GTA Four.com - Grand Theft Auto 4

Seems like someone's been looking into Rockstar Games' domain purchasing history and stumbled across something that might be of interest to GTA fans. Self-proclaimed internet-sleuth @supererogatory has discovered five domains registered by Rockstar that sound like they are taking the piss out of real life companies - exactly what Rockstar are known to do in the GTA series, and all the more relevant since GTA IV introduced its own in-game internet. The links below go to the WHOIS details of each domain.

• CashForDeadDreams.com
• SixFigureTemps.com
  

We at The GTA Place would like to wish you all a happy new year tonight, hope 2010 was a good year for you all and that 2011 will be even better.

Okay that's the bullshit out the way... Many of you will have noticed that this and other sites in the TGTAP network haven't been particularly active in the past few months. Fear not, we aren't disappearing, this website has been running for over eight years now and it isn't about to go away any time soon. I myself have been (and am still) very busy with real life stuff, as are most of the other staff members.

Grand Theft Wiki - the world's biggest and best database of GTA information - has escaped the clutches of Wikia and is now reborn at GrandTheftWiki.com

We can also announce an exclusive partnership with The GTA Place, combining forces of the wiki's vast banks of information, our huge downloads database, and the impressive communities at both sites. More on that soon!

In Rockstar's latest Asked and Answered Newswire post it was revealed that the classic GTA trilogy (GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas) will at some point be available on Mac, "most likely later this year". Asked if Rockstar were thinking of porting their games to Macs, they responded:
Yes! Look for the long-awaited release of the classic Grand Theft Auto Trilogy (Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) for Mac - most likely later this year. We'll have much more info and a proper announcement soon. But, yes, in case you were wondering, that is a world exclusive from Asked and Answered.
So, great news for all Mac owners who are wanting to play the "PC" versions of these great GTA's!

As we mentioned last week, Chinatown Wars HD for Apple's iPad is now available from the App Store priced at £5.99 ($9.99). The game is is identical the iPhone version but includes "enhanced graphics, higher polygon count vehicle and building models, and enhanced lighting and explosion effects that maximize the 1024 by 768 high-resolution touch screen on the iPad."

Rockstar have posted some screenshots showing off the game on the Newswire.

Direct link: Chinatown Wars HD

Chinatown Wars is making its way to Apple's iPad in an upgraded HD version. Straight from the horse's mouth:
In addition to the wide range of features developed specifically for the previous App Store iterations, including intuitive Multi Touch user interface controls, adjusted difficulty levels and iTunes customizable radio station Independence Radio, Chinatown Wars HD comes to the iPad with brand new, updated high definition graphics.
The game will be priced at $9.99 on the App Store, and will be released on September 9th.

Rockstar have updated the multiplayer social club events calendar for July - September 2010. Games being played in the events include both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, as well as Red Dead Redemption.
If you've never taken part in one of our official scheduled events, during the times and dates listed below you'll be able to:

• Play with and against members of the Rockstar Games, including some of the folks who helped create the games themselves
• Watch the live video stream of the action as it happens, for those of you who prefer to spectate or are too shook to throw down with us
• Jump in to the live chat as you watch, talk smack with other Social Club members and with us here at Rockstar

The full list of events is as follows (taken from the Rockstar Newswire):

• Tuesday, July 13 (4-7PM Eastern)

Fans expecting an announcement for the next GTA will be disappointed to hear that Rockstar Games will not be showing anything at this year's E3 in Los Angeles. A company spokesperson told C&VG that Rockstar will be focussing efforts on it's own "dedicated press rounds" when the company is ready to make announcements.
"In the end, we feel we simply don't have enough time to show as much as we would like in the time available"
Rockstar were due to show off the very under-the-wraps Max Payne 3 and dark, gritty, period piece L.A. Noire.

Rockstar Toronto have released a new patch for the PC versions of GTA IV and EFLC. Patch number 7 will be downloaded automatically next time you sign in to Games for Windows LIVE when playing the game. Downloadable versions of the updates will be available on Rockstar's support site soon. The patches contain the following changes:

GTA IV

v. 1.0.7.0 / 1.0.6.1 (Russian) / 1.0.5.2 (Japanese)

• fix a bug causing tree leaves to look transparent
• fix a bug that prevented uploading of rendered videos to Social Club when attaching certain music tracks
• fix for clip capture "OFF" slowdowns occuring when near waters edge
• expose "detonate" in custom key mapping options menu for Grand Theft Auto IV, Lost and Damned so users can remap "down" arrow key

EFLC

v. 1.1.2.0

A quick plug for our newest addition to the network; Rockstar have kindly sent over some awesome exclusive fansite screenshots to RedDeadPlace.com, why don't you go ahead an check them out?

If you're not already pumped for Red Dead Redemption, something is wrong with you or you've been away from the Internet for too long. This game is going to be an instant hit and I urge all you GTA fans to check out screenshots and trailers (you can find them on RDP or the official site) and get yourself up to speed with things. The game will be released on 18th May in North America and 21st May elsewhere. And if you haven't already joined, you could become one of the founding members of the forums and help kickstart a great community!

Rockstar have just announced the first video editor contest for Episodes from Liberty City, entitled "Base Jumping Extreme Film Festival".
In honor of the recent release of Episodes from Liberty City for PC, and with it, all new The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and Damned channels at Social Club TV - we present the first in a series of Episodes from Liberty City Video Editor Contests: "The Base Jumping Extreme Film Festival".

Strap on a parachute in The Ballad of Gay Tony and use the PC version's in-game suite of video editing tools to make the most creative contest entry clip you can. A balls-out short action film? A base jumping commercial? An aerial music video? A creative montage of parachute stunts? We know you’ll amaze and surprise us as always.

Some sad news to bring you today via Rockstar Games; Keith Elam a.k.a Guru of hip-hop outfit GangStarr, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. He was just 43 years old.
GTA3 players will also know him as the voice of 8-Ball, who has always been a popular character in the game.
All of us here at Rockstar were saddened to learn this morning of the news that Keith Elam, professionally known as Guru of Gang Starr, has succumbed to cancer after a long battle.

Guru was truly a hip-hop legend, one of the genre's greatest voices, and we are eternally grateful for his contributions to the Grand Theft Auto series as the character 8-Ball.

Today I am proud to announce the latest website to be added to TGTAP Network: RedDeadPlace.com.

As many of you have no doubt heard by now, Red Dead Redemption is Rockstar Games' astounding new title due for release next month. If you've seen any of the screenshots or trailers for this game you'll know how awesome it's looking right now. We're pretty confident most of you guys will absolutely love it.

As you may have read from some of the other fansites, I was invited out to New York City by Rockstar Games last week to preview Episodes from Liberty City on PC and PS3 before it would be released, along with webmasters from the other sites.

My write up with my impressions on the event itself, the game, and the surprise that was getting to play Red Dead Redemption, is now online. Head over to our EFLC / RDR fansite event page to read my thoughts, and to find out what us webmasters got up to while we were there.

A huge thanks must go out to Rockstar Games for putting together this event and making it as incredible as it was. I hope I'll see not just you guys but the other webmasters again sometime!

Rockstar has released patch number 6 for the PC version of GTA IV which features a large number of bug fixes and additional features. The patch is available through Games for Windows LIVE and a standalone downloadable version with be available soon. The majority of these new features/fixes are already present in the PC version of Episodes from Liberty City.

Rockstar Games Social Club

• Remove Rockstar Games Social Club application
• Separate RGSC application no longer required to launch game
• Social Club login now occurs during the launch process

Shadows

• A new, less memory-intensive, and better-looking scalable shadow solution has been implemented
• Enhanced Night Shadows added with user-selectable level of detail (replaces Shadow Density)

Performance

The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are now available in North America for individual download on PlayStation Network and Games for Windows-LIVE, and at retail stores everywhere as part of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City.

Downloading the inidividual episodes will require you to own a copy of the original GTA IV, however, buying the EFLC pack will not.

EFLC will be out in other countries on 16th April.

"Rockstar North went above and beyond to create an epic finale for fans of the series," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "We hope our fans enjoy these two episodes as much as we've enjoyed making them."

Rockstar have released the final trailer for Episodes from Liberty City, focusing on the PC version. Check it out below.

The game is released on 13th April (tomorrow) in North America and 16th April in Europe and the rest of the world.

Rockstar have been releasing video clips this week, created using the in-game video editor in the PC version of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. See the newest one below, with the two previous ones after that.

Episodes from Liberty City is released on PS3 and PC on April 13th in North America, and April 16th in Europe.

The first screenshots from the PC version of Episodes From Liberty City were released today. The game is released on 13th April in North America, and 16th April in Europe.

This was the TGTAP April Fools joke 2010 - permalink / screenshot
Yeeeaaahhhh! It's that day where the staff of TGTAP get to play silly buggers...

Happy April Fools everyone!

Apologies to those using old browsers who won't be able to see what we did... you should upgrade you know.