In case Nick Chester’s fantastically detailed “GTA IV Week” posts haven’t titillated you enough, Rockstar ratcheted up the anticipation for GTA IV today with a flood of information. The update comprises a broad variety of new features on the game’s official Web site:
New multiplayer modes and details Two new videos Two new radio stations/DJs A mess of flash sites for in-game features A ton of new screens
Nick already gave you a preview on the expansive multiplayer aspect of the game. Now you can find some information on all of the game’s team modes in the Web site’s Multiplayer section, which was previously closed with a “Coming Soon” tag. The new radio stations are Electrochoc (pronounced “Electroshock”), which features dance music, and L.C.H.C. (“Liberty City Hard Core”), which plays hardcore rock. Try them out in the widget above!
[Editor’s note: For some reason, the widget won’t work in Firefox for me; I had to view this post in Internet Explorer to get it to work. Weird, I’m not even using the beta of Firefox 3.]
OFFICIAL SITE UPDATE 4.11.08
Today's official site update includes the debut of the MULTIPLAYER section — with information and exclusive screenshots unveiled for all Team Modes and Race Modes, as well as two new videos featuring Playboy X and the Liberty City Gun Club.
The MUSIC section has also been updated to include the revelation of two new stations:
Electrochoc - Cutting edge sounds for the dance floor. Hosted by Francois K. Liberty City Hardcore - Hardcore lives on in the city where it all began. Hosted by Jimmy Gestapo.
Also, check out some new points-of-interest on the Liberty City map that introduce information about:
Middle Park - People with no sense of shame exercise in public in the park.
Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster - One of the most successful law firms in Liberty City for a reason: we get results. Learn about the firm, our partners, and chat with one of our interns for free legal advice!
The Men's Room - With Bas & Jeremy. We want to know what kind of man are YOU? Take our helpful self-evaluation quiz.
Bean Machine - That ubiquitous cup of java favored all over Liberty City. Enter the Bean Machine!
ZiT - "We'll Spot the Song for You!" The revolutionary new music service.
@Mxyzptlk: Just curious, what do you use? When I opened up this page in IE 7, it took about twice as long to load as it did in Firefox 2.0.0.13. So I’m going to stick with FF, thankyouverymuch.
@Promagnum Nick Chester's post about multiplayer made it sound like the player banners are there unless the player is hidden at the time. I think its so you can identify the enemy over such a large area.
Honestly, the radio stations are one of the best parts of Grand Theft Auto. An incredible amount of work goes into them and they really help bring the city to life.
@all: Yeah, my browser has been retarded lately with flash objects — YouTube videos and other embedded flash stuff doesn’t work properly for reasons that are beyond me. I’d install the Firefox 3 beta, but frankly, my computer doesn’t need to be any less stable.
Fuck man, this game needed to move back to modern times to put some decent techno back in GTA. Just the two songs in the preview station are pretty decent. Can't wait to get the full soundtrack listing.
What's crazy about all this GTAIV hype is, we've yet to see a single video, let alone image of actual GTAIV gameplay footage. Where you see the map and 6 wanted stars. Does that even exist? hehe. I'm excited for a game in which I haven't even seen what I control looks like. Gotta hand it to Rockstar.
@Shane86: No. As I said, it’s weird — I can see all the flash objects and even interact with them, but they don’t work properly. For example, I’ll hit play on an embedded YouTube video, but I won’t get any sound, and the video will stop playing (but keep loading) after about two seconds.
@Orionsaint: Everything we have seen so far is gameplay footage, as far as I can tell. Remember, all the cutscenes are actually in-game; they’re not FMVs or anything. So it’s not like Rockstar is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Plus, I’m assuming it’s going to be like most current-gen games — that is, the HUD will disappear if you haven’t pressed a button (or specifically, fired a weapon) in a while.
@samit: it's the same with me. i see the flash object at work, but can't hear it. here at home it's just fine. i use the same version of Firefox both places.
and speaking to the music, is it just me or are they going for less mainstream tracks? GTAs of the past (III, VC, and SA) all had pretty recognizable tracks on their radio stations with maybe a few unrecognizable ones.
@kawitchate: Well, GTA III had little to no licensed music. But I figure that this game has a ton, just like Vice City and San Andreas — I’m just assuming that they’re keeping all the soundtrack stuff under wraps for a little bit longer.
Yes Samit Sarkar, I know everything is in game. Who uses FMV anymore? No matter how much they show though. It's still shown in a cinematic fashion. I wanna see the back of my character in the center of the screen walking and running down the block, street or where ever. I wanna see the animation of that. I wanna see how he targets, jumps, climbs, swims. How he jacks cars. I wanna see how the hud looks now. Video would be real nice, but I'll take a screenshot as well.
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