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According to the British Board of Film Classification's entry for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV, the upcoming Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 title may have close to eight hours worth of cut-scenes. To be precise: "When submitted to the BBFC the work had a running time of 463m 0s." That's 7 hours and 43 minutes, folks.

Yesterday, Rockstar had Ron and I out to their New York City office to get some hands-on time with their highly-anticipated title. I'll be getting some hands-on impressions up before the weekend (along with some screenshots, which I believe to be "new"). For now, I must say that some of the pre-mission cut-scenes were pretty extraordinary. While we only saw a handful of pre-mission cinematics, the combination of believable animations and Rockstar's traditionally killer script writing helped me connect with the game characters in a way that I never had with those found in previous GTA titles.

So if there really do happen to be eight hours of cinematics (can I get a "holy crap"?), let's be glad that they seem to be shaping up to be so damned good. While you all wait patiently for my impressions, I've included one of the (possibly) new screens that Rockstar has provided us. Enjoy.


LAUNCH GALLERY (1 IMAGES)
Photo
 

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47 comments | showing # 1 to 47

Volomon's Avatar
Volomon at 04/02/2008 21:24
Hot sauce and butt bacon!
F Whipple's Avatar
F Whipple at 04/02/2008 21:27
Hot damn! And people complain about Metal Gear
Jaren Face's Avatar
Jaren Face at 04/02/2008 21:28
I'm assuming that's including things seen from side-missions?
So, if the game, with those, is suppose to take around 100 hours to complete...

...7% of that being non-playable isn't that bad? I guess? *shrugs*
Clockwork's Avatar
Clockwork at 04/02/2008 21:32
Absolutely insane.

Impressions tomorrow? Kthx.
Cheeburga's Avatar
Cheeburga at 04/02/2008 21:38
REDONKULOUS.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 04/02/2008 21:39
The equivalent of four feature-length films? That's a lotta cutscenes.
Schmo0zle's Avatar
Schmo0zle at 04/02/2008 21:40
That's a lot of cinematic work they did.

IMO people need to put more time into the GAMES and get rid of silly cut scenes, but I guess they're stuck with us...

Sometimes they're good, but most of the time I just find them annoying.
Wexx's Avatar
Wexx at 04/02/2008 21:40
...That's it?
Sirapak's Avatar
Sirapak at 04/02/2008 21:42
People that play RPG's won't give a shit lol this isn't worthy of news.
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/02/2008 21:46
Am I the only one who sees this as a bad thing? 8 hours of non-gameplay, woopedo! 8 hours where the game snatches the controller from my hand and says "YOUR DOING IT WRONG, here let me play for a while".
Loki Power's Avatar
Loki Power at 04/02/2008 21:53
Reminds me of MGS
Release82's Avatar
Release82 at 04/02/2008 21:54
Like any other final fantasy game, i always enjoyed well made cut scenes. Bring em on.
Chocobo Knight's Avatar
Chocobo Knight at 04/02/2008 21:54
This is nothing compared to Xenosaga. So long as they are spaced out and fun to watch, bring it on!
NihonTiger90's Avatar
NihonTiger90 at 04/02/2008 21:58
It also talks about simulated sex acts, but we can't post on that, can we? :p
Nick Chester's Avatar
Nick Chester at 04/02/2008 22:02
@ Clockwork:

As soon as I can, man. I'm pretty busy this week, so I need to find some downtime to get it done. Soon, I promise.

@ Boolean:

I agree to an extent. But when you consider that the game may have 50 hours worth of gameplay, 8 hours of story-related cut-scenes doesn't seem that crazy. Think about it spread across the entire experience.
Hamza CTZ Aziz's Avatar
Hamza CTZ Aziz at 04/02/2008 22:11
Why do people bitch about cutscenes so much now? What game does it good then? And don't fucking say Half Life or BioShock. Those are still cutscenes. You still have to stand around and deal with the characters until they're done talking.

Anyway, I just reserved the collectors edition of GTA IV. Can't wait.
Samit Sarkar's Avatar
Samit Sarkar at 04/02/2008 22:15
I’m with Hamza. This is GTA; I know that I’m going to be fully entertained by all 7 hours and 43 minutes of cutscenes.
CreamyGoodness7's Avatar
CreamyGoodness7 at 04/02/2008 22:19
Wait is everyone complaining just too lazy to, you know, skip the cutscenes? Anyway I really enjoyed San Andreas' cutscenes so I'm hoping for at least the same quality or better.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 04/02/2008 22:40
No mention of the intercourse, masturbation, and fellatio? WHERE HAS THE SENSATIONALISM GONE?! :)
EternalDarkWing's Avatar
EternalDarkWing at 04/02/2008 22:44
Why are cutscenes looked upon so negatively? I don't really understand it. A lot of them are engaging and fun to watch.
by-tor2112's Avatar
by-tor2112 at 04/02/2008 22:44
So pretty much for $70 I get 4 feature films, and a wickedly awesome game? Well shit!
XivSpew's Avatar
XivSpew at 04/02/2008 22:56
Honestly though, has anyone ever made a chart or graph that compares the length of cutscenes to the length of total gameplay hours before one is bored? I wonder if that amount is comparable for GTA4 to say, any other game. Hell, if this chart exists I'd really, really like to check it out. I played San Andreas a good 80-100+ hours before i stopped, and I couldn't tell you how much was non-playable. The whole experience felt wonderful, so tagging an amount to the cutscenes makes me think of what other games I ended up watching hours and hours of as opposed to controlling them.
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/02/2008 23:05
I'll be getting GTA, don't get me wrong, and I have nothing against cut scenes per se, but when an article is pointing out how long I won't be playing for, my first reaction is "Well frankly I'd rather be playing those scenes, not watching them".

If I wanted a movie, I'd just rent a movie, but I buy a game to be interactive. 8 hours of non gameplay might not be a terrible thing, I just don’t see it as an awesome thing like the rest of you.

But GTA is going to haul ass anyway, so my points are probably invalid =P
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 04/02/2008 23:06
wow, I used a lot of italics in that post
XivSpew's Avatar
XivSpew at 04/02/2008 23:14
@Boolean:

Totally. If there's one thing i've learned being a gamer all my life, is that all of us play games for slightly different reasons. The breadth and depth of all our tastes makes me love the medium more than I would just listening to myself rant about Deus Ex and System Shock 2.
tkyy's Avatar
tkyy at 04/03/2008 00:20
Perhaps the main story gameplay is less than 7 hours.
Teen Idol's Avatar
Teen Idol at 04/03/2008 00:57
GTA games are all the same.
Maybe I'll rent it to see what it's like.
Teen Idol's Avatar
Teen Idol at 04/03/2008 00:59
GTA games are all the same.
Maybe I'll rent it to see what it's like.
TheBrain's Avatar
TheBrain at 04/03/2008 01:31
I don't think I'm happy about this. They will probably at least be entertaining, though.
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 04/03/2008 03:05
As long as the cutscenes don't take me out of the game (like almost every cutscene does) and maintain the focus on the main character, I think I can deal.
Remz's Avatar
Remz at 04/03/2008 03:22
Actually going to buy this if it makes it ok to Aussieland. Kinda skipped out on the last few GTAs, even though they were run, I rented them then like, was too lazy to get offa my ass and buy them.

russian lead? crazy good looking trailers? hell yeah, I'm in.
Veck's Avatar
Veck at 04/03/2008 04:11
The 3D incarnations of GTA have always been incredibly cinematic, so it's no surprise GTA4 is pretty beastly with its cutscenes. From what I've seen they look fantastic, so who gives a shit if there are loads of them.
mistic's Avatar
mistic at 04/03/2008 05:59
I think its great! I love cinematics :-)

8 hours of cutscenes is amazing, it shows us a glimpse of how massively large this game will be :-)

What a timedrain this'll be :-)

like By-tor said, for the price of a game, you get a game AND 4 feature length movies, its a bargain!
Kryptinite's Avatar
Kryptinite at 04/03/2008 06:54
I agree with Hamza. You whinny bastards.
DrXym's Avatar
DrXym at 04/03/2008 06:56
I hate to burst anyone's bubble but the 8 hours of cutscenes probably includes radio stations.

The more troubling part is the 5 hours of gameplay footage. That probably represents a straightwalkthrough, but I wonder how it compares to previous GTAs. My guess would be unfavourably.
Faramir's Avatar
Faramir at 04/03/2008 07:59
Whoa! I love cut scenes the most in any game. This is gonna be so cool!! Grabbing one as soon as I have enough to spend!

Fara - http://www.pickmeuptoday.com
B-Radicate's Avatar
B-Radicate at 04/03/2008 08:04
I swore I just read an article last night saying how the camera work in GTAIV is so good a lot of scenes FEEL as though they are rendered cut scenes (or at least interactive ones). How much do you wanna bet that some of their play time was mistaken for a cut scene because of how good the camera is? That'd be crazy.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 04/03/2008 08:28
That's pretty damn impressive. I'm so glad I have this reserved. Can't wait to play it.
xenon's Avatar
xenon at 04/03/2008 08:33
Correct me if I am wrong, but I think I remember that what developers submit to rating boards is a video compilation of the "nastiest" bits of their games. This may obviously include cut-scenes, but gameplay killings and the like would also be there. Think Manhunt 2, they certainly had to show all the in-game executions, otherwise it would have been easy to get away with tame cut-scenes and over the top gameplay.
LarkOhiya's Avatar
LarkOhiya at 04/03/2008 08:44
hmmm. thats really quite a lot. I think xenon might be on to something, but I endorse this much cut-sceniage.
xenon's Avatar
xenon at 04/03/2008 09:32
I have to correct myself. The BBFC page actually says

n/a GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
07:43:00:00 CUTSCENES
n/a (05:20:00:00) GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE

and the 7:43-long cut-scenes account for all the 463 minutes. But then where have the 5:20 gameplay parts gone?
Corak's Avatar
Corak at 04/03/2008 10:55
Can't wait, preparing to be completly entertained.
PetiePal's Avatar
PetiePal at 04/03/2008 11:26
It's safe to say I'm so much more excited for this one than I was for San Andreas.

When can you guys talk about all you've seen...you must be under non-disclosure agreements...!
mix's Avatar
mix at 04/03/2008 11:30
My PS3 wants this game in it real bad.

As noted 100 hours of game play with roughly 8 hours of cut scenes is nothing. Do you people get pissed off when you watch cartoons?
Itchy's Avatar
Itchy at 04/03/2008 12:26
Those bitching about the cutscenes, what if there's a way for you to skip them? Still gonna bitch?

Goddamnit, MGS4 needs to come out now.
vexed alex's Avatar
vexed alex at 04/03/2008 14:10
People are bitching about cut-scenes? What a surprise! Gamers bitching about extra content!

Do you people realize that every GTA game has given you the option to skip them? If they bother you that much (possible hypocrite Final Fantasy fan), you can avoid them.

A cut-scene isn't meant to play the game for you. Cut-scenes in GTA are almost always just conversation between characters that set up a mission or push the story forward.
sushi111's Avatar
sushi111 at 04/03/2008 14:19
I love the GTA cutscenes so this is cool news.
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