Achievements for GTA IV PC?

I'm one of those gamers that loves achievements, and with more and more PC games rumoured to be having achievements through Games for Windows things can only get better. According to D-Pad Rockstar have released the boxart for the PC version of GTAIV, which cleary displays the "Games for Windows" logo in the top-left of the box.

Games for Windows titles basically allow users to play online against Xbox users as well as (in some cases) unlock achievements and add them onto your Xbox Live GamerScore.

Either way I think it would be a great addition to the PC version of GTAIV.

OnePiece's Ultra High Quality Car Collection

I very rarely make posts about files (infact I never make posts about files) but one modder in particular has recently caught my attention. OnePiece, as he is known, has taken it upon himself to re-create a selection of his favorite cars from GTAIII using better quality models and textures.

The results as seen below are quite stunning especially when linked with ENBSeries Beta 0.074f, which is a graphical enhancement mod by BorisVorontsov.

To download the files simply click the corresponding image. All of the above files are for San Andreas, however, GTA III versions are also available.

3 Teenagers claim GTA "Taught Them About Molotov Cocktails"

WSBTV reports that 3 teenagers, aged 15 and 16, have been arrested and charged with 57 felony counts in connection with a string of car bombings, using molotov cocktails, in Milton, Georgia.

Taken from the WSBTV article;

The felony charges include arson, criminal damage to property and possession of explosive devices in six vehicle fires between 11 p.m. July 24 and 3 a.m. July 25. Each teen is charged with 19 counts.

Investigators said after the incidents, they went to a local Wal-Mart and pulled receipts. They found a receipt that contained the purchase of Sprite bottles, red rags and lighter fluid. Authorities said they pulled the surveillance tape from the time of the purchase and were able to identify the three teenagers.

According to officials the teenagers learned how to make molotov cocktails from Grand Theft Auto (That's funny - I must have missed that mission).

Multi Theft Auto developer preview 2.3 released

The following has just been posted over at the MultiTheftAuto homepage. It is a high priority update, and must be installed rather than v2.2, which was released just 2 days ago.

An immediate, high priority error that occured for first-time users trying to install the previous release has forced us to make another update to the Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas Deathmatch game client.

To sum it up, if you were experiencing any serial number (or user account) problems or received any "Mod not found" in-game messages, we strongly recommend you to download this new release which contains fixes for these problems.

Serial support has been temporarily dropped due to reasons stated below, and may be replaced by a new system in the next major release (v1.0-dp3). In the mean time, this release should make sure that anyone who wishes to play can play. Do not be alarmed by the "dp2.1" version notation in-game: the actual game logic has not been changed, as only the necessary parts were patched to solve the above issues.

You can download the file form our downloads section.

GTAIV for PC Confirmation & Release Dates

Today Rockstar have officially announced that GTAIV will be appearing for PC on November 18 in North America and November 21 in Europe.

Founder of Rockstar Sam Houser said;

The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it.

The full press release can be seen below;

Rockstar Games Announces Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC

New York, NY – August 6, 2008 – Rockstar Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), is proud to announce that Grand Theft Auto IV will be arriving on the PC on November 18th and 21st in North America and Europe, respectively.

"We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it."

Developed by series creator Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, the latest installment in the enormously successful Grand Theft Auto series features a painstakingly detailed and life-like city for players to explore; a rich, immersive narrative experience; an original soundtrack highlighting the cultural eclecticism of Liberty City; and newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.

Chinatown Wars Details Leaked

UGO has an interesting post talking about Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars; information that was aparently leaked via a user survey. Despite Rockstar's Chinatown Wars announcement a little under a month ago we haven't heard anything "official" about the upcoming Nintendo DS exclusive. It should be noted that the below information is not from Rockstar and merely speculation.

Aparently the game is played from the perspecive of "an outsider navigating the criminal underworld of a major city". As the player you control "a young gang soldier involved in the internal power struggle for control of his gang".

There are also rumoured to be four different game modes including a racing game mode, as well as a co-operative play mode. There will be 20+ hours of gameplay spanning 70+ missions with stylus-based gameplay for assembling sniper rifles, smashing locks and hotwiring cars.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who hopes every car doesn't require some form of manual-labour with the stylus, suffice to say Rockstar do have a knack for getting the right balance of realism so I shall let them handle the playability!

The UGO article has since been removed so special thanks to Kotaku for keeping the details alive.

Multi Theft Auto developer preview 2.2 released

The Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas team have released a client update, which irons out several issues, especially those regarding serial numbers.

Version 2.2 was released exclusively to fix these problems and does not contain any major enhancements that are scheduled for release in version 3.0, mainly due to stability.

You can download the latest version of Multi Theft Auto: San Andreas from the downloads section.

7 Days to claim your 100% key

The above image is an email that Rockstar sent winners of the "Keys to the City" competition (Getting to 100% completion of GTAIV). The competition is now closed, however if you are lucky enough to have completed the game within the alotted time period then you should be recieving a key, much alike the one in the image I would assume.

Note that the key could take up to 120 days to arrive depending on the demand and you must respond within 7 days or will be ineligible for the prize!

Michael Medved 'War on Middle Class Values'

Townhall.com have a featured article by Michael Medved titled "War on Middle Class Values, Not on Middle Class".

At a first glance it is difficult to see what the theme of the article really is. Medved touches on the fact that even with the country on the verge of a potential recession;

...middle income people still manage to find enough money to secure most of life's true necessities – like the grotesquely violent and anti-authoritarian video game Grand Theft Auto IV...

He also refers to the title by saying that;

The stunning success of a game that glorifies guerilla warfare, murder, irresponsible driving, prostitution, cop-killing, international conspiracies and, of course, car theft highlights the real threat to the American Way of Life: it’s not the war on the middle class; it’s the war on middle class values.

The rest of the article trails off to talk about divorce, out-of-wedlock births and family commitment...

I'm not sure whether this is a stab at GTAIV's success, content or just another GTA basher rambling on about bollocks...

Rockstar Social Club Millionaires Club

Rockstar have today openend the "Millionaires Club" which includes players who have earned more that $1,000,000 in GrandTheftAuto IV. Take note that this takes into account your overall earnings and not your current balance.

Once you have hit the big $1m you an compare yourself to others who also have a 7-figure balance.

Thanks to Chris from TheGTAPlace for the news.