According to Game Informer Issue 190, Rockstar may be on track to deliver a new GTA title by the end of this year;

"We're not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we're talking about a full retail game. We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent at this time."

This would seem to follow on with the rate of expansion show with Grand Theft Auto III, as Vice City only trailed by a year or so. If this is true, one question will remain - now that Rockstar have a solid foundation, can they improve the depth of the story and silence GTA IV critics?

The New Zealand Herald has reported that The Society for the Promotion of Community Standards has been allowed to appeal against the R18 classification of Grand Theft Auto IV in New Zealand.

The group seems to want to restrict sales of the uncensored version that had been privately submitted for classification following Take 2 Interactive's refusal to submit the full version earlier this year.

The group, which has at the top of it's objectives to "encourage self-respect and the dignity of the human person, made in the image of God", has previously sought to change the ratings of various other publications to suit its own needs, such as assisting the reversal of the R16 rating of Mel Gibson's biblical gore-fest "The Passion of the Christ", which saw a subsequent reclassification to R15.

Rockstar has today released patches for Grand Theft Auto IV on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The updates resolve various multiplayer problems, including connectivity issues, freezes in certain modes, continuation when players leave matches, and bugs within races and race lobbies.

The updates should come down automatically when playing the game online. Here is the full list of changes:

1. Fixed an issue where players were unable to enter or exit vehicles in GTA Race.
2. Fixed an issue where scripted vehicles were causing games to unexpectedly crash.
3. Improved reliability and frequency of PS3™ online leaderboard updates.
4. Fixed a rare hang some players encountered when moving from a Race or GTA Race lobby into gameplay.
5. Fixed a hang that would occur when players were switching teams during the countdown in the lobby.
6. Fixed an issue where players were able to get ridiculously high scores from Cops 'n Crooks matches.
7. Changed GTA Race and Race so that the last player remaining always receives a reward of $250.
8. Fixed an issue where spectating players would prevent the game from finishing.
9. Fixed an issue where players were unable to spectate in Round 2 of Cops 'n Crooks games.
10. Changed countdown timer in lobby so that it no longer resets when new players join a game.
11. Changed the kick option so that kicked players are no longer brought back to single player.

 

It's hard to imagine how you can improve on the single-player behemoth that is Grand Theft Auto IV. We already covered the main details at the launch on April 29th, and while we're far from finished with the single-player campaign, we thought it might be best to explore the rapidly growing online multiplayer functionality to get a better understanding of Rockstar's vision.

The last time we saw an official multiplayer GTA title (excluding the PSP) was back in 1999 with Grand Theft Auto II. Admittedly, this was hugely entertaining, especially on small maps with lots of players. Things happened so fast that you could barely jump to avoid a sports car baring down on you, and the explosions would hang the entire network. Obviously, nearly ten years later, we're in need of something a little more sophisticated.

In preparation, we fired up our trusty PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and started the conventional game. Unlike most games out there, you actually access the multiplayer content from within the single-player environment, using your mobile phone. The PlayStation 3 required an 18MB patch before it would connect to the games service, whereas the Xbox 360 connected immediately once "multiplayer" was selected from the phone menu.

Most fans of the Grand Theft Auto franchise reacted with shock when it was announced that New Zealand would receive the same edited version of the game that Australia will be getting.

We were similarly confused as to why a MA15+ title in Australia would be rated R18 in New Zealand, so we put a few questions to Bill Hastings, Chief Censor for the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

Mr Hastings was kind enough to answer our queries, so we hope this will help everyone gain a better understanding of the situation.

The news that kiwi gamers were dreading has come through today: Take-Two Interactive has contacted retailers to notify them that New Zealand will be receiving the same edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV as Australia.

Australia lacks a rating for games higher than MA15+, so titles which would merely be rated R18 in New Zealand are either banned outright or have to be edited to pass censorship in Australia.

Rockstar has created an edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV specifically for the Australian market. It has not yet released details of what has been edited out. The game attained an Australian MA15+ rating in December, with the ocker Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC) warning that it contains "strong violence, strong coarse language, drug and sexual references."

Rockstar is keeping the spotlight on Grand Theft Auto IV with the release of another trailer for the game. This trailer features a character called PlayboyX.

Grand Theft Auto IV is due for release on 29th April for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Rockstar Games has released a new trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV, showcasing the next installment of the series developed by Rockstar North. Stream it below or download the HD version (75MB) from GP Downloads.

Due for release worldwide on 29th April for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Grand Theft Auto IV is powered by Rockstar's proprietary next generation game engine, R.A.G.E., allowing for an unprecedented level of realism and interactivity. The game is also using euphoria, a fully procedural animation engine created by NaturalMotion.

Those lucky people over at IGN have had the chance to play several missions, with the assistance of Rockstar, on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

With the worldwide release approximately eight weeks away, they've spotted quite a few features that haven't been reported before.

Read the full article here.

Following on from today's announcement that Electronic Arts wants to acquire Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive, the folks at GameSpot have put some questions to EA's CEO, John Riccitiello.

He talks about why the publishing giant wants Take-Two, addresses concerns that have been raised about the culture clash that could arise in a merger, and how the deal relates to the imminent release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

"For us, it's all about their studios and their intellectual properties, which we very strongly desire to have as part of EA," said Riccitiello. "We think we would make a great home for their studios. Our decentralized label model is in many ways inspired by conversations I've had over the years with Sam Houser, who runs Rockstar."