GTA 3

[TreeFitty 2631]

Official 10 Year Anniversary GTA III artworks released (R* downloads section)

edit: I'm glad I uploaded the old artworks last week. R* completely replaced them...

[TreeFitty 2631]

Kotaku preview from NYCC

Hot on the heels of the announcement earlier today, Rockstar Games made the 10th anniversary edition of Grand Theft Auto IIIavailable for attendees to play. After about 10 minutes of hands-on time with the game running on an iPad 2, there's no mistaking that GTA III on iOS is a loving port of the game that catapulted Rockstar to the top echelon of game developers. The up-rezzed graphics become immediately apparent, with tons more detail on character faces and clothes. What I played of the game runs smoothly, with no hitches or freezes. A little bit of pop-up showed up while driving, but wasn't so egregious as to spoil the experience.

Control-wise, it supports either touch or accelerometer controls and will even support suction cup joysticks that attach to the tablet like the Fling. A virtual circle pad on the left controls movement with buttons on the right for running, jumping and punching. These controls pop in and out depending on context, so when a car pulls up, a car button shows up. Pushing it launches a carjack encounter, which, of course, can become a fight. Once in the car, buttons for brake, accelerator and horn pop up. The left navigation circle pad changes into two arrows for steering, too. It felt like I might like the motion control steering more but that might change with more time with the game.

Overall, Grand Theft Auto III iOS felt very close to the delivery experience by the PS2 a decade ago, except this time it's in the palm of your hand.

G4 preview from NYCC

Has it really been that long? Next week marks the 10th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III, one of the landmark games that literally changed everything for gamers. At the New York Comic Con, Rockstar tried hard to ensure that you’ll want to indulge in the open world mayhem of GTA 3 all over again – on iOS devices like the iPad2 and the iPhone 4S.

With all the stunning new games being offered every week, why would gamers want to revisit the old game? Aren’t those graphics ancient now, so much so that the game should be nothing more than a wonderful, salient memory of a time gone by? That kind of thinking makes sense. But if you saw what I saw, you’ll probably be psyched to play those classic courier missions all over again.

As I indulged in the game’s second mission, I saw that it had been given the HD treatment, and everything from character models to cars to the gritty urban streets look new. You can think of it as urban nostalgia with a nifty 2011 upgrade. “This game really shines because today’s devices are about twice as powerful as the best Pentium PCs that were state of the art when the game was first released,” says producer Rich Rosado of the demo code that was completed just hours before the Comic Con began.

Rosado pointed out that Claude, the game’s silent protagonist, really had no fingers on his hands in the original version. “His hands were kind of club-by,” he says. The updated game not only has hands for its anti-heroic characters. It features faces with cleaner, more human-like facial detail. And Claude doesn’t lunk around as you control his gait. He moves with more fluidity, less robotic inhumanity. That attention to detail applies to the world you traverse as well. I really wanted to jump to the Callahan Bridge area just to check out the city’s vista at night. There’s subtle shading and a looming foggy look at you walk or ride down a street. The polished sheen on car paint now shows off real-time reflections of the nearby environment as you pass.

The controls, not all of which are on screen at the same time, feel smooth and natural. On foot, you can move left, right, sprint, jump, shoot, punch, and lock on. When you jack a car, you have controls to speed up, enter, exit, brake, handbrake, shoot, and one for the horn. Want to switch weapons? Swipe lightly over the weapon icon at the screen’s upper right. Double tap an icon and a new car falls magically from the sky. It fun to do, and I wanted to just tap and tap to check out all the vehicles. And thankfully, the cars and trucks drive differently. The Linerunner truck I tried felt heavier and steadier than the souped-up convertible, which drove more loosely, like it would be fun for a night of speedy, girl-watching fun.

If you find yourself using one control feature more than another, you can increase the size of an icon so that it’s easier to find on the screen. And you can eschew the onscreen controls and use the internal gyroscope to drive. It all just seemed easy, intuitive, and a breeze to control, certainly more so than playing it via a PlayStation controller.

Those famous radio stations packed with well-mixed pop music will return as well. If you’re done with one, swipe across the top middle of the screen to change stations. Done with all of Rockstar’s stations? You can import your iTunes playlist and use that as a radio station.

“It’s still not quite complete,” said Rosado. Even as we spoke, new artwork for control icons was coming in via his iOS device. Rockstar also confirmed that they will eventually optimize GTA III for earlier, single core iOS devices like the first iPad, so that's nice too.

[DuPz0r 5361]

So does the game have Xbox graphics or PS2...?! I know the xbox (not 360) had updated textures and models, and the PC version never got that treatment at a later date, So the xbox version ended up looking the best.

PS2:

PC:

Xbox:

[Massacre 7646]

Nyurgh!

*Runs out and buys leather jacket, proceeds to kill hookers*

[DuPz0r 5361]

[Massacre 7646]

*Sees 'Thank you for all your support,' smiles as a single tear streams down his cheek*

God damn, I love R*.

[DuPz0r 5361]

^ Yeah, i thought that was a nice touch. Not many game companies give a fuck about their fans enough to say a couple of nice words in their trailers...

[TreeFitty 2631]

Details (let's all watch Psy get his butt kicked )

[Guest Marney1]

Details (let's all watch Psy get his butt kicked )

By me!

[DuPz0r 5361]

Awesome!

[Guest Marney1]

Controllers are cool aren't they!

Wait! This is for the Complete Edition, can I still join/be invited if I only have the Episodes from Liberty City disc?

[TreeFitty 2631]

I think they said everyone is compatible with the Complete Edition.

[Massacre 7646]

*Paints controller gold*

There. Just saved myself three hours.

[Guest Marney1]

I think they said everyone is compatible with the Complete Edition.

But I remember one of the PlayRockstar accounts inviting me a while back (nothing to do with an official SC event) and I was unable to join him, I put it down to him playing the Complete Edition and me playing the EFLC one.

[TreeFitty 2631]

Then either R* is lying or... you're wrong.

[Guest Marney1]

Then either R* is lying or... you're wrong.

Maybe, we'll see. I hate all the "Me me me me me!" shit going on in the SC chat box.

Are you joining in the actual games TF?

[TreeFitty 2631]

Nope, just chatting as usual.

[Guest Marney1]

Nope, just chatting as usual.

Because you sold your GTA games, shame - shame on you.

[TreeFitty 2631]

Or I have shitty internet. And, unlike you, I have never sold any game and especially not my GTAs.

[Guest Marney1]

Or I have shitty internet. And, unlike you, I have never sold any game and especially not my GTAs.

I've never sold a Rockstar game, that would be lynch-worthy. Dunno if I can be arsed swapping and changing discs tonight so I might just join for a L&D or BoGT game. Then spam the chat [with you] at the end.

[DuPz0r 5361]

See you guys in 2:23 hours!

[TreeFitty 2631]

lol@Marn

@Dup, you playing? Could get Psy to invite you into games with the devs.

[Guest Marney1]

I'm using my RockstarSpy PSN account for this one so if you don't have me on your list or I don't friend you tonight, friend me.

[DuPz0r 5361]

Ok, well whoever can get me into the dev game, please invite me

[DuPz0r 5361]

Can't seem to find ranked matches.

I forgot how to set them up.