GTA4 for Xbox360

Wow. So the map of the new Liberty City looks like NYC, but it looks more like the cities in GTA: San Andreas without the big rural areas in between. That’ll be sweet relief to those who disliked the long drives through the California countryside.

And subways! The “Grand Theft Auto” name seems little quaint when you can just ride underground to your next crime.

Check out the full GTA IV street and subway maps at Kotaku:

Via GamersHell, the final trailer will appear on March 27.

From MTV’s Multiplayer blog:

I discovered this while pausing a two-week-old build of the Xbox 360 version of the game and spotting the word “Thursday” near the map. I asked the Rockstar PR rep who was overseeing my session to explain what exactly this could mean. He told me about a mission called “The Final Interview,” in which the game’s protagonist, Niko Bellic, will need to assassinate a lawyer. Niko will be able to apply for a job at the firm from the game’s Internet cafes, but will only be called in for an interview on a Saturday…

Now don’t you worry, “GTA” has not gone all “Animal Crossing” on you. You won’t need to wait until an actual Saturday or start tinkering with your console’s internal calendar. The days change in the game with the sunrises an sunsets that the series has had for years.

Well, that’s a relief. Also:

You can drive slowly in “GTA,” even while driving fast. Yes, indeed, the laws of time and space need not apply.

This does seem to go against the GTA4 ethic of being less game-like and more world-like. But maybe it’ll be fun? Isn’t that what’s most important? Can I get an amen? Eh?

Well, isn’t this interesting? With the oft-repeated but essentially bullshit mantra that “gaming is bigger than Hollywood” (apples and oranges, people), it’s interesting to see where the two industries are actually competing for audiences.

Take Two is taking a risk by launching GTA4 the week before the official launch of the summer movie season (May 1). But it’s also a show of confidence that gamers will choose to plunk down their $60 and park themselves in front of their consoles instead of heading off to the multiplex.

Now The Escapist reports that the GTA4 launch could throw some water on the Iron Man movie, which appears in theaters just four days later.

Mike Hickey of Janco Partners said Take-Two’s long-awaited game, which will hit shelves on April 29, could negatively impact ticket sales for Iron Man, which opens on May 2. The runaway success of Halo 3 in September was blamed by some Hollywood executives for poor box office numbers that month.

And don’t forget Halo 3 was an Xbox exclusive. Just imagine all the movies, TV shows, pornographic videos, weddings and births that will be missed in early May, given GTA4’s two-platform release.

Wow. Buzz marketing galore from Rockstar.

GTAHQ.net has more GTA4 graffiti in glorious high definition.

The kids at 1UP.com spent an hour with GTA4. It was with the PS3 edition, but we’re hearing consistently that the gameplay is identical between the two platforms:

After an hour with this latest installment, any lingering fears of mine are assuaged. It runs beautifully, improves subtly on the mechanics and navigation, and perhaps most surprising to me, feels eerily realistic. It’s hard to pinpoint why, but it appears to be a savvy combination of art design, architecture, lighting, and uncompromising attention to detail. It’s not quite the cloud of flies buzzing around the garbage can in a random back alley, the dappled glare of the sun falling on faded concrete, or the way a passing pedestrian drops his cup in the street when you walk brusquely by him. It’s everything. Sure, most every individual aesthetic quality has probably been done better here or there in other games, but I’ve never seen them all the same place, and their coherence is astounding. It feels like a real place, comfortingly familiar at times, and simply novel to exist in.

This is extremely encouragin for those of us who appreciate great “sandbox” style games. The appeal of the GTA series isn’t just the explosions and the criminality. For those of us who live button-down lives, go to jobs, pay taxes, vote in primaries, maybe even raise kids, GTA lets us live brief, harmless fantasies of savage misbehavior. And the realer the world feels, the more immersive and satisfying it feels.

They’ve promised other dates before, but Rockstar says Grand Theft Auto IV will drop on April 29, 2008 for Xbox 360. Praise to them for having the good sense to release on multiple platforms at the same time.

From Gaming Today:

Today the Grand Theft Auto IV site has been updated again and there a bunch of new features that you should check out. First, two radio stations are revealed along with their hosts and on top of that there are tons of new screen shots, new videos, and new information about the game.

And how about that Vladivostok radio?

Greg Miller and Hilary Goldstein have a highly detailed blow-by-blow on GTA4 gameplay for both Xbox 360 and PS3 over at Yahoo! Games. I actually recommend you not read it if you enjoy discovering a game on your own. But if you can’t resist, you’ll learn a-plenty about the driving physics, new fighting engines, and pristine graphics performance.

And for those who wondered about which console would deliver a superior game experience:

The good news is that no matter which system you prefer, you’re going to have a great-looking game to play. There are only some minor visual differences noticeable between the two preview versions. The 360 build is brighter and has slightly more vibrant color while the PS3 build has less aliasing issues. Both display a solid, consistent framerate even during scenes with heavy pedestrian traffic and wild explosions. While graphics whores will find subtle differences to nitpick, the average Joe is going to be happy with either version.

Oh yeah!

Are you psyched for Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox360 yet?