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New Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer In Three Days, And New Details

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Trailers, Xbox 360,

Grand Theft Auto IV

In three days, the Internet is set to crash once again when the newest (the second of three) GTA IV trailer sees the light of day. Hopefully we’ll be seeing something more action-oriented this time around, as opposed to the first, which was more of a showcase for Liberty City than anything else. The video is titled “Looking for that Special Someone” and a special website is being prepped by Yahoo in order to withstand the insane amount of traffic it will receive once the trailer goes live. Anyone want to place bets on how long it’ll take for the site to crash?

Expect us to pick it apart piece by piece once it goes live, and later in the week Kyle and I will be debating over the excruciating details and nuances the trailer presents us with.

As an added bonus, last week, the Turkish Official Xbox Magazine revealed several tasty nuggets about GTA IV. Everyone loves lists, so I present you a list of GTA goodness:

  • There’s a slight vibration with every footstep when you run (sorry PS3 players)
  • No more HUD (health and armor indicators are gone), and instead everything is visual – if you have armor, you’ll see the bulletproof vest and it will visually deteriorates
  • Flamethrowers and rocket launchers are in the game
  • Explosions are larger, and the game features a missions where you cause a chain reaction of car explosions
  • Cars don’t explode from crashes or hitting them; you need to actually blow them up
  • Niko doesn’t get tired, he just begins running slower over time
  • The game is much more time-sensitive. An example that isn’t necessarily in the game was a mission where you need to catch a train by a certain time, and if you don’t, you don’t get to do that mission.
  • Gore is more prevalent; bullet wounds show, blood appears as you shoot people, they limp when shot in the leg, hold their arm if it’s shot, and running people over is “disturbing”
  • No more eating, working out or having a girlfriend, but skills improve over time
  • 100% completion yields secret vehicles and “plenty of goodies”
  • The land size is larger than the three cities (sans countryside) from San Andreas

No more girlfriends? Hooray!

Read More | Xbox Live Addicts

Gallery: New Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer In Three Days, And New Details


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Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Bungie, Features, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,

Halo 3 teaser Master Chief

The Beta has been available to the public for nearly two weeks, and with well over a hundred games between the two of them, editors Chris Pereira and Kyle Ulrich have a discussion about the experience thus far - what they like, what they don’t, what needs to be changed, and more.

Kyle: First off, the graphics. While the beta looks good, it’s absolutely clear that what is there is merely a foundation for what the finished product will become. A lot of people have been quick to criticize the game for looking too similar to Halo 2, without taking into consideration that the majority of the assets that we’re seeing in this beta - the levels, weapons, and character models - have been finished for months, as early as last October. Particle effects are nonexistent - grenades and muzzle fire lack flourish. From my perspective, we’re going to be looking at almost an entirely different game come September. I’d imagine that there are layers and layers of polish that have yet to be implemented. Believe.

Chris: You’re right. is the type of developer that waits until the last moment to slap on that extra layer of gloss that makes everything oh-so-pretty. And unlike many games, gimmicky bloom effects aren’t what make Halo look good. And after all, this beta isn’t a tech demo; don’t expect it to wow you with its graphics.

Kyle: The gameplay is an entirely different story, though. Even in this early, unfinished stage, the balance is remarkable. Nothing feels particularly unusable and the power weapons are exactly what they should be: hard to use, one-hit skill kills. Everything from the recoil of the sniper rifle to the shortening of the Shotgun’s ammo chamber make major strides at leveling the playing field. The even smattering of spray and prays and one-shots coalesce and riff off each other beautifully. For my money, an unfinished product has never played so marvelously. Also, the tweaking of the objective game types shakes things up well. Territories is simply awesome.

Click to continue reading Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later

Gallery: Chatlog: The Halo 3 Beta: Two Weeks Later


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