The PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV will be following the recent trend of Rockstar Games productions being made available via digital download through Steam. Although a price is not yet published on the game's Steam page, the release date is set the same as its in-store release (December 2 in North America and December 3 in Europe).

The Steam page also includes eight new screenshots from the PC version, which we have added to my GTA IV PC screenshot gallery:

http://www.gamespot.com/users/zeeshan810/view_album?id=tDAwXBhcLX-OS8Jt

More Images in my Album Link:

http://www.gamespot.com/users/zeeshan810/view_image?id=Oo5a4hsu7hqV4hnukA

The same store that had the Midnight Club: Los Angeles back covers early now has the back cover for Grand Theft Auto IV early. Just like the MCLA back covers, this one is small too. I'll keep looking for a bigger version. However, that doesn't stop everyone from reading some information. If you look closely at the back cover, you will see this gem, "-32 person multiplayer with custom match feature for an optimized experience". Yes, that's right folks, multiplayer has been extended from 16 to 32 players!

New Chinatown Wars information

From the same magazine article as mentioned in the previous post, Nintendo Everything has put up a nice quick summary of the article:- Camera can swivel 360 degrees
- Trains will pass overhead in the city, cars will circle, pedestrians will be walking, etc.
- GPS seen on the touch screen while you move through the city
- PDA allows you to gain access to the map with more details as well as the goals of missions
- You can mark points that you want and the GPS will always tell you the shortest legal route to the destination with yellow or blue arrows
- New discoveries (such as gas stations) are added to the map
- Top screen brings you all the action, while the lower screen will let you control elements like the PDA, GPS, the radio, access to the people on the map, or using Motolov cocktails and grenades.
- Drugs have a big importance in the game
- Drug system can be compared to Drugwars
- You have to control the stock of drugs, buy them in one neighborhood and sell them in another
- You are given a map so that you know what people demand and at what prices
- Like other GTA games, in Chinatown Wars, you can catch a taxi - whistle into the microphone so the taxi will stop

Chinatown Wars to feature Liberty City but no Alderney
 

Over at Nintendo Everything they have translated an article from a Spanish Magazine, the magazine features a special on Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and one of the first things mentioned was the in-game map, here is the translated article:"Even though many people believed that Chinatown Wars would develop only in the Chinese neighborhood the game uses nearly the whole map that appears in GTA IV. The districts that appear are: Dukes (Queens), Bohan (Bronx), Broker (Brooklyn) and Algonquin (Manhattan). The only neighborhood from GTA IV that doesn't appear is Alderney (Jersey City).  

GTA IV PC requires "activation" before play

UK mega-retailer Tesco have posted an image of the back of the PC version of GTA IV's box today. The image doesn't reveal much, partly due to its tiny size and compressed nature, but I did pick out one interesting piece of text in the image:"Initial activation requires internet connection"It seems like you won't be able to play ANY of GTA IV unless you have your computer hooked up to the internet. This is becoming a common anti-piracy measure in PC games, but unlike the recently released Spore the boxart confirms that you will be able to install GTA IV an "unlimited" number of times.

PC version of GTA IV features achievements

Microsoft and Rockstar announced some time ago that the PC version of GTA IV would be part of the Games for Windows LIVE lineup, but it emerged today that the game will include a full set of achievements which can be added to your gamerscore.

While the achievements are the same ones as appeared on Xbox 360, they are part of a different set, meaning that you could score double for each one if you own both the 360 and PC versions of the game.

Check out the full achievement list over at Xbox.com (requires sign in).

Before even receiving a set release date, GTA: Chinatown Wars, the upcoming GTA installment for the Nintendo DS, has joined the ranks of GTA IV PC and Xbox 360 downloadable content as delayed.

At a press conference today, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed GTA IV DLC's delay rumors stating that it may arrive as late as Spring 2009. Zelnick also stated that Chinatown Wars isn't scheduled to be released in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year (January 2009) as initially expected, but will arrive within Q2 2009, which ends in April.

Grand Theft Auto series' DS debut pushed to February-April launch window; GTAIV DLC tentatively planned to be out by end of January.

Grand Theft Auto's much-anticipated debut on the Nintendo DS will have to be much anticipated a little while longer.

Speaking at the BMO Capital Market 2008 Interactive Entertainment Conference today, Take-Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick updated investors on a number of the company's release plans, most notably Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Previously announced for release by the end of January, the game has been pushed back by publisher Take-Two Interactive into its fiscal second quarter, which runs from February through April.

That wasn't the only release calendar update for the popular criminal action series. The ever-shifting date of the first downloadable content pack for Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360 appears to have moved again. Zelnick said the publisher was aiming to have the add-on available at the end of the fiscal first quarter (which runs November through January), although he noted it might move into the second quarter alongside Chinatown Wars. Regardless, the downloadable content is "close to completed."

Running down some of the publisher's other products, Zelnick mentioned that the PC edition of GTAIV would be released early next month, which lends credence to recent retailer listings tagging the game with a December 2 launch. Finally, Zelnick noted that BioShock 2, Mafia II, and Borderlands were all slated for release in 2009, though he didn't specify if that was Take-Two's fiscal year 2009 (ending October 31, 2009) or calendar year 2009 for those projects.

Source: Gamespot! :!

NOT GOOD FOR THE DS GTA FANS!!!

Recently, a real-life strip club named PlayPen in East Los Angeles took Rockstar to court over the fictional strip club in GTA: San Andreas, The Pig Pen. The PlayPen believe that the strip club in the game, located in East Los Santos, violates their trademark on the "PlayPen" logo.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the claim last Thursday stating that Rockstar did not violate the PlayPen Gentleman's Club logo. Rockstar did admit that they were inspired by the real-life strip club, hint the fact it is located in the same place in game as it is in real-life. They also argued that that they are protected under the First Amendment.

Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain's ruling was probably one of the best I have ever heard:

"Video games and strip clubs do not go together like a horse and carriage or, perish the thought, love and marriage."

Honestly, suggesting a strip clubs name and logo used in a parodic manner in a game violates the trademarks of the real-life counterpart is a rather far-fetched reason to take a gaming company to court.

Source: MercuryNews