New
Vice City Desktops
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Rockstar has released a new set of Vice City desktops for your computer.
Check out www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/desktops
for all the VC desktops, screensavers, and the WinAmp skin.
The
Big PayBack Contest
<3:00 PM CST - schu>
Rockstar has a new
contest running for owners of the PC version of Vice City. To
enter the contest you have to submit a replay file in one of two
categories including Insane Stunt Jump and Thirty Extraordinary
Seconds (details below). The contest deadline is July 15,
2003 and you must be a US resident to enter. Prizes include
one limited edition Vice City neon sign and one ATI Radeon 9800
Pro 128MB video card. Winners will also have their replays
posted on Rockstar's site. Check out the contest details below.
CATEGORY
1: INSANE STUNT JUMP
Conspicuously littered with all manner of ramps, planks, and outdoor
stairwells – Vice City is an infamous haven for reckless
drivers fond of catching vehicular air. Show us your most dazzling
and impressive insane stunt jump. The jump we consider to be most
amazing wins the prize. Sequences using cheats or mods will be
disqualified.
CATEGORY
2: THIRTY EXTRAORDINARY SECONDS
In a world this alive, expansive and interactive – anything
can happen. Show us thirty extraordinary seconds of your life
in Vice City. Whether on foot or in a car, plane or boat. Executing
an intense gameplay mission with unique pizzazz – or free
roaming and exploring the island on your day off, having a bit
of fun with the city’s people, places and things. The world
is yours… show us what you can do. We will be judging based
on creativity as well as sheer entertainment value.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Begin playing Vice City. To save and view a replay of the last
thirty seconds of gameplay, press the F1 key on your keyboard.
To only save your replay without viewing it, press F2.
Replay
files are saved in the folder “My Documents\GTA Vice City
User Files” by default. Locate the file named “replay.rep”.
Keep in mind that you can only save one replay at a time in-game
– to save multiple replays, manually rename the file so
it is not overwritten by the game. If you do rename your replay
files, remember to not change the file extension (.rep).
Once
you have a replay you are happy with, fill out form below and
click the browse button to find your file and submit it to us
through your web browser. Entries submitted without fully completing
the rest of the form will not be accepted. Please see the official
contest rules below.
More
information can be found at www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/pc/contest.
DMA
Rides Again
<3:00 PM CST - schu>
As many of you may or may not know, Rockstar North was not always
known as Rockstar North. Until recently they were known as
DMA Design. DMA is most well known for the Lemmings series
of games, and of course GTA, which they originally released back
in 1997 under the BMG/ASC label. Over the years some of the
original DMAers left the team, including DMA founder, Dave Jones.
Recently Dave has been bringing some of the original team
members back into the fold under his new development house Real
Time Worlds and until now it didn't look like they were going
to revisit the genre of games that GTA spawned. You can read
more about the announcement over at Gamespot, or check out the original
press release below:
Games
Industry Veterans Joins Forces In Scottish Company
Creators of multi-million selling hits join forces to create
the next big franchise
June
5th. Three high profile veterans of the computer games industry
are joining forces at Real Time Worlds, the Scottish based games
development studio.
David
Jones, creator of Lemmings and the infamous Grand Theft Auto franchises
has joined forces with Ian Hetherington, former Managing Director
of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and founder of Psygnosis,
and Tony Harman the former Director of Development and Acquisition
at Nintendo of America. The three industry veterans have united
to back Jones' latest original concepts and technologies. They
are planning to utilise their unique distribution experience to
maximize the revenue potential for Real Time Worlds products now
in development.
In
the 1980's Jones founded the seminal UK developer DMA Design,
which created two of the most famous games franchises in the world
Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto (GTA). Critically acclaimed upon
its release, GTA has became one of the most successful series
of games in the world with the original and its sequels selling
approximately 20 million copies across multiple platforms. The
long-term success of the games has been based, not upon it's notoriety
or 'shock' value, but upon the solid and compelling gameplay,
created in the original title, which allows players to interact
with the game any way they wish -- and have the game respond to
their actions -- a feature which is still unique today.
Hetherington
founded Psygnosis, one of the UK's first videogames publishers,
responsible for games such as Wipeout and Destruction Derby. In
May 1993, the company was bought by Sony and Hetherington became
the managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe creators
of the PlayStation development environment and was responsible
for the portfolio of launch titles which helped the console achieve
an 80% market share.
Together,
Jones and Hetherington were responsible for the 'Lemmings' series
of games. Lemmings achieved enormous international success, selling
over 20 million copies across more than 20 different formats.
They
are joined at Real Time Worlds by Commercial Director, Tony Harman,
former director of development and acquisition for Nintendo of
America. Harman was the executive producer of 'Donkey Kong Country'
franchise for Nintendo, which sold over ten million copies worldwide.
"We are not yet talking specifically about our two titles
under development, but I will hint that fans of GTA and next-generation
racing games will not be disappointed. Having seen literally thousands
of games in the past, I was amazed at the unique and ground breaking
ideas that are being brought to life at Real Time Worlds,"
said Hetherington.
"Bringing Ian and Tony on board follows my philosophy of
only working with the best," said Jones. "My goal is
to create unique global franchises and maximize the revenue potential
from those titles. We have put together a hand picked team of
28 developers with a tremendous portfolio of hit games behind
them, and now we have a similar pedigree in our management team.
"The Company has created some unique technologies",
said Harman. "The emerging on-line gaming market is an area
we will be creating some waves in."
Thanks
to BB and LBHacker3k.
US
Constitution Protects Video Games
<3:00 PM CST - schu>
CNN is reporting
that the federal appeals court has ruled in favor of video games
stating that games qualify as free speech and are protected under
the First Amendment. The appeal overturns a recent ruling
in St Louis County where U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh ruled
that computer and video games had "no conveyance of ideas,
expression or anything else that could possibly amount to free speech."
Even if you don't have much interest in politics you should
at least try and follow this issue because each of these rulings
will effect the future of how much control the US government is
allowed to hold over video games, which directly affects what games
you (if you live in the US) are allowed to buy and play. Thanks
to A.S. for the link.
New
VC PC Reviews
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Thanks
to Reverend Ted and Mouse.
New
GTA Sites
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Announcements
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- EuroGamer
has released their review of VC PC written by none other than
Mouse. So why should you read this review above most of
the others out there? Mainly because it was written by Mouse,
one of the original GTA webmasters, and long-time GTAer. He
may have even been a member of the "GTA Inner Circle"...
anyone else remember that bullshit? I still have my official
membership card.
- UNRUHEHERD,
creator of the GTA2 map "weltstadt", has been running
his own online radio show for the GTA series for the last 10 months.
You can check out the show at www.paperjam.de.vu
. Just click on Aktuelle Show and then pick a download site
and show on the right side of the page (the gta-action mirror
worked best for me). The show and the page are both in German.
The music used in the show is mostly hip-hop from various
artists around the world.
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