Remember those WANTED posters advertising Grand Theft Auto IV that were spotted in Brooklyn, New York City? Well, Nick Carr has posted on his blog that Rockstar Games have painted an artwork on a wall right on North 5th and Bedford Avenue.

It is the same artwork of Niko Bellic released with the announcement of the Grand Theft Auto IV release date. Nick Carr has kindly taken some photos of his amazing discovery and posted it right onto his blog. Well, unlike the WANTED posters, there is nothing else that links it to Grand Theft Auto IV, so there is no way of proving its authenticity.

On a sidenote, Grand Theft Auto IV has also been rated by Germany, and it cannot be sold to anybody under 18 there. Like the “Adults Only” equivalent in the United Sates, this is the highest possible rating for any computer or video game.

Well it’s pretty cool, isn’t it? It’s Niko Bellic standing in a doorway painted on a New York City wall. Whether is it official advertising from Rockstar Games, or just a fan artwork, it’s still cool enough to be worth noting. Till then, I hope you enjoy your day! Stay tuned for more news, and don’t forget to leave a comment. Cheers!

Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) has just gotten the privellege to preview Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as score an exclusive interview with Rockstar Games’ Sam Houser. The preview comes with three previously unseen screenshots, and a whole load of new information. See the scan below for more.

Apparently, Niko Bellic was inspired by a favourite driver from Rockstar Games’ car service. Also, there are 18 radio stations in the game, not 14 as was previously suggested. Niko Bellic is also revealed to be an old soldier who has spent time in third-world prisons.

On the subject of multiplayer, Houser says: “I just like running up to a bunch of players with the grenade cooking in my hands and taking them all out with me.” A range of ’standard’ multiplayer modes are available, in addition to some which haven’t been tried before. Nothing else was revealed unfortunately.

For the new melee-combat system, Rockstar consulted a UFC master of the Israeli special-forces martial art, Krav Maga. Also, when Grand Theft Auto IV was first being planned, Aaron Garbut (Rockstar North’s art director) unveiled an enormous map featuring Liberty City surrounded by countryside the size of New York state.

The Liberty City “megamap” seemed the logical step after Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, but the team at Rockstar Games soon decided to change their focus, and work on creating a larger Grand Theft Auto experience instead of just a larger map. They also dropped the ability to fly planes, customize cars and Role-Playing elements because of this.

Thanks to GTA Series Fan from The GTA Place for providing us with the scans. Also, thanks to Brad for uploading the images. Who says gamers don’t read? Click here for the scans! Happy reading, and don’t forget to stay tuned for more Grand Theft Auto IV information!

Four New Grand Theft Auto IV screenshits were released from the batch of hands-on previews we saw a few days ago. The first two screenshots, which were first seen in Computerbild-Spiele magazine, came exclusively from IGN’s hands-on preview of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The third picture is an artwork of the Booth Tunnel which were also first seen in magazine publications of Grand Theft Auto IV hands-on previews. The last picture, released by GamePro, is also one of the same batch of screenshots which were planned for release together with the hands-on previews.

Thanks to Brad from Grand Theft Auto HQ for these four cool pictures! Also, I would like to thank DLH for the heads up. More screenshots will surely be released a April 29 2008 nears. In fact, it’s just two months away. Stay tuned, we will be reporting the latest of Grand Theft Auto IV as soon as they get released!

Grand Theft Auto IV may be running at a nice, constant speed of 30 Frames Per Second, according to N4G.com. This means that Grand Theft Auto IV will run rather smoothly on any console connected to a High Definition Television, as opposed to the Grand Theft Auto IV builds last year with had jumpy frame rates.

“A 1UP Yours on Leap Day is like a free show, or something. The regular four discuss GTA IV and confirms that the game will run at a solid 30FPS on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. According to them, both version of the game look identical however, the PS3 version is a little behind in development but as it stands now, it will be launching along side the Xbox 360 version. Also Some information Lost Odyssey’s annoying save system, Frontlines, God of War: Chains of Olympus, and many more.”

According to the latest 1UP Yours podcast, Grand Theft Auto IV will run at a constant 30 Frames Per Second on both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. While this means we won’t see the smooth motion we saw in games like Call of Duty 4 and Burnout Paradise, it’s still a very good achievement considering how much will be happening on screen at any given time.

The 1UP team also said that while the PS3 version is slightly behind the Xbox 360 version in development, it is still on schedule to be released on the same day, which is good to hear. However, it is not known whether the 30 Frames Per Second will happen during normal play or in scenes with lots of NPCs, vehicles etc.

Thanks to FiS!!HeR from GTAForums for the heads up, and GTA4.tv for a summary of the information found in the podcast. You can click here for the post and to listen to the podcast yourself.

Hi guys! We’re, after much waiting, pleased to announced that brand new hands-on previews of Grand Theft Auto IV are finally here! Kikizo, IGN, CVG, GameSpy, 1UP, Team XBox and Gamespot (amongst others) have all gotten the screenshots and a chance to play the latest build of Grand Theft Auto IV! Here is a quote of the summarized points from the review.

* Each site got to play GTA IV for two full hours. Kikizo were the first to do so. Four missions were played.
* The build that the sites got to play is exactly three weeks old as of today.
* Once you die and end up in hospital, you receive a text on your phone offering you to retry the mission.
* Kikizo have compiled a list of all the X360 controls. See them here.
* Only one island (Broker/Dukes) is unlocked to begin with. The other areas are blocked with police blockades. The second area (Bohan) will open up "sooner than it has in previous GTAs."
* You can drop grenades and molotov cocktails out of the car window at high speed. Headlights can be put on full beam or dipped, but cannot be turned off.
* You can pause and select a destination on the full-size map, which is then reflected on the radar. This marks the route out in blue.
* You cannot store items/objects inside vehicles.
* Cars are not customisable, but you can still save them at safe houses.
* There are eighteen radio stations in total. One is called The Vibe, which is RNB and soul. The other genres on offer include funk, reggae, jazz, dance, modern Jamaican, pop, hardcore, hip hop and a specific Eastern European station.
* Dropped weapons and other items have a yellow halo around them, and the mission markers are now yellow arrows floating in the air, pointing at the ground, as opposed to the cylinders we are used to in previous GTAs.
* A hands-on multiplayer preview will (probably) arrive next month.

Here’s a bunch of quality reading material for the weekend! Read the full reviews from the respective game web sites here: Kikizo, IGN, Team Xbox, 1UP, CVG, Gamespy, VideoGamer.com, Gametap.

A new screenshot has surfaced from Game Planet’s recent article on Grand Theft Auto IV. It shows Niko Bellic armed with a sniper rifle, believed to be part of one of the missions that many journalists got to to test drive.

Also, Microsoft has finally announced the full details of the Grand Theft Auto IV Exclusive Downloadable Episodic Content. According to Microsoft, each episode of downloadable content will be equal to or bigger than the games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the Playstation 2.

Like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which were expansions to Grand Theft Auto III, these two Grand Theft Auto IV episodes will be an expansion of the storyline and game. Digital Downloads will be the new way to deliver the Grand Theft Auto Expansions, and they will be called “Grand Theft Auto IV: Episode 1″ and “Grand Theft Auto IV: Episode 2″ respectively, like Half Life 2.

This two downloadable episodic content for Grand Theft Auto IV are exclusive, meaning that no other system can recieve the same content. It will be bigger than a lot of people think. It will be a major expansion for Grand Theft Auto IV. No price has been discussed yet. It’s up to Rockstar on whether or not they will charge for it.

Guys, this means you need an Xbox 360 to fully experience Grand Theft Auto IV! While many people do not realize it, Grand Theft Auto IV is more geared for the Xbox 360 gamers and hardcore Grand Theft Auto fans. Playstation 3 owners, don’t be dissapointed! You can still play Grand Theft Auto IV, of course! Stay tuned for more news!

Level, a Swedish video gaming magazine, as well as Power Unlimited has released their Grand Theft Auto IV preview articles. As usual, they come with new details, but with the same batch of screenshots that were seen in other magazines such as PSM3 and the Official Xbox Magazine.

What’s the Juice?

From Power Unlimited Magazine:
- It feels more realistic driving in Grand Theft Auto IV.
- You can’t take most corners full throttle, you have to ease on the throttle.
- There will not be any loading times if you enter a train in the subway, then getting out after a few stations.
- When an enemy has been shot and the gun drops on the ground, it is possible that the gun be fired one time.
- When you give a headshot when a person is in a car, the head will possibly activate the horn.
- When you are in a police vehicle, you can call for backup.
- If you are in a dangerous situation, you can let the policemen do the dirty work for you.
- No bulletproof vests or armor will be in the game.

From Level Magazine:
Brucie is located in the Broker docks in an abandoned warehouse. He pays Niko to kill a specific person. Niko goes to the targets house, but somehow the target manages to escape through a back door. After a long car chase, Niko does a drive-by on the target who tried to escape on foot. When Brucie calls after the assassination, he screams: “You’re the man!”

Finally, there is a place in Liberty City where you can rent helicopters. When Niko gets there, a man in a yellow jacket approaches him, and asks if he wants to view the city from above. The journalist who previewed the game blows the guys brains out, and steals a helicopter which can can piloted very high above Liberty City.

You can view the original news articles at GTAForums and Planet Grand Theft Auto respectively. The magazine scans for Power Unlimited can also be downloaded here for your viewing pleasure.

The Grand Theft Auto IV official website has just been updated! The updates include: videos of Alderney businessman Phil Bell and the Dilettante hybrid car, Downloadable posters of Liberty City’s most wanted criminals, straight from the LCPD, The Weazel News sidebar-friendly news widget, a new batch of exclusive screenshots and the debut of the Character Series of official wallpapers and more.

Exciting, ain’t it? Click here to visit the Grand Theft Auto IV official site!

Electronic Arts (also known as EA Games) have offered to acquire Take Two Interactive for US$2 Billion. Just check the letter from Electronic Arts to Strauss Zelnick below. Electronic Arts, Inc. has decided to takeover Take Two Interactive, parent company of 2K Games and Rockstar Games. However, the offer has since been refused by Rockstar Games, and discussions will start one day after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two new fansite-exclusive screenshots have been sent as part of “Hidden Package #3″ to the Administrators of some of the Grand Theft Auto fansites. Jordan from PlanetGTA has recieved it and it includes a Swingers T-Shirt in addition to the screenshots.

Also, the Grand Theft Auto IV official site has been updated today with lots of new details (screenshots, WANTED posters, videos). See the post above this for more details! Do enjoy the two new screenshots, expecially the one to the right, it looks great!