that site I'm sad to say that the authors are dead serious, but funny as hell.  After you read that article you should really read this one.

PayBack GBA Update   <5:30 AM CST - schu>
S3KT0R sent word that the guys working on PayBack recently updated their site with a new GBA status report that includes new screenshots and a video.  Take a look.

Friday - December 20, 2002   <11:00 PM CST>

Happy Holidays From Rockstar   <11:00 PM CST - schu>
One last update before I head home for Christmas.  The Rockstar webmaster has informed me that Rockstar put a few presents under the tree for all the GTA fans out there.  The collection of Vice City desktops over at Rockstar has been expanded and now includes a Winamp skin and four new screensavers, but wait, there's more! When you order now you'll also get new screensavers, even more new desktops, and some great new artwork courtesy of Rockstar North, just check in the Drop Out Centre.  While you're paying Rockstar North a visit, be sure to check out the Showroom for a cool Dynamic Actions book.  If you haven't explored all of RockstarNorth.com you should definitely give it a look.

Last, but definitely not least, VC soundtrack owners should head over to the ConnecteD areas of ViceCityRadio.com.  It's all been updated with exclusive new content.  If you own the entire set of CDs you'll also have access to "an incredible new cheat code."  You have to follow the instructions and use one disc at a time to unlock the new cheat.  Just click on Boxset on the bottom and click the button to begin (UPDATE: I don't mean to spoil it for you, but the (rhino) cheat isn't exactly new or terribly exciting).  All this new content also includes some new movie clips, with customized clips for each disc.

Thanks to Rockstar for all the great new stuff :)

VC On VH1   <7:15 AM CST - schu>
The VH1 2002 music awards featured a Vice City parody called Grand Theft Nolte.  You can check it out on VH1.  Thanks to dElAvA and Zach.

Vice City Tops the Charts   <7:15 AM CST - schu>
Vice City topped the sales charts for a second straight month, dominating both October and November.  Anyone for December?  Thanks to Insane2757 for the link.

Time's Man of the Year   <7:15 AM CST - schu>
Derek put together a great Time magazine cover for a recent Fark contest.  Take a look:

Video Game Report Card   <7:15 AM CST - schu>
MediaFamily.org has published their annual video game report card which rates the video games industry and basically spreads more misinformation than I care to think about.  I'm sure having David "never played a video game in his life" Walsh leading the team didn't help matters any.  Sure some of it is true, but a lot of the game details are skewed to support their cause rather than to give a straight story.  I guess my main concern is that if these people get their way and we're carded for video game sales...  Will they stop there?  I can't say I'm really against carding, but I wonder if that will be enough... or will they move on to censorship from there?  If you like reading things and then fuming about them for the next four hours then click away.  Thanks to Jess for the link..

Cyfun spotted a related article on MSNBC where they basically did a sting operation on a number of retailers to see if they were checking IDs on video game purchases.  Read the full article for details.

Crazy Sh*t   <7:15 AM CST - schu>
Don't ask, just click and click again!  The second link is actually pretty old, I meant to post it a long while back...  Check out some other video game related Onion articles here and here.

Announcements   <7:15 AM CST - schu>

• I will be heading home for Christmas later today and I should be back on the 27th or 28th.  I will try to update from home, but I can't guarantee anything.
• Insane2757 found a few articles at IGN, Gamers.com, and AVault related to Wednesday's big news day.
  • Rockstar to Deliver Project Manhunt
• Take-Two Profits Jump
• Rockstar to Release New GTA and Max Payne Games in 2004
• Take2's 2003 Release Slate
• Hippie Tiff has updated her original GTA Shrine to speed up load times and to practice her CSS skills.  Tiff has been around the GTA scene for almost as long as I have and she was one of the original GTA sites with a large selection of GTA cars :)
• AVault recently posted an interesting article on a new video game awards show on TNN.  The first awards show is supposed to air in late 2003, check out more here.  Just saw another link on Slashdot...
• BigRed spotted VC on Real Life Comics today.
• Fuck AOL's bullshit patent, they are going to have to pry Trillian out of my cold, dead hand.  AOL patenting instant messaging makes about as much sense as this.

Wednesday - December 18, 2002   <3:30 AM CST>

Vice City For PC Confirmed!   <3:30 AM CST - schu>
Take2 held is it's Q4 2002 software earnings conference call yesterday.  During the call Take2 confirmed that a PC version of ViceCity is in development and will be released during the second half of the 2003 fiscal year (May - October 2003).  Vice City PC is not mentioned in the associated press release, but after listening to the conference call I can assure that it was mentioned during the meeting.  You can also see it mentioned in the NASDAQ report, on GameSpot and on GameSpy.  Thanks to Hultenius, illspirit, JL2001, Mark K, IdeoPraxist, 027, Bryce, Travie Yak, Eldonb, and Raoul.

More GTA In 04   <3:30 AM CST - schu>
According to GameSpot and after listening to the conference call it sounds as if we'll see another GTA title released some time in fiscal 2004.  When they mentioned it in the conference call they said that they expected to release product "extensions/sequels" for Grand Theft Auto and other titles.  You might also recall that the Sony agreement expires in 2004, so unless that is renewed we might see GTA ported over to other platforms as well.  During the call they were asked if the next GTA would be out before or after Christmas 2003, to which they responded that they didn't know yet when it would be out, but something would be announced later in 2003.  You might be wondering why a title with a release date of fiscal 2004 would be released during Christmas of 2003 :), to answer that you have to understand that Take2's fiscal calendar is different than the actual calendar. Fiscal year 2004 actually starts in November 2003 and ends on October 31st, 2004 which should explain why almost every GTA title has been released in October :).

Later in the call they are asked if the GTA title in 2004 is going to be another "extension of GTA3" or if it will be the "long awaited GTA4".  Their response is very vague, primarily because they can't release detailed information when all their competitors are listing in as well :) ...  They reply that they "feel really good about what [they] did with Vice City" and that the name will be left up to the marketing people as to "how they want to position it".  They also said the name won't effect it and that the "Rockstar group is totally committed to delivering another extremely compelling game". The investor then asks if it will use "essentially the same engine".  Again they don't really comment because, understandably, the information would tip off the competition as to what direction the next game will take the series in.  They did say that the "underlying technology is tremendous" so we'll see the next GTA "build on" it.

Take2 Conference Call Details   <3:30 AM CST - schu>
After listening to the conference call I thought I'd bullet a few interesting facts I pulled out of it:

• There are product extensions planned for the GTA series, Mafia, and SOE (among others).  I take extentions to mean sequels, expansions, and ports to other platforms.
• Two new Rockstar titles were mentioned, The Warriors and another title currently code named Project Manhunt (due out in second half of 2003).  Project Manhunt is being developed by Rockstar North for the PS2 with possible ports to other platforms after release.  The Warriors is based on the 1979 cult film and is being developed at Rockstar Toronto (due out in 2004).
• In 2004 Take2 has plans to release Max Payne 2 and The Warriors.  They also mentioned product extensions/sequels for GTA and SOE.  (there were others mentioned but I just listed the ones I thought would interest the GTA fans).
• Mafia will be ported to XBox and PS2.
• Take2 has 70 products in development based on existing and new brands.  Over 25 of these products are Rockstar titles consisting of eight different brands.  The breakdown they mentioned later in the call said 12 PS2, 8 PS1, 5 XBox, 3 GameBoy, 14 PC, and 4 GameCube titles (yes I do relalize that it doesn't add up to 70, but that is what they said -- thinking back that might be the listing of games expected out in 2003).
• Duke Nukem Forever's release date will probably be announced 90 days prior to its release, but for now the release date remains, "when it's done."
• ViceCity contributed 28% to Take2's Q4 net profits while GTA3 PS2/PC contributed 12%.  That might give you some idea of how much the GTA titles mean to Take2, and if that doesn't, read the next one :).
• 41% of Take2's 2002 revenue was generated by the GTA brand (33% GTA3 PS2/PC and 8% Vice City).
• Take2 has access to the Halo engine and can use it for "two renditions of games on any platform."  It is not being used for any products currently in development but is being researched for future titles.
• All the investors who asked questions seemed mainly interested in the GTA series and Manhunt :) ...
• It is really entertaining to hear professionals from various investment companies commenting on these games, especially GTA and ManHunt.  I just keep picturing some guy in a $400 suit yelling "Sayanora Hooker" as he plays GTA :)

  
PR2005 Desktops   <3:30 AM CST - schu>
PR2005 (the guy who put together the G! chat room) sent in two wallpaper images.  One is for GOURANGA's five year anniversary and the other is a FlashFM wallpaper.  The FlashFM zip also includes a Flash start wav.  Check em out below:

Download (810K)

Download (1.58MB)

Thanks to PR2005 for all his hard work on the chat room and for the great new wallpaper.

New GTA Sites   <3:30 AM CST - schu>

• Everlast GTA
  www.freewebs.com/everlast_gta

  
Announcements   <3:30 AM CST - schu>

• Obviously a HUGE day in GTA news.  I actually wanted to get this out a lot sooner, but I wanted to listen and relisten to the hour and forty minute conference call to make sure I got everything down.  Keep in mind that all the new information mentioned is subject to change, as is everything the video game industry, but it does give us a fairly good road map as to what to expect out of GTA in the future.

Monday - December 16, 2002   <11:59 PM CST>

Vote GTA3 & Vice City   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
GameSpy is collecting votes for their listing of the best games of the year.  You can vote for GTA3 & ViceCity in the following categories:

• PS2 Game of the Year
• PC Action Game of the Year
• PC Overall Game of the Year

The voting ends on December 26th.  Thanks to IdeoPraxist for putting this thing together and also to Rev Ted.  Check out my last voting update for some other voting links.

GTA Sin City   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
I finally heard back from Rockstar and the official word on Sin City is that IGN's "off the record" article is a rumor and nothing more.  I cannot seem to find anything on CNN regarding this and I also noticed that none of the SinCity domains have been registered.

Vice City PC   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
I've been getting a lot of email on this so I thought I'd post the official word from Rockstar on the PC version of Vice City.  Rockstar will only say that the PC is NOT included under their agreement with Sony. The agreement says that all GTA titles will be PS2 exclusives until 2004 but it only applies to other consoles (Game Cube, XBox, etc). They will not say when or if they will release a PC version but hopefully they'll announce something soon.

GTA Collector's Edition Released   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
The Playstation version of the GTA Collector's Edition should be in stores soon if it isn't already.  The release includes GTA, GTA: London, and GTA2 all in one package, just in time for Christmas.  Currently it's only available for Playstation.  I'm waiting on some sort of official comment on a possible PC release, but so far I haven't heard anything.  Thanks to Matt for the email on this.

VC on The Daily Show   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
ViceCity got a mention on Comedy Central's The Daily Show during a Christmas report by Rob Corddry.  The videos for today's show should be available tomorrow.

PayBack Nears Completion   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
PayBack for Linux and Windows is entering the home stretch and should be out in early 2003.  Check the Payback site for more information.  Thanks to S3KT0R and zakk.

Announcements   <11:59 PM CST - schu>

• Thanks to everyone who sent in emails on GOURANGA's fifth birthday, I appreciate all the email and comments.
• Ted sent in an alternate link for the VC Behind the Scenes video originally posted on Gamers.com.
• Insane2757 sent in an interesting "off the record" story on IGN about Japanese and American video game company mergers and acquisitions.

Friday - December 13, 2002   <2:00 AM CST>

GOURANGA! Is Five!   <2:00 AM CST - schu>
GOURANGA! is five years old!  Well actually it was five years old back on November 28th but I keep forgetting to mention it.  I originally started G! back on November 28th, 1997 just before the original GTA was released and it's been online ever since.  Thanks to all the GTA fans out there who have helped make GOURANGA! everything it is today.

Take a look at what the original G! looked like back in 1997 or check out the very first news update in the old, Old News section.  You can also see what the second incarnation of the site looked like, back when I ran the official GTA site at GrandTheftAuto.com.

Announcements   <2:00 AM CST - schu>

• In case you hadn't noticed, Tank is back online along with a few of his GTA sites.  Both GTAVice.com and GTAForums.com are back online but GTA Mods and GTA3.com are still offline.  Apparently Tank is having problems with his host.
• GTA Scraper's old URL is dead but the site and ElBazo are alive and well at www.GTAScraper.com.  Please update your bookmarks and links.
• If you haven't voted yet, please get over to Gamers.com and vote for ViceCity.  Check out the update I did a few days ago for details.
• zed.online sent in another voting link for a French gaming site.  If you want to vote for ViceCity, just look for the poll on the lower right side of the page at www.hardgamers.com.
• I may have some more news later today.  I'm just waiting on some replies from Rockstar on a few things.

Wednesday - December 11, 2002   <8:30 PM CST>

VC Released In OZ   <8:30 PM CST - schu>
I've heard from two different people that ViceCity is out in Australia, two whole days ahead of schedule (well the latest schedule anyway).  You may want to call your local retailer just to make sure it's in stock.  Thanks to Stuart, Ma$e, and Jake.

Rockstar North Q&A   <8:30 PM CST - schu>
UK.Playstation.com interviewed Rockstar North earlier this month about ViceCity and the future of GTA.  The interview is fairly short but it's well worth reading and even touches on a possible online version of GTA.  Nothing confirmed of course :) ...  Thanks to Hultenius for the link.

Violent Game Ban in Honduras   <8:30 PM CST - schu>
Gamespot is reporting that the Honduran congress has voted to ban the sale of violent video games by June of next year.  The reason for the ban is to help combat the the growing crime rate.  I think they should probably concentrate on pulling more people out of abject poverty instead of wasting their time on video game bans.  Thanks to Insane2757.

Tuesday - December 10, 2002   <5:00 AM CST>

GTA Sin City?   <5:00 AM CST - schu>
IGN's latest "off the record" column features some new rumors fresh off the mill.  They claim that a Rockstar rep was spotted on CNN discussing the next two GTA games saying that both GTA: Sin City and GTA4 are in development.  You may recall that a listing for GTA: Sin City appeared on cable and satellite guides for TechTV's Extended Play, but the actual show featured Vice City.  Strangely IGN tries to tie GTA: Sin City with San Andreas which I don't fully understand.  Wouldn't any game based in Sin City be in Las Vegas?  Anyway, I don't have a confirmation from Rockstar on any of this so until something official comes out I'd file this in the rumor basket.  Thanks to illspirit, waages, thaguyingta3, and Insane2757.

New GameShark Codes @ GFCC   <5:00 AM CST - schu>
The guys over at The GFCC have come up with some pretty cool stuff for GameShark owners.  New GS VC codes include sirens on all cars, tires always spark, vigilante mode on all cars, among others, but the best has to be a code that will let your car hover all the time, even when it isn't over water.  When used with the Deluxo the results are quite nice:

Thanks to John and The GFCC for the news and the shots.

Vote Vice City   <5:00 AM CST - schu>
Gamers.com and OPM are conducting a poll to determine their Games of the Year.  Get over there and vote for Vice City.  Make sure you vote for it in both the Adventure and Game of the Year categories on the first and fourth pages of the poll.  Thanks to Insane2757.

VC Stars Face Legal Woes   <5:00 AM CST - schu>
Saggy sent in a few links to stories on recent legal problems facing some of the VC cast members.  Admittedly Vice City has nothing to do with it, but it is funny how many of these Saggy found:

• Tom Sizemore (Sonny Forelli) Arrested
• Lance vs. Poulet
• Miss Cleo (Auntie Poulet) The Valley Girl

    
Norwegian Retailer Bans VC & GTA3   <5:00 AM CST - schu>
sniKsnAK (vicecity.no) is reporting that the Norwegian retailer Expert is removing all video game titles with adult content or "extreme violence" from their shelves.  GTA VC and GTA3 were removed along with BMX XXX and The Getaway.  Expert hasn't stopped there.  They are also sending out letters to stores across Norway and Denmark in an effort to remove any game they don't deem fit for the general populace.  In the process they plan on forming an organization against violent video games.  A representative of the store commented that Lord of the Rings is violent but since it's a game that pits good vs evil it won't be removed.  He went on to say that only games that contain "pure violence" would be boycotted.  He may call it a boycott but it sounds more like censorship to me.  So far Vice City has sold over 45,000 copies in Norway (population 4 million).  Check out the full article here but only if you can speak Norwegian.  Thanks again to sniKsnAK.

New GTA Sites   <5:00 AM CST - schu>

• THAguyINgta3
  www.freewebs.com/thaguyingta3

  
Announcements   <5:00 AM CST - schu>

• Insane2757 spotted this article on mature video games over on CNN.
• I added another link to yesterday's roundup of holiday game lists after IdeoPraxist spotted Vice City in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

Friday - December 6, 2002   <11:59 PM CST>

OZ Release Date - No Really This Time   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
I think we finally have a real release date for Australia, at least it looks that way, no really this time.  According to a recent article in Australian IT, a manufacturing backlog has delayed the release of Vice City.  The article goes on to say the distrubutor has promised a December 13th release.  Lets just hope they actually mean it this time.  Cameron sent the article in and he also posted something on it here.  Thanks to Cameron, Graham, Boigs, and cookie.

New VC Flash Map   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
midtownmad sent word that the French GTA site, GTA Macreators, has released a flash version of the Vice City map.  You can zoom and pan the map as well as turning package and stunt locations on and off.

PS2's Top 10 Most Owned   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
IGN recently reported that GTA dominates the PS2 collections of many of their readers.  GTA3 came in first on the top ten and Vice City wasn't far behind at number five.

New Ts @ R* Warehouse   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Rockstar's internet storefront, the Rockstar Warehouse, recently added two new Vice City shirts to the clothing rack.  Check em out.

Holiday Lists   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise, but Vice City is turning up in just about every gaming related holiday shopping guide:

• Gamers.com / GameNow
• IGN
• Gamespot
• TechTV / Extended Play
• MSNBC
• Ottawa Citizen

Thanks to Insane2757 for most of these links, although I feel bad because he always comments on just about every link he emails but I hardly ever post anything but the link, so here are a few from the mouth of the Insane:

• Insane2757 on GameNow's holiday list, "Gamers says what we should buy. You betcha Vice is on that list. And GameNOW becomes a slut and throws itself everywhere."
• Insane2757 on Gamespot's list, "While I am giving you holiday lists, here is Gamespot's. This one seems... stupid. It has billions of games. Why not just say buy ALL of the games out on the market? Vice is on the list at least, under "Adventure". Scraping the news from the bottom of the barrel isn't fun, but someone has to do it I guess."
• Insane2757 on IGN's Top 10 Most Owned, "GTA owns #1 and #5. Thats right. It roxs yo soxs."

  
GTA SanAndreas   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Wages noticed that the GrandTheftAuto4.com and gta4.com URLs had been registered by Rockstar.  I'm not positive but I think both of them were actually registered awhile back (checking again they were registered back in 1999).  Anyway, this got me thinking so I checked GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas.com and GTASanAndreas and found that both of those URLs have been registered by Rockstar as well.  There isn't anything inheirantly interesting about URL registrations since Rockstar owns loads of GTA related URLs, but what IS interesting is that the SanAndreas URLs were registered realitively recently, just back in May 2002.  This certainly does bolster an argument for another possible GTA release before GTA4.  Now I'm just wondering what year they'd base it in, I guess the first thing that comes to mind is the car chases in Bullitt which would put it in late 60s.  Seems a little more likely that they'd go for either the 70s, or if they are trying to hook more fans in the GTA age range I guess they'd go for the 90s which could tie in with ViceCity very nicely.  Ah well, it's all speculation at this point I suppose.  Keep in mind that most of this is me taking wild guesses and NONE of this is based on anything factual.

Crazy Sh*t   <11:59 PM CST - schu>
Don't ask, just click!  Whoever made that thing HAD to be a GTA fan, I was actually amazed at how close it looks to the original GTA.  Thanks to [psycho]logical for the great link.

Ok, I feel I have to plug Y2Khai again because my friends just won't shut up about it, "Trick quit yappin' if you're down with the Khai, Girl you're thick, you better slow down on that pie!"

Announcements   <11:59 PM CST - schu>

• Insane2757 is putting together a glitch report for ViceCity.  If you've run across any strange bugs or glitches while playing Vice City, please email your reports to Insane2757.  It's even better if you can reproduce your glitch so the people at home can try it out for themselves.
• Speaking of weird VC stuff, I ran into something fun to try.  I haven't tried reproducing this, but I guess it's worth a shot.  I was testing out my PCJ skills and had the cops after me.  While running from them I ran into another guy on a PCJ, but he had a passenger.  In the mix up I grabbed his bike and then strangly enough his passenger decided to come along for the ride.  Even when I wrecked the bike again my passenger got up and jumped back on :).  Of course it's even more fun if you can get a passenger and then jump off while you're in the middle of a big jump.
• I know, I know, "WTF, how long does it take you to 'go through email.' "  Combine another damn cold, a slow week in GTA news, and an apethetic Internet connection and you'll arrive at the current state of affairs.  At least my Internet connection is back to normal.